“Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.”
Gandalf to the Remnant of the Fellowship
There are several different kinds of tears; tears of sadness, tears of anger & tears of Joy. The first two tend to go together, because most often, anger is a symptom of sadness, which is itself a symptom of a more deep-seated issue. Then again, Joy is often mixed with sadness, as witnessed at many tearful partings, such as the final breaking of the Fellowship in the final & monumental Lord of the Rings movie. The Joy of heading for what might be called 'a better place' is most often intermingled with the sadness of those left behind.
When Jesus wept, as recorded in John 11:35; He did so for several reasons, most obviously for the unbelief of His fellow Jews, who had become so blind as to ignorantly disbelieve that Lazarus could rise from the dead. They, of course, thought that He wept for His dead friend, which was not totally beyond the pale, but it should be noted that Jesus, knowing that Lazarus would indeed soon embrace his loved ones again, wept also for the Joy that was before Him! As a human being, yes, He pleaded for that cup to be taken away, but as More than Human, He knew that, in order for His Joy to reach its Height, He must drink that cup to its dregs!
Tears of Sadness, like all tears, are temporary. In this Life, things just seem to happen, sometimes, for no good reason. These things are most often outside of the realm of our control, like the death ( I won't say 'loss' for they are ALWAYS with us ) of a loved one. I have, in the course of over half a century, this go 'round , experienced this a number of times, though, I dare say, not as much as many, or most! For some, those in particular who believe in some kind of afterlife, whether it's '72 Virgins', or strumming harps in some otherworldly 'Paradise, this Sadness comes because of attachment issues, but at the same time, this Sadness is often tempered, to varying degrees, with Joy; Joy, not only because the one who has passed is in 'a better place', but also because they believe they will see their loved one ( s ) again. This is not to say that they won't, but maybe not in the way they think!
I'll be honest; as I was going through my Facebook this morning ( pretty much my morning routine; that & COFFEE! ), I read a post from a friend of mine with the picture above, which inspired me to write the one you're currently reading. Her post was along the same lines, but I wanted to elaborate & throw in a few of my own thoughts to boot! The loss, as the overwhelming majority of people sadly term it, of a loved one is truly a sorrowful affair, if for no other reason than this; we will most sorely miss their bodily presence, along with all the comforting constituent elements. However, it is also a joyful affair for, not only are THEY in a better place, so to speak; such a time also gives us a chance to grow, to determine within ourselves, for one thing, whether we will allow our grief to define us & also, to discover for ourselves what we truly believe, or know.
As Human Beings, it is only natural that such an event would cause us emotional pain, for as such, we are emotional creatures. No matter how evolved we become, no matter the higher frequencies in which we begin to vibrate, we always, as long as we inhabit this 'meat vehicle', will have to deal with this issue! Neither is this a bad thing, for tears, as many have learned, are cleansing. I always say; "they're in there; they gotta come out!" Most often, I'm speaking of the emotions themselves, though these usually involve tears, but as the case may be, there is a healing effect when we release our emotions. Without this emotional release, in fact, they usually act in a cancerous way. They even have the power, one might say, to rewrite DNA! I'm no scientist, of course, so that may not be factual, but I would propose that the rewiring of our brain would not be out of the question when it comes to the power of our emotions!
Sadness happens to the best of us! Okay, so maybe that sounds a little cocky, but hey.............'if the shoe fits', right?! But seriously, the point is that EVERYONE has their moments: "As above, so below"; no matter how far you are along the 'Ascension Path', no matter how well you've learned to practice 'mind over matter' ( MOM ), when Life 'happens', it WILL, to whatever extent, knock you on your ass ( either that, or you're not as far along as you thought, i.e., you're not being honest with yourself )!
I wish to recount for my readers my own first 'real' experience with death. At the time, 'as luck would have it', I happened to be attending an Independent Fundamental Baptist church & the 16 year old daughter of the deacon of the church had experienced immediate 'cessation of life' in an unfortunate four-wheeler accident. I'm not proud to say, nor am I embarrassed, that I actually broke down & sobbed at least once at the funeral! 'Why did I cry?" Well, yes, even though I was not close with this young girl, I was a good friend of her father & mother, so much of my sadness was for their 'loss'. They, however, were more stalwart than I, or so it seemed, maybe because they had more experience in that area. Though they, of course, were saddened by the early departure of their youngest child from this life, they held dearly to the 'fact', as they saw it, that their daughter was now 'in the Arms of their Lord', or 'Heaven'. This was yet another reason for my sadness; their misplaced faith that they would see their daughter again when they themselves died & went to 'Heaven'. As I write these words, it occurs to me that their faith, misplaced as it was, was not far wrong! As the case may be, however, the emotions that were at the root of my own sadness had their own healing effect, though they were only the beginning, you might say, of the troubles I have experienced in my own Journey!
My own sadness was, in essence, misplaced, for though I had barely begun my own Journey, I was a preterist, believing that Jesus had returned in the first century, as I, along with many others, perceived the Bible taught He would. As such, I believed their faith, their Hope was misplaced. Even though I now know that my own hope, such as it was, was misplaced, I believed at the time that they were wrong while I was right! Though I like to believe that I'm past such pettiness at this stage in my own Journey; this is in itself a cause for some sadness. No regrets though; I'm thankful for where I came from, humanly speaking!
If I had kept this sadness inside, I shudder to think of the emotional wreck I might be right now! One thing I can say about my personal Journey is that I HAVE progressed this far at least; that I'm not as afraid as I was to let my emotions show, to let my tears flow! Although I know I still have a long way to go, I have learned the healing power of tears! I realize too, that much of my current existence is dependent on a 'trauma response'. I say this, not to justify my actions, but to acknowledge that I still have a lot of healing to do. I foresee many, many tears in my future!
Namaste' & Blessed Be!
Sage Charles
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