tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2158483717400443845.post7119336228564568559..comments2020-06-28T23:27:51.523-04:00Comments on My Morbid Obsession: Death Close-walking Beside MeDavid Healdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03155225872953006852noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2158483717400443845.post-86932141152436179112009-06-03T12:50:38.089-04:002009-06-03T12:50:38.089-04:00For a great piece by Tim Kreider in the New York T...For a great piece by Tim Kreider in the New York Times today see http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/reprieve/?8ty&emc=ty<br /> <br />Tim does a good job of describing what happens when you 'get it" about your life and death, how that state of mind can fade, but also how the gift of understanding is always present, always available "above the clouds" if you can find a way to access it and hold on.<br /><br />I understand from reading "experts" in human growth that there are "states" and "stages"; that we grow in a sort of rising gyre, revisiting issues over and over but a little higher each time if we work on them as they come up. As we go up, we can achieve higher and higher states of being (more inclusive, more loving, more sensitive to life), which are permanent. We BECOME that stage. But we also have available to us the ability to VISIT higher stages, briefly, temporarily, at any time. We can say that Tim entered a temporary state of a higher stage where he fully understood the preciousness of his life. <br /><br />The point is that typically stages are not given to us, but states are. We have to do the work to enter and remain at a stage, but that glimpse given to us in a state can fuel the motivation to do the necessary work. It's not inevitable that Tim will lose what he found forever. The "work", I think, is daily spiritual practice, and there are many such practices that help us attain the stage that Tim visited.<br /><br />Something to consider.Geoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00622804198121789998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2158483717400443845.post-27310197068127393352009-06-02T18:26:12.453-04:002009-06-02T18:26:12.453-04:00I'm loving it, Dave. Keep 'er coming when the moo...I'm loving it, Dave. Keep 'er coming when the mood strikes.<br /><br />GeoffGeoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00622804198121789998noreply@blogger.com