Death and Re-birth

About a week ago while I was sitting in a men's community meeting with a talented facilitator named Tony, we were offered a moment of grounding for personal reflection as often happens in these meetings. This time around though, instead of leading us on a guided meditation or taking a moment of silence, Tony played a music track from composer and pianist Paul Cardall and asked us to just listen and see what came up for us.

The track Tony chose was immediately recognizable to me and it brought up a tidal wave of emotion. It was a song called Life and Death from Cardall's 2011 album release titled New Life. I discovered Paul Cardall's music about a dozen years ago shortly after New Life was released. Cardall released the album after receiving a life saving heart transplant he had needed for his entire life due to a congenital heart defect. Ironically and tragically, Cardall lost his younger brother in the final stages of waiting for his transplant. In speaking about the whole process of grief and celebration combined, Cardall said, "The best way for me to express the raw, deep emotions I've experienced is through the piano music I create."

The reason this particular track was so recognizable to me was because the song was a frequently played track on the Pandora station we listened to in the delivery room during my daughter Emma's birth. We set up our birthing and recovery room exactly the way we wanted it with art work that my wife brought from home, aromatherapy diffusers, salt lamps, quite music and many other special touches. All parts of the experience of Emma's arrival into our family are woven together like a magic quilt, and one of the key pieces of the fabric of that quilt is Paul Cardall's music.

Every time I hear the song Life and Death, I am taken back to a moment in the recovery room while Christiana was sleeping and I held Emma on my chest, skin-to-skin for the first time. That moment is a moment where I felt as close to God as any moment in my lifetime. It was magical! I'm pretty sure I wrote a piece about that moment. I'm currently archiving all of my writing, so someday soon when I run across it, I'll share the link here so you can go back and read it if you are newer to following my ongoing writing. 

Just the other day, I heard from a friend named David who I connect with a few times per year. This particular friend of mine experienced sudden cardiac arrest five years ago. Through a series of good fortunes that included:

• His wife being home at the time
• A police officer being blocks away when the 911 call came in
• The ambulance being equipped with Lucas 3 chest compression system 
• The hospital his family chose being resourced to do a therapeutic hypothermia treatment

David came back to life and essentially returned normal in eight short days. Less 1% of all people survive sudden cardiac arrest with not damage to brain function, much less return to a fully normal life in short order. David is literally a walking miracle.

As I sit here and ruminate about these two recent brushes with life and death stories along with my own near death experience just over two years ago, I can't help but also notice how much richer life feels to all who have come close to losing it. I also can't help but notice that stories about life and death as well as death and re-birth are common themes this time of year as Spring comes to us in the Northern Hemisphere. The idea of being birthed into a new life is fascinating story that seems to have roots in many civilizations and faith traditions throughout human history. 

This past weekend Christians around the world, including us and our family, celebrated Easter. I was born and raised Roman Catholic and Christiana was raised in Evangelical Christian family. While we have both studied and explored numerous faith traditions as well as diverse religious history through the years, Christ Jesus lives in our hearts and is a vital piece of our spiritual journeys. According to the New testament, Christ Jesus was murdered by the Romans approximately 2000 years ago, only to rise after three days in the tomb and ascend into Heaven. The story of Christ Jesus' death and resurrection is quite likely the most famous death and re-birth story of all time, but it is certainly not the only story of its kind. In an article for the History.com, journalist Dave Roos notes that "In the ancient Near East, where the Bible was written, stories of divine death and resurrection were closely tied with the agricultural cycle."

In his piece for History.com, Roos goes on to quote the work of world renowned Scottish Anthropologist and folklorist James George Frazer who believed that early Christians likely chose a spring date for Easter to coincide with existing pagan festivals for their resurrected gods. Frazer's hypothesis is not his alone. Numerous scholars and theologians through the years have pointed out similar coincidences between Pagan and Christian rituals and traditions across the calendar year.

Christianity is far from the only faith tradition that celebrates and/or worships a deity who dies and rises again. After a lifetime of study of world religion and mythology, Frazer concurs that when you look at stories like the ones of Quetzalcoatl of ancient Mesoamerica, Osiris of ancient Egypt and Tammuz of ancient Mesopotamia to name only a few, the coincidences of the Christian story with the other death and resurrection festivals are too close and too numerous to be accidental. The way I see it, all three of these above examples pre-date Christian history, so it is unlikely that they borrowed their version of the story from New testament writings. If you would like to read more about other ancient death and re-birth stories you can check out Roos' article.
 
I realize that topics which compare and contrast various religions, mythologies and world history can be viewed as controversial by some. As opposed to viewing all of this through a lens of separation or division. I like to look at this as an example of how similar our histories and our stories actually are and how much all of humanity has in common when it comes right down to it. While all of this big picture ideology is interesting and important fodder for contemplation, the real reason I am bringing it up in this week's reflection is because I can't help but notice that so many people I know  are going through some sort of metaphorical death and re-birth on an individual level right now in our routine daily lives. I personally see people of all ages, all socioeconomic statuses and all faith traditions trying to figure out what's next in their own journeys. The question that I hear many people asking either in actual words or hypothetically is, "Who did I come here to be?" Answering that question is the driving force behind many an individual's soul searching. 

Our world is changing so much. Every single day I talk to someone who is either undergoing or seeking some sort of dramatic transformation in their life. Businesses and organizations are transitioning into the next iterations of themselves in an effort to not become obsolete. The seismic changes our species is experiencing can be very unsettling at times, but they can also be cause for great hope and opportunity. I see more and more people leaning into the possibility of creating landmark changes in their life, even if it means letting parts of their current world die off. Where there is an ending, there is space for a new beginning to germinate.

On a personal level, as parts of the older versions of Jim and Jim's life story die off, I am given space to birth a new version of myself and craft new chapters in my own hero's journey. Twenty years ago I gave up on the idea of becoming a father in this lifetime, yet here I sit with a magical six year old child by my side on my journey. Ten years ago I never could have imagined not working in the hospitality industry for a steady paycheck and benefits, but I am now fully invested in being an entrepreneur, writer and coach. Who would have thought that five years ago I would be deeply engrossed in not for profit men's community work and facilitating numerous virtual and in-person meetings each month. A year ago I would have never guessed that i would be winding down my first ever ghostwriting project with a client who wanted their own stories penned into a memoir piece.

In order for any of those things to happen I needed to allow my first marriage die, my forty year hospitality hero career die, my fear of being around other men die and my belief that I was not a good enough writer die. In each of those surrendering into deaths, I created space for new life, in some cases figuratively, and in the case of Emma, quite literally. 

So in this season of renewal, I invite you to look at the things that you might be hanging onto in your own life which could be getting in the way of letting new growth sprout in your life. Perhaps it's time to do a little spring pruning? Letting the old ways die off can be a bit scary, but the excitement and possibility of new life is worth embracing those fears. And by the way, If you want to listen to Paul Cardall's Life and Death, grab a box of Kleenex and click on this link right here.

Peace and blessings for a wonderful week, 

Jim