Taboo

[poliphilo]

I don't think it's death that's the taboo subject in our society- because, God only knows, our media are as full of images of mortality as an 18th century graveyard. No, it's not death we don't want to discuss, it's what comes after, that undiscovered country etc etc. The not very good movie I watched yesterday afternoon is predicated on society's reluctance to deal with it. Our heroine- played by Cecile de France- is told (because she's a well-known public face) that her publishers will take any book she cares to throw at them. She pitches a biography of Francois Mitterand. They say, "Great, here's a huge advance." So she goes away and thinks about it and decides she's not that interested in Mitterand after all and instead turns in the first couple of chapters of a book about her Near Death Experience. Her publishers squirm.

I was thinking, that's a bit exaggerated, but then I thought, no, actually, it's not. We don't talk about the afterlife. We're embarrassed by it.. The odd newspaper article- more likely to be published in the Mail than the Guardian- draws comments about "sky fairies" and all that fundamentalist rot from semi-literate Dawkinsians- and one realises why people who have something to say on the subject are reluctant to put themselves in the spotlight. Mention angels or spirit guides in any public arena and expect the cabbage stalks to fly.  My readers on LJ are too polite to shout at me but I notice that I never get any comments if I post about- say- the spiritualist books I've been reading. I used to have conversations here about God and the afterlife with dear jackiejj but since she went off to explore the undiscovered country for herself there's been next to nothing.

I refuse to believe people are simply not interested, because, really, what subject could be more relevant or urgent? We're all going to die and we're all either going to wink out like a candle flame or find out that, hey, actually...

Comments

[w. lotus (from livejournal.com)]

I am not one to do gratuitously difficult things either. :-) Though I suppose some of what I have achieved is difficult, but the difficulty was worth it, because the process and/or end goal was meaningful for me. I suppose someone who believes, as you do, that we choose in a past life what kind of life we will have now would say that is what you mean by choosing a tough life.

I have achieved things, and thank you for your compliment on my photography. But there are many other things I had wanted to achieve/experience that were outside of the limits of my resources and connections. If I had had the opportunity to choose my life, I would have chosen a life with far more resources, both material and emotional, than the environment I was born into. Those limitations made certain aspects of my life unnecessarily difficult.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Restrictions are what life on earth is all about. For example, and maybe this is a silly example, we can't fly without using machinery. That restriction applies to us all, but everyone of us is born with a particular and different set of restrictions. Even the Queen of England suffers them. In fact, for all her wealth and privilege, she is very tightly restricted. Can you imagine what it must be like never to be able to go anywhere incognito or do the shopping like a normal person or not have everyone you meet defer to you? All our lives are limited by genes and gender and race and class and nationality and place and time.

I think the point of the exercise- leaving the spirit world where anything is possible and coming to the material world where all things are difficult and many are impossible- is to thoroughly explore the possibilities to a limited field of action, to make the most of it and- if we're particularly pushy or creative- transcend it. Every life is unique and every life is worth living. Dealing with limitations builds character.

And if a particular life turns out to be disappointing- well, we get to have another go. And another. And another.

[w. lotus (from livejournal.com)]

I have found my character is far less salty the fewer limitations I must deal with. :-D