[The following post originally appeared on the Times Colonist blog “Spiritually Speaking” (http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/blogs/spiritually-speaking-1.61091/a-boomer-ponders-death-2-1.1267532)]
Death means disappearance from the material realm. When a person dies, that person is no longer accessible to the five senses of those who continue in the tangible realm of sense perception.
It is curious that, for so many people who remain in this time-bound horizontal domain, absence from this dimension is understood to mean annihilation. Because we no longer see someone, taste, touch, smell, or hear them, we assume they no longer exist. Like a line erased from a whiteboard, the dead person seems to have been eliminated. Nothing but a vague and fading memory is left.
What makes us assume that physical presence delineates the parameters of human existence? Why is it necessary to conclude that absence from the realm of sense-perception means annihilation?
Many of the qualities we value most in life are imperceptible to our senses.
We may see the effects of love but we cannot taste, touch, smell, hear, or see love itself. It is possible to perceive the impact of kindness, but kindness itself does not exist in any material sense. Like the force of gravity, no one would deny the power of joy, happiness, gentleness, and compassion. But these qualities are only perceptible in their effects; they cannot be measured or seen in themselves.
Christian tradition sees in Jesus the embodiment of those invisible qualities that make up the true riches of what it means to be human. For a Christian, the name “Jesus” is shorthand for love, faithfulness, beauty, truth, kindness, compassion, gentleness, goodness, authenticity, integrity.
As the embodiment of these intangible traits Jesus was killed on a terrible day of injustice and violence. But, the Christian story affirms that after his death, Jesus was seen again on various occasions by his friends and on at least one occasion by a large crowd.
Paul testifies that after his death Jesus,
was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. (I Corinthians 15:4-6)
In whatever way one understands the concrete details of Paul’s claim, at the very least, it points to Paul’s experience and his deep conviction that the terrible injustice and violence Jesus suffered at the end of his physical life was unable to destroy the beauty and goodness embodied in Jesus.
Paul famously wrote,
Love never ends. (I Corinthians 13:8)
Essential to the Christian understanding of the nature of this love that “never ends” is that it always takes particular form. Love is not a vague amorphous generalized force. Love always means a particular person loving someone or something specific. Love wears a face; it carries a name. Love lives in the details.
Resurrection affirms that death is not the end of the details. The end of a particular form of love does not destroy the particularities of the being who was for a time embodied in that form. Although the shape of love I presently call “me” will one day end, the essence of that “me” will be transformed into a new form that continues to bear the particularities of my unique being.
Paul affirms,
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. (I Corinthians 15:51,52a)
Death is a “change” of form, an end of one mode and a transformation into a new way of being. The invisible essence does not end; it is reborn.
The purpose of earthly existence is to live in such a way in this time-bound material realm that my hidden essence that transcends death may grow into fuller expression while I am still manifesting in this physical form.
In A Spacious Place 
10 comments
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July 30, 2014 at 7:32 am
tressbackhouse
That is what i hope too.(seems logical)
July 30, 2014 at 8:38 am
Jennifer
Well science seems to say that nothing is ever lost but simply transforms from state to state…tree to wood to fire to ash to ground to plant to animal to man…to?
I like what Leonard Cohen says in one of his songs,
You loose your grip
And then you slip
Into the masterpiece.
July 30, 2014 at 4:11 pm
Christopher Page
I am stunned. I do not ever recall having heard this LC quote. How could I have missed it? It takes my breath away. Thank you
July 30, 2014 at 5:33 pm
Jennifer
It feels like a prayer to me. I have made it into a chant.
From this song.
http://www.metrolyrics.com/a-thousand-kisses-deep-lyrics-leonard-cohen.html
July 30, 2014 at 9:23 am
M+
I am struck by the common sense, practicality and the comfort in Christopher’s words. The Bible is filled with imagery and contains what could be thought as fantasy-filled images of life after death . The new heaven and the new earth are here and now if we follow Jesus. We do not have to wait until our physical bodies wear out to find heaven. We won’t get a brand new (physical) body, even though a second run at life would be quite appealing …and who knows what is meant by “spiritual body”? I am happy to accept the mystery and to embrace what may be now implied by “essence” in the words…”Death is a “change” of form, an end of one mode and a transformation into a new way of being. The invisible essence does not end; it is reborn”.
July 30, 2014 at 10:09 am
elbie
.
.
.
He said/She said: Now And At The Hour Of Our Death. Amen.
He smiles, a little surprised by the sudden onset of her question,
Slammed between the ‘Good morning’ and ‘How are you?’ of today:
“What will happen when I die?”
“Funny, I thought of death too this morning.”
“But, what will happen to me when I die?”
“Our bodies atrophy out into the universe,
we become the building blocks for other things”
Looking quizzically at the half-eaten apple in her hand:
“You mean, like this apple?”
“Yes, like that apple in your hand. A well-known fact:
Your apple is made of teeny sub-atomic parts
of all humanity or animal who lived before us.
Maybe even a little part of you when you were younger.”
Her face digesting her disgust,
her hand holding the apple at a slant,
as she contemplates it.
He smiles. He can see her clearly now,
struggling with a sudden notion
that she might not eat another apple again.
Ever.
Shrugging her shoulders barely,
indicating her readiness to accept
this transformation of her physicality.
Ready now to advance to what is
really bothering her:
“Okay, but what will happen to me? My soul?”
He smiles:
Some of us if we are good, go to heaven.
Some of us venture back reincarnated.
Some of us join the spirit of our ancestors.”
“But, what do you believe?”
“Our souls are much like our bodies,
Dissipate and disappear from sight.
To me it’s all the same thing.
Energy is never lost. It’s simply transferred.”
“But will you still be who you are?”
“I doubt it. I can’t see how.
My soul spread out like a banquet.
Quite magnificent, beautiful really,
When you think about it.”
“Why exist at all? What if my being
a single entity is meaningless?“
He smiles:
“Your life is not meaningless. Far from it.
Every minute, every day, every inkling, every action
Absolutely everything has a meaning.
You only see with your naked eye.
Age is lost on your younger self.
Pity really, when you think about it.”
“But how can I become this meaning in my life?”
“Imagine …
Next Thursday at exactly 9.15am
You will die.”
How will you respond?
Panic. Big time.
Fear of dying.
Husband. Wife. Child.
How will they cope?
– growing up,
– falling in love,
– getting into trouble,
– being family,
– without me.
“Imagine then …
next Thursday at exactly 9.15am.
You don’t die.
How will you respond?
Your time.
All moments of all our lives,
every single moment a gift.
Borrowed, precious.
Every single step we all walk
Magnificent.
Your place.
Death is inevitable. We all die.
But what if something happened
to radically change your sense of life?
She says: “How? I don’t want to wait.
What if I want to know death right now?”
He laughs:
“Okay … then I guess you’ll need to create
your own moment of death.
Maybe decide on a day that you will die.
Do something significant and symbolic.
Give away all your stuff.
Maybe throw a party or something.
Invite all your friends.
Tell them it’s a party to celebrate your death.”
She laughs:
“A party at my house tonight.”
Pointing his index finger up to the sky, he says:
“Just remember, this finger is the moment of your death.
Everything to the left of this finger is your life before you died.
Everything to the right of this finger is your life after you died.
Just remember to keep looking at your finger
every time you need to remember.
Every time you need to make a decision about your life.
It will remind you.”
She chuckles.
He chuckles.
Their colleague stomps into their shared pod.
Frustrated by the day, he sighs.
She says: “Now Evan, now remember,
all you have to do is look at your finger.
That’s all you have to do.”
Evan says: “What? What are you talking about?”
July 30, 2014 at 10:52 am
Jennifer
Elbie…did you write that????? I love it.
July 30, 2014 at 11:31 am
elbie
Thanks Jennifer … no, what I mean is I wrote it but it was more recollecting a conversation that actually happened a few weeks ago with a little bit of ‘poetic’ licence to protect the innocent involved. Innocent .., Ha! lol.
I thought it was pretty cool too, the way the conversation went … 🙂
July 30, 2014 at 11:46 am
Jennifer
What a fabulous conversation and I loved how you captured it in writing. Beautiful!!!!
July 30, 2014 at 4:18 pm
Barbara
I say, Lighten up you guys. Why ponder the imponderable. Make every day count, fill your hear with love , and cast all your cares upon Him.
It isn’t what you take with you or where you go, but what you leave behind that really counts.
Wait til you are ninety, like me, then maybe you could have a little ponder.