DEATH

A Natural Part of Life
Letting Go of our Fears
& Learning to Die Properly

By Jack Allis

 

I am almost sixty-five years old.  For several years now I’ve been feeling like I’m not going to be around here much longer, in this world.  I’ve never really understood what this meant, just that my time here was coming to a close.  And I’m ready.  I’m ready to take that journey to the next world, whatever that is, and do it with joy in my heart.  I have a strong sense that my work in this world is done, at least almost.

I have created a beautiful bundle in this world.  It consists of several things.  Since I am a writer and a singer, my bundle reflects this.  It consists of the four books and two DVD’s I have created.  It consists of the ceremonial events and teachings I have facilitated and all the other counseling and teaching I have done over the last 35 years.  It consists of my own personal growth and spiritual work and development.  And most recently, the coup de grace, it consists of my move to Bear Paw Meadow and the part I am playing in building this sustainable community in this sacred place.  Of course, there’s more to my bundle, but you get the idea.

Some of you may be wondering what a bundle even is.  It’s a term from many indigenous cultures, and it actually has different meanings.  Here, it is a metaphor for what we have done in this world to reach our full potential as multi-dimensional spiritual beings.  It is the work we have done to fulfill our purpose as human beings, which is to serve the creation.  If you don’t have these things, then your bundle is empty.  You leave this world with nothing, which means you take nothing with you to the next world.  You’ll have to do it all over again.

And to be perfectly blunt, I’m tired and sore.  Over the last 5-10 years, my physical body has become quite crippled, with a bad hip, a bad back, blind in one eye, arthritis in my hands,

tendinitis in my shoulders, and cramps in my legs.  I am unable to walk without my sacred cane.  And please don’t hear this as whining.  I’m just stating facts.  And yes, as always, I believe in our ability to connect with the healing energies of the universe, which can be miraculous.  I also believe that sometimes we just get old.

People always ask why I don’t go to a doctor and get my hip fixed.  First of all, it’s not an option, as I don’t have health insurance and couldn’t afford it.  But it goes much deeper than that.  It’s a choice.  A little over twenty-five years ago, I made the decision to have nothing further to do with the established medical system.  To put it simply, I would rather die than subject myself to that.  I made the decision to live the rest of my life the old-fashioned way, naturally.  And this includes dying, whatever that means.

It’s logical at this point to ask why all this is happening.  Initially, I was totally baffled about why my physical body was aging so rapidly, especially since the rest of me, including my mind and my spirit, were so healthy and alive.  This didn’t make any sense.  I was born with the physical constitution of a bull.  I never got sick, and I didn’t even work at it.  I always truly believed I would live into my 100’s.  So, what did I do to bring this upon myself?  The traditional doctors, of course, would say it’s all genetic, and the New Age healers would unquestionably find deficiencies in my nutrition or with my chakras or my alignment or something.  The fact is I’ve done nothing wrong.  My physical aging is the natural result of one primary thing.  I have lived my life to its absolute fullest, moving from one challenging and death-defying experience to another.  This has made my mind and spirit strong, but it has put a lot of wear and tear on my physical body.  I have about 200 years of living on this 65 year old body.  Yes, I could have taken better care of myself, and lived less excessively.  Things might have been different.  But I don’t regret a thing.  It’s been a wonderful life.

Plus, my spirit guide, the Council of the Grandfathers, recently sent me the guidance to prepare.  This message didn’t suggest it was imminent, just to get my affairs in order, so that when the time does come, I’m ready.  My own sense of it is I have 2-3 years left, maybe a little longer, maybe shorter.  And it’s ironic that the longer we take to complete our preparations the longer we will probably be around.  Once those preparations are complete, there’s no reason to stick around.

Writing this article is one of my preparations.  I believe this may be one of my final teachings, and I believe I have something important to say here.  And as you have probably already noticed, one of the most important aspects of this teaching is the attitude we have about death, both our own and in general.  This is yet one more thing that our old paradigm civilized world has gotten completely wrong, and one of the many reasons for its demise.  And we, the children of this insane world, have been programmed and brainwashed by it, and carry many foolish ideas about death around with us.

From our earliest years we learn that death is a four letter word.  It is a taboo, something we shouldn’t even talk about.  We learn that death is to be feared because it is an end, not a beginning.  Either that or we believe in the possibility of passing on to another world where we will be tortured for eternity for our sins – also rather grim.  We do not learn to embrace death and see it as part of the cycle and the process of eternal life.

We also carry around the idea that death must be painful and catastrophic, which it usually is in our world that is so out of balance.  We live in an age of epidemic and debilitating disease, another of the hallmark characteristics of our decadent old paradigm world.  The vast majority of our role models do die in an unpleasant manner.  With these attitudes and experiences, death is in control.  We don’t choose to die.  It takes us, against our will, with pain and suffering, and we aren’t even allowed to talk about it.

How do we change our attitude about death?  There really is only one way.  This is through the conscientious practice of our spirituality.  And let’s be real clear too about what is meant here by spirituality.  The spirituality I’m talking about is the same as the indigenous people from all over this planet, including the Maya, the Hopi, and virtually all the other Native American tribes.  All these indigenous systems of spirituality are derived from the same source, and that is nature.  The centerpiece of the lives of these people was their ability to live sustainably as a function of their harmonious relationship with the natural forces of their world.  This too is where they found spirit.  And the cycles of nature taught them that in nature nothing ever dies.  Everything is eternal energy, which simply changes its frequency and its form.  Same is true for us.  We don’t die.  We change form and location, as in dimension.

Everybody hears this, and may understand it in their mind.  When we follow the spiritual path, we learn this thoroughly, through our experience, and it becomes a fiber of our total being.  Transformation is an inherent and ongoing feature of the spiritual life.  We are continuously taking leaps into the unknown, and like the snake, shedding our skins.  Every time we experience such a transformation a part of us dies, and this is no metaphor.  When the butterfly emerges from the metamorphosis of the caterpillar, the caterpillar dies, and lives on in this other form.  It’s the same with us.  For most of us, when we make this total commitment, a major part of us dies – the part that was brainwashed and deadened by our old paradigm world.  Every night in our sleep, our consciousness dies, and we live on in our dreams, many of which are inter-dimensional journeys.  So, we on the spiritual path know death.  It is our ally.

So, the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth is a natural part of the cycle of all life forms, in this world and in all the others.  Once we have accepted this, what is the relationship we have with our death?  How do we prepare for it?  In the deepest sense, we don’t prepare for it at all.  Death prepares its bed for us, and when the time comes, we are invited under the covers.  Like everything else in life, preparing to die simply means flowing with these energies, and being sufficiently plugged in to know when the time is right.

In purely practical terms, there are several extremely important things we must do to prepare.  First, we must make sure that our physical possessions pass on to the right hands.  If we have any kind of an estate or bank accounts, we must complete a will that clearly and legally stipulates who inherits what.  We have all been tricked into being slaves and the property of our current system, and it would be more than happy to steal as much of what we leave behind as possible.  In my case, there probably won’t be much money left, but there is my cabin at Bear Paw Meadow, plus two Jeeps, a car, an Internet satellite dish and hardware, and lots tools and other odds and ends.  I have made sure that all these things stay at Bear Paw, where they will do the work they were brought here to do.  In these various forms, my spirit will live on.

We spoke earlier about our bundle, and defined it as a metaphor for the spiritual actions we have taken in this world.  For many of us on this path, our bundle also takes a physical form, and our preparations involve what to do with this.  This bundle consists of physical objects that have played a primary role in our spiritual journey.  These are usually placed in a special pouch or bag, and they can be very different for different people.  Mine is a brightly colored red bag depicting a bird high atop a spectacular tree.  Since I am a writer and a singer, inside my bundle goes my four books and two DVD’s, and my music makers, my buffalo skin drum, my rattlesnake moth shakers and my two singing bowls.  Also included will be several stones from sacred sites, my necklaces, a couple pouches of herbal medicines that have been important guides, and an empty bottle of Weed Lemurian Lager, one of my favorite pleasures of this material world.  My sacred cane will also accompany my bundle.  This probably holds more of my essence than anything.

I have also made a special written request to my sisters and brothers at Deer Mountain to pack my bundle at the time of my passing.  In this written request I also request that a ceremony be held to honor and celebrate my passing and to help my spirit make this move.  This ceremony will be held at my cabin, and packing my bundle will be done at the conclusion.  I also make specific requests regarding certain things I’d like done at the ceremony, such as forming a circle around my central altar, singing certain songs, with my drum and shakers, and spreading my ashes at the four directions around the cabin.  I don’t know yet what to do with my bundle.  That’s going to have to figure itself out.  Maybe I’ll gift a lot of it before then.

That just about covers it, and there are no stones that I have not unturned.  Like the spiritual warrior I am, everything is accounted for.  So now, there is one last thing to complete this preparation.  This is to form a vision of how we want to die.  As most of you probably know, in order to manifest anything, it is first necessary to form a vision of what you want to manifest.  This is what allows the energy to take shape.

I want to die in my spot, which is in my cabin, sitting in my special chair, at my central altar, facing east.  Upon this altar are a single candle and the shell where I burn my Sage.  I sit in this spot every morning for a ceremony and every night before I go to bed.  The day will come when my sisters and brothers at Bear Paw see that my Jeep is here, but they haven’t seen me in a while.  They will come to the cabin, and find my body sitting peacefully in my spot, the candle probably out.  My spirit will have departed.   That is the vision.  Let’s see how it crystallizes.

Everything will be accounted for.  I will be fully prepared to move to the next world, like packing a suitcase for a trip.   And I have no idea what this world will consist of.  I have never studied past life regressions or future life progressions.  It’s not that I don’t believe in those things.  It’s just that I have chosen to expend my spiritual energy in other ways.  I don’t know if I am going to reincarnate into another physical body for another physical experience or if my energy will have a higher frequency that transcends physical form.  And I really don’t care.  I have chosen to live my current life with a total focus on this world.  Whatever’s next is totally OK.  My spirit will flow with whatever energies there are.

 

Jack Allis is an author and spiritual teacher, who for years has been a foremost voice on 2012 and the shift, with 4 books and DVD’s, and talking to audiences around the country  about preparing for this unprecedented time of monumental transformation.  Every word has turned out to be true, and his work will long continue to be an inspiring guide for how to navigate these challenging times.  Jack is also the living embodiment of his work, practicing everything he preaches.  Most recently, he has followed his guidance to Bear Paw Meadow, a very sacred spot in the remote mountains north of Mount Shasta California, where he is an integral force in building a sustainable community, with spring water and solar power.  In his talks and workshops, Jack also shows people how to take spiritual action in their lives through the use of ceremony.  This includes prayer, fire ceremonies, drumming and music, and singing and chanting.  Get in the loop now by subscribing to his popular monthly newsletter, or check out his books, DVD’s, videos photos, audios and articles at www.jackallis.com.