“Time is a river flowing with the elements of creation; and a violent torrent, for as soon as a thing appears, it is swept away, and instantly replaced by another, which in turn is itself swept away.” (Marcus Aurelius)*
Attending the funeral of someone who’s been a friend for well over 40 years is a sombre demonstration of the veracity of what Marcus Aurelius observed. Not quite three score and ten committed to the flames and reduced to ashes. The swish of the scythe sounds ominously close.
For those of a catholic persuasion the requiem mass offered comforting words about heaven and resurrection, though they did little to staunch tears or lift the grim masks of bereavement. The closing curtains in the crematorium seemed to signal little other than finality.
Yet, without the flow of time’s river, however cruel it may seem to those floundering in its rapids, the universe would be in a state of stasis. Death would indeed have been vanquished if the torrent had been dammed, but there could have been no birth either.
That there is life at all is a wonderful creation that can only exist in a universe constantly in flux. However much sadness is felt at the passing of family or friends, it should be mitigated by appreciating that they came into being at all.
Because of the common human experience of fellow sentient beings it is certain that the universe is conscious and self-aware. Whether or not there is a greater consciousness than human consciousness, people possess the privilege of being, in part at least, the universe’s self-awareness.
For deists whether or not there is life after death is moot. Some, quoting the absolute lack of evidence, deny it. Others reason that the Power, Deus or whatever, that so ordered creation to bring life into being, may continue to do so beyond the limitations of this life.
If that is so it would seem unlikely that that might simply be a mere continuation, because change is the one constant. Perhaps that is the point. Death is certainly a radical change, but a necessary one no matter what is felt about it by those immediately facing it or others who, for the time being, remain.
Whatever happens to the individual consciousness, not so much as a particle is lost to the universe, even if a body is largely consumed and reduced by fire. As Marcus Aurelius went on to write,
“When something dies it does not disappear from the universe…it changes and is dissolved into separate particles, which are the elements that form the Universe and yourself. These elements undergo change, but they don’t complain about it.”*
*“The Spiritual Teachings of Marcus Aurelius.” Edited by Mark Forstater. Hodder & Stoughton, 2000. Page 143.
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