Death and Celebration

Celebrations of life, love, survival, prosperity and death.

6:36 am... The celebratory season is now upon us. Diwali filled the houses, streets and sky with colorful lights all across India and Southeast Asia yesterday. Halloween is now being celebrated in the US, UK and across Europe. Dia de Los Muertos, the Mexican holiday honoring the memories of those who have passed, follows on November 1st. Before long Thanksgiving and Hanukkah,  Christmas and Kwanzaa, Boxing day and dozens of other celebratory opportunities will be laid before us.

We revel in the joy of living for these next months, perhaps because (in the Northern hemisphere, at least) the days grow shorter, the harvests are being completed and the ominous oppression of winter looms over the horizon. There is nothing like the fear of death to give cause for celebration of life. Of course, you don't need a holiday to appreciate life. After all, death is always looming, waiting to strike. A fact which we often fail to appreciate. Why fear anything in life, when death waits for us all?

I'm not trying to be morbid. Just observing that our celebrations are so often about persistence and survival, and the joy that is to be found and appreciated in life. But our daily lives often lose this appreciation for what a wonder it is to simply be alive. How often do we hear of those who have near-death experiences and suddenly begin doing all of the things they've ever wanted to do? What was holding them back before? Fear? Fear of what exactly? Failure? Embarrassment? Death?

We all fall victim to it, don't we? Let's break the fear wide open this year. As you go about your holiday activities, remember that every day is a day to appreciate life, stare death in the face and laugh, and then go out and live the life you dream about... ghosts and goblins beware... 6:56 am...