I’m writing this on a beautiful Easter morning. It wasn’t my intention, but the significance isn’t lost on me. As you may have noticed, I often reference the Christian tradition. At one point, it was my truth, and I still carry with me much of what it taught. Easter was particularly meaningful for me. It was, and is, the celebration of one of the greatest stories ever told–a man who refused to believe that in life we’d become all we could, and who in death showed that the faithful shall rise again.
On this morning, we’re here once again to affirm that what we are is not all we can become. I don’t believe that humanity is destined to fight our petty fights for as long as we all shall remain. If we continue to give into our fears and continue to flee from that which we already know, I have no doubt that we have just begun to tap the cruelty and self-interest we seem sometimes so wired to perpetuate, but the good news of Thanatism, and that of all faiths, is that we are more than our biology. Thanatism teaches us that each of us can become more than what we currently are.
That change will not come from some outside authority rescuing us though. It will not come because we have been deemed worthy of everlasting life. Just the opposite, in fact.
If you want to become all that you can be as a human, it must start with accepting what you are. You must accept your body. You must accept your limitations. You must accept that you’re importance resides in you alone. And you must accept that at some point, you will be no more.
Through this acceptance, you will kill the ever-me–that “you” who you’ve nurtured and built up throughout your life. As with any death, this will hurt. It’s hard to let go of ourselves. Once done, however, you will find that the real you shall arise–a new you, one that has always been there but covered over by your fears. It may not have the majesty or privilege of the ever-me, but it will have a power that you’ve never experienced before–the power of the real.
You will know that you are living in the truth. You will know that there is no trial that life can bring that you haven’t already accepted. You won’t have to run anymore. You’ll be able to look into yourself and see that which is beautiful and that which is not. You will learn to live and work in the real.
In so doing, you will have taken the first step toward creating a new and better world. It’s foolish to think a new world can arise without the death of the old. It is foolish to believe that a new world can arise while its human inhabitants remain the same. Before we can begin to build a new and better world, we will each need to “die” again, and that death begins now and with you.
It is a great privilege as a human being to have a chance to start over. It is a great privilege to be able to see this world anew for the first time. It requires courage. It will cause pain. It may break you beyond repair. Do you have a choice though? When you look deep inside, when you put aside what you want, and look rather at what is, can you ever see yourself as the all-important, everlasting being you’ve struggled for so long to maintain?
I can’t. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. And having lived here in the real as long as I have, I don’t want to either. If you feel the same. If you would like to live in the real. And most importantly, if you would like to find others who no longer can or want to be something that they are not, I invite you to join us.