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SMarrie's picture

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1.  I do believe that humans could learn many important life lessons from the non-human world. I suppose that the world as depicted in one’s near-death experience could count as such a world since it is a world of spirits. I have read about many people that were once not very good people learn to be better human beings after they had their NDEs. One woman was inspired to appreciate her friend more after seeing her in heaven and making up with her after they had a fight right before she was run over by a bus. I suppose we could also learn important lessons form the animal world as well. For example, we humans learn from the mourning rituals of certain birds that we are not the only ones that grieve for our lost ones. Furthermore, such rituals teach us that we should focus on what makes us similar to rather than different from animals in order to understand ourselves better. Humans and animals might have more in common than we think, you see. Most animal species will not murder one of their own, and supposedly animals have no morals! I do not think it is always easy or even possibly to learn something from a source that you cannot perceive. After all, we cannot talk to animals and we cannot guarantee that there is actually a spirit world or anything beyond our ordinary human existence. Instead, we can only guess what might be beyond our perception of things.

2. I do believe that people should not just fear and resists breaks, but see if such breaks could result in something good. Breaking from convention and trying out new things is a great way to live, even if one does make mistakes along the way. It enables one to grow and flourish creatively. While I can understand fearing breaks such as “death” and the “loss of a loved one,” I am curious to hear about any good breaks. I almost never hear about such things, so I wonder what good could come out of a change in schedule. For example, is death really such a bad thing if there is such thing as a heaven? Does everything really stop after death, or does a new life begin? I remember that Mexicans seem to celebrate death with “The Day of the Dead” and laugh in Death’s face to show that they do not grieve. Do we really lose our loved ones forever or can we still be with them, but in different ways? But why do I not hear very much about breaks other than those related with death? I ask this because most of my readings on “what is breaking” seem to relate back to death and its effect on us? I would like to know just how we could celebrate or look more closely into breaks since I do not know of many as of now. It will be difficult for some people to want to celebrate breaking, though. Entire societies, such as Japan, see the status quo as a preservation of harmony, and such people do not wish to disrupt it.

 

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