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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us May 26, 2006 I'll shut up — Right after this Death: A grave mistake John Darling By John Darling Tidings Correspondent It’s always said that two things are inevitable, death and taxes. The Republican investor class has disproved the latter, and a group of consciousness freaks is working on the former. Among them is ex-sixties radical Rennie Davis, who lectures here regularly. Rennie, an impish genius now, as he was in his Chicago Seven days, says humanity invented the concept of death and we have the power to un-invent it. Something about that statement rings true, though it defies logic. Humanity has a tremendous loyalty to its understanding of death — and an enduring, though unconscious urge to “cross over” to the “other side.” Why? All religions tell us it’s better there, a paradise with no bills, heartbreaks, allergies, spam, grass to mow, oil to change — nothing aggravating. Some religions even throw in beautiful virgins, always a selling point to guys. Death is a grave mistake, joked Leonard Orr back in the seventies. Lecturing and teaching Physical Immortality at his Sierraville resort, he would say that belief in the inevitability of death is the master negative thought driving all the other ones. Think about what it means to wake up every day and realize that the same god who gave you this lovely body, this lovely world, your lovely children and your lovely lover intends to take it all away in a fairly short time by killing you. It’s depressing, it’s unfair and we’re angry about it. Yet we’re supposed to worship and love the deity who set this up. With death always hanging over our shoulder like a mean schoolmaster, we salve ourselves with fairy tales, like the idea that we’re going to a “better place” to be with a loving deity — even though it’s a place with no wine, chocolate, espresso, movies, spring, babies, sex or other great stuff we have here on this imperfect but wonderful planet. But, at its core, our fascination with death comes from how it resembles the womb, a warm, groovy place where a parent figure takes care of us and we don’t do much, but that’s okay, because we don’t have annoying responsibilities and nothing scary can happen and, well, there’s no knowledge of death. Leonard pointed out that, while those of us who are into self-improvement increasingly take power over our self-image, goals, healing, relationships and such, we don’t challenge death. But it’s there to be challenged, I realized immediately when Leonard stuck this in my face almost 30 years ago. I’ve worked with it “as if true” ever since. I love studying myth and ancient cultures that predate patriarchal, monotheistic religions. From them I’ve gained a connection to people who knew all truth and lived it, including not just oneness with the gods, but no difference between themselves and the gods. People lived as long as they wanted and left, not because of the ravages of time but when everything was completed. Even if these ideas are rubbish, I realized, they won’t shorten my life, but can only extend it — and they relieve a huge burden of dread, isolation, helplessness and grief. The paradox of feeling bound to the inevitability of death is that it can literally make you sick. The stress and dread of it hurts the immune system, so guess what happens? In self-fulfilling prophecy, the body can become host for more and more diseases. These wear you down, you “age” and die. A joke among physical immortalists is that the belief in the inevitability of death has killed more people than all wars and diseases combined. We look around and notice that all people have died, and we take that for irrefutable proof that our loyalty to death is well placed. But vast numbers of people are gullible about all sorts of rubbish. Like the inevitability of taxes. Republicans have conquered that supposedly immutable law. Let’s take power over the other one, too. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Ceramic Piggy Banks Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Mailing Lists Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hammocks Water Filter Custom Made Computers Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams