Death And The Mystery Of Life
by Alessio Faggioli - MA, BS(H), BA
In this modern civilization, we find ourselves in various social contexts avoiding talking and commenting on our feelings, ideas or perplexities about the intricate taboo contained in the experience of death. It would seem that its departure from our current life is an obligatory step in exchange for a full and satisfying, unfortunately illusory, idea of life. Are we really convinced that the antidote to death is not to talk about it? Are we really convinced that the antidote is not to look at the trail left by it in the face when it bursts into our lives, upsetting our reality? What is it that intimidates us so much that we get to whisper its “name” or even not to contemplate it as if its existence depended on our ability to create a different reality where it is excluded or even exiled?With a strong determination, I affirm that the way we look at the Goddess of Death will shape the essence of the life we will lead. The implication of “granting” it space in our reality and life will determine clarity and closeness to that mystery called Life. We are perpetually sucked into the reality that we create for ourselves, with at the base a series of expectations, dreams and sensations, that most of the time conduct us to misleading psychic goals far from the purpose of the mystery of Life.Coming into the world has an intrinsic implication of life itself which is demarcated with the culmination of experience through the experience of death. Death does not come in one breath, there is a reality of life made up of micro-deaths that follow one another continuously. We are continually exposed to this alternation of life, death and rebirth. The foundation of our existence rests on these immutable experiences, the course of events to which we are subjected is the same for all living beings; the only difference is the duration of the experience itself. Looking at it closely, the experience of life is shrouded in this mystery of not knowing when our passage will take place, creating an uncontrollable experience to which we, together with this society, try to escape.
The phobia of death, different from the fear of dying, opens a level of awareness that detaches itself from the cycle of life, death and rebirth. The questions that arises are: what benefits would we have in re-connecting to the primordial cycle? What inner battles should we face? How would we, our family, our friends and society in general change if we began to include in our daily life a reflection, or rather a connection with the Goddess of Death?
We can certainly say that many of our neuroses would be pruned and permeated by an awareness that is rooted in the experience of the cycle of Life. This would imply that our nature as human beings would regain strength and centrality, perhaps becoming an anchor to this initiatory journey called Life. Phenomenology, that is to say the description of experience, comes to our aid as long as it does not become the only reality, being it in the duality of thought. Phenomenology draws a bridge to experienced experience, in which our words and the way of formulating concepts have no existence. If phenomenology serves to describe the “landscape”, the experienced experience represents the lived experience in the “landscape”.
The experience of being touched or lightly touched by the Goddess of Death induces a ripple effect that requires an inner withdrawal to be experienced. This way of placing oneself towards and in life, undoubtedly leads us on an inner journey, to grope in the dark night of the soul. Opening up to the path of the dark night of the soul requires pain and courage, a path in which sighs and slowness are the masters. This journey is in fact an initiatory journey, the Goddess of Death is the one who traces our path, an experience where there are no maps or shortcuts and where there is not even the certainty that we will come out alive. The Goddess of Death, when it touches us, unleashes a transformation, opens up for us the path back to ourselves, the path back home. Home is where our humanity merges with that something non-human, where the experience of our humanity merges with the universal vibration of that particular vibration that holds and supports our universe: the vibration of Love.
The most difficult and courageous act that we can carry out on this mysterious journey is the act of opening our hearts and loving, loving to love ourselves and loving ourselves to love.