Destroying Duality
When investigating the parallels of living and dying, the concept of death becomes uniform to being alive. Societies have studied this natural order through many philosophical and religious narratives. The cycle of birth and death becomes a constant. We see ourselves age and expectations of the world change. We are consumed by the transient nature of time. Death becomes a part of the living process, engaging from the beginning till the end. We find impermanence at the end of a pursuit, or at the start of one. Change is inevitable, but it is still in our nature to be troubled by what is normal. Through observing our social economy, and the human psyche can we build a closer relationship with the idea and process of death. We can start to see that living and dying is not binary. Duality becomes a false perception, pulling us from one attachment to the other.
We experience contractions in our bodies. How we breathe fluctuates throughout the day. Our minds are at a continuous race. Our thoughts hold no measuring stick, becoming a product of everyday life and political chatter. In today’s innovative technological scene, we have a different level of consumerism and networking. A new plane of instant gratification where media and computer algorithms predict and control the intangible, our individual thinking. Duality finds itself in those extremes. We are driven by the social construct of money and government, which is bound to be contentious. A two party system has no room, but to speak upon what each believes is right and wrong. We stand close to our beliefs, and oppose the logical, or perverse. We fight to embrace the nature of duality, such realities entwining the physical and metaphysical. We feel the difference between night and day, and are compelled by either love, or fear. The principles of good is to be fought for, and the studies behind evil doings must be practiced. This ongoing system around morality brings me back to the concept of dying. If we must live in a dual world, we must accept that dying is an encompassing part of it.
How can we practice an idea, or a belief without becoming a part of it? There’s a level of focus where attachment is not pursued. In relation to the idea of space. There is no edge in space to lean against, but it is still full. We are compelled to believe that death is the absolute end. Living and dying propels each other in space. It’s how we exist and progress in time. Death becomes a mode of progression, a process of meditation, and meditation, a form of death. When you gracefully approach something you’re passionate about, it reflects the same approach back. But if you address a conquest punching your head to prepare itself, it becomes unnecessary stress. Think about a ping pong ball bouncing back and forth between each player. The players are aggressively going after the ball, but the ball is doing what it’s meant to do, exist in its hollow form. Even this concept needs to be practiced with its own idea. It is not a notion on exercising death, but understanding it to just be.
