Death is Not the End
Exhibition at the Rubin Museum, on view until January 14, 2024
Every human at some time comes to the stunning realization that life inevitably ends. All living beings are mortal and must die. I often think about how incredible the human species is, how we have developed a sharp intelligence that we apply to amazing results, garnering incredible knowledge about how to live well and live long. Yet, mortality remains such a mystery! Death is a fundamental human condition with which we must live, but death defies our knowledge. How can we come to terms with it cognitively and emotionally? How can we cope with the certainty of its eventuality, but the uncertainty of its experience. The big question we don’t know the answer to is, what will we face when our time comes?
I found the Rubin Museum’s current exhibition Death is Not the End thought-provoking. It is a show which explores Buddhist and Christian beliefs that there is an existence after this lifetime. Through ritual objects and artwork, the exhibit looks at how the human acceptance of death was, and is, tied to the idea of afterlife. The quality of afterlife depends on how responsibly one lives. Indeed, much to consider here!
In Christianity, departed souls wait in purgatory or in limbo, but can earn the opportunity to access heaven. In Buddhism, the mind of the deceased goes into bardo state to face choices predetermined by the person’s previous actions. This transition process offers an opportunity to awaken from the cycle of being born over and over in reincarnation. This awakening is enlightenment.
Heaven, enlightenment, and so much more to dive into! I recommend seeing this show. It’s a great start for a journey through truth: Death is a part of our lives. Let’s face it. Let’s account for it. Let’s not be surprised by it. Let’s expand our scope of how to be in the world, and how to be in our hearts and minds.
Death is Not the End is up through January 14, 2023. The new year is coming soon, so run and go see it! : )
* Image credits:
Memento Mori Prayer Bead; Germany or the Netherlands, 1500-1550; Ivory; 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 × 1 5/8 in. (7 × 3.8 × 4.1 cm); Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Gift of Linda and David Roth in memory of David P. Becker, 2011.26
Sarvavid Album Leaf #24: Rainbow Light; Inner Mongolia; 18th”“19th century; pigments on paper; Collection of the City of Antwerp ““ MAS; AE.1977.0026.36-54; Photo: Bart Huysmans & Michel Wuyts
Leg Bone Trumpet (kangling); Tibet; 18th-19th century; human bone, copper, coral, leather; Rubin Museum of Art, gift of Robert and Lois Bayils; SC2019.3.2