Open to the possibility of self-forgiveness. Let go of all the bitterness, the hardness, the judgement of yourself.

Make room in your heart for yourself. Say "I forgive you" to you.

Like Worn-out Clothing
We have seen people experiencing the same falling away of the body, the same inability to be the individual they thought they were, who are able to leave their old roles and duties behind like so much worn-out clothing. As their bodies grow weaker, their spirits and their participation in the moment grow stronger and stronger, until their old roles and old masks are seen as the bars of a cage, and they experience a joyful release from the part of their life that was made up of models and ideals of how they were supposed to be.

We have seen these remarkable people flow wholeheartedly into the vastness of what is, no longer kept captive by their models of the world. They see everything as present in each moment. It seems that all blocks to their perceptions are gone. They see how identifying with fantasies of the future and dreams of the past has kept them in prison for their whole lives. As one spiritual teacher said shortly before his death, "Today I am released from jail."

The Work of the Dying
It is from these remarkable people that we have learned that the work of the dying is to let go of self-protective control. To open, to live fully in the present moment, to accept the richness of each moment with an open heart, with a mind that does not cling to models.

These people are able to open up to an appreciation of all that is, beyond life, beyond death. They realize that they don't have to do or be anything to be who they really are. They have escaped from the tyranny of the mind, the tyranny of models and shoulds and musts.

We see them touch the real. We see them become part of what is. We see them let go of wanting things to be any other way.

Those who are able to open into the experience of dying are the most open-hearted, clear-minded people we know. If we might share a composite of what we hear them say, it would go something like this: "It's strange, but I've never been so happy in my life. I don't really know who I am, but it doesn't matter, because no matter who I think I am, I keep turning to to be something else.

"My knowing has always blocked my understanding, but now I am full of not-knowing, vulnerable, open. I had to lose it all to see how little of it was worth having. Somehow there is much more to me than I had ever imagined."

These people die in wholeness, without struggle. They seem to simply evaporate out of their bodies. Their death is like the rain falling gently back into the ocean.

Our best wish and hope for ourselves, our friends and family, and for you, is that we might, each in our own way, follow their example. <