THEOPHILE THE YOUNG continues his mentorship with his teacher, THEOPHILE THE ELDER. In this series they discuss the topic of death.
Death has nothing to do with going away.
The sun sets and the moon sets,
but they’re not gone.
Rumi
Theo the Young: How is it that you have never been afraid of death?
Theophile the Elder: I don’t know. It is just the way I have felt.
Y: You must have thought about it, though?
E: For me, death is a fact, just like the fact that God exists. I believe it. It is by no means to my credit. You could as well ask me, “Do you believe oxygen exists?”
Y: Is it all a question of faith then?
E: Not even that. It is just a fact; it is obvious.
Y: Then why do you have to seek the Divine? What does your lifelong quest for God mean then?
E: Today, I’d rather say that God is looking for His own Self, and He finds It back.
Y: Don’t you find it strange?
E: It is. But how else to explain it? God is Self-seeking in each one of His creatures, and He is bound to find Himself back.
Y: So is there nothing special there?
E: It is an all-pervasive divine process.
Y: And what does His creature feel once He finds Himself within us?
E: It is like a supernova explosion, though there is no exploding. Only an eternal silence remains, which holds all life and bliss.
Y: Is it the ‘All-Nothing’, the Infinite Zero you evoke time and time again?
E: There are no proper words to describe it. Let’s resort to our usual process, if you please.
Immediately, Theo the Young put himself in a position to receive, by quietly closing his eyes. As his breathing calmed down, he plunged into meditation under the soothing guidance of the Elder’s soft voice.
E: Imagine the supernova is
happily exploding within your self … Silence
Remove it … Silence
The simple Presence remains … Silence
Remove the Presence and the sweet bliss it generates … Silence
What is left could be your so-called Infinite Zero …
Remove it too … Silence
This is the most sensuous perception of God a human being can have.
Y: So, we can erase the Infinite, just like that!
E: (amused) We certainly can!
Y: Now let’s come back to Death. What was your response when you had to face such a possibility in 2007? Learning of your disease and of your possible ensuing death must have been a real shock for you.
E: It made no difference to me, do not doubt it. When my doctor and friend announced the diagnosis, I just thought: “Well! I probably won’t see my sixtieth birthday.” But within me, it was all perfectly balanced. I didn’t mind being here or beyond. I enjoy being with my family down here, but the Brighter World is also my home. Sooner or later, we have to die, which comes as no surprise. Then, why shouldn’t we integrate the fact and live a full life, while realizing our destiny?
Y: I can’t understand very well what you really mean.
E: When you live through your soul, the atman, death is no longer an issue. You just contemplate the end of the precious vehicle your shining soul has borrowed for a while.
Y: Aren’t you attached to life?
E: I like life very much, and I appreciate it all the more as I have danced with death. Life is a precious gift God bestows on a human being for him or her to realize fantastic deeds.
Y: What happens later, in the other dimensions?
E: You’ll see for yourself when the time comes.
Then Theophile the Elder kept quiet for a long moment. Theo the Young knew it was best not to insist further and he decided to approach the topic in a different manner.
Y: What should I do so as no longer to be afraid of death?
E: Know yourself, discriminate what is ephemeral, what is bound to personality, and have no attachment to it. Identify yourself with what belongs to your eternity, which is in fact the being’s permanent reality.
Y: What we call the atman, right?
E: Exactly! You visit your soul every time you meditate deep in your heart. You only have to sustain that condition, to raise it to the surface of your being and live your daily life with intensity.
Y: Then why are people afraid of death?
E: It’s a natural fear. It is due to the survival instinct which is included in the program all animals have inherited. It is the same thing as our natural instinct to protect babies, who are so fragile and fall easy prey to their predators.
Y: Do you mean that Nature’s laws are responsible for that fear? So, Nature has not made life easy for us, has it?
E: For human beings only, because it is not the case for other animals. For instance, gazelles are on the lookout only when the lion is hunting. Then they know that their lives are at risk, and fear bids them run so they have a chance to escape. But the rest of the time, they just graze quietly a few meters away from their predators. They know. Animals will fully live their lives in the present moment, whereas men tend to be trapped in their past and constantly planning for their future.
Y: They forget the present. Is that the reason why we meditate? Is it to fully live and savor the moment?
E: The eternal present, which gives you access to the inner Infinite and to a sublime Love.
Y: Then, could we say that man has corrupted his own self?
E: I’d rather see it differently; let’s say that man has been endowed with consciousness. Primitive human beings first developed consciousness of themselves in order to satisfy their basic needs. Then, they were able to conceptualize life, so they became aware of their capacities, which allowed them to reach a higher consciousness.
Y: But man is also the first among all the predators here on Earth!
E: The problem is not that man is a predator; the problem is that man disturbs Nature’s balance and harmony. Human beings are not properly attuned with either Nature or with their own higher Nature.
Y: What are the consequences?
E: Destruction and misery for themselves and for their environment.
Y: Hence the need for ecology.
E: Ecology is only a first step. But above all we should develop an inner ecology and gain access to higher levels of consciousness.
Y: Animists and shamans are in tune with Nature. Whenever they have to take an animal’s life, they do it as if they were making a sacrifice and they thank the sacrificed animal for the gift of its life. They kill only for the sake of survival.
E: Men have forgotten a lot. Their frantic egocentricity has cut them off from Nature’s higher powers, as well as from other elemental powers.
Y: Do you mean the devas, the elves and any other spirits present in Nature?
E: I particularly think of the so-called cosmic higher forces ruling this universe, but I don’t want to give them any name.
Y: Do you think of the angelic hierarchies, of the Masters and the devas?
E: They can be described in that way, yes.
Y: Then why did God have to create a world such as ours?
E: God has created a world for us, for the best of our abilities, and He has endowed us with free will. What we see today is what we have done with that world; a world that can be turned into hell or paradise, depending on us.
Y: What is man lacking?
E: Awareness of the heart. If only ten percent or even one percent of the human population were aware of their hearts, the Earth would be quite different.
Hearing his mentor’s statement, Theo the Young remained pensive and silent. He whispered woefully:
Y: So, we have to pray for humankind to awaken and finally become Love.
E: It will come. God is infinitely patient.
Article by PATRICK FLEURY
http://theophilelancien.org
