In the book Black Elk Speaks, Black Elk explains to the interviewer what happens to a person when they die. The interviewer asked, so, what happens when you die? And Black Elk responded with, “I become a part of It.” But, what is It? It… It… Ummmm… Hmmmmm… Well… I’m about to offend many people with the following comments about life, religion, and basically everything, so beware if you read on.
It is God, but not the Jesus or Allah of the Christian and Islamic faiths. In comparison these named gods are fall far short of the Tao. A translation of the Tao means life and the Tao Te Ching means Way of Life. In the Tao, there is no God as most religions think of the concept, but rather a huge life force that we are all part of. Something that connects all of us and everything. As humans we arrogantly believe that we are very special and that life is the soul possession of us; but, in fact, everything is alive. For the Taoist, all things are part of one whole and everything is in its proper place; you simply need to open your eyes and look to see how all things are connected and co-existing.
This brings us back to Black Elk, who, to my knowledge, wasn’t officially a Taoist, but he explained one of the aspects of Taoist thought and belief in death. Death is not the ending of life; it is only a transition to another form of existence; another form of living. Our misperceived concept of being separate and apart from all other things in creation melts in death where we come face-to-face with “becoming a part of it.” To become a part of it is to understand that we fit into the universe just as all other objects, animals, etc. do. Some people find the idea frightening. They want their heaven; they want their reward for following their book; but the truth is that the reward is becoming part of it. Think of the wonder and adventure of understanding the entire cosmos. The joy and pleasure of learning the secrets of the universe and also interacting with it.
Once Jesus carried a message to the Jewish people that was met with cynicism. He explained that the great kingdom that God had promised the Jewish people could be found in Love. Many people were outraged, because they wanted the “reward” they had been promised; they couldn’t see or understand the truth — that Love is more powerful than any army or castle or kingdom they could imagine. Ironically he was killed for this message of Love then the message that Jesus brought to humans was corrupted and some people began to worship his memory instead of love. The Tao is suffering from a similar problem; people think it sounds too simple and too easy to be true, but more often than not, the truth is simple. Life is energy and energy makes matter and everything in the cosmos is actually one giant organism.
Discuss that one around the dinner table tonight.
