Death is required to sustain life.

In the natural world things die each day so that other things might live.                                                                                                      The same principle proves true in the spiritual life.

Life is due to death.                                                                                                                                                                                          Conversely, death is the absence of life.                                                                                                                                                           Without death there would be no life.

Jesus taught clearly about this.
“I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.”                                                                                                                         “You must be born again.”  Jesus called his followers to die.

We can die willingly, as a choice, or we can run from this death.
Following Jesus means,  “I want rightness and love more than I want anything else.”

The pursuit of righteousness is the pursuit of love. God is love. But in order to be made right we must die.

So as far as we are willing to die is the length to which we are willing to be born.

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“Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle”(Plato).

We are each constantly at war within. The greatest battles that we each face are not external ones—they are internal.

Certain ways of living do not work in the world: they bring destruction, hurt and suffering.

“Broad is the path that leads to destruction, but narrow is the way to life.”

My sister is a nurse and she introduced me to the term “Active Dying”. This term is used in a hospital setting when a patient is in the last moments of life. The picture here is not simply of someone that is slowly, gradually dying, but rather one who is on the verge—pushing quickly toward death. Actively Dying.

Each of us is wired to have different types of struggles. This all depends on a variety of factors: genetics, family upbringing, life circumstances, etc…

Take me for example: my family has a history of dealing with the world anxiously, and so the same has proved true for me. This anxiety does not create life in me. It creates confusion, distraction, worry, and death. For me to experience true life this part of me must be actively dying. As I gain more traction against this death in my life, the more I feel a sense of freedom, lightness and the absence of darkness.

But in order to experience life in these types of areas, we have to be willing to die.

Imagine an enormous nasty creature that resides on your back. It just clings there– always present affecting how you interact with the world. Perhaps you know its there, but ignore it. Some people have the ability to see the creature clearly and understand it, and some people just see the affects of the destruction. Either way, we carry the creature into the world and it causes destruction constantly–until we are ready to kill it. But we have to want to kill it. We have to have the power to kill it. Some may not believe that the creature can die. Some do not have the courage for the battle. Some will remain burdened by the creature their entire life.

The first step toward rightness and love is desire to participate in active death.

Kill the little beasts.

The world is made right by people that long to kill the little beasts.  They long for right-ness and love to permeate the world.

As we put to death these beasts we cultivate light. Life then begets life.