Article – Death

In 2014, author and grief specialist, Angie Cartwright, founded August 30th, (her mother’s birthday) as National Grief Awareness day, an occasion for people to reflect upon and process major losses in their lives, including the deaths of loved ones.

There is virtually nothing more universal than death: we all are born, and we all must die. Because it is such a universal phenomenon, it is no surprise that all religions take death very seriously. Most faiths approach death well beyond unconvincing consolations. Rather, the great prophets and scriptures urge us to confront death head-on, to embrace it in all its reality and mystery — without trying to ignore it, without trying to explain it away, it can be the very thing that gives our life meaning. In fact, they nudge us to accept our own mortality with grace and see, objectively, that death is not inferior to life — that they are two sides of the same coin which should be embraced equally.

One positive way to see death is as the ultimate equalizer that strips us of any artificial divisions and shows us we are all human, all subject to the same fears, instincts, desires, and needs, and all subject to the same basic terms and conditions of life on earth. Because we are all equal in death, we are all deserving of compassion in life, all the more so if you see the interconnectedness of all life. Given this interconnectedness, death is not really the state of final extinction we feel it to be, since objectively we do live on in some ways: the physical matter of our bodies will morph into new forms and nourish new life, memories of our lives will endure in other people’s minds, and it is possible that our souls persist forever.