Day 128 – Rolf deals with death and the duality of Western thought compared to the idea of reincarnation, which many yogis hold. I’ve always believed in reincaration since I was a small child and was taught in my Lutheran preschool all about Heaven. I definitely have learned about duality in the highs and lows of my childhood and teenage years and I think I’ve always been at odds with conventional thought and practices before realizing I could do and think exactly how I wish; from there on, I live somewhat intuitively. Yet, who among us, doesn’t fear death?
Rolf answers this, stating: “It’s not the fact of our death that should concern us. Rather, our focus should be the spiritual condition in which we eet this eventuality.” As a yoga teacher, teaching to many different types of people, who hold vastly different beliefs about death and life and who also come at varying states of (dis)ease mentally, physically, and spiritually, it is important that I appreciate those differences and teach without labels or borders.
In fact, I would tend to guess the subject of death is probably more contentious than anything in our worldly realm since it is is inevitable to us all–tyrants, kings, the fisherman and his wife–and sometimes comes too soon. Our time on the mat is a celebration of life and a reunion of sorts (let us hope) with our very essence, whether we take it to the next world or not.
I have to be honest in that death is something I fear; as Rolf repeats in this reading, it seems pointless to do so, but we do nonetheless. I agree that what is most important here is what we do now that matters and I definitely agree with him: “Who knows what happens after we die for sure?” I also tend to shrink away from readings that deal with afterlife and the word, “faith,” together, which this reading did not have. It honestly was a frank discussion about our fear along the lines of aversion and desire and the suffering caused by these hinderances.
space365 