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LIFE, DEATH, THE SOUL AND THE BODY

Death be not proud though you ultimately will succeed in separating the soul from its body,
But let it not be on piecemeal basis,
Like the throat being torn out of its roots and buried in the rough sands of the seas.
Or the heart given as prey to the beasts of the fields or the vultures of the air,
Or more especially its bowels taken thence and burned to ashes and the ashes cast to the four winds of heavens that no more remembrance may be had among men or Masons forever.

So let the soul soar up to the heavens, there to receive judgment for its deeds while in the body.

But let the decomposed particles merge the earth from whence it came, pulverized like dust to dust, earth to earth, or ashes to ashes, there to serve another soul and repeated into innumerable cycles till time shall be no more.

So in what manner shall decomposition be?
Will it follow that of Hiram Abif whose body was laid to rest three times, first in the rubbish of the Temple by the ruffians, next at the brow of a hill of Mount Moriah by the same, and lastly at the Sanctus Sancturum or the Holy of Holies where a marble monument, etcetera, etcetera, was said to immortalize his name?

Or would it undergo the process of cremation like the Indians, both of the near East and those of the Americans, who dutifully perform to the bodies of their departed as they soar upwards to that place they have not gone before?

Or simply be contained in a coffin and thereafter placed in a tomb to rot, but how the dust will recombine with the rest of the earth is a puzzle this chronicler is hard put to analyze and solve!



Note: Serious adherents of the Craft will realize that the above composition is neither novel nor new and is sent via the Internet by the aging lion for lack of anything to do.

Comments are welcome. The writer also will appreciate if you can pass this to other readers.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Dad,

I have often thought about how things will be when my time comes. Will I face it prepared, with dignity, calmly, or will I make a cowardly fuss about it?

My brother, father, and grand father all died within a few years from each other. My brother from liver cirrhosis; papa from throat cancer; and lolo from brain cancer – all as you in extreme pain. I often think that I too shall go that way, sort of macho ego? But can I really cut it? Will I learn to embrace it serenely when the prospect of death comes and stares you in the eye. Only the GAOTU will know.


So although that will ultimately come, I choose to (sheepishly) ignore it. As in one scene of the blockbuster movie “the Gladiator” : “my family is already waiting for me in the afterlife, and I will go and meet them – But Not Yet !”

Bro Tony
Anonymous said…
Nicely written kuya jun. hirap talaga ng walang makausap, lalong gumaganda sinusulat.

But no matter what happens to the body, it being left to rot or the process sped up by cremation, the body still combines with the earth from where it came from.

Death is the only way to put the mortal body to rest. The state where no sickness nor problems can do nothing. But no matter how you separate the body according to the first part of your writings, they will also be collected to join each piece when the judgement comes. When the book of life is opened and the names are rea. those who die in the air, land o sea will be again formed to face their creator for their judgement(apocalypse).

Kuya Billy
Anonymous said…
Beautifully written. Can't help but read it with emotion at this time grieving.

Tante

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