Death and Afterlife

Death: A Damocles Sword

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – August 21, 2021

Death hangs precariously over our heads like a Damocles sword ready to drop on us at any moment and time. The death sentence has already been handed down since we were born.

We were born to die in fact. And we can die any moment of the day even under normal circumstances. Death is already knocking at our doors now that the lingering Delta variant is getting worse and worse everyday.

Let's get the facts. We were born alone. We live our own life alone. We die alone. What a lonesome way to go.

But there's still time to change our perspective in life. While still living, let’s experience the process of dying so that when we are in the state of dying, we will experience the process of living consciously in our deathbed.

Experiencing both at the same time can be our most noble experience here on Earth. This is the art and science of living and dying.

Death is Like a Thief in the Night

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – September 16, 2021

I'm not trying to be morbid. I'm just trying to be a devoted die-hard freaking pragmatic realist.

Chances are, we will never see each other again during and after these trying times. But I hope this pandemic is shortlived and will end before our expiry date. For life can be incomplete without seeing each other before we depart from our earthly abode.

But, like Albert Einstein, I'll try to bargain for an extension of my life just so I can meet you face-to-face before the final curtain falls. In case this will not happen, we can always hope that in the future we will see each other again out there in the vast expanse of time and space.

In the meantime that the curtain is still up, let's continue communicating and communing with each other online in the social media and make use of our interaction as productively and spiritually inspiring as possible, mindful of our final destiny.

Is it Possible to Defy Death?

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – May 28, 2022

Defeating death and attaining immortality has been one of the most relentless concerns of humanity, even to this day. Gilgamesh tried hard to achieve it but failed. So was the legendary Daedalus.

Yet, Christians firmly believe that through Jesus, they have destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And, ever since, they have been victoriously shouting to the whole world:

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” ~ 1 Corinthians 15:26, 55.

Nonetheless, how I wish I could keep all my physical senses shut and dwell on the edges of oblivion, the realm of isolation and nothingness, where I can be forever unconscious of and unaffected by what's going on outside.

Preferring to voluntarily quarantine myself in my rabbit hole is much safer than be exposed to the malevolent and hostile atmosphere outside. Albeit dark, I can at least freely transform my little tunnel into a safer place for me and my family to live in.

The world I'd known three years ago is now taking a trip fast down the memory lane, now a fairy tale never to come back to me again. At the rate our crumbling world is advancing, nothing is certain and sane anymore any moment of the day. Nobody is in charge.

How I wish I could realize what Archimedes wished for: "Give me a place to stand and I'll move the world" back to where it was originally during the time of Adam and Eve.

But, for now, because of our indiscretion, the world is heading slowly yet steadily towards its own destruction, with its promised political and religious saviors still nowhere in sight.

Let's drink, dance, and be merry for tomorrow we will all die. Let’s live life while still alive. After death, there’s no more life.

I know I'm not going to be around here forever. And I don't know when my Last Supper will be. I don't know when the last meeting with my loved ones will be. I don't know when my last hug and embrace will be. I don't know when the last smell of the flowers in my garden will be. I don't know when my last breath will be.

But I only know it will come anytime like a thief in the night. I'm now heading in fact towards my final demise. There's no need to indulge in worrying and self-pity. Anytime, anywhere, my own little world will suddenly crumble and burst, like a bubble pricked by a needle, and I'll drop dead. There's no way of stopping it.

Paradoxically, while waiting for my space ship to land in the pre-departure area, there's still that powerful force, a spark within me that is ever jolting me into action to keep my adrenalin going.

In this animated state, I know I still have my last dance to perform before I exit this world. But I don't know when. This makes my life so magical and enchanting.

There’s no more need of waiting. If it comes, it comes. Let it come.

Immortality and Christmas

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – January 1, 2021

It's really hard to hear and ignore so many depressing stories in the month of December alone, especially if they concern our loved ones. As the year 2021 recedes, memories may still haunt us ahead. But they are an essential part of our growth and transformation. For even our saddest and gloomiest experience is recompensed by the blessings and graces we will receive this new year, as we have been receiving in the past. It's in fact almost improbable to count our blessings that flooded our life.

We have survived last year and we will survive this new year because we have always been and will continue to be helping and supporting each other, both in times of need and abundance. But we have to die first to have a taste of the afterlife.

A few years ago, pre-pandemic times, I was rushed to the ER due to some health condition. On my second day, I witnessed this patient, who must have been in his early twenties, being admitted early dawn to the bed close to me, literally at arm’s length, separated only by a movable curtain.

He was quite a jolly and entertaining guy who made the once sleepy ER staff alive and animated. Yet, in just less than 15 minutes after he was brought in, the patient cried out with a loud moan and released the last three of his breath. An emergency call over the public-address system instantly summoned all doctors- and nurses-in-duty to report to the ER immediately.

Suddenly, it was eerily, deathly quiet. Stunned by the sudden turn of events, I was so shocked to realize how precarious life is. I could be next. I imagined that sharp Damocles sword hanging over me ready to drop anytime with all its fury. That was one of the so many close encounters I had with a dying and dead person that started even before I reached the age of 10.

A few years after that ER incident, or in the early months of the year 2020, I had my own direct experience of death or near-death- experience, as they say.

Recalling all these incidents, I was forced to pause and reflect in solitude and silence. Even at my tender age, thoughts came rushing to my mind: Is this what life is all about? Just to drop down dead suddenly anytime of the day or night, anywhere I am, and whoever I am with? Is this it? Or, are we just passing by here temporarily or pilgrims, imprisoned in our frail bodies? But what for?

As I grew and matured, I came to realize that we are indeed born here, yet we are not meant to be here. If this is so, I asked about the meaning of life. What course will I take in college to give meaning to my existence?

Then, I remembered the words in the New Testament bible: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans, 12:2).

We are not created just to live and die. We are uniquely designed to be with our Lord God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. I know that the shadow of death is ever at my back, ready to snatch me anytime, anywhere. My death experiences were intensely painful and agonizing.

I just hope that when that time comes again, I can be more welcoming, calm, happy, and fully conscious in accompanying the Grim Reaper through the tunnel of darkness to the realm where everlasting Light begins and never to come back again in this planet full of suffering.