Even before the terrible tsunami disaster, I have been doing a great deal of contemplation on death and transformation. Not in a morbid way, but in an enriching way. We have many times of grief and loss in our lives, whether that be literal death of body or figuratively 'death' of a life's cycle (transformation and rite of passage events).

The sheer number of deaths and the great transformation of millions of lives that has occured by way of natural disaster really brings the subject right in our faces.

I am inviting everyone who is open to share their insights and lessons of death and transformation to have respectful dialouge. Please note: While I am certain that there will be no problems, I would like to just give awareness to the importance of respect in discussing this topic. All points of view will be respected - I mean for this thread to be a way we can all process and learn through our shared views. I ask that anyone who participates in this thread to hold this in heart when responding.

Namaste.

My new favorite parable about death comes from the book Tuesdays with Morrie. (Read the book for a more eloquent version of this.)

There is a wave in the ocean. He loves being a wave. As he is rolling along one day, he gets closer to the shore, and sees the waves crashing there. "Oh my god!" he shouts to a fellow wave. "That's going to happen to us!" He's devistated and terrified. "You don't get it," the other wave says to him. "We're not waves. We're the entire ocean."

I try to identify with the part of myself that is the ocean, so that when the time comes the transition will be easier.
I lost three of my family members (my parents and my brother) at an early age, so ever since childhood I've had an obsession with death. It's profoundly influenced my life. This is where I am now with it.
I'm open to the idea of reicarnation of individual souls, but I don't spend a lot of time with that aspect of it. I guess because I'd rather merge with god-consciousness than be reborn.

mmmmm.... I really like that imagery of the ocean. It sounds very similar to what Martin Prechtel www.floweringmountain.com says. He is an Mayan Shaman, and teaches that 'this world' and 'the other world' are like a tree growing in the earth. We are the part of the tree that you can see - the trunk the leaves, the branches. The other world is the part of the tree you don't see - the roots. The roots put the sap in the veins and provides the life. We are not seperate beings between the lives, but we lose our memory of the root world a few months after we are born. It makes me think that the wave in the ocean story perhaps had similarly forgotten what it was like in the ocean world. :)

One quote from Martin Prechtel that has really been a source of much meditation recently is "Grief is Praise for what we have lost." Much said in those words. I am eagerly awaiting my copy of his CD "Of Grief and Praise".

That's really amazing art on that website! That's his, right?
The tree thing is beautiful. I respond the most to visual images like that, that I can use for meditation.

adding, I also am intrigued by "grief is praise." I think I need to read that.