Category: Uncategorized

Does Love End at Death?

I practice Reiki and hold many spiritual beliefs. One of the beliefs that I hold is that the death of a person’s body is just that – the death of the body. Their spirit, their essence,
continues after their body has ceased. My mother died when I was 16 but, over the years, I feel as if she has been with me either in spirit or working through others. My grandmother died years after my mother and I feel the same for her as well. During difficult times, I have on more than one occasion called on them to help me/guide me through the storm of that particular moment. When the difficult moment passes, I thank them as well. My reliance and trust on the two of them is based on their love for me when they were alive. I have no doubt about their love and fall back on the memory of it in the absence of love in my current everyday existence.

In practicing Reiki, one of the things I do is ask for a deceased relative who loved the person I’m working with to come through and help me help them. Since my mother and grandmother are connected to me in love, I ask that they connect with the person’s loved one and help to bring healing, relief or whatever is necessary for the person they cared for in life. Without going into great detail, on more than one occasion I have experienced a deeper, richer perception of the moment. Other times, without calling on a person’s loved ones, I’ve still managed to experience a deep richness that goes beyond the ordinary moment.

In popular culture, the movie “Ghost” is probably the best representation of this concept. The people who have watched “Ghost” typically loved the movie without a second thought about the connection of a deceased loved one and the living person they loved. On one occasion, while with a group of people, I attempted to help someone with a problem that made my heart sink with the weight of what that they carried when they told me about the problem. I explained about contacting the ones who loved me in life to attempt to connect to the person who loved them in life. My intention in that moment was to attempt to alleviate the person’s suffering. Which, in the grand scheme of things, is usually my goal in many things when I offer Reiki. Later, the situation was distorted by others into I was practicing voodoo or something dark. Despite this extremely narrow-minded and stereotypical take, I continue to practice Reiki and ask for those who no longer walk among us but loved the person I’m working with to provide assistance in the process. Because I truly believe love does not end at death…

George Floyd

He signed someone else’s name on a check
For that offense he ended up with a knee in his neck

He had no gun, he had no knife
But in the end he lost his life

One more time a black man says “I can’t breathe”
And communities of brown again start to seethe

One more time a black family wails “Oh Lord”
This time, for a son named George Floyd

In this time of Covid-19, mask-wearing and fear
The clear and present danger was always near

In the end, “medical incident” is the verbally gymnastic phrase
For how yet another “peace” officer ended a black man’s days