Much has happened in the last 24 hours...many lessons to be learned and distilled...one never graduates - alive.
I don't wish to sound macabre or morbid but really, I mean REALLY, the only guarantee you can extract from life is that you are going to die - one day, sooner, later...you have no control over that...none whatsoever. Whatever illusions of control you may harbor, are just illusions - your own way to overcome the fear of the Unknown...
In my opinion, how one lives determines to a great extent how one dies - not so much as in the cause of death - and as we say in Arabic - the causes are many but Death is One. But more in the legacy one leaves behind. What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind ?
I believe that pondering about Death, and our ultimate physical finiteness must be made compulsory, a part of some educational syllabus. I am not joking. Am damn serious about that. I frankly don't understand how come the only thing one is sure about to happen is given so little attention...
I think of the Prophet's saying - Prepare for your death as if you will die tomorrow and live your life as if you have eternity.
Very profound saying if you think about it deeply...
Life here on a earth is a transit place - a bit like an airport hall where you sit and wait to change planes... We are all transit passengers...ALL OF US are transit Passengers.
Life on Earth is temporal and ephemeral. No matter who you are, what you are, what you own, where you've been, what you've experienced ---you are still a transit passenger.
Whether one believes in Life after Death or not is also immaterial at this stage - what is not immaterial is the transient nature of all things, including you.
That you, that big you, that -- I, me and myself...that too will go.
In Islam, we have no coffins - when someone dies he/she is washed and shrouded in a white piece of cloth, he/she comes naked and goes naked...
The first thing one does when a baby is born is to cover him/her in something, the last thing one does when that same person goes is to cover him/her with something...That's about it...
Imagine all your so called accomplishments, achievements, theories, ideas, acts, deeds, discoveries - everything you did, everything you sought, everything you thought, everything you felt -- stops. It just stops and they cover you, shed some tears and off you go...back to the belly of the Earth from which you were initially made....ashes, dust, clay...whatever you call it -- you're it.
The only people who will remember you, are the ones who got attached to you. They may have been positively or negatively attached. They could have been attached through love or through hate. You in most likelihood made their lives very smooth or very difficult...
Your acts did. You probably hurt them badly, cheated them, betrayed them, stole from them, robbed them, lied to them, destroyed them, killed them or you probably embellished their lives with your love, care, understanding, compassion, strength....or probably a mix of both...
Some people care about how they are remembered...some people don't...and how and by what you are remembered is your legacy. There is none other.
Remembering Death is the sure antidote for Arrogance, Haughtiness, Greed, Deceit, Lies, Betrayal, Envy, Spite and the rest...
It is the best antidote against taking things and people for granted, it is an ego minimizer, it is a slap from Reality, from Truth into Wakefulness....
These last 24 hours, this day, this hour, this minute, this second, may be your last...You have no control over it...
That is the Truth, that is the only true Reality, that is the only Thing you can be absolutely sure of...that is your Guarantee...you who have sought so many guarantees for invincibility, for immortality, for eternity...
Well got news for you they do not exist. Once you're gone you're back to the Source...a drop in an Ocean...but then it is no longer you...
