In Sadhguru’s last years beautiful New Years article he speaks about Living Death. He gives us an important reminder and an invitation to become more intimate with life’s only certainty – death.
Living Death
We have grown used to perceiving death as a horrible thing. But as Sadhguru explains, just like inhalation and exhalation, we must embrace both life and death. Through the embodiment of “living death,” we can create a different possibility for how to spend our time on this planet.
An excerpt from Living Death
“I would like you to measure your life in terms of intensity of involvement. Has 2019 been a year of involvement with life? Or is it entanglement? This is all you have to measure, because essentially, life and death are the only two things you are concerned about. The rest is all incidental.
The English word ‘Death’ has become a very negative word. People think that it’s a horrible thing. You cannot embrace something that you think is horrible, isn’t it? You must change that context in your mind. You must understand the context of what death is. It is not anti-life. Life is happening only because of death. If you get the context right, then you can embrace both.
Death is not a choice – it’s inevitable. It is by the will of the creation. Life is our choice. If you want to exercise this choice well, it is very important you take in all dimensions of life as one. If you accept only this sparkle and not accept what created you, what is basic to you, then you don’t have choices; you will become a compulsive force. You will live life also like death – in an inevitable manner, not in a conscious manner, not by choice. To exercise the choice well, you must become absolutely inclusive – as you embrace life, you also embrace death; you embrace everything.
In Yoga, every breath is seen this way – inhalation is life, it is birth, and exhalation is death. Life and death happening in one breath all the time – this is the goal of Yoga. The meaning of Yoga is union – that life and death have become one in you. They are not two separate entities for you; you are a living death. When you are living death, the consequence is a fantastic life, because ignoring the soil, can a tree grow?”
Artwork @filippaedghill
Words @sadguru