The Art of Conscious Dying

[shaberon]

This seems to be kind of buried in the sand, but to me it explains and gives the purpose of life. Because to succeed at this form of yoga--conscious death--requires a couple of things:

Firstly you are going to need to die in peace, at home in bed or under a favorite tree. This prevents, wherever possible, suicide and the violent death of murder and war. You'd have spent your time in life trying to replace misery with joy.

And then you would have to prepare your mental ability to do it. You would have to be so calm that, for years prior to dying, you would not have been "going to sleep"--you would have been consciously leaving your material body. One day you just don't return.

Normally the conscious mind goes through what Tibetans call "swoons"--it falls asleep and breaks continuity, it goes through its waking day with various periods of fuzzing out, it mostly has no control over its dream state. Although it could be said that the mind of one who dies by a quick blast by, say, a grenade, might not even flinch and it might just be twenty feet away watching ambulances come along, sooner or later the "moment of death" will come true for them, and they say the mind will be like a bouncing ball, swooning and losing a little energy each time it wakes up again. From that point, they say the chances of it ever returning to lucidity, are very small.

So I try to think in terms of what it would take, just to let everyone die at home, in bed, peacefully, without throes of disease.

That would seem to require some very different conditions than standard empire fare. I find that this simple principle about death entirely embraces both outer, social, ethics, and inner, meditative awakening. Anyone get this?

[OMG]

What if you didn't have to physically die?

What if you could just consciously transmute your physical body, etc, into a higher state when you want to move on from physical existence, or vice versa?

What if unlimited energy and power was available to you from GOD/SOURCE right NOW?

What if there was a conspiracy to create the illusion of scarcity thus making all illusionary actions, ideas, etc, subject to imprisionment paradigms?

[Ioneo]

My goal since I was in my early 20s has been to die peacefully at home, in my own bed, from 'old age'. I have been conditioning myself to believe it will happen every time I think about death. I fully expect it to happen.

[kirolak]

I also hope for the same thing. . . . to drop the body peacefully & soar away. However, I know the sense of coldness & lassitude that creeps up when I have a hemiplegic attack is similar to a stroke, or to dying, & it is hard to maintain composure, without any sense of fear. I agree that one should practice dying; there are Buddhist techniques for this. A good death is the culmination of one's experiences, it seems, & I would not want to keep this body beyond its sell-by date. . . the notion of "ascending" in this thing doesn't appeal at all, after I've experienced the freedom of flying as a purple ball that can transform itself as it chooses. :blackwidow: I suspect that bodily identification will hold one back from the greater possibilities available to us.

[Bill Ryan]

.
I had a close friend, a few years ago — a very able guy, then in his mid-40s. He was a Pakistani by birth, but had lived in London for many years. He was a Free Zone (Ron's Org) scientologist, and also a Sufi Master — quite a powerful and interesting combination. His name was Naveed Maqbool, and he was a wonderful man.

One day — this was in Sept 2007 — he announced to his friends that his mission on Earth was complete, and that he was leaving. He said he'd throw a party, which he did. (I was in Switzerland at the time, and his party was in London, so I never went. I only heard what happened afterwards.)

At the end of the party, he sat down in a chair, and said "Okay, I'm leaving now." He kind of closed his eyes and appeared to go to sleep, and then he left. His friends, who had not been too sure what to make of the entire thing up till that point, then had to deal with a dead body, and it was all suddenly very real. It's the only instance I've ever heard of this at first hand.

:star:

[araucaria]

There appears to be a kind of profile of firstborn children that is different from children who have one or more siblings from birth (it includes qualities I hasten to add :)). Part of it I think has to do with having first-time parents who need to learn the ropes and make a few mistakes that they can later try to correct to some extent. The thing about death is that it doesn’t work that way: you only get one go at it and, as Pierre Corneille says in El Cid, your trial run has to be a master stroke. And even if you see reincarnation as a series of trial runs, you still ultimately need the master stroke to get out of Dodge, and maybe to achieve that you need to come into a lifetime where you hit the ground running.

[AriG]

These are wonderful concepts. I so wish that death, if it really need happen, could happen peacefully and consciously. A couple of years ago, I watched my brother in law die. He had been in an induced coma, post cardiac arrest and repeated resuscitation, for five days. When he was declared brain dead and the tubes were removed, it was clear that his spirit was still active. He was in pain. He was mourning the loss of his life. He was incredibly sick and incredibly sad. Problem was, his spirit was still in body, but his brain could not engage to support bodily functions. And when life support is removed, typically, people don't die at that moment. That's Hollywood feel good. It took my brother in law over six hours to die. And it was ugly, and dirty and smelly and heart-wrenching and noisy. And he was only 50 years old. :(

Same thing happened with my grandmother, but luckily, I was able to convince the intensive care nurse to make the call and bring in a hypodermic full of morphine that would have taken down a horse. She had a much more peaceful death at 102 years.

And even our animals, but at least with them, if death is not imminent, we have the kindness to help them cross. I watched an animal have a massive heart attack/cardiac arrest last year. Very traumatizing and not quiet at all.

I would like to choose the day that I walk out if I must walk out. That would be very empowering.

[kirolak]

I have always wondered why is takes so LONG to die :( My dear pet rat took several hours of gasping, rasping breaths. . . I nearly went crazy for her poor little self suffering, but the alternative was heart-stick at the vet, as it is hard to euthanize Small Animals by the usual means, apparently . . . .what is the Right Thing to do??

I have asked friends & family to take me to the beach when I seem to be on my way out, provide me with a bottle of good Shiraz wine prior to 2013(! I am fussy!) & leave me there, as I am sure to drink the wine & wander into the sea. . .the protein on my body will sustain various sea animals, I hope (my daughter is violently opposed to making pet food out of my left-overs! :))

I seriously feel we should discuss the subject of death, not be so secretive about the process - we practice giving birth, surely we should do the same with death?

I read a book (title & author forgotten, sorry) by a dutch doctor who was present at many "assisted" deaths. . . it seems that is the best way out, if there is choice. . . . & surely it is our own decision? Why is there such a cultural taboo against assistance at death - like the old railings against pain-free birth? It is the same thing, in reverse. . . & part of Life, not some sordid event.

[Mitm]

In the Anastasia series, firstly she says it was the dark forces that "invented" the concept of death, God created us to never die, they say Noah was 900 years old, and Adam and Eve also lived a long time. I guess over the years the 'virus' of death has taken over, and we each have our appointed time now I guess. Also her Great grandfather was able to stave death for some time, and then 'consciously' die. It is also mentioned that the priests that (used to) rule the world, are able to consciously transfer from one body to another when re-incarnating

[seah]

Flesh and bone bodies have no alternative but to die. I feel as kirolak said my body mind as well provide sustenance for nature in some way, though I don't think it is legal here in Canada.

Re Mitm comment above, I think if people ever lived for hundreds of years on Earth it may have been because it wasn't a 3D planet at the time. As for Noah, if he existed, surely he wasn't human.:idea:

[Mitm]

There was more oxygen back then, and everything was much more sustainable, it is said by some that they were only breatharians back then, sustained by the dew on the plants and trees... I also subscribe to the theory that pretty much all HIStory is a lie, and all the "millions" and "billions" are just pie in the sky figures.... we only know for sure about the last 2 or 3 hundred years... beyond that anything could have been made up....

[shaberon]

The one Bill mentioned is an advanced/very capable performance of the technique which perhaps says...this fellow has already practiced it many times.

Tibetans are inherently kind of anti-anemic; with regards to oxygen, I saw this from one of the many techniques used by a breath-holding record setter (15 minutes underwater)--who for part of his training stayed in Tibet. The thin atmosphere at that height will soon put an untrained person's lights out--and so over time, the body fills the blood with tons of extra platelets to store more oxygen in it.

The west is a death fearing culture in general, and then they put cemeteries everywhere, populating them by violence and disease. An ever expanding necropolis. A lot of people would laugh at something like conscious dying, they don't care how or when they go, and that...sounds like extra breeding room for violence and disease.

[kirolak]

I was surprised & impressed by the way two Muslim women who work with me, handled the death of a close relative of theirs (they are cousins). . . .they were sad but calm, told me they had stayed with the dying, saying mantras until he crossed over. . . then they washed the body, & came on to work. . .they left early to attend the funeral that afternoon.

[Ikarusion]

I have always wondered why is takes so LONG to die :( My dear pet rat took several hours of gasping, rasping breaths. ..
uhm, probably takes long if you fight the process and try to clinge on to life. which your rat might have done.
of course it also depends on the medical cause of death.

but yeah, id say the time of suffering or actual dying process varies greatly from person to person.

[shaberon]

Rats are particularly vulnerable to respiratory problems. It's not uncommon for them to get sick for weeks before going out like that. When I was small, I got sucked into the undertow of the ocean and I got pushed to the edge of where...the body is going to automatically gasp for air even if your face is in the water. Me or a rat could be mentally prepared to die but, we are probably both going to be controlled by reflexes against the pain and lack of breath.

Part of the rationale in dying consciously is that it's a purposeful act, not a result of lung or heart failure. Your decision to have left for good turns them off.

[rgray222]

This seems to be kind of buried in the sand, but to me it explains and gives the purpose of life. Because to succeed at this form of yoga--conscious death--requires a couple of things:

Firstly you are going to need to die in peace, at home in bed or under a favorite tree. This prevents, wherever possible, suicide and the violent death of murder and war. You'd have spent your time in life trying to replace misery with joy.

And then you would have to prepare your mental ability to do it. You would have to be so calm that, for years prior to dying, you would not have been "going to sleep"--you would have been consciously leaving your material body. One day you just don't return.

Normally the conscious mind goes through what Tibetans call "swoons"--it falls asleep and breaks continuity, it goes through its waking day with various periods of fuzzing out, it mostly has no control over its dream state. Although it could be said that the mind of one who dies by a quick blast by, say, a grenade, might not even flinch and it might just be twenty feet away watching ambulances come along, sooner or later the "moment of death" will come true for them, and they say the mind will be like a bouncing ball, swooning and losing a little energy each time it wakes up again. From that point, they say the chances of it ever returning to lucidity, are very small.

So I try to think in terms of what it would take, just to let everyone die at home, in bed, peacefully, without throes of disease.

That would seem to require some very different conditions than standard empire fare. I find that this simple principle about death entirely embraces both outer, social, ethics, and inner, meditative awakening. Anyone get this?

I find the idea of a conscious death appealing and provocative. I have always believed death is not necessarily on our terms, even suicide. How do you see conscious death as a means of giving purpose to life?

I have been reading and thinking quite a bit lately about death giving purpose to life. More specifically end of end-of-life suffering with dignity. I suppose you could call it conscious dying, but I believe it is similar but not the same.

[shaberon]

I find the idea of a conscious death appealing and provocative. I have always believed death is not necessarily on our terms, even suicide. How do you see conscious death as a means of giving purpose to life?

I have been reading and thinking quite a bit lately about death giving purpose to life. More specifically end of end-of-life suffering with dignity. I suppose you could call it conscious dying, but I believe it is similar but not the same.


For me personally, it is the major part of my ethos -- Mrtyuvacana or Mrtyu (Death) Vacana (Explanation). It's like a continuance of an axis. On a colloquial level it's called "Cheating Death". That is because it brings Health, freedom from accidents and disease, and Long Life. Life is Death in the sense that there is no death. There is, subjectively, experience of the moment of death, which has no effect on the reality of Life.

Moreover, the concept is like the ultimate in Lucid Dreaming. If you say you have a sharp mind, then, you would be able to overcome the wall of sleep, and experience a largely uninterrupted consciousness on a permanent basis.

It's that, except you never wake up in that particular body.

The factor of "dignity" sounds like an aversion to being propped up for years by medicine and machines while in pain or other debilitation. I certainly wouldn't want that. If I physically fail beyond a certain point, I believe my time is done.


It guides me because I want to discharge my karmas and not get in some horrible accident, it forces me to be as honest as possible to stand any chance to reach the goal, i. e., stable and peaceful dying. So it's simultaneously a moral and spiritual path at all times. Always the same.

I guess to put it plainly, there is such a thing as Death Consciousness which is not of this world, has none of the constructs as wired through the human brain, is rather an altered state of being altogether. And so we are talking about a form of training that develops this in the individual. Although there are other trainings, this one applies to everyone and is inevitable.

I can't swear to any secret information that will solve 9/11, or JFK, or anything else really, whereas the subject under consideration is the only thing I know is real, because it works. It's probably the only testimony I am willing to make.

I am aware that Islam, Zoroastrianism, and Mandeanism have a huge focus on Afterlife, although I cannot speak about results of those practices.

To me it is something like a grapevine, in the sense that there are other practitioners, some of whom are more powerful than me, producing a community that is revolving between de-carnation and re-incarnation. It has a buzz, or a glow, so to speak. If we believe we are reborn for vast untold eons, while invoking a spiritual light that causes the veil of death to drop off, it is building a self-amplifying legion of awareness.

The closest thing I can find in response to those others is a vision of Heaven such as in the Book of Enoch. It's scriptural Apocrypha. Otherwise I am relegated to Gnostic tracts such as Pistis Sophia. It's largely blanked out from most mainstream liturgies anywhere in the west. That is, Judaism and the Bible avoid confronting it almost completely.

I did not know that until recently.

[rgray222]

I find the idea of a conscious death appealing and provocative. I have always believed death is not necessarily on our terms, even suicide. How do you see conscious death as a means of giving purpose to life?

I have been reading and thinking quite a bit lately about death giving purpose to life. More specifically end of end-of-life suffering with dignity. I suppose you could call it conscious dying, but I believe it is similar but not the same.


For me personally, it is the major part of my ethos -- Mrtyuvacana or Mrtyu (Death) Vacana (Explanation). It's like a continuance of an axis. On a colloquial level it's called "Cheating Death". That is because it brings Health, freedom from accidents and disease, and Long Life. Life is Death in the sense that there is no death. There is, subjectively, experience of the moment of death, which has no effect on the reality of Life.

Moreover, the concept is like the ultimate in Lucid Dreaming. If you say you have a sharp mind, then, you would be able to overcome the wall of sleep, and experience a largely uninterrupted consciousness on a permanent basis.

It's that, except you never wake up in that particular body.

The factor of "dignity" sounds like an aversion to being propped up for years by medicine and machines while in pain or other debilitation. I certainly wouldn't want that. If I physically fail beyond a certain point, I believe my time is done.


It guides me because I want to discharge my karmas and not get in some horrible accident, it forces me to be as honest as possible to stand any chance to reach the goal, i. e., stable and peaceful dying. So it's simultaneously a moral and spiritual path at all times. Always the same.

I guess to put it plainly, there is such a thing as Death Consciousness which is not of this world, has none of the constructs as wired through the human brain, is rather an altered state of being altogether. And so we are talking about a form of training that develops this in the individual. Although there are other trainings, this one applies to everyone and is inevitable.

I can't swear to any secret information that will solve 9/11, or JFK, or anything else really, whereas the subject under consideration is the only thing I know is real, because it works. It's probably the only testimony I am willing to make.

I am aware that Islam, Zoroastrianism, and Mandeanism have a huge focus on Afterlife, although I cannot speak about results of those practices.

To me it is something like a grapevine, in the sense that there are other practitioners, some of whom are more powerful than me, producing a community that is revolving between de-carnation and re-incarnation. It has a buzz, or a glow, so to speak. If we believe we are reborn for vast untold eons, while invoking a spiritual light that causes the veil of death to drop off, it is building a self-amplifying legion of awareness.

The closest thing I can find in response to those others is a vision of Heaven such as in the Book of Enoch. It's scriptural Apocrypha. Otherwise I am relegated to Gnostic tracts such as Pistis Sophia. It's largely blanked out from most mainstream liturgies anywhere in the west. That is, Judaism and the Bible avoid confronting it almost completely.

I did not know that until recently.

Shaberon, I must admit you seem to be a living encyclopedia of obscure and often buried, esoteric information, which causes me to have a dictionary and a search engine on my second screen. If I have the time, I enjoy reading your post, but more often than not, I am briefly sticking my head into the forum a couple of times a day because I am on the run. So, I am wondering if you could put the above post into layman's terms using your own words without reference to obscure teaching. I am sure that my last comment caused a collective gasp by some readers, but this topic is important. I would very much like to fully comprehend your thoughts on the topic.

When I speak of dignity in connection with death, I am talking about fostering a sense of peace and acceptance through spiritual acknowledgement and emotional preparation. It would take mindfulness and a great deal of conscious meditation, which would aid in achieving the necessary mental state. You would have to create a peaceful, familiar, and supportive environment, such as a home setting with loved ones. This would ensure that individuals have control over their end-of-life choices without any type of pharmacological pain relief or life-sustaining treatments, which would preserve dignity according to your personal values. All this could significantly impact the dignity of the dying process and enhance the art of conscious dying. When it comes to matters such as this, I believe that we have always possessed the answers; we just need to find a mechanism to bring that information to the surface. Death is the final component of physical human life, and oddly, death can provide purpose to life.

Are we on the same page?
Thanks