Consider, for a few moments, this mystical and yet practical gem of venerable advice: \u201cIf you die before you die, then you won\u2019t die when you die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the timeworn inscription over the entrance to an ancient 10th<\/sup> century monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. Its main message is better elucidated and explained by this quotation<\/a> from the writings of Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a>, the prophet and founder of the Baha\u2019i Faith<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 drown thyself in the depths of eternity, that death may not overtake thee, and that thou mayest abide forever in the shadow of the everlasting Face of God. Thereupon shall the fragrance of the All-Glorious be diffused from the realm of the All-Merciful, and thy heart shall grieve no more over the vicissitudes of a fleeting life and the turns of a transient fortune.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s unpack and consider these two profound and paradoxical passages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cif you die before you die\u201d \u2014 how does that work? How can we drown ourselves \u201cin the depths of eternity?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n RELATED: How to Get Ready <\/a>f<\/a>or Death<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It seems that the deep wisdom in both of these pieces of spiritual advice urges us to consider the inevitable end of all material things \u2014 including our own bodies \u2014 in a serious way. We will all die, they affirm, so in order to transcend our bodily death we have the option of actively contemplating and coming to grips with that physical end long before it happens. Once we do, we can decide to die to this world and therefore begin living in and for the eternity of the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know we\u2019re only here in this place as temps \u2014 so shouldn\u2019t we be planning for our more permanent existence, for the next world beyond this one? Shouldn\u2019t we be preparing for our move, which we all know will happen one day? Yes, the Baha\u2019i teachings emphatically confirm<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n God, the Exalted, hath said, \u201cHim will We surely quicken to a happy life.\u201d Supreme importance should be attached, therefore, not to this first creation but rather to the future life.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n We each have the ability to recognize that reality. When we do \u2014 when we understand that our souls live beyond the confines of the body, and will continue to live when the body has turned to dust \u2014 we can consciously decide to focus on and prioritize our immortal life over this troublesome and fleeting mortal one. Abdu\u2019l-Baha <\/a>outlined that decision in this passage<\/a> from his writings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such is this mortal abode: a storehouse of afflictions and suffering. It is ignorance that binds man to it, for no comfort can be secured by any soul in this world, from monarch down to the most humble commoner. If once this life should offer a man a sweet cup, a hundred bitter ones will follow; such is the condition of this world. The wise man, therefore, doth not attach himself to this mortal life and doth not depend upon it … <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n From another perspective, both of the passages about preventing death from overtaking a soul imply another kind of dying \u2014 a dying to self, a transcendence of the individual ego. In his writings, Abdu\u2019l-Baha described<\/a> that selfless spiritual state this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Release yourselves from this world\u2019s life, and at every stage long ye for nonexistence; for when the ray returneth to the sun, it is wiped out, and when the drop cometh to the sea, it vanisheth, and when the true lover findeth his Beloved, he yieldeth up his soul.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Until a being setteth his foot in the plane of sacrifice, he is bereft of every favor and grace; and this plane of sacrifice is the realm of dying to the self, that the radiance of the living God may then shine forth. The martyr\u2019s field is the place of detachment from self, that the anthems of eternity may be upraised. Do all ye can to become wholly weary of self, and bind yourselves to that Countenance of Splendors; and once ye have reached such heights of servitude, ye will find, gathered within your shadow, all created things. This is boundless grace; this is the highest sovereignty; this is the life that dieth not. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n RELATED: Facing the Day of Resurrection \u2014 and Judgment<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This mystical task \u2014 transcending your innately selfish lower nature and actively developing your soul\u2019s higher spiritual one \u2014 constitutes the central message of all Faith and every conscious spiritual path. If we can manage to reduce our fear of death, it allows us to envision an unlimited horizon and engage with life fully and joyously. To do that, we must, the Baha\u2019i teachings recommend<\/a>, \u201cbe born out of the matrix of naturalism, out of the baser nature:\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 just as in the first birth the fetus comes forth from the matrix of the mother into the conditions of the human kingdom, even so the spirit of man must be born out of the matrix of naturalism, out of the baser nature, in order that he may comprehend the great things of the Kingdom of God. He must be born out of mother earth to find the everlasting life. And this collective reality, or spirit, of man, being born out of the world of nature, possessing the attributes of God, will continue to live forever in the eternal realm.<\/strong>That rebirth requires the recognition of this great truth<\/a>: \u201c\u2026 the spirit of man is not composed of material elements, it is not subject to decomposition and, therefore, has no death.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Consider, for a few moments, this mystical and yet practical gem of venerable advice: \u201cIf you die before you die, then you won\u2019t die when you die.\u201d That\u2019s the timeworn…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":86182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[3152],"series":[5495],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86161"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86164,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86161\/revisions\/86164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86161"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=86161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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