287

There is none. It only appears to be a contradiction. Every moment one has to remember death because any moment it is possible. That is the meaning of “to carry the cross every day.” You should not forget death. Once you forget death you relapse into unconsciousness. If you remember death you remain alert, awake.

But when we say “remember death,” we don’t mean you should become oppressed by the idea, obsessed by the idea. We don’t mean you should create a deep fear about death and tremble continuously. That will be morbid, that will be a perversion.

There are two types of perverted people in relationship with death. One: those who have completely forgotten, or try to forget, that death is. They try to avoid it. They do not even like to talk about death. If you start talking with them about death, they will think you are uncivilized, unmannerly. They will avoid the very topic. They will not go to the cemetery. That’s why cemeteries are built outside a town, so nobody comes across them accidentally. Only when one has to go, only then: otherwise you can avoid it.

Death is a taboo subject, more taboo than sex. Nobody talks about it – and everybody knows it is coming. Humanity lives in a great deception. This is one morbidity.

Then there is another morbidity. You can move to the other extreme and you can become obsessed with death. You can constantly tremble and not sleep in the night, because who knows? You may not get up in the morning. And you cannot eat well, because how can you eat well? Death is coming. You cannot love, because how can you love anybody when everybody is going to die? That too is morbid; that too is a perversion.

Jesus says, “Carry your cross every day.” He says to remember death and still let every moment be a celebration of life. Death is coming. That is an even deeper reason to celebrate, because who knows? This may be the last moment.

This moment of life should not to be destroyed by the fear of death. But against death, in contrast to death, this moment has to be celebrated even more deeply, because who knows? – the next moment we may not be here. And while the bridegroom is here, celebrate it.

The parable of the bridegroom can become a very inner thing. Within you, the body is the body of death and your consciousness is life – the source of life. You are both. Your body is going to die. It belongs to the earth: “dust unto dust.” It will have to go, it will return to its source. You belong to the sky, you belong to God. Your consciousness is separate from your body.

This is the meaning of Jesus on the cross. Everybody is on the cross because consciousness lives in the body and the body is death.

If you understand, everybody is on the cross, but death should not become a pessimism. On the contrary, death should be all the more a cause for celebration. The bridegroom is within you and the body is the chamber of the bridegroom. Celebrate it!

Jesus is not contradictory. Jesus is simply plain. The contradiction is in life itself: life exists through death and death exists through life. Life itself is the paradox – but that is also the beauty. All beauty exists in contrast, and life exists as a tension between opposites. It is a bridge built on two banks: death and life.

Celebrate every moment because this may be the last moment. But while celebrating, don't forget that death is coming, that death comes. Remember!

Remembrance should not become an obsession. Remembrance should become a celebration. Carry the cross, but carry it dancing. Carry the cross, but carry it singing. Carry the cross, but carry it with a deep celebration within. Then you live both: you live life, you live death, and you live both deeply and intensely. And when you can live both intensely, they become one. Then you know that life and death are two aspects of the same thing, of the same energy. Life is expression, manifestation. Death is a returning.