ALL GONE?
An Andrew Ramble
“If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung....”
Robert Hunter, Ripple
Death is the universally feared equalizer, but it’s the idea of death that we really detest. This is to say that we all know death is waiting for us, but for the most human of reasons we have an impossibly hard time accepting this reality. The biological reality that immediately after anyone draws their final breath, they’re simply All Gone.
So here’s the question; are we really done once each and everyone of us turns in for our eternal sleep? Personally, I’ve always considered and accepted the finality of “The End”, thinking that it would just be an enormous waste of the Cosmos’s extensive, yet efficient distribution of natural resources, to have me spend eternity sitting naked on some ethereal cloud, strumming a golden harp for eternity. (Now there's and image!) The alternative, Heaven forbid (check out my irony) of being boiled alive in a subterranean cauldron by some malevolently laughing demon seems…well it just seems silly. Still, I encounter many folks who forget their adult reasoning selves and slip into some level of accepting these fairytale concepts as guideposts for their everyday existences. But yet, the other side of the coin must be addressed. Just being All Gone is certainly more final and disturbing than my slowing and now firmly middle-aged mind is willing to accept. Knowing that this ultimate open-ended issue has the potential to drive me ever closer to the nearest in-patient psychiatric center, I decided to turn some of my reflections to the question at hand: How do we live on beyond death?
Installing ceramic, porcelain or stone tile is one of the more permanent material installation tasks I complete on a routine basis. I undertake this task as part of my ongoing effort to provide shelter, food and clothing for my beautiful family. (Believe me, tile never seems to go away, think of the wall mosaics they uncovered in those buried Pompeian whore houses from millennia past, or worse yet, think of the aged pink and grey tiles in your grandmother’s bathroom. Permanence indeed!) Well getting back to the thought at hand; while recently laying down some customer’s ungodly ugly tile selection, a strange notion came to mind. This was not a thought relating to my job, but rather a small epiphany, that at that exact moment I was creating a small vibration, a vibration that in its own way will resonate long after I am Gone, but probably not forever.
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| IT JUST CAN'T BE THIS EASY! |
Installing ceramic, porcelain or stone tile is one of the more permanent material installation tasks I complete on a routine basis. I undertake this task as part of my ongoing effort to provide shelter, food and clothing for my beautiful family. (Believe me, tile never seems to go away, think of the wall mosaics they uncovered in those buried Pompeian whore houses from millennia past, or worse yet, think of the aged pink and grey tiles in your grandmother’s bathroom. Permanence indeed!) Well getting back to the thought at hand; while recently laying down some customer’s ungodly ugly tile selection, a strange notion came to mind. This was not a thought relating to my job, but rather a small epiphany, that at that exact moment I was creating a small vibration, a vibration that in its own way will resonate long after I am Gone, but probably not forever.
Continuing to spread tile mastic with my three-sixteenth inch notched trowel, I went on considering the reality that each motion I was completing was creating a very small vibration in and across the world. Simply put, the more motions I make, the more vibrations I was triggering. (As a point of clarification, I don’t smoke pot at work, so stay with me.) As I understand the nature of these things, from my Science Channel education, vibrations are waves and many waves have the ability to last long and travel far. Case and point; light waves from billions of years ago arrive here on earth daily. Now, I’m all in favor of searching for an afterlife, and maybe making waves or vibrations is a way to achieving some type of afterlife, but billions of years? That might be more time than even I am willing to bite off.
Regardless of my personal requirements, let’s continue along this path. First, lets go to Hell. As I said, eternal damnation is one of the sillier concepts we humans have ever conceived of, however, Hell in the form of a forgotten abyss surely exists. It is the hole that portions of the life we waste descend into. Those days spent sitting in a cubical; the years spent watching our 401K’s performance; the time we spent trying to get a new video game high score; the hours spent cruising around Facebook, and the endless segments of our lives we spend sprawled out on the couch channel surfing. These are the non impact portions of our existences. During these “down times” we made no waves, no vibrations and no production. Surely these parts of our physical time here on Earth will be forgotten. Those who make a lifetime of this nothingness, experiencing, contributing, sharing, thinking and creating nothing, ultimately leave nothing behind upon their death and truly are All Gone. Gone into the forgotten void of indifference and ineffectuality. To Hell for lack of a better explanation, a Hell that ultimately awaits us all in some vast measure of Time’s incredible expanse.
Regardless of my personal requirements, let’s continue along this path. First, lets go to Hell. As I said, eternal damnation is one of the sillier concepts we humans have ever conceived of, however, Hell in the form of a forgotten abyss surely exists. It is the hole that portions of the life we waste descend into. Those days spent sitting in a cubical; the years spent watching our 401K’s performance; the time we spent trying to get a new video game high score; the hours spent cruising around Facebook, and the endless segments of our lives we spend sprawled out on the couch channel surfing. These are the non impact portions of our existences. During these “down times” we made no waves, no vibrations and no production. Surely these parts of our physical time here on Earth will be forgotten. Those who make a lifetime of this nothingness, experiencing, contributing, sharing, thinking and creating nothing, ultimately leave nothing behind upon their death and truly are All Gone. Gone into the forgotten void of indifference and ineffectuality. To Hell for lack of a better explanation, a Hell that ultimately awaits us all in some vast measure of Time’s incredible expanse.
In spite of this dour assessment, the real focus here is afterlife and our pursuit of the Heavens and an eternal presence in the world, as we know it. Well, in its typical context, Heaven is right up there with eternal damnation on the ridiculous side of the many philosophies we have regarding an afterlife. What is not silly or ridiculous is making a difference and having an effect on the world around us. Effects that are hopefully for the good but sometimes for the bad. This is when making vibrations in our world comes into play. Put in simple terms, life can be looked at as an oak table and we can consider ourselves tuning forks. When we live; show compassion or allow it to be shown to us; fall in love; have children; serve humanity; create works of art; develop new philosophies, or even install someone’s ugly tile, we are striking ourselves as that metallic tuning fork against that oak table and sending out vibrations through all of creation.
IS THIS THE KEY TO HEAVEN?
This is why the concept of judgment is so absolutely true and resonant in our existence. Life is short, fleeting to be more exact. We all have a portion of eternity before us, but that eternity is proportionate to how willing we are to strike ourselves against that table and let our vibrations ring through the ages. So take the chances you may not otherwise consider. Pick the fight you are bound to lose. Shoot off your mouth when you shouldn’t. Help those who need it and ignore those who just want it. Focus on life’s in-between moments and remember that becoming a parent makes you somebody’s ancestor in the distant future. Most of all, hit as many moments of life with as much effort as you can possibly muster. Just maybe, this will insure some long-term marker of your existence beyond that of a long forgotten grave.
ANDREW...SEEK HELP!
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