Butterflies18

In Chapter 19, the author looks closely at fear, focusing especially on the fear of death and the fear of non-existence. Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} "Are you living your life so if you died today, you would have no regrets, no sorrow, no remorse? Could you meet death today and welcome it with open arms? You will find yourself living exactly that way when you get a little further into your cocoon and start to let go of all the fears you are carrying. But I’m starting to sound like some other new-age philosophers, suggesting we need to let go of our fear of death; and that’s not really what I’m trying to say at all. I’m saying we need to stop resisting death and begin to meet it eye to eye, embrace it, bring it into our conscious awareness on a daily basis, and make it our constant companion. I’m suggesting we need to stop judging death as “wrong” or “bad” and life as “right” or “good,” to stop living in duality when it comes to life and death." Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} "Since the beginning of recorded history until the present time, all religions, spiritual philosophies and belief systems (including the most recent New Age theories) have all had one thing in common: a solution for this fear of non-existence – the idea we are really an immortal soul which will continue to exist after our physical death. But is that true? Does that stand the test of spiritual autolysis? Is there any proof, any evidence we are really anything more than a temporary self-consciousness that will cease to exist when we die? Is the idea of a soul, and the immortality of that soul, simply our solution to the fear of non-existence, leading to more judgments, beliefs, and opinions? Is it possible “being an immortal soul” is just another layer of ego we need to let go of?"