A dear companion died after a long illness, a year ago, in my home.  Finally he was free of the pain and suffering, the many I’s, the illusion of a body. In the days before he left us, he was wry, wise, and strangely light-hearted. Seeing my cell phone in my hand as I sat by him, he said, “No time for phones.” And there was no time, indeed. He wanted to watch a final movie, with Cary Grant, “The Bishop’s Wife.” An angel comes down to earth to help a couple through a crisis, in the movie. 

The freedom we imagine angels to have also is a freedom seen in descriptions of the astral body, or higher centers, of an awakened person. Freedom of movement, “as soon as think the place where they would be.” Free of human emotions tied to instinctive concerns and fears. Free of course from personality, even the “true personality” created by years of work on oneself. Rather, one expects a pure seeing, a pure doing, serving the needs of the moment. 

Light hath no tongue, but is all eye. – John Donne

Freedom, like consciousness, is a human birthright. But it must be claimed, won, lost and regained, until it becomes permanent. 

Die before you die, so that you do not die when you die.  – Sufi saying

Watching a loved one die creates a tremendous energy within. Such events serve as major shocks to our sleep and to our aim. For weeks, it is harder to assume that this body, with its preferences and dislikes, habits and limitations, is our true identity. Rather, shocks like this help us connect to a reality behind the maze of life, not individualized, no longer subjective.

Following this death of our friend, and the immense gap we felt in his absence, one stares long at the mystery of life and its ending note. Where did he go? But we can say, free at last.

Rowena Taylor is one of the editors of FourthWayToday.org. See earlier articles by Rowena here: https://fourthwaytoday.org/author/rowena/