Having seen a glimpse of God, the world is seen as conscious. How then should we understand life and death?

Life is the unity of things.

When a body is alive, the parts work in unison. The eyes see a shelf with some food. The feet then carry the body over to the shelf. The hand picks up the food, and the teeth bite into it. The tongue tastes the food, and the throat swallows it. Then the stomach takes the food, and breaks it down, and the whole body benefits. All parts of the body work together for a goal. Each part is distinct, but none of them are separate. When the different parts of the body work together, then the body is alive. Life is unity, death is fracture.

A dead body is a body whose parts can’t work together. The body is placed in the dirt, and slowly, the different parts start falling away from each other, until the whole body becomes dirt. Now, the body can look the same before and after a death. The difference is that the parts stop functioning together. The center cannot hold, and soon, it all falls apart. Some parts of the body might work for a few days, even after the body itself has died. Some parts of the body might even be moved into someone else’s body. This happens when someone is an organ donor. Even when the first body has died, the different parts can live in other people for quite a long time.

But, just like the body can die, a relationship can also die. Two people were once united, and now they’ve fallen apart. Together, they were one body, but now the relationship is dead. The relationship stopped working, but the people can be moved into different relationships. Like the organ donor, the relationship can give its “organs” to others. But when the relationship starts dying, both people suffer. This is just like the body that suffers, when one of its parts is removed.

Now, this is also true with groups of people. They can be alive together, each person doing their own part. Or the group can die. This is when the people stop working together. You can also look bigger: a society. Different people are pulled into a society. One person is the foot, and another the hands. One person is the  eyes, and another the teeth, and each person benefits from working together. A society dies when its parts can no longer work together. Life is unity, death is fracture.

A body can die. A relationship can die. A society can die, and a mind can also die. When the different parts of the mind work together, a person is happy. When you go after someone who you think is cute, and they make you feel good, and they help you complete your life goals, then all the parts of your mind agree. But if you go after one person because they look really good, and then another person because they make you feel really good, and then another person because they help complete your life goals, then the different parts of the mind are not united. They spend their whole life chasing, but never building. This is a small taste of death, and death is painful.

And it can get worse. The mind can be so fractured, that it can’t form a unified thought. Every part of the mind is pulling in a different direction, and the different parts can’t be held together. The mind becomes murky as thousands of thoughts compete in a free-for-all. This is death, and death is painful.

And death is a process, actually. You can go deeper and deeper into death. More and more fractured. There’s no end to dying. On the other hand, you can grow in life. Your thoughts can be more and more clear and unified. Your relationships can be more and more unified too. Society can be more and more unified, and we can enjoy the joys of life. Know that God is the life of the world, and the source of all life. When we fracture with God, we go deep down into death, but when we attach ourselves to God, we grow forever in the light of life. There’s no end to God, and there’s no end to the joys and growth of life. Life is unity, and death is fracture. Make peace with God.