how do i know i'm not dead?

Photo: Frederick Hudson, Album of Spirit Photographs, Metropolitan Museum of Art

"How do I know I'm not dead?" That question arose like a spirit from nowhere. You may say, "Well, you must be alive. You're writing this post." Well, yes, but there is spirit writing (also known as automatic writing), you know.

Let's get serious, because this is a serious question.

Humans spend a great deal of time and energy on death. We worry about it, fear it, plan for it, try to ignore it. We feel sadness and grief when a loved one succumbs to death. And we have ideas and beliefs and experiences of what happens afterwards. Death is a big deal.

When I ask, "How do I know I'm not dead?", I don't mean, "Prove to me I'm alive." I mean that these words--"life" and "death"--are just words. Words that point to concepts and ideas we have been taught and which we blindly accept as reality. It's difficult to ask a question like, "How do I know I'm not dead?" when everyone already knows what "dead" means. Which is why the question arose; I didn't formulate it. I couldn't.

There is a backstory, which I'll share another time, but for now, I invite you to see if you can drop any concept or idea of "life" and "death." Perhaps substitute something like, "condition a" and "condition b." (And, please, those of you who lean into things Zen, don't take this as a koan. Bringing any kind of spiritual or religious perspective into this exercise will derail it.)

If you can do this, what happens? You know, as the "About" page says, "All experience is welcome."