This is a letter that I wrote 8 years ago to a friend that had been diagnosed with a terminal condition in his early 40’s. Several weeks after I sent this letter to him he did pass away. I wrote it in the hopes that it might help to allay any apprehension he was feeling. The beliefs are mine only and I tried to impart a sense of peace with-in them. I was ambivalent about sharing this very personal message but feel that Elephant is an excellent place to share such thoughts and believe that my friend would concur.

In the days of our youth we all had nicknames – mine is pi and his is Rabbit – may his journey still be going well.

peace

pi

Hi Rabbit, it’s pi writing to you.

I was talking to a mutual friend yesterday and he told me about the journey you are on. I am not trying to be trivial but my beliefs tell me that is how you must accept news such as you have been given. To look at it in any other way and you stand the very real possibility of losing the opportunity before you.

While we are all born with a foot in the grave you have been given a time line and may now savor life with zeal unknown to those who waste their lives waiting for who knows what or when. People such as those do not appreciate life and lose the opportunity to appreciate every minute as if it were the last. The flavor can become dull and bland.

For you and the countless other souls who have received similar news I believe the taste would become exquisite. I know that if I believe something I am doing may be my last experience of a situation that I relish the moment. And I believe that is where many people fail- they neglect to relish the moment. They are concerned about the future or stew over the past.

It is living in the moment where the opportunity for peace and happiness lies.

If I think about the experience of leaving the finite and entering the infinite I think a blend of science and faith helps me accept the unknown. Science tells me that energy is infinite. Life if it is anything is energy. When we expire from our body there is no difference in the physical mass (it weighs exactly the same) but the energy that drove the body is not there. That energy is life.

The science of physics has discovered matter so small that it is only visible when it is observed. It is the power of observation that gives it energy. I believe our experience of being human is the same. We are always under the observation of infinite love and it is that which gives our lives energy.

I watch the cycle of nature and I know that life cycles endlessly and everything changes to become part of something bigger.

My faith comes through my experience of being a father- which I know you have been for a couple of years. I have four years experience of being a father and even in that very short time I know I would never under any circumstances wish for evil or pain to my son. And I believe that however you understand the infinite intelligence there is no possibility that it would want us to experience endless suffering. I believe that because I understand that infinite intelligence to be unconditional love.

I understand when we are separated from those we love the pain can be unbearable but even were we to live to 100 years it would still be but a single drop of water in the infinite ocean of time.

And when you look at it from that perspective it is not so long until we become reunited. For I believe we all do in the cycle of nature return to the source. And that source recognizes itself and the parts that are returning and so you will recognize those you love as they return and you will be joined together again.

Rabbit you are a taker of pictures and I believe have been given the opportunity to focus your attention on the experience of life as clearly and intently as your circumstances will allow you. When your time is over- whatever span that may be- your energy will color the experience of infinite love for the better.

Give your love to your family and all who cross your path. Give it 24/7. Give it unconditionally and unreservedly because when you return to infinite love that giving will be returned to you. It will come back to you so that you will know you will never experience sorrow and pain again.

Take every experience as a gift from that unconditional love and know that the pain is not the lesson but the vessel the lesson comes in. Look past the pain Rabbit and there you will find the gift.

I hope I have not appeared presumptuous writing this way to you. I realize your gift is pictures and I believe mine is words. I wanted to share them with you because I believe gifts are for sharing – whether it is photographs, words, music, art or whatever. Any gift colors the experience of humanity if we share it.

The words I have put here for you come from my heart and soul and are given unconditionally. I wish you well in your journey.

pi