UP-CLOSE AND INTIMATELY
Updated: Apr 27, 2021
There is something quite powerful in witnessing death up-close and intimately. Rather than seeing our fathers wishes to end his life with the medical assistance as an abrupt ending to life, his wise and wonderful beliefs on the importance of living with all his might and integrity provided us with a clear understanding of death as a continuation of consciousness.
His determination to see his two daughters for one last time was beyond this world as we were navigating the pandemic protocol required to enter Canada. Fortunately, we were gifted with 5 days of laughters, tears and story telling with our beloved father before he died. Andre left his biological spacesuit on March 25, 2021 late afternoon with a strong wind gust that swirled through the hospital room, leaving my sister Kina and I with huge shoes to fill as we continue to live his legacy and share his wisdom.
None of us will get out of here alive...
Death is an inevitable transition point, an unavoidable consequence of life, a lesson I've shared multiple times with my son from a young age. As Zack Bush MD explained "The motivation for self-destructive behavior is a deep rooted sense of fear. Ultimately, it’s our fear of death which is driving us to the brink of destruction. Because we have become so separated from nature, we have come to view death as an end, as the end. But when death is viewed as a part of nature, it becomes a transition period between one form of existence and another. Death is never the end in nature, so why should it be the end for humans?"
Fear. First of all if we didn't have any fear, humans would be much more present, consequently, changing our priorities. We would figure out what's important. We wouldn't waste your life on mundane, trivial unimportant things. We would understand that we are inseparable from everything that exists, which would automatically make people more loving, more compassionate, less hurtful and destructive to the self, others and our habitat its surroundings.
Watching my dad dying peacefully with love, I am pretty much convinced that consciousness continues beyond death, that death is a rebirth, providing us with an opportunity to reconnect and be a part of nature. I am deeply inspired to live life within nature, inspired to follow my fathers footsteps and his quest to find happiness in all and every situation I may find myself in.
Until next time,
With love and badassery
A
