“Once upon a time Life and Death met at the bedside of a seriously ill man. They stood one on the right side, the other on the left, staring intently at each other. “Why did you come here?” asked Death. “He called me!” answered Life. “But he has never belonged to you!” objected Death, “As a ‘living’ person, he sowed only destruction and perdition, thereby faithfully serving me. See, his forehead is stamped with my seal. This is truly a man of Death! Go away, leave to me what belongs to me!” However, Life was unwilling to yield the position afforded it by the call of the human soul. “Whatever has a soul, concealing within itself the spark of Heavenly Fires, cannot belong to Death. That means you cannot take what is stamped with the seal of Immortality!” Life declared decisively. The man was lying on his deathbed, surrounded by silence, and only the measured tick of a clock disturbed his deathly rest. But all at once he thought he could hear voices, and those quite close by. After listening more attentively, he realized that they were talking about him. It was as though he had become an unintentional witness to someone’s dialogue. Indeed, to whom did he belong? Whose voice was closer to him? One of these voices was rude and authoritative, and its sounds increased the feeling of suffocation, as though someone were trying to tighten a noose around his neck. The other voice was decisive, but at the same time tenderly exhortative; its sounds had a most soothing effect, allowing its subject to take another deep breath. The one side blew a deathly, freezing cold while the other exuded a warm breath of living fire. As the man reached out to what had suddenly taken on the force of magnetic attraction, he began clinging ever so tightly to its life-giving currents.” ~Zinovia Dushkova
The Tale of Life and Death
There are many tales about life and death, why they exist, why they are equals (or not), etc. Most of them are complete fabrications of the human imagination. Many say that opposites must exist so we cannot have life without death. That is true on the physical level, but not on the spiritual. Some refer to an angel of death, yet they don’t talk about an angel of life. Others say there is no death, that it is an illusion. As if often the case there is some truth and some falsehoods in all of these beliefs and opinions concerning life and death.
Agent of Death
In the parable quoted above, Death is defending his claim to the soul of the dying man by saying that all his life he has been an agent of death who “ sowed only destruction and perdition”. He further proclaims that the man is stamped with his seal, and therefore his to take.
So it does appear by this description that the man was an agent of Death and deserves to be taken by Death and denied immortal life in spirit form. But here is where the problem lies: it isn’t all that the man is. For beginners, it matters whether or not he acted as an agent of death with intent, or simply out of ignorance. If it was with intent, he is definitely an agent of death and must be denied immortal life. It also matters what else he did. While he may have sowed destruction by fighting in wars, working in environmentally destructive jobs, etc., what if he also fed the hungry, gave generously to charity, and defended the rights of others, even when he disagreed with them. We are complex creatures and rarely all one-sided. More importantly, as Life notes, the man has a spirit and soul. We are not just beings of matter, though, for most of us, we might as well be such because we go throughout our entire life with our spiritual faculties in a dormant state.
When we “fall” into the realm of matter, our spiritual faculties must enter in a dormant state for their own safety. But we have an obligation to awaken those faculties and use them. This was taught in all the ancient mystery schools and spiritual schools but is not taught in most modern churches. Because we are not told to awaken those faculties, we never do so. Even when we have been told, we must still learn how, but that is another story for another day.
Call of the Human Soul
In the quote, Life will not give up on the dying man because his soul calls out for immortality. Actually, the soul and spirit are always immortal, it is only the body and mind that can suffer death. But here is the catch. If you die without awakening and developing your spirit and soul, after death they will separate from you and return to Heaven without you. Since they were never awakened while they were yours, they don’t know anything about you. You are truly dead, even though the soul that was once with you lives.
Victory for Life
The first thing we must know is that Life and Death are not equals. Life is immortal and far more powerful than Death. Death is a part of the aberrated realm of matter and just as much mortal as everything else in that realm. Death has no power whatsoever in the realm of spirit. That is just one thing that makes the world of spirit so desirable.
SO because Life is immortal, and Death is not, it is inevitable that Life will be victorious in their not-so-eternal battle. And since Life is an agent of God, while Death is an agent of Satan and Darkness, there are many other rewards for choosing life over death. So awaken your soul, stop being an agent of death, and stop thinking of Life and Death as equals.
