Photo by Lucian Andrei
RECLAMING YOUR TRUE SELF By Angela Dunning
Death Changes
Everything When a loved one dies, suddenly, there is a huge vacancy where once there was a vibrant, living soul complete with all their human dramas, lives and pain. Then, in an instant, they are gone. And those left behind are plunged into a rapid descent of loss, grief, sadness and, change. Often, when we talk about death and rebirth we tend to think solely of the departed one and their soul’s transition to the next, new phase of their journey. We think of their potential for rebirth, for a different kind of existence now so radically changed as they enter the ether and leave this earthly world at last. And yet, having just experienced the death of my elderly father, what struck me was how change also greatly affects those remaining. How the potential for rebirth, new life, new relationships and healing is suddenly right there, 38 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2020
whether we want this or not or whether we are ready for this or not. Utterly unexpectedly we are given another chance to right old wrongs, to heal rifts, to come together with those who perhaps we don’t see very often or even like very much. But, we find we have no choice in this matter. Life and death both catapult us into a very different landscape where old hurts evaporate before our very eyes, silently weaving a new web of glistening gold which wraps itself around and between us, leading to a restoration of long since lost relationships. And perhaps most profoundly, I was struck by how love completely enveloped all of us. Both love for the one who is now gone, and for each of us left behind in our grief. Love which held us tightly over the ensuing hours and days, and which carried us through to the funeral service. The irony is that my father found it incredibly difficult to express his love for us and he never experienced life in a spiritual way. So to stand at his service and feel nothing but pure love for him was a profoundly humbling, spiritual experience. It was utterly beautiful. And in an instant, I felt changed.
