mah eematzyahl unmahoutioun eh

This saying is full of deep meaning. Whoever is born is sure to die. There is no escaping death. Death appears to be the only certitude in life after birth. What is exactly death?

If we witness a person’s death we can compare the person’s symptoms just before death and right after death. Before death, if I poke a pin into the dying person’s finger, he will react with pain and displeasure. Others witnessing my act will also be disturbed that I purposely try to inflict pain on the dying man. After death, if I poke the dead man’s finger, no one will object. The difference is that something in the body disappeared when the person died. That something can be referred to as the consciousness.

When the person was alive I loved them by serving his or her body. When they die the body of the beloved is still present but something is missing. Invariably, I decide to bury the body or dispose of it somehow. Therefore, it becomes clear at death that what I loved was not really the body but the living principle or the consciousness of the person that animated the body with life. When the consciousness is absent from the body, I lose interest in the body. I can understand that the consciousness is not really something material because the body is chemically the same five minutes before and five minutes after death. If life and consciousness were merely a combination of chemicals, enzymes, minerals, etc, then I would be capable of supplying the missing or depleted items to maintain life. For example, scientists know exactly all the chemicals and their proportions in an egg. Yet, it is impossible for them to produce an egg starting in a laboratory with the raw chemicals and other ingredients. This is because life is more than the mere chemicals. By carefully thinking about death and understanding the above facts I can adjust my thinking about the purpose of life. I notice that throughout my life I tried in every way to p[reserve my life as long as possible. This natural instinct of self preservation is a hint that the consciousness is more important than the bag of chemicals called the body. Why should I care if a bag of chemicals disappears. Chemicals are not concerned about self preservation because they will exist in either case whether part of a live body or a dead body. The concern for self preservation is by the conscious person who is dwelling in the temporary body.

If I own a car and decide that I don’t care about the car, I may drive the car but not service it by changing the oil or tuning it up, etc. It will quickly deteriorate and stop functioning. In other words, the car itself is not concerned about its own self preservation because it is merely a collection of material elements and chemicals. It is the person driving the car that is either concerned for the preservation (or not) of the car. The car is merely a vehicle of transport for the person. The body is also a vehicle or a material conveyance. If the person driving it decides not to care for it, it also will break down and become idle. The body itself is not concerned with self preservation. It is the conscious person that drives the body that is concerned.

Another interesting fact is that during the life of a conscious person, the body continually changes. The person witnesses the change of the body from youth to maturity to old age and finally death. When I am fifty years old I can safely conclude that the body I had when I was five years old is dead and gone although I am still existing in a different body in size, shape, and different bones, etc. This indicates that I have used different bodies during my own lifetime. Those bodies have come and gone but I have remained. Therefore, I as a conscious being am different than the bodies that I have used as a vehicle to satisfy my desires. When I approach death, I will similarly change my body like I have done during my lifetime. The body dies but I continue to exist in another body. The skeptic will object that the reasoning has been acceptable up to this point but the assumption that one will continue to exist after death in another body cannot be proved and therefore cannot be validated.

The basic principle is demonstrated. During one’s lifetime, one exists in different bodies from childhood to youth to old age. One begins as an emulsion in the womb of the mother. It develops into a fetus. It is pushed out as an infant. The infant grows into a child’s body. The child becomes an adolescent. The adolescent becomes a mature person. Then there is middle age and old age. At every step the body is different but the person remains the same.

We can assume that death is merely another change of body when the present body becomes inoperable and old and is discarded for a new body. The principle is demonstrated that in spite of changing bodies during one’s lifetime, the person remains the same and witnesses the change of bodies. Similarly, one witnesses the change of body at death. The consciousness is not altered by such a change as it was not altered by the various change of body during one’s lifetime.

If we understand death as merely a change of body in the same way as during our lifetime we change so many bodies, then we begin to understand the immortal nature of the consciousness as a unique and distinct being that is not dependent on a temporary material body. The consciousness may transit from one body to another but it remains distinct from the material elements. Just as a driver may drive many different cars but always remains distinct from the vehicles.

By understanding death, one attains immortality as the Armenian saying states. Actually one does not attain immortality immediately but one begins to understand the immortal nature of the consciousness or the soul. What remains is to engage in the immortal activity or service and love for the eternal God.