The Old Saying Is Wrong
There is an old saying that goes, “Nothing in life is certain except death and taxes.” Wrong. We have all heard about the “sharpies” that use loopholes to get out of paying taxes. The twenty-five richest Americans (think billionaires, not millionaires) paid little or no federal income taxes, according to a report recently released by the non-profit news organization ProPublica. Not surprising. One thing that these Richie Rich’s (and their accountants and tax lawyers and financial advisors) cannot weasel out of however is death. At some point they will most assuredly die as everybody in the world is destined to die (except maybe Nosferatu and Queen Elizabeth II).
What’s with this Grim Reaper guy anyway? I am sure you have seen pictures of him, he of the skeleton, the black hooded robe, the long handled scythe. Sometimes he even hauls around an oversized hourglass. At the time of your death he will be standing there in the shadows waiting for you. As sure as the sun is in the sky and the ground is beneath your feet, at the appointed hour, he is there with that pointed skeleton finger signaling you to come with him. His other hand has that ever present scythe as a silent intimidator for you to dispense with any thought of making a plea for just five more minutes of life. No snooze alarm is allowed by Mr. Reaper. I mean the guy is a great employee. He never takes a day off. He can’t be bribed or persuaded. He handles both peak and off-peak hours with the same efficiency. He just relentlessly does his thing with complete equanimity.
I am reminded of that scene from the Mel Brooks comedy movie, “History of The World, Part I”. Before the Inquisition musical number, this robed monk guy comes out and announces the arrival of Torquemada (pronounced Tor-kah-mah-da), the Grand Inquisitor. The monk shouts, “Torquemada – Do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada – Do not beg for forgiveness. Torquemada – Do not ask him for mercy. Let’s face it folks, you can’t “talk him outta” anything.” And so it is with the Grim Reaper. After your last breath of life, when he appears, its game up, party’s over, time to move on to what’s next.
Gilgamesh and Methuselah Tried
In Mesopatamian legend, the epic of Gilgamesh describes the saga of Gilgamesh, son of a human king and a goddess. He tried through a series of adventures to obtain immortality but ultimately failed in his quest. At the end of the saga, Gilgamesh returns home and happily accepts his life as a mortal man.
Many Americans are not as mellow about the inevitability of death as Gilgamesh. The fear of death is so common that it has spurred many university research projects and intrigued both atheist scholars as well as religious teachers. Nowadays there is even a field of study called thanatology, which studies how humans react to death. According to a research study published in 2017 by Chapman University out of Orange, California, over 20 percent of Americans are afraid of dying. There is even a documented phobia called thanatophobia that is an intense fear of death that comes to consume someone’s thoughts and affects their daily actions.
We also have the story of Methuselah from the book of Genesis. He is recorded as living for 969 years. In fact, many of the pre-Flood patriarchs lived over 900 years – Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Jared, Methuselah and Noah. During the thousand years after the Great Flood, the Bible records a downward spiral of lifespans. Abraham lived to be 175 and Moses, who lived an extra long life for his time, 120. The transitory nature of our lives is described in Psalms 90:10: “The days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away.”
Living Your Life Times Four
OK, as soon as you come out of the womb, the clock starts ticking. The Grim Reaper dutifully writes down your name in his appointment planner. You have been presented with a mind-boggling power of being able to create your life reality through the magic of your God-given manifestation abilities. For crying out loud, use them why don’t you. Here are four tenets, four ideas, that can and that will (if you choose to run with them) manifest for yourself a life of beauty and joy:
(1) Treat Every Day As Precious. Every hour, every breath, is an hour, and a breath where you can use what you have, where you are without interference from that Grim Reaper guy. Every day is your chance to create. Every breath you take means your presence is still pulsating here and as such, you can cause beauty and wonder and magic to manifest around you. When I wake up each day and plot out what I want to achieve that day, I keep this acronym in mind – Edisal. It stands for “every day is a lifetime”.
(2) Live Fully Now. Let your chosen awareness of being at this moment be your entire existence. The past is gone. It no longers exists. If you want to do revision a la Neville Goddard, then do it in a manner that yields benefit – benefit to you and benefit to everyone around you. Refrain from rehearsing and rehashing old mistakes, failures, hurts, grudges and grievances. It just doesn’t work. It’s a dead end. You only wind up anchoring them around your neck. The future is only a dimension of multitudinous possibilities. It is a mist. It has not arrived yet. The future is totally dependent on your “now” awareness of being, your current state of consciousness.
(3) Live With Special Knowledge. Know what it is that you were born to do with your life and then do it, dammit. “Gonna get around to it someday” or “I can’t because…..” is just another way of saying “I am powerless” and that is not true. You have power that you never even dreamed of, but, you, and only you, can set this power into motion. That is what free will is all about.
(4) Live The Very Best That You Know How. Choose a lifestyle that edges continually toward a “no stone left unturned” philosophy. There comes to mind a story I came across in my reading of a guy who finished dead last in a marathon race and ultimately had to crawl on his hands and knees across the finish line, long after everyone else had finished. He was a winner. Put everything that you have to give on the table of the feast of life. Then you can say to the Grim Reaper when he comes for you – Hey Grim my man, what’s up (giving him a high five). I gave it everything I had. I’ve done my thing here in this world. Now lead me on to what’s next. I’m ready.