The distinction between 'life' and 'death' thrives in bounded perception. A souls observation climbs the branches of time, occurring before, during, and after the labeled appearance of ‘death’. There are infinite manifestations one may perceive or be perceived by through the limited small-self’s imagination. Those that watch death occur made an agreement to conceive it that way. The experience of 'human' is simply what you’ve chosen. Soul is a reflective distinction, one that comes and goes. Wash away time, and the soul never ‘was’.

when we ask ourselves, 'who mourns the dead?'… we know our attachment to living causes grief.

Tao of Essence

(a partial declaration)

I no longer have the capacity to be lonely, 

I no longer can be full of grief, 

I no longer have the ability to be angry for extended periods of time. 

I can hardly feel shame, and when I do it blows away upon its recognition. 

I no longer am troubled by any guilt. 

All is as it’s supposed to be.

I think about a loss of a loved one… my grandmother, how on the mountain I imagined each aspect of her personality flying away. And when I came down to the core essence, what ‘she’ was all about, wasn’t actually her. 

Stripped of all attachment, that which comes and goes, I find myself at peace. 

Through this, I am like her, and one, again.

But I chose to be here, to feel these things, to honor the connection,

I miss her.

Grief subsides, and suffering becomes soft pain.

And although it sounds like defense, this state isn’t a broom to keep emotions away, as if to encourage ‘numbness’.

All the superficials become as if ‘almost never’. 

And I did give myself a chance to be angry, and through choice moved on.

And I did grieve, not quite long enough.

And I did feel guilt for that, until choice stepped beyond, 

and the shame I chose to consent… evaporated.