Life and Death

There was a fly lingering around in the office. Whenever there were flies, many of us regard it as irritating, not understanding that the flies were just doing their job, which is flying around, as much as what we human do i.e. walking around.

That day, I saw a colleague took up a notebook, following after the fly and wait for the right moment to hit on the fly. Proudly she showed her successful attempt in banishing the fly to the other colleague.

Sitting at my place and looking at the showing, there was a kind of unease feeling inside me. At that moment, the mind has automatically made a judgment towards this colleague and condemns her for being a killer, a murderer. How could we kill, even though that is an insect? Are we seeing this tiny life as insignificant and claim superiority as a human?

That unease feeling was lingering because I have seen ‘death’, shown by a fly in front of my own eyes.

But then suddenly, something struck and understanding just happen. Was I seeing death and fearing death at that moment? In fact it was. I was seeing a fly being killed, and the mind has fear on thinking about death. If the mind is fearing death, that means it is holding on strongly on what it calls life. And in this case, the mind is still abide in separation. What is more truth will be the mind is fearing separation, separation between life and death.

There is a meaning given to what is called death. And it is something that the mind fears so much and is looking for whatever ways, investing in whatever method to run away from it. Exercise to keep the body healthy, taking in vitamins and supplements to make the body stay fit, grooming nicely to look good, look young, all are ways the ego use to temporarily escape from the thought of death.

However, the real cause on all these is in fact beneath the meaning of life and death, which I would like to call it separation. A separation between life and death and fear on the uncertain of what we call death.

Once the mind understands this, there is no more condemnation, unease, nor contraction in the heart. There is no holding on to what life is, and what is called death. The mind accepts what had happened and relaxes into the ease of the present. No more meaning giving. Peace.