Crucifixion, Rogier van der Weyden
There Is No Death |
"I would like to read some thoughts which I believe are true:
There is no death. Life cannot die.
The coating uses up, the form disintegrates, but life is—is always there—even if for us it is the unknown.
We cannot know life. It would be pretense to say that we know what life is—what death is.
Some wise men have said that we can know life only after we know death. In any case, death is the end—the end of everything known. And because we cling to the known, the unknown is a fearful thing—for us. So we fear death—but we don't know what it is, really.
If we wish to know life, we need to die to the known and enter the unknown. It is hard to know what entering the unknown is. Perhaps it's just being here. At this moment—being here entirely. Just being here quietly as we try to express our love for the one who is entering the unknown.
In moments like this, in front of death, and being free from the known, we can enter the unknown, the complete stillness where there is no deterioration. Perhaps such moments are the only time in which we can find out what life is and what love is.
And without that love, we will never find the truth."
—Jeanne de Salzmann