The Angel of Death and Life
In Western cultures, the idea and reality of death are often dismissed from people's conscious awareness. To individual humans, death is something that might come in some distant future, in some vague way. They don't like to think about it. Many people die alone, away from home in hospitals or care facilities, separated from their friends and families. Funerals are somber, detached events, with little or no contact with the reality of death, seeing lifeless bodies, or even real grief.
Religions and spiritual paths have always provided mythologies and rituals associated with death and dying, because, although ignored, the issue is very important to the human mind. When humans identify themselves with the tonal — the material world of their mind, parasite, body, possessions, and personal identity — death means the end of everything they are. The idea of loss of identity creates fear, and the fear is met with denial. Denial of death is an important part of the dream of the planet.
The Angel of Death Walks with You
The Toltecs say that the angel of death always walks with you, behind your left shoulder. She is the most powerful guide to a joyful and creative life on the Toltec path. She is there to remind the warrior that everything in life is temporary. In the Toltec tradition, the angel of death is the source of all your possessions. She owns everything that you have — your car, your home, job, relationships, money, youth, even your body and life itself.
The Toltec warrior surrenders with the knowledge that he is not losing anything, but actually gaining much. To surrender the attachments and illusions that create suffering is a gift the Toltec gives himself with love. The parasite resists, but the warrior expects its resistance, and includes the parasite in his love and acceptance.
The angel of death has lent you everything you possess, and when she is ready, she will ask for it back. The warrior knows that the angel is always there, and that he cannot control when she will take something from him. As one Toltec teacher said, the warrior can be grateful for the angel of death, because if it were not for her, every car the warrior had ever owned would be parked in front of his house, and every relationship he had ever been in would be waiting for him inside!
Surrender to the Angel of Death
Your parasite wants to carry the past with you, so it can remind you about your mistakes and personal deficiencies, and then judge you for everything. The warrior knows the past is dead, and the angel of death has already taken it. The warrior wants to live in each moment, fully present and alive.
The warrior lives in gratitude for everything the angel has lent him, rather than in fear of losing it. The biggest surrender on the Toltec path is letting go of the illusion that you own or can control any of your possessions — including your life. The angel of death is always with you, inviting you to live in the present, to love freely, to live the life you want to live. She reminds you that this life is temporary, and you will die — it could be this moment or any time. You can be ready by surrendering to her what is already hers, and live in absolute gratitude for her abundant generosity.
That is the life of the Toltec warrior. That is personal freedom. The angel of death is also the angel of life, because when you surrender to her, you are free to live your life to the fullest expression of who you are. She is your guide to life, in all of its abundance and wonder.
