12 years ago today I came home from work to find a body in my back bathroom. It was the man I was living with at the time. It was also the day before his 32nd birthday. The death was an accident of sorts and a suicide of sorts - the official cause was ethanol poisoning (alcohol).
That day was a turning point for me and my evolutionary understanding that I was something larger than this small "s" self. When you hold a dead body against yours, you understand in an instant that this is not all we are. We are not the stories we tell ourselves. I could tell you my age, my sex, my occupation, my marital status, and even this particular episode in my life as a way of explaining who I am, but it would only tell you how I am different, separate, from you.
But I am not separate from you. I am the same perceiving consciousness that you are.
In that moment of holding my friend in my arms, I knew that he was not his body - nor was I.
Nor am I my thoughts and memories of loss. I am simply and incredibly, perception - this moment - Now.
