7/23/2019 Death Perfect Insult

1/3

Death is a Perfect Insultfrom The Enlightement of the Whole Body

We live like knowers, striving toward absolute information, but death is a perfectinsult that frustrates all knowing. The death of an other convicts us of our owndeath, and makes us ponder. But no ultimate knowledge comes from thispondering. Death is the frustration of knowledge. The knowledge that anotherhas died is itself the frustration of all knowledge. We are not knowing in our

pondering over death. We are contemplating Mystery, the answerless Paradox ofour living existence. The death of an other and the death of "I" confound thewhole spectacle and consolation of knowledge. Death is not the attainment of anystate we can know. Death is sacrifice. The only way to come to terms with death isto come into a harmony with its Process, its Way. And death is sacrifice, notknowledge or a Way of ultimate knowledge. Death is the sacrifice of knowledge, ofindependence, of experience, and of self.

The observation of the death of an other and the conviction of one's ownnecessary death are not a means to knowledge but a means to sacrifice. Sacrificeis the Law. Knowledge or secure independence is that which is sacrificed. If wetruly observe and feel the death of an other, we are moved to live by Wisdomrather than knowledge. Wisdom is the presumption of alignment with the Way orProcess of existence, which is Sacrifice. But knowledge is only a reflection of orabout the way things work. The knower is independent, not a participant in the

process that is observed. But Wisdom is always already confounded, relieved ofindependence, so that there is no option but to submit to the Process ofexistence itself.

"I" is the whole body. But "I" does not know what a single thing is. "I" cannot inspectthe existence of any thing and know what it is. "I" is, therefore, not a point of view

7/23/2019 Death Perfect Insult

2/3

toward or other than the existence of any thing or condition that arises. At thelevel of very existence and very consciousness, "I" is identical to every thing orcondition that arises. The "whole body," then, simultaneously includes all thatarises (past, present, future, or eternal), since, at the level of very existence and

very consciousness, "I" is unable to differentiate itself from any arising in order toknow what it is.

At the level of the experiential body-mind, "I" can know about things arising. Themanifest body-mind or "me" appears and functions relative to all other arisingconditions. Therefore, manifest or born existence is the play of knowing about,but it simultaneously exists as the consciousness than which there is no other, for"I" do not know what a single thing is, and, therefore, "I" is every thing. "I" includes

the existence of all that arises. The Condition of "I" is that of which all arising isonly a modification or variationbut which is not itself ever in any sense changed.

Such is the Paradox that is "I" in the case of every one. All arising, all beings aredescribed by this Paradox. And the ultimate destiny of "I" is likewise necessarilycontained in this same Paradox. It is Mystery. "I" is eternal Sacrifice, withoutultimate knowledge. Realization of the Paradox of our existence is not knowledge(a position independent of the Paradox) but it is Wisdom, or the tacit presumptionof the Way of the Paradox itself. If "I" presume the Way of Ignorance, the Law isfulfilled, and "I" am free to live and exist prior to fear, even though "I" constantlymove in Mystery and am given no ultimate knowledge. If "I" do not presume theWay of Ignorance, the Way of the Process of existence, but seek knowledgeinstead, then fear is the motive of my life, and existence itself always appears tobe at stake.

The recent death of an other and the death of "I," which is yet to come, are aperfect insult to all knowledge. If we rest in this insult, then we are moved to thelife of Wisdom, wherein no answer and no experience can ever possess or defineus. Wisdom presumes the Paradox and the Mystery of existence. Wisdom is movedto the Way of sacrifice, to love, to present happiness, and not to the Way ofultimate knowledge. Knowledge is never more than "knowledge about" and

7/23/2019 Death Perfect Insult

3/3

"knowledge about" is confounded by death. There is no knowledge about thingsthat is senior to death. Death is the transformation of the knower. It isfundamentally a process of the knower rather than a process of his or herknowledge. Death is a process in which the knower is transformed, and all

previous or conditional knowing is scrambled or confounded in the process ofdeath. Therefore, to consider death is fruitless, since the knower is what ischanged by death.

To confront death in Truth we must be humbled and confounded. The death ofan other reminds us that in every moment we are principally confronted not bydefined objects that are independent of us but by an indefinable Process thatincludes us. The death of an other reminds us that sacrifice is the Way of Life.

When we confront the death of an other we are confronted by Mystery orParadox, and we are confronted by the demand for participation or sacrificefounded in the acceptance of the necessary Paradox or Mystery of existence.Wisdom is such acceptance, and the participatory sacrifice is love or presenthappiness. It is unobstructed feeling-attention in all relations. It is to dwell in theprofundity that confounds all knowing. It is to resort to the presumption ofabsolute Ignorance as the Truth of our unknowable existence.

Hold on to no thing and no one, not even your self. Be certain of no knowledge.Be the sacrifice of all conditions in every moment, and thus abide in Communionwith the eternal Truth, wherein the root of our independence is eternally hiddenand our common Identity is always already Revealed.

In this Way we will affirm and participate in the necessarily eternal Existence inwhich we all appear: Let us surrender into Infinity with all our friends and hold on

to no thing or condition that ever appears. Let us forget all things in presentHappiness, and so forgive the universe for all its playful changes. Let us alwayslove one another, and so forgive one another for appearing, for changing, and forpassing out of present sight. So be it.