On Presence, New Life, and Death

Riding the Same Wave, Rising, Crashing, Forming Anew

It strikes me, that no one who is actively present in the here and now, conscious of life and the miracles happening all around, and within, can be bad. Being present, we can only be good, and in fact, being present is the only path to our basic goodness. It is a purity that exists nowhere else. It is like a new life, wonderful and free.

My second son was born three days ago. He arrived at home and at peace and surrounded by love. I was overwhelmed by the same thought I had when my first was born: how can any of us be bad? How can we wrong one another or ourselves in the presence of such miracles, such gifts as are the world, the cosmos, and the infant child? We all have such little time, after all. A blink of an eye, a flash of light in the infinite darkness of space.

And I am reminded of death, as part of life. My dad died in January, my friend died at just 50 on the morning before my son would arrive. All three live in nirvana now. There is relief in death. There is relief in new life. There is relief in presence.

I wish it for you, in recognition of the fleeting and infinite. Two in the same, on a continuum that has no end. Our life, like our breath, is a circle. We can find peace in it, we can release fear. We can be happy knowing we are all part of the same wave the same in life, in death, in presence. Ever rising, ever crashing, ever forming anew.

Ken Coulson is the author of The Arsonist, a corporate thriller and classic David and Goliath story set against the backdrop of the collision between Wall Street and the Climate Crisis. Available at kencoulson.com. He is a musician and songwriter with over 100 writing credits and writes on mindfulness, meditation, and movement under The Daily Here and Now. A compendium of this modern life philosophy is underway.