No Ancestors, No Earth, No God(dess)

Do we need to believe in something bigger than humanity?

No Ancestors.

Probably a quarter of my friends have now done DNA testing to find out where they “come from.” Isn’t this interesting… We don’t know where we come from. We don’t know where our bloodline came from, we definitely do not know where our dead relatives’ bones are because we have stopped caring. Only a small few of (mostly Native) North Americans care for their ancestors but  for the rest of the population the general mentality is, why would we care for dead people They’re dead. Yet, many cultures around the world care for their dying and dead and continue to respect and care for and celebrate their ancestors. It’s a thing. People do this. But not here, not us.

No Earth.

Why would we pay attention to which way the wind is blowing or what the air smells like just before the rain when the Weather Channel will give us all the alerts we need? Storms are assigned human characteristics and scary adjectives to couple with the new wave of words needed to describe our crazy weather so we have a “polar vortex of rip-tearing bombogenesis headed toward us.” Slowly at first and now more rapidly we are fearing our own earth’s “wrath” and at the same time stripping it of it’s vitality through slaughter of animals, deforestization, fracking and oh-so-much more. Our earth is not something we are teaching our children to cherish or connect to for nourishment, comfort, respect, and proof that life cycles are natural and good but rather as an “other”—as something that we live on and that we take from. 


No God.
Religious groups have stolen, tortured, raped, killed, molested, caused wars and enslaved humans to the point where, at least in North America, we are swiftly giving up on organized religion. Along with the laws and wars of the “higher powers” the Gods have fallen. We can’t even say the word GOD without people freaking out. Fewer and fewer are turning to the church or religious standards when they want a ceremony to commemorate love or death. People who were once avid church goers sometimes begin to doubt God over the years and then when they are old they say they do not know what they believe in- I have heard this many times first hand from the elderly and dying.  My own age group is in a kind of spiritual-atheist-yoga-meditationism that seems like it's growing like mycelium and will soon- if we don’t turn into Handmaid’s Tale- overcome us. 

Fine, all fine. But when death happens that loose structure of spiritual-atheism crumbles if you have not gotten specific with your beliefs. If North Americans don’t believe in ancestors, or spirits, or god or goddess or the very earth as a place to connect the living and the dead then when they get to their deathbed what is it that they believe “happens to them” when they die?  Some of you are thinking, “I don’t need to believe in any one thing and I don’t need faith in something external.” Ahhhhh, but when you are headed into the unknown depths of mystery that no one can advise you on because no one living is an expert on death, you will seek, you will want some kind of comfort. Or, you must be an expert at surrendering to nothing. If that’s the spiritual atheism you abide by and you are still cool with your own death, then, sweet. Let me know how it goes.  

Let’s say you have not thought of something larger, or wiser, than yourself that produces comfort for you. What happens when you have not bothered to connect to anything larger than yourself- besides the internet? What are we to understand or believe in or have faith in on our deathbed that will give us comfort?

Nothing? Do we fizzle out into…Nothingness? Sure, but what if you have not taken the time to contemplate nothingness and what that might “be” like or “feel” like or “sound” like? Well, that could be scary as hell.

Enter:  “Death: Scary as Hell.”

Okay, let’s back up. Are you scared of babies?  Like, where did they come from?!? Yeah, that doesn’t happen very often. But if we are petrified of death and dying and where our consciousness will go or not go, then why are we not equally terrified of where consciousness came from?  They’re both kind of freaky if you ask me. 

But, how bad could it really be? Newborn babies don’t look all that terrified to me. If anything, they look to me like where they came from was pretty sweet and NOW where the hell am I? Trapped in a flailing body that poops and spews and needs and wants but has no means of communicating with an oblivious caretaker…. This could actually be defined as a hell realm.

How often is the diagnosis from the doctor: “you’re dying.” That doesn’t happen.  It’s more like, “we have a treatment plan.”  Suddenly, the treatment plan is like God. Medicine and technology and research are God and they are going to save you. Gotta admit sometimes the All Knowing Internet feels an awful lot like God! Okay, once you’re done with that thought, keep going. Then what? Society’s death-phobia feels like a slow evil plan to make us believe  money and power are the ultimate goal, because we can be saved by them and therefore it’s okay to ignore death. But we can’t. We are only, and constantly, running from death. That is all.

So, then let’s talk about death. Let’s investigate our beliefs and where they came from. Let’s ponder on where, if anywhere, our consciousness does or does not go--or, if it stays. Could it be that we need to care for our ancestors, not necessarily for the benefit our dead but rather as a comfort to those that are living… And dying? We could stop vilifying the word GOD and just see what comes up when we start talking about the mysteries of connecting and disconnecting human to consciousness.

I won’t offer up a question when it comes to the earth. It is time to consider our earth and how we help or do not help to replenish life with our own dead bodies. A quick progression in that arena would be to stop embalming and instead let our bodies decompose naturally in the active microbs of the soil. (No judgement on those who have wished to be embalmed their whole life- I just recommend that you read about it first.) From there we create life with our death and enhance the beauty and vitality of our planet with trees and flowers for pollinators and other magical things. (No, there’s not room for every body in cities but check out human composting.) No one has to have any solid answer. Your answer can be all your own, or maybe you do not have an answer but it will likely be helpful to contemplate this before you are in the active phases of dying.

Some of you will say that you believe in Love.  And, yes, me too. But, will you get to where you are "going" on love? Love is a human feeling and awareness and understanding that alive people feel- but when you die, you cannot rely on your human brain- the humanness of you will be gone.  I'm not a love basher- I just want you to think about your beliefs.  Get specific. 

In the meantime, I’m sure folks are working on how to purposefully upload and download consciousness via inter/ether net, so ...

Thank you for reading. The artwork is not mine but click on the photo and it will bring you to the owner. If you are the artist, and wish me to remove it, please message me and I'll happily do so.