Alan Clements: The terminal diagnosis or the death reality has become for me,
not a koan or a mantra or riddle to be recited or solved,
or even a tab of existential LSD to illuminate the unseen.
It’s been a heart opener,
illuminating non-complacent and intimate co-abiding;
‘me’ in context.
A more transparent self-presence with the whole, if you will.
But I don’t know what death actually is,
nor do I have any direct experience of it,
other than the obvious — momentary cognitive change, perceptual change,
and then the more obvious projection of biological discontinuity:
‘Me’, this skin-draped skeleton, becoming a corpse.
Reverend Bodhi Be: You’re doing the work of preparing for death:
Coming to terms with the life we’ve lived.
What is my relationship to myself?
Did I live the life I wanted to live?
What is my relationship to community?
What is my relationship to the planet?
What is my relationship to the Holy?
Have I contributed to the greater good in some way?
How have I lived?
Is there a mess I need to clean up?
Are there people I need to apologize to, or forgive,
or make sure they know I love them?
Or do I need to thank them?
What’s most important?
Did I cultivate a living relationship with ‘God’
that is helping me now that I’m dying?
I say don’t wait till you find out you’re dying to do this work,
it’s harder then.
This is the deep inner work
that leads to living ‘fully alive’,
and to dying well.
Alan Clements
Facing Death: A Conversation with Reverend Bodhi Be