{"id":1007,"date":"2009-07-19T12:52:47","date_gmt":"2009-07-19T19:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coolkarma.com\/dharma\/?p=1007"},"modified":"2009-07-19T12:53:02","modified_gmt":"2009-07-19T19:53:02","slug":"of-cancer-and-carpe-diem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/?p=1007","title":{"rendered":"Of Cancer and Carpe Diem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lilly-flower-and-fish\"For some, the definition of God precludes all that which is deemed vile or vicious.\u00a0 But in my experience there is no thing that is not the manifestation of Source and this by definition must include illness as well as evil if indeed we were to label an experience as such.\u00a0 ‘Say it’s not so!’, some demand as they bifurcate the world and lay causal blame on the hands of the Devil.\u00a0 And indeed it may be so, all I can possibly know is my own experience and as such my experience could change and another explanation<\/em> may arise that even closer matches my heart’s awareness.<\/p>\n

But for now, as the living teaching has taken root in this body-mind organism, what is here for me is the Totality of Grace as well as Fierce Grace as equal if not opposite expressions of the Divine.\u00a0 Of course no amount of knowing<\/em> in the realm of mental discourse makes the perception of pain and problems any less difficult to receive.\u00a0 When I looked upon my not-so-furry senior dog last week and noticed one of her skin tags had all the signs of malignancy, I realized that Bella’s Story<\/a> was about to be remade into a sequel.\u00a0 Meanwhile our dear sphyx Millie<\/a> was also showing signs of her own pancreatic failure in return.\u00a0 And while we would like to know what comes next, how we should handle the news, how long we should engage the Dance of the Doctor<\/em> … ultimately there is no knowing.\u00a0 There is only this moment, this breath, without any promise that the next breath will come.<\/p>\n

My dear friend of long standing is facing the death of her mother who has also chosen not to prolong the dance<\/em> beyond a line her heart has long seemed to accept – the wisdom of which most of us cannot fathom yet aspire towards just the same.\u00a0 It seems from where I sit, or most often recline or crouch, we face the end of life in much the same way that we face life itself.<\/p>\n

Occasionally we hear stories of great wisdom and spiritual fruition that occur through a near death experience.\u00a0 But more often than not, we notice that people who are generous, kind and giving in life seem to carry on in much this same altruistic fashion in their last days on earth.\u00a0 In contrast, those who are frightened and filled with anger and angst seem to go out kicking and screaming … literally as they curse and berate all those around them who are no doubt trying to help.<\/p>\n

And we do want to help<\/em>.\u00a0 We want to ease their pain as they transition from form to formlessness.\u00a0 We want to provide and abide in a space of harmony so that whatever arises in the moment there is a silent presence that guides our next move.\u00a0 Indeed it is only in this space of stillness that one can actually take the next step, despite all of our best laid plans and preparatory intentions.<\/p>\n

In that case, as I watch my hairless companions wind down at the end of their journey, I clearly have no idea what to do next as next<\/em> has yet to come.\u00a0 What does strike me as so very important is to really enjoy this moment, as her warm skin and heavy body drape across my leg and as we both take in a deep breath and simultaneous sigh.\u00a0 Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.\u00a0 Or as my friend translates … Dessert first, life is uncertain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some, the definition of God precludes all that which is deemed vile or vicious.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dharma"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1012,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions\/1012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}