The wise grieve neither for those who have departed nor for those who have not departed. This thought opens up many different dimensions of life. It is the wise who do not grieve for the departed, as they understand that an individual who has spent his life in growth will always continue to live and the one who hasn’t was long lost.
There is a clear difference between growing and aging. One who proceeds through life’s experiences and uses them to constantly add authenticity and integrity to his cognizance, grows. Taking every experience of life as a lesson in living these truths expands the consciousness. A person who has grown over time is one who will live on regardless of his physical presence.
One who is tired at the end of all of life’s lessons is only aging. When there is no will to stretch out as far as possible, a person is operating from engraved memories. For example, when someone is irrationally scared of riding a bike. He doesn’t allow himself to even consider the possibility that it is a perfectly safe act, let alone stretch out to understand the root cause of the fear and eliminate it. This is inauthenticity, and it is the reason for any kind of fear. Inauthenticity is the unwillingness to stretch to your peak potential in the given moment of life.
Due to lack of integrity arises greed. Integrity is fulfilling the words you give to yourself and to others. Instead of fulfilling the words given to yourself and to others, you frantically gather more and more words! When people fail to fulfill the words they made to themselves initially, they try to think of what they want further, planning more and focusing less on what was to be fulfilled initially. When they don’t take responsibility for things, there begins the pattern of depending on others, which makes a person feel powerless. This feeling causes worry, as there is always the chance that the thing one depends on will no longer exist. Selfishness arises from the lack of willingness of a person to enrich another with his own experiences. This selfishness gives way to a constant need for attention from others, as the person is unwilling to enrich himself or others around him.
When the emotions of fear, greed, worry and need for attention take their toll, the person is left exhausted by life. Such a person has simply aged with time, not grown.
Every moment spent in growing is an indication of life. When the consciousness is nurtured by authenticity, integrity, responsibility and enrichment, there is no doubt that the soul will never depart, even if the body departs. A wise man does not grieve the passing of a person who has grown, as he knows that he continues to live on.
For every moment of fear, greed, worry and selfishness, there is dullness. One could even say that this is death, as the soul has long since departed.
There is a technique that nurtures growth. Keep a diary that records every emotion lived during the day. For every experience, understand either there is growth and enrichment of the consciousness or there is aging that comes from exhaustion. This gives life a fresh start. It sends out the message that every experience in life, good or bad, can be used either to grow or to age.