Death and Taxes
Or not...
We all know the phrase, the only certain things are death and taxes. A clever accountant can find ways around taxes but none of us can avoid death. Which makes it sensible to prepare for it. However, most of us don’t. We may create a will and a medical directive, assign an executor, and decide what we want done with our bodies, but what about the years of our lives, cluttered with unfinished business?
It’s well worth pausing to consider how best to complete our lives. My mother died with regret. I remember those last three days with her in Hospice as she listed all the things she wish she’d done or done differently and how she felt about a host of missed beats. I wished that we could have had that conversation years earlier and maybe I could have helped her reconcile some of those memories.
Our exchange inspired me to create The Thriving Zone for Seniors. My business partner Chris and I have been dreaming on this for the past year and it’s gradually coming into focus. I’ve felt no desire to rush it into production. In fact, I abandoned my A game (developing content) and opted for questions. The first four friends I interviewed gave me tons of helpful feedback, based on a few simple questions. They talked, I listened. A good formula for a serious researcher!
So, I’ll pose a few questions for you to ruminate on:
How prepared are you for The Big Moment? On a scale of 1 - 10.
What stands unfinished in your life? You could make a list.
How motivated are you to complete before you go? Again, 1 - 10.
What might help motivate you to focus on this is to recall the famous Harvard study that tracked students for 30 years. Those who had goals in school and wrote them down developed much more successful lives. A thought: what if the same principle applies to the after life? What if preparing, having a goal - like, experiencing a gentle death at the perfect moment - actually created a different post human next step?
In other words, what if something unique happens for all of us after we breathe our last? Creating that next world consciously, as an exercise in imagination, might be a good investment of our time!
"So let me live that I may die
eagerly passing over from the entanglement of life
to the adventure of death as I turn beauty,
to the breath, that is of new beauty
unfolding in death."
- D. H. Lawrence
Helen Schucman, Ph.D., was a clinical and research psychologist, who held the tenured position of Associate Professor of Medical Psychology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. A Course in Miracles was “scribed” by Dr. Schucman between 1965 and 1972 through a process of inner dictation. She experienced the process as one of a distinct and clear dictation from an inner voice, which earlier had identified itself to her as Jesus. Dr. Schucman’s scribing of A Course in Miracles began with these words: “This is a course in miracles, please take notes.”
During the scribing of The Course Helen wrote a book of Poems she named The gifts of God. My favorite was one called Good Friday.
GOOD FRIDAY
There is no death. But there is quietness Beyond the reaches of the world; a peace Which only life can give. It is the life That is the gift of God. All conflicts cease Within this life. It beats in harmony With all creation, beyond any sound The world can hear. It sings a different song, And where it reaches, there is holy ground.
There is no death. Whom God created whole Is whole forever. Who can crucify Eternal life? And who can bring to dust Whom God has willed immortal? Can he die Who rises past the universe, to rest At one with his Creator? So are we Ensured to life. There is no death because God’s Son belongs to Immortality.
This is a day of joy. Today the world Lays down its dreams beside a cross that was Itself a dream. Behold the dream of death And waken, seeing that it had no cause,
And so did not exist. What never was Can not be now. Today we pass it by,
For this the purpose of this day should be:
What is made whole is whole, and cannot die.
Do not confuse the cross with sacrifice,
Nor death with life. The Will of God is one,
And knows no differences nor opposites.
In love it has created but one Son,
In whom the whole creation still remains.
How can his name be changed who bears the Name His Father called as His? He does not change, Because his will forever is the same.
What does he yearn for but his Father’s house?
Had he a different will his death might be Reality. But when he reconciled What never had an opposite, then he Could never die. His life is not his own,
Being of God. This day arise and come With Me. For there is life. It is God’s Will.
Today shall you be with Me in our home.