I wrote this back in January when I lost a beloved cousin of mine, however since Nairaland was fire-bombed some months ago the thread appears lost. I decided to re-post it here and now for the simple reason that I just lost another beloved person. The shock still remains the same, but I believe that the thoughts here are only as pertinent as ever and I would like to share the same thoughts again and hope you - one and all - remember again the brevity and meaning of your lives and the purpose thereto.

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This morning I took time off work to attend the Funeral Service of a cousin of mine who passed away recently and very sadly at the early age of 47 years. "Cuz" was very special and very dear to the whole family, a generous, active, robust woman full of life and warmth and love and losing her has been nothing short of a bolt of lightning to our collective reality.

We all know that one day we must perforce die: we have known this ever since we set foot in this world, and, as the old saying even goes, nothing is certain in life other than death and-taxes.

Nevertheless we live our lives in a bubble of the present which often blinds us to the stark realities and truths of this world, this time, this place in which we live, and what exactly we are doing here as a race of beings who come and go. Indeed, I would go so far as to say again what I have always said: namely that life is deeply strange: and the strangeness of life is so great that had we not developed customs and legends, and history and stories explaining the great strangeness of life, we really would be all stark raving mad shrieking in the streets wondering what exactly we are doing in this very strange temporary world.

For, frankly, one of the few things that can help one withstand the spectre of death: particularly the spectre of the death of a very close and intensely loved one who is a part of one's everyday life - is the recollection that death has been certain from the moment of birth. This sort of helps us to stay "sane" about it - even when it is a truly frightening occurrence which tells deep and profound truths about the nature of our beings, our existence.

I am motivated to write this because, having had the powerful life-experience of today, of seeing my once lively bubbly cousin lying-in-state - motionless and frozen in death's cold embrace, It struck me again just how precious every passing moment of life is - and I dwelt again on the purpose of life.

Let me say straight away that any person who has ever lost a close loved one to death, and has had the chance to gaze upon the remains of that loved one, will know without any need for questions, argument or discussion, that that corpse that one stares upon, is not the person himself or herself: that it is a casing of sorts, which embodied that person while here on Earth. This is not something for debate: it is a powerful life-experience which people go through: and when it happens, you see it and you know. I first had this experience at the age of 15 when I went to the mortuary to see my father's dead body. I knew instantly that what I stared at was not my father. It was a casing.

This tells us that at death, the real being departs to a dimension and realm of its consistency whilst the material body dissolves into the material as well. Now I am raising this because I really wonder how many of us take seriously the question of the fact that one day, we MUST die? What do we make of our lives, what do they mean to us? What purpose and meaningfulness do our lives have? Do we make any preparation for that here-after, the belief in which many of us profess - even ardently - but what does it really mean to us? Is it genuinely alive and burning in our hearts as our sure and genuine inevitable reality?

My mind was drawn to all the empty, wasteful, boastful and shamefully worthless debates that one has often been neck deep in, regarding existential, religious and spiritual matters. And many other such contentions with people who will argue ardently against the existence of God and all spirituality, for example. Which of these people spare a genuine thought for their mortality and what does it mean to them? Is it not the case that what happens almost all of the time is simply one person shouting meaningless words past another in a bid to show the superiority of his or her doctrine or logic or even intellect? Please do not think I spare myself in this - I have been multiply guilty of such nonsensical grandstanding over empty issues myself. We have all been guilty of trying to argue this or that in a bid to exercise our intellect. The same intellect the material functions of which MUST per force rot in a grave morbidly, in the not too distant future for one and all of us?

The grave truth about this life and this world is that what we need to focus on is the quality and meaningfulness of our spiritual experience in this world: and with our best and most positive energies run our worthy race and breast the tape when the time comes with the assurance that we have given the quality, depth, love and positive passion to our race in this world with goodwill to all mankind and beyond.

Standing in the church today - in what had become a life-event bequeathing startling clarity to me on the nature of this world and this life - I could effectively see that we were all standing in God's waiting room, where the time had come to send a soul back to God. I could clearly see that this world is temporary - and that the real "person" proceeds to the permanent non-material realm. I could clearly see that that realm is much much more real than this one: that we are stuck for a time in what is for all intents a "virtual reality" into which we enter and we exit: to meet the permanent reality that lies beyond.

I could see that we are trainees in God's incubator of consciousness, transiting from one level to another in ever expanding consciousness and ever more aware life, towards the "mighty onwards" of the Eternal Maker.

And so for this reason I wish to appeal to everyone today to "wake up" - to come to "recognition of reality and truth" and see the world really for the temporary school it is. Let us place genuine value on our lives and urge one another to achieve the deep lessons which are intended life experiences, to mark our souls with the grooves of the learning for which this life is meant, and thereby be found to have passed our exams when the time comes calling, and the implacable judges sit waiting for our souls.

I speak to one: and I speak to all. These are our lives: let us hold them - and live them - with the reverence they deserve. Let us dedicate ourselves to things that will edify and improve us; that will encourage and uplift us, that will educate and galvanize us - to work together to put genuine spiritual meaning in our lives and thereby imbue our lives with rich purpose and passion as we march forward in time, on this watered blue rock, circling a red star in the vastness of this universe, and the enigmatic echo of passing, or still time.

May the ONE GOD bless you and yours, now and always.

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Please atheists, deists, crossbearers, agnostics, Christians, Musilims, traditionalists, satanists, scientologists, free-thinkers - what ever you may call yourself - or whether you even call yourself anything at all - Feel free to argue all day - but just remember that there must be a day that will come in your life where there will be no argument to be made.

Shalom.

RIP, my friend and brother.

I'm so sorry for your loss DS. *hugs*

I remember this thread. Nicely written. I have no argument. I agree.

texanomaly: I'm so sorry for your loss DS. *hugs*

I remember this thread. Nicely written. I have no argument. I agree.

Many thanks my darling. I hope you are well.

Oga DS, sorry for your loss.

I've got one question though. Do you think man would ever be able to achieve 'immortality' and if we do, would it influence your current views on God/afterlife?

DeepSight:

Many thanks my darling. I hope you are well.

I am good Sweetheart. Thank you.

DS remains one of the best thinkers on nairaland.

What I cannot figure out is how this thinking cannot translate to a living faith in Jesus Christ. Especially now as you again face the brevity of life in the loss of another loved one.

A living faith in Jesus Christ alone will ensure you close your eyes in death and open it in heaven.

This thread will be difficult to comprehend, particularly for people who have not witnessed the demise of a relative.

On the 2nd of Jan, 2013, I went to a morgue with an aunty of mine, to retrieve the body of her mother whom she lost to diabetes. I never had the courage to go into the morgue; I stayed out with a force and aura so strong that I felt my head was swelling. I discovered that the human body was and is nothing other than a casing as the OP had mentioned, when curiosity got the best of me while I summoned courage to go into the morgue.

Seeing lifeless bodies in the morgue and that of my aunty's mum which was being decorated in a coffin, made me realize that the life-force in man is what makes his body meaningful. I saw the vast emptiness and the mystery surround the human body; the day we die is the day vain and futile things come to end. We are not the body we think we are; rather a special spirit living encased in a body which we would forfeit someday. However, closing one's eyes in death and opening them in heaven in a translocated form, our true form, should be our goal. Death will come to all sooner or later.

To what ABSOLUTE authority does the knowledge we hold about Life. Doubts set in consciously/subs-consciously. Would we ever get to know or we are just playing characters in an advanced computer simulation beyond our mortal mental scope

Srew: To what ABSOLUTE authority does the knowledge we hold about Life. Doubts conscious/subs-consciously sets in. Would we ever get to know or we are just playing characters in way-way advanced computer simulation.

I'm not sure what you just said.

texanomaly:

I'm not sure what you just said.

Modified. Am new on here.

Srew:

Modified. Am new on here.

Welcome

The most soul-stirring post I have ever come across on NL

Life...blink and you miss it

musKeeto: Oga DS, sorry for your loss.

I've got one question though. Do you think man would ever be able to achieve 'immortality' and if we do, would it influence your current views on God/afterlife?

Man is already immortal.

DeepSight:

Man is already immortal.

Man on this earth now? Explain please. Men living on this earth are mortal. At least their bodies are. What do you mean?

texanomaly:

Man on this earth now? Explain please. Men living on this earth are mortal. At least their bodies are. What do you mean?

Oh no, I am not referring to the body. Man never was the body.

DeepSight:

Oh no, I am not referring to the body. Man never was the body.

Ok. Thanks for clearing that up.

DrummaBoy: DS remains one of the best thinkers on nairaland.

What I cannot figure out is how this thinking cannot translate to a living faith in Jesus Christ. Especially now as you again face the brevity of life in the loss of another loved one.

A living faith in Jesus Christ alone will ensure you close your eyes in death and open it in heaven.

DS already has enough delusions of his own. Do you honestly want him to add yours to his, or substitute his for yours?
How many delusions can one good head hold at a time?

And by the way, to you purveyors of the Jesus delusion; do you actually get a commission for every package of the Jesus delusion that you sell to an African man?

And to Deepsight,
You are beginning to sound more and more like these marketers of religious delusions, using the same natural fear of death as your primary currency.

I am actually witnessing what seem to be a case of mental stagnation.
Remember that I mentioned on another thread that the gut microbial flora influence mental health.
It might be time to look inwards and pay commensurate homage to the infinitely small ecosystem of gods inside your tummy.
Lol, but seriously.

Death humbles all of us, especially when it involves a loved one. It is an especially emotional and vulnerable period in a person's life. It is a time to be mentally vigilant, lest one falls into all sorts of delusions about life and afterlife.

We should capture those moments to reflect on the quality of life we lead, not on any grand delusions of an afterlife.

I think it's grand folly to negate the imperatives of a meaningful life that , more than anything, should always be seeking understanding about the mechanics of the known universe, than to focus on wishy washy fairy tales and delusions enacted by stone-age tent dwellers.

DeepSight: This morning I took time off work to attend the Funeral Service of a cousin of mine who passed away recently and very sadly at the early age of 47 years. "Cuz" was very special and very dear to the whole family, a generous, active, robust woman full of life and warmth [/b]and love and losing her has been nothing short of a bolt of lightning to our collective reality.


[b]RIP, my friend and brother.

So was the alleged deceased a male or a female?

Organisms die, therefore "God'.

DeepSight:

Man is already immortal.

BIG FAT LIE!

"You certainly will not die" the serpent said to Eve.
(Gensis3:4)

Yeah! The above was what the serpent made her to belief befor she rebelled against her creator.

You and your lot have bought the old lie from the master deceiver himself.

Hence you ..................

Keep letting your mind to be deceived like she was.

He is playing tricks with your minds.

He is a grand master of the art.

Martian:

So was the alleged deceased a male or a female?

Lol. Do you read at all? Please go back and have a look and then have the sense to apologize.

plaetton:

DS already has enough delusions of his own. Do you honestly want him to add yours to his, or substitute his for yours?
How many delusions can one good head hold at a time?

And by the way, to you purveyors of the Jesus delusion; do you actually get a commission for every package of the Jesus delusion that you sell to an African man?

And to Deepsight,
You are beginning to sound more and more like these marketers of religious delusions, using the same natural fear of death as your primary currency.

I am actually witnessing what seem to be a case of mental stagnation.
Remember that I mentioned on another thread that the gut microbial flora influence mental health.
It might be time to look inwards and pay commensurate homage to the infinitely small ecosystem of gods inside your tummy.
Lol, but seriously.

It surely cannot have escaped you by now that I don't give a fvck about your opinion.

DeepSight:

It surely cannot have escaped you by now that I don't give a fvck about your opinion.

@DS, May God grant you the strength to handle the situation in the best way possible.

Thank you for sharing this and I am grateful that I stumbled upon it today.

@op I hope you have the strength to bear the loss.

I understand what you're talking about, my grandfather died around February this year. While they were washing his body, (he was a Muslim, so it had to be done on time) I was around to help. I couldn't help but feel like that body that was being washed wasn't him.

Towards the end of his life, he was poisoned in our hometown, by some people who wanted to acquire his land/property by force. He had to be taken away and he moved in with us. It took a while for him to recover, but when he did, I got to see a side of him I'd never known before. I'd always just known him as 'grandpa', but when he started living with us, I got to see how funny, stubborn, and kind he was. Whenever he argued with my dad about the simplest things their arguments were hilarious. He ALWAYS said 'thank you', even for the littlest things, like helping him switch on the lights. He never forgot to say thank you. No matter how old or young you were. He was very opinionated too. Ha.

And then now, I was watching them turn his body upside down like it was just a log of wood. It seemed so unreal. This was the same man who I'd joked with about his 'Boko Haram beard' just about two weeks ago. I couldn't help but feel that the lifeless, emotionless mass, being scrubbed and turned over, wasn't him.

I know that was purely emotional, and not based on any logic, but that was how I felt.

As an agnostic deist, I maintain the stance that the 'God' that exists is a noninterventionist God, whose nature still remains unknown, and frankly might remain so till humanity goes into extinction. I don't feel it is my place, anymore, to argue about who's right or who's wrong, because at the end of it all, that doesn't change the ultimate truth of the universe. Whatever is correct will remain correct, and whatever is wrong will remain wrong. Our squabbles here on earth do not change the truth.

Is there a soul? I don't know. Personally, I feel inclined to say yes. I say so based on my little 'scientific study', observation of natural phenomena, and personal experiences like the one I just described.

Am I right? I don't know.

But I know that I'd try my best to live the best life I possibly can. If God is there, he should understand. I made a lot of effort, and I did my best. None of the religions just made any sense to me.

That's just my experience I wanted to share.
cc DeepSight

Death. It's hit home more than once. In 2 cases, I didn't see the bodies because there was no corpse. Somehow, I remain grateful for that. I like to remember them as they were the last time I saw them: happy, healthy and hopeful for the future.

Life and death. You can't have one without the other. Enjoy your short time on earth. Thinking and worrying solves nothing. Be self-aware. Be happy. Whether there's a soul or not, make efforts to make this world a better place than when you met it. Or you can smoke weed and just be.