DEATH (natural, accident and injury) ______________________________ From 'The Kipper and the Corpse' :     Dr Price:     I don't understand. He's been dead for about ten hours.     Basil:         Yes,  it's so final, isn't it?"     Sybil:         Basil!     Basil:         Well, wouldn't you say it was final, dear? I'd say it was bloody final. (Fawlty Towers by John Cleese and Connie Booth (from The Complete Fawlty Towers, Methuen)) (c) 1988. (Emphasis on 'final' is the author's, from the actor's intonation)     Lyall Watson wrote a book called the 'Romeo Error'. This book changed my way of thinking about death.     But it didn't change it that much.     I no longer have the details but I did read in a Salvation Army paper regarding the notion of an after-life and how it was all 'better' when we were dead (providing we did the 'right' things whilst alive, of course). I replied to this article referring it basically, to an offence against life as it is (and as they supposed, God-given). I received no reply.     I am no longer concerned with this ludicrous notion of an after-life.     We are here; or we are not here.     Here, is conscious; not here is not conscious.     It is the fear of dying and what might come after that we conceive in our naiivity.     It is the notion that we will be sort of 'conscious' after our death that makes us afraid. Yet you do not fail to go to sleep, even with a mind full of 'troubles', eventually. The body decides, not the mind.     An 'after-life' (in my view), is one that lives on within a living person as a notion and nothing else. In other words, and as an example, my father, my friends/relatives who have died, live on within me. They do not look upon me from above (as they say, heaven forbid!). They live with me (and all those living) and within me, not outside of me. Thus I call upon myself and their memory to uplift me. Of course, they do. As relatives, especially; but as friends, also. They answer my questions and because they are like me, (or like me), I get the correct answers. They like me and are like me because I am like them and have liked them. Reasons do not matter. This is spiritual, not concrete.     Let's face it; none of us knows when we will die, despite any calling to an occult,  a 'god' or otherwise. We only pretend so, so that we can feel comfortable. (We all need a father?)     We never know when we will have even the slightest accident. These things happen; they are not pre-ordained or anything else; they just happen. At least, that is my argument.     The simple fact of the matter is that we don't ever know what will happen next. Very few (I might say, indeed, none) of us know what will happen in the next moment. We are all aware of this, even with our disabilities (and I exclude or include no-one and everyone).     Our personal survival depends on doing things. That's what Man does (woman as well, of course; she is included as a majority of Man as an animal).     It is doing things (hunting, gathering, looking after) that are positive and ongoing. These, alone, keep us alive as an animal. Ever notice another animal, other than a human, who is not doing something? You can't see the grass grow but isn't it doing something? Even dying?     Sitting in contemplation (which seems to be allowed only to Homo Sapiens, though I doubt it) is fine. How do we 'know' that other animals don't do this? Of course they must, in their own way. But sitting watching others is only productive when it means you will do something yourself. Passive watching (without some interaction) is sure death of the spirit and is not living; it is death of the spirit which one once had.     The point, then, I ask, is why bother about death? It won't solve current issues (living now). If you go to sleep and wake next morning (or whenever), you should say, 'Here I am. All is right with the world.'     Despite what you might be taught to think, this is so for everyone, even those in apparent imminent danger of annihilation.     As one gets older, the notion of dying increases, especially as we find it harder to cope with the notion of some people leading us into a 'war-zone' (whatever that may be) about which we may have little or no choice.     Look: some truths are these:     We have little or no control over those who take us into battle for their own ends.     We have little or no control over those who tell us, for their own ends, about our 'well-being' unless we deny them by not listening.     Listen to your body. It will tell you when you need something.  If you do not heed the warnings, you may be on your way out.     If an accident, or death comes to you, you will either survive (accident) or you will not (death).     If there is a 'life' after death, then you won't know it. You won't be conscious of it, otherwise you would be alive. Death (not being aware/conscious of being awake), is death of the consciousness. There can be no 'after-life' if it is a conscious one. 'Life' is being conscious of the fact, however we perceive it. Death is not a 'realisation', it is nothing short of not being able to be conscious of life.     There is absolutely no point whatsoever is supposing that our 'life' will continue on any other plane of existence. These are all words propagated by Man. The 'Pearly Gates' cannot exist if we are not conscious of them and have a realisation about them.     People's beliefs are what they are told, or what they have come personally to believe through their experiences. Beliefs are strongest when there is trouble now, or ahead. This does not mean that they have any credence, in the long run. They are part of our comfort zone.     If you believe, then so be it. What your beliefs are, so be them. Please, however, do not inflict them upon me, or anyone else. Beliefs are personal; they may be shared with the willing but not inflicted. Whatever your beliefs, they are your responsibility since they are your choice. I may agree or disagree, that is my choice also, and my responsibility. We are correct only to ourselves, not others.     Giving comfort to someone else, is listening, not foisting our beliefs on them. Like advice, you don't have to take it.     When a loved one departs from their consciousness and is no longer available to us as a life-form, they become within us much more than before. They were always there, since we have a memory of them. Now, that memory is a memory only. However, they continue to exist within us and they are still available to us.     Death is not an end. Apart from the fact that bodily we depart into the ground (or sea) some way, we live in a memory of the living. To me, this is a comforting notion. To keep the memory living, we must do the best for ourselves to ensure this.

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