Living Well and Dying Well

So if we wish to die well,
we must learn to live well.

Hoping for a peaceful death,
we must cultivate peace in our mind
and in our way of life.

~The Dalai Lama

Of Note: Birth and death are the two certainties in life. Yet, out of fear, we welcome one and scorn the other. Some might think death is the opposite of birth, but that is not so. The only difference between life and death is the presence or absence of a physical body; the consciousness remains intact. Completely intact. It is said that sometimes the consciousness after death does not even notice its missing body and wonders what all the commotion is about. In reference to the sacrificing soul, which takes a dense physical body time and again, ageless wisdom goes a step further in its teachings that death is birth and birth death. For reasons not yet fully explained, Earth is the place of this spiritual dance, and all humans must learn the steps. The Dalai Lama provides an important clue to successful graduation when he suggests that peace in our minds while alive lays the foundation for a peaceful death. Could be, that if we had peace in our minds, we might not even notice the transition.

Today's Weather Report: The temperature hung it there tightly at 32 degrees Fahrenheit give or take a degree. And I mean tightly. It hasn't budged all week. At 33 degrees the snow began to melt this afternoon, but this evening when it dipped a degree, the melting ceased. Today, the freezing lake looks like the photo above taken of the stream last year. If anyone wonders if there is a higher Being, all he or she has to do is look at the geometric patterns encased in the ice. Certainly this cannot be unconscious, random electron flow.