What or Who Is Death?

I have been thinking lately about death, and I don’t mean in a morbid I want to die way.

I mean as a thought that cannot be ignored. We have all suffered or heard of death, from the loss of a loved one or a pet to knowing of someone that died to the inescapable news stories of death. Or even the images and characters of death used in cartoons and books.

My thought is simple, who or what is death? I mean I know death is the end of life, as the dictionary says:

1)The permanent ending of vital processes in a cell or tissue.

2)A force of nature, a natural end of all living things. The end of it all.

But there are many ideas of what comes next, afterlives and gods, some even believing death itself is a god. We have all heard at least one name for death no matter what religion or culture we live in. As an example:

• Anubis (Egyptian)
• Meng Po (Chinese)
• Morrighan (Celtic)
• Hades (Greek)

And yes I know they are all ancient names or religions. And in the case of a few more a keeper of the dead. All you have to do is google it and you will have the information.

My thought is this: Death itself is a god. In fact, you could argue the only god; death is really the only thing guarantied in life, as living can be short or long, but everyone dies. I see death as the classical Grim Reaper, the cloak made of shadow and night, the scythe so sharp it cuts souls and then bone figure. To others it is in the shape of ravens, an old man with a timer. No matter what we all have our idea of death.

What happens after death? I think whatever you believe, if you think there is some version of an afterlife like heaven and hell then you will go there, a limbo, reincarnation, rebirth or just to become an observer. All have our own ideas and thoughts and no one can tell us different or force us to see different.

One day I sat at my laptop after the death of a loved one and thought about what death is. I looked at it as a person rather than a force, due to what I believe and I wrote this:

"I have been called many things. I have been called evil, unfair, untimely and inconsiderate. I have been called a relief, a gift and kind. I have been both good and evil, a part of nature and man-made. But after all is said and done I am only one thing, a needed force of nature. I am the only equal, undiscriminating and unpredictable force known in this universe. Many things suffer me, and many more described with me. When it is your turn how will you describe me? How will you see me? "

I think that speaks more than whatever else I could write here now; we see it differently. The comfort you take is not always the comfort others will have. All you can do though is offer your help and respect how and what other perceive death as.