Conversation of Tao and Zen by Leon Basin and Will Slyfield

Conversation of Tao and Zen by Leon Basin and Will Slyfield

We are Born Alone and We Die Alone

We are born alone and we die alone. A simple concept, which continues to ring true throughout my waking hours of living. No matter what has happened in my life, I have come to conclude, that we are born alone and we die alone. Even if you are on your deathbed, and you have your family and friends wishing that you would not leave them; you seem to forget that they are there. When you are on that deathbed, all you can think off, and hope for is that afterlife exists and you have done good deeds in this world, so that you could return to a better life than the one you just lived and experienced.

Many people would feel lost for words, because no one really talks about being alone in this empty life. However, I feel that it is my duty to start the conversations, in order to get people thinking about their beliefs and sharing them with me and others.

Sure, we might come into this world as lonely souls, but we leave as experienced and lovable souls/spirits. Even the troubled souls/spirits who commit suicide have love in one way or another. One would argue that when we are born, we are not really born alone, because we have parents who are waiting for us on the other side of the plane. However, I would argue that we are in fact born alone. The womb is one lonely place. Even with all of the assistance by the Doctors, Mothers and Fathers, we are indefinably alone, because our surroundings are new. In addition, for 9 months that we are in the womb of our mother, we are also alone.

Coming into this world is a beautiful thing of itself. When we are born, our loneliness could be healed, if the environment is a right type of environment. Nevertheless, no matter how you spin the turntable, you come into this world alone. Having an environment that changes your loneliness is important. If the environment is lacking any consistent love, our psyche is broken; we stay broken and continue declining with a fear being lonely and not loved. It does not take much for that to change, however. Loneliness could be healed. Ignoring this fact is ignorance at it’s finest hour.

When we die, our surroundings might include the people we have given all of ourselves too. Sometimes, we die without anyone around and I would say that the death of not knowing when we die is a lonely feat of it's own merit. Death should not be looked down, upon. As death is a next step into a place that is not here. I do not know if it is better place than here, but I do know, it is a place from here.

When we are on our deathbed, we might feel love and happiness of how life turned out to be. However, many feel discomfort of how they lived their life. Even the ones, who feel happiness and joy when on their deathbed, feel alone as well. As they know that even if anyone is around them, they cannot take them with them.

I know that these thoughts might not ring true for everyone. Nevertheless, beliefs and thoughts change dramatically throughout ones life. I might be speaking from ignorance of age, experience, or both. However, you simply cannot deny, some of the possibilities I have outlined in this article/essay. Death is a difficult topic for many people who are involved. But it does not have to be a topic of pain and suffering. If more people speak or discuss this topic, we could learn ways to quite our hearts and minds, in order to prepare ourselves and our loved ones.
I wish to tell you a little story of my grandmother who passed a way about a year ago. From my encounter with her and the remembrance, I had about her and with her. I come to recollect that when she was born, the environment she grew up in, was a loving and a consistent environment of laughter and joy. However, with time, love and joy started disappearing from her life. Many reasons for that, one was her health deteriorated quickly. She was a very sick human being. I remember her living with one lung, half of a long intestine and hardly any small intestines. She was a strong person and a person full of life. But battling these kinds of health issues and others, played a huge roll in her difficulty in staying happy and full of joy in this life. I know that before her passing, she told my grandpa that it was her time to go. I remember my grandfather’s words vividly. “She looked at me, full of focus.” my grandfather telling me when I was visiting him. “I can feel that it is my time to go,” she said. My grandfather asked where she was going? her response was. “I'm going home,” she responded proudly as she fell to sleep. She slept a lot because she was not eating and so, she did not have much energy to do anything else. This was a difficult time for me. I was afraid of death before her passing. However, she gave me a meaning in order for me to search for my own conclusions to death. When she passed on, I begged her to contact me. I waited 8 months before my begging was answered. My grandmother spoke to me in my dreams. I wrote an article entitled, “Is There a Hell or a Heaven?” She responded in my dreams, “Heaven and Hell do not exist.” I was also able to ask her if she was all right and she was able to respond by saying, “I'm better then I have ever been.” She looked happy from what I was able to recall from my dreams. My grandmother had a gown that was all white. My grandmother had a long white gown that went down to her feet. You were able to see her ankles, but you could see that the gown hung loosely as it was free just like she was. It was as if she was floating in the air, smiling and answering my questions without any worries in her world. It was a perfect timing too. I was struggling with life as any other young man my age.
This little experience was one of many I have had during this life here on this planet. Death is freedom to my own existence and a way to reconnect with my self on another part of a paralleled universe.

Sometimes Life Has Turns and Disappointments

Sometimes life has many turns and Disappointments. Occasionally, these difficulties are so perplexing, that striving to focus on anything becomes a great challenge. Conversely, at times, such circumstances can actually lead to stunning realizations and growth when a person helps another explore his/her circumstances in a new light. Thankfully, I experienced this satisfaction in a difficult time, when an assignment to write a poem was given in tenth grade.

Writing presented such a challenge for me that I felt somewhat annoyed that the assignment included reciting my work in front of the class. This, I felt, was one of the worst things a teacher could have done. I never was comfortable, nor confident in my writing, and now that I had to write a poem and share it with my peers, I truly felt backed up against the wall. My mind fought to come up with a way to escape this difficult situation, though, I soon realized that I did not have such options, since I would have failed had I not attended that day. Having realized the inseparability of this dreadful situation, I resolved to apply myself as best as possible to completing the assignment.

The class was given merely a single week to write a poem, and I found myself awake for two consecutive nights simply stragetizing about what I would write. Considerably perplexed at being unable to find a topic, I decided to explore the Internet for a while. I stumbled across a web site on metaphysics, and after reading through it, miraculously I found a topic for my poem: the future! Energized by my discovery, I enthusiastically began writing, and did not fall to sleep until two in the morning.

The following day I had to present my poem to the class. I was extremely nervous, and even shaking, but I maintained my resolve to complete the assignment. When it was my turn to present my poem, I walked to the front of the class carefully, trying to not make eye contact with anyone. I stared at my paper for a few seconds, and then began to read slowly. As I read, I found myself much more comfortable with what I had written then I had anticipated, and I started to read at a regular pace. When I finished, I returned to my seat a bit more confident than when I had left it. I looked around the classroom to see if there was someone else to read their poem now that I had finished, but no one followed. I was starting to sweat. As I looked towards my teacher, I realized that she was smiling at me, which only made me more nervous. Then to my surprise, the teacher began to clap, and the other students followed with much applause and compliments. All my fear left me at that instant, and I felt very relieved.

I’m not sure whether it was my poem that touched the teacher, or the fact of what I had accomplished in her class in such a short time. The poem went like this:

“Captivated By Prophecy"

My mind is equipped with Electrical velocity,

it’s like a nuclear explosion that barriers are broken

into tingling pieces of Almighty incisions.

I am hoping for something greater now or later,

but it’s all in the human’s experience

through wisdom and hate,

I am engaging into an overdrive

to not complicate matter over longitude

but to make known facts that are based

into the future to accomplish things

through time.”

Four years have passed since that experience in tenth grade, and in that time I have experienced many more achievements and further strengthened my confidence. This growth has also aided me in other aspects of my life. I am now able to face fear of rejection from jobs that I have applied to, as well as turn into one of the better sales representatives for companies such as MarketStar and BdsMrke Inc.

Additionally, I have learned that having more confidence helps other people relate to me better. They are strengthened through my confidence. Contrary to how I first perceived the situation I faced, retrospectively I am greatly thankful to my teacher for giving me that assignment and providing me with a whole new way of looking at life.

A few poems I wrote a few weeks/months later:

I let out my sigh,

Inside my head I blame myself

I torture my own desires

In order to bring my own

Torture on oneself

I begin to take form,

In the morning of the dawn

I redeem myself

of providing fortune

in my own drawn river pawn

I kill to breathe, and deeply see,

my own disgrace

Beneath the grace,

Of my own existence

It’s an acoustic resistance,

That keeps on ticking

Like a kicking screaming fetus

It’s a thesis

That I staple in the gunning form

Stopped beneath my own stone

What sips into my veins,

Like electrical circuitry

I can’t combine my own combination

Of my own leakage

I plan to care, but in my doubtful mind

I am trapped so, I just look back up at you and reminisce of them

Times, I cared for life and for breathing to be alone,

Is my escape to something more

I sit here all alone,

Sipping water through my veins,

Is something I dread to morn for

I sit here lonely feeling I can’t relate,

Hoping for someone to catch me

Is something I longed to embrace

I just know it won’t happen, I know it won’t come true

So I will sit here all alone for two.