As you probably know, we are all going to die one day.
As we become aware of that, we should surrender to life with much more joy, making things we always postpone, respecting the precious minutes that are passing by and will never come back, disclosing and discovering horizons that can be interesting or disappointing, but deserve at least a little bit of our effort.
It’s normal that we try to avoid death.
It isn’t only normal, it’s the healthiest attitude we can adopt. It is an aberration however to deny it, as the awareness of it lends us much more courage.
If I were to die today, what would I like to do that I haven’t done yet? This is my thought every morning. I learned, along the Saint James Path, that the Angel of Death is my best counsellor.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo says to his disciple: ‘All of us want to live and that is absolutely natural. However, we should learn from childhood on to choose our best way to die.
‘If we don’t do that, we end up spending our days like a dog, only in search of harbour, food and expressing a blind loyalty to his owner in return. That isn’t enough to make our lives have a meaning.’
It is no use in trying to create a world apparently safe and I can find nothing better to explain that than a little story by John O’Hara:
A man goes to the market to buy fruits, when he sees his own Death walking among the people.
Desperate, he runs back and asks his employer to exempt him that day, as he had seen his Death from close.
His boss lets him go to his village, but starts thinking that all that might have been a lie. He goes to the market and really sees his employee’s Death, sitting in a bank.
He complains: ‘But what are you doing here? My servant was surprised to see you and because of that I had to dismiss him from work!” ‘I was surprised to see him here as well,’ Death answers.
‘I have a date with him at five o’clock, at his village, and as it seems, he will escape me!’
The employer thinks of calling his worker back, but it is already late. Destiny will be fulfilled as it had been written, especially because the man was afraid of Death and decided to run away.
Suicide is a very uncomfortable and necessary subject to discuss.
I recently came across a YouTube video that left such an impact on me that I was not able to write a blog post until now {approx. 18 days}.
The video left such a deep impression on me that I had to reflect for a while before I could decide what to write.
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Japan’s Aokigahara (青木ヶ原) forest also known as the Sea of Trees (樹海 Jukai) or the Suicide forest is a place where many people go to contemplate suicide.
Sadly, many actually commit suicide.
I feel so much compassion for people who are considering suicide as a way to end their pain.
I strongly believe that people do not actually want to die but to end their pain and they do not see another way to achieve this.
Below is an actual suicide note found in the forest.
I find it heart breaking.
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Many moons ago, I had a friend that was considering suicide.
Sadly, we are not in each other’s lives anymore. {In case you are worried…don’t worry he is okay. He is one of the strongest individuals I have known. I saw him the other day from afar}.
I think of him often and pray that he finds the strength to fight against his darkness.
I am still haunted by the fact that he felt this depressed and that I could not do anything to heal his pain.
I know that only he can heal his pain.
I did my best to be a loving friend but I know that we cannot truly save anyone.
We can only save ourselves.
In fact, we always had a friendly argument about saving and being saved.
It revolved around the graphic novel and film Sin City.
Please click this link for more information on the movie: Sin City.
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Marv was so madly in love with Goldie and he loved her so much that he wanted to go to hell to save her.My friend fiercely defended his thesis of loving someone so deeply that you go to hell to save them.
Conversely, I went for a different thesis. I said that you can love someone so much that you get out of hell because of your love for them and possibly their love for you. Your love for them is so powerful and/or their love for you is so strong that you pull yourself up with your own strength and get out of hell- your personal hell or the other kind. In essence, you save yourself instead of saving someone else. In other words, the alchemy of love.
No one was right or wrong. It was fun to discuss but I stand by my point of view even though I recognize his had merit. It all depends on how you look at things and being polar opposites, we were going to see differently once in a while. Well, it was a healthy discussion.
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Can we actually save someone?
Dita Von Teese & Marilyn Manson in Vogue Magazine Photo By Steven Klein
Azusa Hayano makes me question my beliefs that we cannot save anyone but ourselves.
I do believe we can help someone to save themselves and this is what I think he does so brilliantly and compassionately.
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We meet an extraordinary soul, Azusa Hayano, in this vice documentary.
He is a geologist that does the most important job of suicide patrol in the forest. {I discovered from another video that the police also seem to do suicide patrol}.
Azusa also studies how people co-exist with nature because he says it is part of environmental research.
He still does not know why people kill themselves in such a beautiful forest (18:53) although he does explain that it may be because of a popular book written in the past.
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Azusa patrols the forest looking for people who are contemplating suicide in hopes of convincing them otherwise.
He even finds a man in a yellow tent that appears to have been contemplating suicide. According to the VICE website comments found at http://www.vice.com/vice-news/aokigahara-suicide-forest-v3, the man in the yellow tent had been camping in the forest for one month. He had to be taken out in an ambulance.
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The police even put up signs to try to stop people from committing suicide. They also provide the number for suicide hotlines.
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I found it fascinating that many people leave a trail of tape to find their way back in case they change their mind. This is hopeful because people who are undecided can finally decide to leave the forest.
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With his gentle and compassionate manner, one can see how Azusa could convince someone who is struggling to live.
I was struck by how much this man cares.
He really cares and that is so rare these days.
In a forest where traditional compasses do not work, Azusa uses his compassion and wisdom as his guides.
He also looks for people who have committed suicide.
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Azusa reminds me of the value of a life and how much difference one life can make in the world.
If we could find our purpose and live our potential, then we could make our contribution- our gift to the world.
We need more people like Azusa in this world.
We need more people who really care and have compassion for those who are suffering. I don’t know if he technically “saves” anyone but he does help people to save themselves and this is priceless.
Azusa is actually living the Buddha’s teachings- especially that of compassion.
I am also reminded by how the absence of one life can be a tear in the fabric of existence and humanity. I think about how that person had so much more life to live, love and wisdom to give and receive, experiences to be had, esoteric gifts to give and potential to be lived.
I think of the apocalyptic loss for their loved ones.
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Azusa states in the documentary that the internet and technology may be the reason why there is such a disconnection between oneself and others. It is as if a schism is caused between our waking lives and our onscreen lives. Our lack of face-to-face communication has a price. Disconnection, depression, further loneliness and numbness may develop. Azusa discusses the human need for connection in real life- not through the filter of a computer screen.
“Face-to-face communication used to be vital, but now we can live our lives being online all day. However, the truth of the matter is that we still need to see each other’s faces, read their expressions, hear their voices, so we can fully understand their emotions to coexist.” -Azusa Hayano
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The essence of what Azusa teaches and lives is filled with compassion and wisdom…
This documentary also reminds me of the urgent need to discuss mental health issues.
I am and continue to be a mental health advocate.
I deeply believe in the strength and resilience of the human spirit. We can transcend our suffering and transform it into something beautiful and meaningful.
The phoenix always rises from the ashes…
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To those of you suffering and feeling depressed…I offer you my compassion. This post if for you.
Please speak to someone who cares- even if they are a stranger. You will never know what a difference it could make in your life. They might have some life changing wisdom to give you or messages from the universe.
*Reach out to someone.
I pray the Buddha’s teachings, wisdom and compassion can alleviate your suffering.
Conversely, you never know how you can help someone who is suffering and in need.
You never know what impact you can have on someone’s life- even a stranger.
We are all interconnected.
By helping others we are actually helping ourselves.
“I’ve been living here for more than 30 years. My job is mainly environmental protection, I study volcanic eruptions and the plantation at the foot of Mt. Fuji.
In the year 864, Mt. Fuji erupted, and the forest that grew over the dried lava was named “Jukai” or “Sea of Trees”. Aokigahara is the actual name of the place, but people started calling it “Jukai”, because the forest as seen from halfway up of Mt. Fuji, is green all year round, and it looks like the ocean.
We’re entering the forest now. There’s a car that’s been abandoned for a few months, let’s take a look. I’m assuming the owner of the car went in from here and never came out. I guess they went into the forest with troubled thoughts.
In the old days in Japan, suicide was mainly known as the samarai’s act, as in “Seppuku” (harakari). In other cases poor families would abandon their elders in the mountains. That’s how it was back then, they weren’t killing themselves cause they couldn’t adapt to society. That didn’t happen like it does now, it’s a modern phenomenon.
This is a sign to stop suicidal people.
“Your life is a precious gift from your parents, Please think about your parents, siblings, and children. Don’t keep it to yourself. Talk about your troubles.”
Then it says to contact the Suicide Prevention Association.
Locals don’t commt suicide here. As children they’re told not to come near here, that it’s a scary forest. This path is open for the public, but you can’t follow the trail beyond this point. It says not to enter because you can easily get lost. In the Jukai, I think I’ve found more than… 100 suicide corpses in the last 20 years or so.
I found something strange, I’ll show you. People who are indecisive about dying, wrap this tape on trees along their way, so they can find their way out. There’s something that looks like a tent. I’m going to see if anyone’s inside, please wait here.” -Azusa Hayano, geologist
The forest is a popular place for suicides, reportedly the world’s second most popular suicide location after San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. This popularity is often attributed to the 1960 novel Nami no To by Seicho Matsumoto, which ends with two lovers committing suicide in the forest. However, the history of suicide in Aokigahara dates from before the novel’s publication, and the place has long been associated with death: ubasute was allegedly practiced there into the 19th century, and the forest is reputedly haunted by the ghosts of those left to die…”
Here is a short video about the Aokigahara forest and the plague of suicide in Japan (2:34). There is thought to be one suicide every fifteen minutes in Japan.
An expert postulates that societal pressures and culture is to blame for the high suicide rate in Japan (1:55). He notes that even from a young age weakness is not allowed to be displayed.
“Whether it is within the family, at work or in society, it is very hard to show weakness. From a very young age, from primary school on, dynamic and happy kids are held up as examples to follow. If you don’t live up to that, other people treat you harshly and that’s is why people don’t ask for help.”
It is intriguing to note that Dante wrote about a suicide forest.
His writing was also translated into art.
Dante Alighieri’s Inferno from the Original by Dante Alighieri and Illustrated with the Designs of Gustave Doré (New York: Cassell Publishing Company, 1890).
Dante Alighieri’s Inferno from the Original by Dante Alighieri and Illustrated with the Designs of Gustave Doré (New York: Cassell Publishing Company, 1890).
To watch the interview, please click on this link Gabriel Byrne Meaning of Life Interview and go to the third page. Then click on the January 17, 2010 The Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne interview.
{I apologize but I was unable to embed or send this video as those options were not available}.
I copied and pasted the description of the interview from the show’s web site:
“…The basis for a searching interview, in which Gabriel talks engagingly and openly about his life: his decision to enter a UK seminary at the age of eleven; his experiences of clerical sexual abuse; his reasons for giving up on any idea of priesthood and his search for another vocation, which found fulfilment in acting; his relationships with the two key women in his life, Aine O’Connor and Ellen Barkin; his on-going struggle with twin demons – alcoholism and depression - in which he knows he is far from alone in this country; and the reason he thinks so much about death.”
Gabriel says that alcoholism and depression are seen as moral failings- as if something is wrong with the person for being “weak” or “not good enough.”These feelings of inadequacy have probably existed before. They only become exacerbated with drinking.
***Alcohol only adds fuel to the fire.***
He also notes that alcoholism and depression are often intertwined; hence the “twin demons” reference.They are so inextricably linked that I wonder how one can be divorced from the other. I don’t believe that they can- especially since alcoholism is a depressant.People drink to get out of depression. The more they drink, the more depressed they become;hence, the vicious and self-destructive cycle continues.
Gabriel says that, “Part of the disease of alcoholism is removing yourself from reality as quickly as possible.” Essentially he is describing an emotional disconnection, spiritual disconnection- numbness. He describes binge drinking as a plague because people emotionally disconnect from themselves, from others and from life.
I think it is vital for people to be honest about depression and addiction {in any form}. Awareness and honesty is what will give them insight. Courage will allow them to look in the mirror and take the first step on the path to healing.
Then people can start to fight their demons.
I pray that they win.
Peace and Namaste…
For more information on Gabriel Byrne, please click on this link: Byrneholics.
“You are me, and I am you.
Isn’t it obvious that we “inter-are”?
You cultivate the flower in yourself,
so that I will be beautiful.
I transform the garbage in myself,
so that you will not have to suffer.
I support you; you support me. I am in this world to offer you peace; you are in this world to bring me joy.”
For more information on Paulo Coelho,
My friend fiercely defended his thesis of loving someone so deeply that you go to hell to save them.
