![\"20040517random002\"](\"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/20040517random002.jpg\")
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(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight<\/A>)<\/p>\n The famous German poet, Rilke, said that death is one of our best friends, since he teaches us how to live. (I stole that from a girl that I \u201calmost\u201d know.)<\/p>\n But what is death?<\/p>\n The Christian influence in my life tells me it is the passage to a life eternal, a state of bliss, a place where there is no pain, no tears, no suffering. It is a place of reward and blessing, a place of forgetfulness of the world\u2019s tragedies. It is a place only for \u201cthe faithful.\u201d<\/p>\n The mystic in me says it is merely a transition to the next phase of whatever this is that \u201cI am.\u201d It is nothing to fear, the awakening into something, possibly, a bit better than what I experience in whatever it is that I currently \u201cam.\u201d It is a continuation, not a destination.<\/p>\n The computer programmer in me, logically, informs me that it is a \u201cdivision by zero,\u201d an \u201cabend,\u201d a \u201cfatal error.\u201d Does not compute. Does not compute.<\/p>\n The human in me shouts that it is that which questions, \u201cHow can \u2018civilized\u2019 human beings unleash an explosive powerful enough to wipe out nearly the entire population of Hiroshima in a split second?\u201d It is the sister question, \u201cHow can they do it again on Nagasaki just three days later??\u201d How? How? How?<\/p>\n The alcohol in me tells me\u2026 nothing.<\/p>\n What is death? Doesn\u2019t this question beg the question, \u201cWhat is life?\u201d<\/p>\n The Bible, in the book\/epistle of James describes life as a \u201cvapor,\u201d which appears only for a \u201clittle while,\u201d then is gone.<\/p>\n Translation: \u201cIt is the smoke of your cigarette, which disappears into the night air,\u201d possibly leaving a bad taste in your mouth.<\/p>\n What is that \u201clittle while?\u201d What IS it really?<\/p>\n It is color, peace, love, affection, sincerity, feeling, empathy, beauty, sensitivity, caressing, holding, protecting, enjoying, forgiving, tolerating, teaching, helping, encouraging, inspiring, congratulating, creating, sharing, embracing, comforting, light, truth, mercy, discussion, reason, inclusiveness, oneness, acceptance, flavor, enhancement, addition, supplementation, assistance, forbearance, construction, orchestration, blending, hand holding, bowing, respect, pouring forth, spreading out, lifting up, enveloping, making whole.<\/p>\n It is persistently asking, \u201cWhat positive elements can I add to the above list?\u201d<\/p>\n Life IS up to ME.<\/p>\n No, this does not fully answer the question begged. But, it’s a start. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Originally posted on the website Heron Flight) The famous German poet, Rilke, said that death is one of our best friends, since he teaches us how to live. (I stole that from a girl that I \u201calmost\u201d know.) But what is death? The Christian influence in my life tells me it is the passage to … Continue reading “Begging the Question”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,41,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heron-flight","category-religion","category-social-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7186,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7185\/revisions\/7186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}