Don’t Wait For Death To Rest In Peace

I’ve been thinking lately about how on our gravestones, we inscribe the acronym R.I.P: Rest In Peace. And it’s quite ironic, because as a society we have the right idea: that life ends with us Resting In Peace. But we are under the false impression that we have to wait for our physical bodies to die before we can R.I.P. In fact, we don’t have to wait. The eternal peace assumed to only be available for those of us who have died is in fact readily available to those of us who are still alive. And inevitably, this will be realized by the collective consciousness of humanity.

The Buddha’s definition of enlightenment was “the end of suffering.” The flip side to the end of suffering is Resting In Peace. You know how when someone dies, we often say “I’m so glad that they’re no longer suffering”? Because we all intuitively know that the realm of death is the end of suffering, otherwise known as enlightenment, or Resting In Peace. We all seem to have this innate understanding that death and enlightenment are two sides of the same coin. Our culture, as terrified of death as it is, still has enough consciousness to inscribe the definition of enlightenment on our gravestones. When you realize this, it’s fucking wild and utterly mind-blowing.

In truth, not only is it possible to Rest In Peace, to psychologically die while the body is still alive, it is the inevitable destiny of all conscious creatures. Life on the physical level exists for the sole purpose of giving consciousness a sacred opportunity to know its inherent immortality, and to fully enjoy this immortality NOW. This is not a purpose that consciousness in its conditioned, egoic, psychologically entangled mode can ever hope to fathom. Conditioned consciousness can only find a purpose in its continual survival in the physical realm. It cannot find a purpose in death.. It cannot know the reality of Resting In Peace, the realm of the eternal. And it cannot help but suffer as a result of this.

The primary way one can assist the dissolving of suffering in others is to fully acknowledge the inevitability of physical death, and in so doing learn to increasingly rest in deeper and deeper dimensions of peace, harmony, and compassion. When you (meaning, who you think you are psychologically) dies before the body dies, true Life is given to all beings everywhere. And please don’t believe that because it sounds nice or brings temporary comfort or pleasure to you.

Live it.

Test it.

Find out for yourself what these words are pointing towards. No one can take the journey of psychological death for you. It must be undertaken alone. And you cannot take anything, ANYTHING, that you believe to be “your’s” with you. Death is the doorway to eternal peace. Just not for the “you” that you think you are.

May we all rest in the peace beyond the doorway of death. Not later, but Now, Now, always only Now.