Being - Not Being
_I: “ To be or not to be , that is the question.”
_AM: “Which is a more worthy action of the spirit, to suffer the penetrating shots of unjust fortune, or to oppose one's arms to this torrent of calamities, and put an end to them with daring resistance? To die is to sleep. No more? And through a dream, shall we say, the afflictions ended and the pains without number, heritage of our weak nature?... This is a term that we should eagerly request. Dying is sleeping... And maybe dreaming. Yes, and you see the great obstacle here, because considering what dreams may occur in the silence of the tomb, when we have abandoned this mortal remains, is a very powerful reason to stop. This is the consideration that makes our unhappiness so long. Who, if this were not the case, would put up with the slowness of the courts, the insolence of the employees, the outrages that peacefully receive the merit of the most unworthy men, the anguish of a poorly paid love, the insults and brokenness of age, the violence of tyrants, the contempt of the proud? When the one who suffers this, he could secure his stillness with just a dagger. Who could tolerate so much oppression, sweating, groaning under the weight of an annoying life if it were not that the fear that there is something beyond Death (that unknown country whose limits no walker returns) embarrasses us with doubts and makes us suffer the evils that surround us; rather than go looking for others that we are not sure about? This foresight makes us all cowards, thus the natural tint of courage is weakened by the pale varnishes of prudence, the most important enterprises for this sole consideration change path, are not executed and are reduced to vain designs.”
_I: “Hamlet”, written by William Shakespeare in the year 1600.
_AM: This work of theatrical literature investigates the infinite doubt of how to face the painful circumstances of life, such as death. It talks about people's cowardice in the face of it, and the question of fighting to live or surrendering to death as an inevitable destiny.
_I: What's the point?
_AM: What do you think you will become once you die?
_I: Ugh… Intense… I don't know.
_AM: Have you never asked yourself the question or do you just seem exhausted from starting to think about its answer?
_I: I think it exhausts me. Death opens thousands of doors to infinity, it takes us to all possibilities.
_AM: Which one do you take as true and safe?
_I: The one my grandfather said: “when I die I will be food for worms.”
_AM: Without further ado?
_I: Yes... My body will turn off its energy functions, the brain will stop emitting pulses, the energy will dissipate. Thus, the cells will not be able to get what they need, and the atoms will begin to look for energy in other forms. The insects will be in charge of distributing my atoms and their energy throughout the earth, which will pass to the roots of the plants, and will end up nourishing the fruits, which will feed the birds, the animals, and which will return to the mouths of the plants. people, so that my energy continues transforming, being reborn.
_AM: That is, reincarnated…
_I: Yes. I don't doubt that. It is logical that my energy will continue, although dispersed.
_AM: What about the other dimensions?
_I: I'm not sure.
_AM: That they exist?
_I: No, that I see them. That is to say... Knowing that Jupiter exists does not mean that you can go there. Knowing that there are more galaxies does not mean that you can visit them, just as knowing that subatomic particles exist does not make you worthy of taking one between your fingers and observing it with the naked eye. I think, we have romanticized death a lot.
_AM: In what sense?
_I: I mean that religion has created an expectation of a magnificent dream, assuring us that after we die, we go to the best place we can imagine, where everything we want exists, where we are free and live in peace. This has made people give meaning to their lives, a purpose, because they know that all suffering will be compensated. And this idea has been coined by Spirituality, even that of our time, which sees in dimensions such as the Fifth or Seventh dimension that Paradise, in which, when we die, we will live happily. There are so many diverse stories about what happens next, that if you start analyzing them, at some point you realize that they are all merely cultural. Why don't everyone see angels, and only those with European culture see them? Why in India do they see other types of things? Why do Native Americans see very different images? We tend to have a conception of what happens after death that is very naturalized to how it should be, without realizing that in reality, what happens next is designed based on who we are.
_AM: So, what would be after death?
_I: Non-Being. A being exists because it is composed of a trinity, right?
_AM: Spirit, Soul and Body. Mind, Emotion and Physical. Vibration, Energy and Matter. Yeah.
_I: That is, when matter stops being useful to energy and it dissipates, the mind stops having limitations and patterns, expanding like gas. In other words, at the moment the body disintegrates, the “Being” no longer exists.
_AM: Exactly…
_I: Therefore, one of the images that we all share about death is the Void.
_AM: Yes.
_I: The “Non-Being”. It's like Hamlet's monologue said. " Who could tolerate so much oppression, sweating, groaning under the weight of an annoying life, if it were not that the fear that there is something beyond Death, embarrasses us with doubts and makes us suffer the evils that surround us ; rather than go looking for others that we are not sure about?” What I read from this phrase is the overwhelming logic of life itself. If we were certain that what there is after death is wonderful, an eternal dream of greatness and glory, then why not kill ourselves? Why sustain the suffering of a life of oppression, control, domination, manipulation, pain, effort, work, if all of that will end when we die, beginning our paradise?
_AM: A good point. What do you think?
_I: As Shakespeare said, it is the cowardice of men. Of people. Of clinging to what you have for fear of looking for another path, of the answer being different than expected. What if paradise does not exist? So, they hold on to life as long as possible.
_AM: And you, do you cling to life?
_I: Yes I do. But I don't think I'll do it for fear of discovering that what happens next isn't true, but because I know that when I do, I'll never be able to be what I am today again, and I like being what I am, what I do, and carry out the projects that keep me here and now.
_AM: You base yourself, then, on the certainty of Non-Being.
_I: The Void, you taught me. What you have for certain is what you are today, because tomorrow you will not be what you are today. The Universe is the Void in which the Everything is projected. The Everything is ephemeral compared to the magnitude of the Void. And what I believe is that most fear the Void. That's why they fill it with beautiful things.
_AM: Why would they do that?
_I: Because they believe they were created, they forgot that they are not created but creators, and that the void is not a dark and frivolous place, but a canvas on which to paint. That's why it's a question. The real question is the choice to be or not to be, knowing that in one way or another, you exist.
_AM: Excellent.
_I: How?
_AM: That's the real question. It does not lie between living or dying, nor in believing in something that will come later or in clinging to life, but in the full awareness that beyond one or the other, you exist. The Void is nothing more than the fertile field where the Everything grows. Searching for existence starting from the seed that the plant generates makes you blind to the soil that contains and nourishes it. There is no separation between one thing and the other. The All needs the Void to exist, and the All gives consistency and purpose to the Void. The human need to be both here in life and there beyond death is nothing more than a constant projection of his most basic insecurities and needs. Perhaps this discussion is complex for most of those who are on the path of development, of understanding the universe.
_I: Why do you say it's difficult?
_AM: Because this answer overrides everything else. All that has been said, while giving it meaning. The dimensions, the heavens, the entities that exist on other planes, ourselves, heaven, paradise, none of it really exists, they are mental seeds in an empty field.
_I: And we are the farmers…
_AM: Exactly. The arts, dimensions, skills, attributes, sciences, stories, realities and dreams, are all seeds that will germinate only in the void, and it embodies the idea of Non-Being.
_I: To Be, well, we must first accept that We Are Not...
_AM: That's right... Non-Being is the field where Being grows. Therefore, you will not find support in anything you do or believe if you do not first dare to see your Void and dare to Not Be.
_I: It's like dying in life...
_AM: Knowing that death does not exist, that death is only the removal of the veil of existence. At first, this hurts.
_I: It leads us to depression... It's... Horrible to see it like that.
_AM: But there will come a time when you will realize that it is not so horrible. Well, it frees you. It frees you from expectations, it frees you from oppression.
_I: It's like a very atheistic and scientific vision...
_AM: And yet it is the greatest of spiritual consciousnesses, it is where extremes come together. When you understand this, you become aware that you are the true field that nourishes the seeds of your being. And you take responsibility. The fear of not being is what holds us to the pains of life. But knowing that you are not, that you have never been real, and that the only thing you are is an idea, doesn't this give you the strength to decide for yourself what you want to live?
_I: This reminds me of that cliché phrase: “Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today,” or others like “All we have is the here and now.”
_AM: Therefore, here and now, in being and not being, at the point of existence, is where you can recognize yourself as a creator, a creator who does not come or go anywhere, but who is or is not depending on his potentialities. .
_I: So, I must make coherent use of my potential, to be able to be here and beyond, what I want to be, and manifest it in the now.
_AM: Connect with the emptiness in you, join the idea of “not being”, and only then can you truly “be”.
_I: Being and Not Being…
_AM: That's the answer.