Is Metaphysics and Theology Always About Seeking? What About Being? Beyond Waiting to Die

John Alan Shope 2 hrs · This past year, many that I know have died. I often wonder what my dying will be like. Will I struggle and resist until life is forcefully taken from me? Or will I somehow be able to calmly let go...grateful for having lived and at peace with whatever happens next? Some suggest we practice "letting go" every day, so that when we face that final "letting go", it won't be so hard. Eckhart Tolle advises, "The secret of life is to die before you die - and find that there is no death." "Letting go" everyday may help, not only our dying, but also our living. But what about those who survive brushes with death because they refuse to let go? Their "will to live" keeps them alive. When does "letting go" become losing the "will to live"? Dylan Thomas insists, "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." "To be or not to be?" Hold on or let go? My 40 year old seminary professor, Oscar Thompson, was dying of cancer. He shared his struggles with us, and often remarked, "God doesn't give dying grace on non-dying days." I saw my dad rage against death, but then peacefully let go at the end. Elizabeth Berg reminds us, "There is love in holding on and there is love in letting go." These words from Aldous Huxley speak to me... "It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly... Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them....Lightly, lightly – it’s the best advice ever given me. When it comes to dying even. Nothing ponderous, or portentous, or emphatic. No rhetoric...and of course, no theology, no metaphysics. Just the fact of dying and the fact of the clear light. So throw away your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly. Lightly my darling, on tiptoes and no luggage, not even a sponge bag, completely unencumbered." 5 Comments Micah Hoover I don't understand how you can value the "dying grace" God gives while saying "no theology" and "no metaphysics". Are you referring to the over analysis of theology and metaphysics ? Reply 1h Kate Johnson Micah Hoover Because, IMO theology isn't from God, it's our inadequate attempt at trying to explain God, and even metaphysics too because it's always "searching/seeking". There seems like there must be a point of letting go of all analyzing and searching and finally just fully embracing the mystery. JMO Reply 1h Mark Rego Monteiro Micah Hoover My dear soul, I have some strong disagreements with you, but on this matter, I am pretty strongly in agreement, although I emphasize the modernized awareness of Jesus´ legacy of loving integrity in University/modern education-based, UN human rights-sustainability concerns and society with structured pluralism and the need for spiritual modernization. Reply 55mEdited John Alan Shope Micah Hoover over analysis and over confidence. I tend to agree with Kate. There's a time, perhaps, to let go of all our explaining, controlling, debating, judging...and just be. Reply 43mEdited Mark Rego Monteiro Kate Johnson I think you´re really on to something when you say that "there must be a point of letting go ... and embracing the mystery." I was simply raised oriented to education, and with minimal prejudice and strong inclinations of curiosity. So, I strongly agree with how you recognize the problem when you say metaphysics "is always searching/seeking". Yet, I am happy to understand and share from good time and effort that that´s not based on the available reality of resources. I´m an interfaith UU Quaker Christian, aka Gandhian Christian, in which UU stands for Unitarian Universalist interfaith association. Thus, Huxley´s reference to "the clear light" and the "quicksands of fear" hardly does justice to the incredible awareness of loving and just accomplishment that observe resurgent integrity in Christianity most centrally, with Huxley from an accomplished, frequently dissenting, yet privileged family, which deserves identifying in such detail to acknowledge the actual scope and dimensions of his own reality itself. My suggesting that approach isn´t just an idea, but based on my own meditative appreciation of the resources that have been available to me, and how I began to embrace approaches like Chinese Taoism and Buddhism which for all their own anti-intellectual angles, ultimately are not treated with chaos nor limited to mere disconnection from metaphysics not least of all. Quaker-Friend Christianity is perhaps one of the greatest reference points that shows how we can benefit from becoming aware of meditative appreciation of our spiritual-religious reality for its beneficial qualities, and that sustains the meaning of the Divine Love that Jesus actually put a the center of his mission in two loving Commandments for a Transcendental Divine Parent Entity of the Universe and its physical processes that evolved human minds. And the loving quality of that Entity when identified through the hub of the resources that trace to those loving Commandments in Jesus´ context. "The clear light" that Huxley referred to isn´t just a physical reality, or a metaphorical use of symbolic language, but a glimpse of a larger reality that people aren´t used to calling transcendental, which isn´t just a reference to the school of thought of Emerson. Still, Emerson himself had proposed the "Oversoul" for the transcendental Entity based on his studies of Hinduism. And so, "seeking" can very much mean, "facilitating" and I certainly advocate spiritual modernization to emphasize spiritual practice. Much like Karen Armstrong, in fact. I have found that my own interfaith and scholarly interests allow me to grasp the issues in the philosophy of metaphysics to address issues that have been left hanging, and to build on the great modern work in ideas by people like Ms. Armstrong, physicist-Systems Theorist Fritjof Capra, comparative religion scholar Huston Smith, and Process Theologian JB Cobb, not least of all. We definitely don´t need to wait before dying to achieve the benefits of just "being," and making the philosophy of metaphysics relevant to the full meaning of Jesus´ living and spiritual-religious legacy in University-based, UN human rights-sustainability society with structured pluralism with spiritual modernization resources.