Systemic Financial Loss- Did You Ever Lose A Close Loved One?

By: Michael_T_Bucci

dealing with systemic loss: facing the future and the death of your world - Did you ever lose a very close loved one? A child or a spouse or your closest surviving parent or sibling? Did they die suddenly or slowly. If slowly, did you toss between hope and despair over each stage of their catastrophic illness? Hoping against hope. Despair ever lurking. Signs of recovery one day, then relapse the next. If this did ever happened to you, you would understand the mind and emotions of the masses at this moment. They are facing death: the death of an income, a lifestyle, a home, a society, a system, a world.

The diagnosis is not disputed, yet the Doctors are circumspect about the prognosis, but you think they really know. The patient maintains a joyful appearance. "Everything will be OK," she tells you. "Yes, it will all be OK," you reply in agreement, "you'll be fine." But the charts are down today and that has reversed the hopes from yesterday when signs pointed upward. Each day is different, and brings with it another assessment and reevaluation. You are exhausted. Hope reigns, but despair lurks. What should I believe? Who should I believe? It is torturous. There are no ordinary days. There is no respite.

Yet you understand philosophically at least, that death is part of life. Everything that lives someday dies. This includes families, societies, nations and systems, as well as people. This thought does not make matters easier, however. Surrounding you are family and friends, this is comforting, but they cannot know YOUR pain from loss, should she die. You hear them discuss with each other the causes of the illness. "I told her so," says one. "I warned her," says another. You have no time to argue causes, the patient needs to be saved first. You avoid the Doctors of gloom, and invite the optimists. You are alone in a process that has overshadowed you. No one really seems to have a solution, an elixir. Gradually, you begin to see that the process itself is in control, not the Doctors, the medications, the technology or the patient. The process itself - "everything else is commentary".

You are told that acceptance of death eases the grief. But to accept implies acknowledgment that she will die. Why grieve if she hasn't yet died? She won't die, you say. She can't die. You plan for the return of a normal life together. You sing instead, and live each day in today. You hope. You watch each up-tick of the numbers and say, "See, it will be OK. It was just a scare. I must not believe otherwise. I cannot afford to believe otherwise." Then the numbers decline dramatically. You rationalize the meaning away.

Somewhere within the psyche or heart or soul is knowledge of the outcome. That is provided should you seek it. That knowledge is rarely wrong. The battle to accept it or reject is yours. The outcome remains the outcome, it is unaffected by your choice.

A simpleton once explained, "It's very easy. There are markers on death's path, should you acknowledge them. Insofar as medicine," said this simpleton, "when it's not your time, all the medications and machines work. When it is your time, none do."

If we evince such a marker, we should accept death without a struggle, for struggle will only compound our pain. There are small deaths and large deaths - none are without pain. Grief occurs in stages and cannot easily be avoided. These occur before the event as well as after. They include shock, depression, remorse, chaos and anger before resignation is reached. The mind and emotions of the masses are passing through such stages now. But they are only stages until which time the void left from small death or large death, from accumulated deaths, is filled again with life. In due time. But first comes decay. For now, it is hope, or it is reconciliation, or it is fear, or it is despair taking this day into the next. But it is the process that is in control. And remember the farmer's lot:

What of the farmer's lot? In one season and out another. No fault of the land nor he. It is left for him to see that nature does not count his stalks Before she robs them of their growth.

She has given and she has taken.

Let go the fear that nothing will grow. Be part of her and do not wrest her from her ways.

In one part of a field a blossom may grow, leaving nothing in the other. A turn of fate, a surprise awaits, a flower where wheat did grow.

NOTES: Attributable to Hillel the Elder.

"The Farmer's Lot", excerpt from Book 7: Cerithous , Michael T Bucci

By Michael T Bucci

Michael T Bucci is a retired public relations executive from New Jersey presently residing in New England. His essays have appeared at Market Oracle and Global Research. He is the author of nine books on practical spirituality including White Book: Cerithous .

© 2009 Copyright Michael T Bucci - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

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