"Whether we face the sun or look away from it, the presence of the light noruishes us all. Beauty arrives in brilliant sunlight and in shadow. We are not lessened by our sacred grieving, but deepened and ripened by it. "
Rev. Mary Murray Shelton - The Inevitability of Change - Page 5
“God is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for in His sight, all are alive.” The Spirit is both birthless and deathless. The Principle of Life cannot know death. The experience of dying is but the laying off of an old garment, and the donning of a new one. “There are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial, there is a material body and a spiritual body.” This spiritual body is the resurrection body."
Ernest S. Holmes - The Science of Mind Textbook - Page 583
So...LET'S TALK!!
As November begins I reflect on the traditions in different cultures surrounding Halloween. The revelry and the celebration of the spooky or the macabre, the trickery and the treats on Halloween night - and the joyous celebration of The Day of The Dead or Dia de Los Muertos celebrated primarily by those with Mexican heritage. The idea of celebrating Death or the journey of the souls of those who have crossed was not made part of my life growing up.
In my formative years, the church's emphasis on stories like "Dante's Inferno" had the effect of terrorizing me. It was always Maudlin, Dark, and Threatening. The prominence of the Crucifixion and the morbidity that were cultured into me by my teachers at that time didn't make sense and I now know that they conflicted with my ability to live happily.
From my perspective, many of us through Religious teaching are incubated with a life-long fear of Death. This is underscored by what happens after death if you do not suffer enough in this life before the so-called next. They scared the Hell out of me with Dante and I wound up with the notion that the Grim Reaper was always close behind. "Today you rejoice and be merry, for tomorrow you are Dead!"
When these thoughts come to Trick-or-Treat at the door of my awareness, I choose to Treat myself to Ernest's quote above and celebrate the Deathless nature of my Beingness in God! I can go out in the streets of my consciousness and do a "Truth Jig" knowing that Physical transition is only a prelude to a New Beginning!
So yes, let’s do celebrate this new month of November. Make a commitment to regularly read the Quote above by Dr. Holmes - and rejoice! We can celebrate the Celestial Bodies while in our Terrestrial State and KNOW that we are truly Ageless, Deathless Being-nesses in God and of God!
Rejoice!
Love, Lloyd