What is about to follow is a guided process conducted by Anthony DeMello.
Please do not listen to this while operating a motor vehicle or any kind of equipment.
From time to time you will hear a chime.
Chime The purpose of that chime is to invite you to put the recording on pause while you either complete an exercise or reflect on something that Anthony DeMello has said.
Paradoxically,
Death is the finest teacher of the art of living.
As you will discover in this exercise called the essence.
Thousands of persons have died everywhere in the world in the past 24 hours.
Imagine some of those deaths.
The violent ones,
The peaceful ones.
Then you realize that the light of light is still burning in you.
For how much longer would you like to have it burn?
If you could choose the circumstances of your death,
What would you choose?
What place?
What time of day?
What season of the year?
Would you like to die awake or in your sleep?
To die alone?
Or would you rather have people around you?
What people?
What kind of thoughts would you want to think?
What kind of words would you want to pronounce when you are dying?
Make a list now of the things you are going to miss the most in death.
Not just sublime and lofty things like love and beauty,
But little things like the smell of fresh baked bread,
Or the patter of the rain,
Or the rough feel of a blanket,
Or the taste of coffee,
Or your favorite magazine.
Call to mind a host of little things like these and think of them with love and gratitude.
And think how many of them you are likely to experience today and in the days ahead.
When your life is coming to an end,
How many experiences will you look back to and say,
To have experienced that alone would have made my life worthwhile?
And of how many of your actions will you say,
To have done this thing alone would have made my life worth living?
Relive and relish some of those experiences and actions.
Then turn to God to express to Him in silence or in words what is uppermost in your heart.
