Dedicated to a Friend

by Nina Palmieri

A beloved friend of mine recently lost his father. As he was telling me about his father’s sudden death, I had the sensation that I was merging with him. I felt that I was the life within him as he was speaking, and that I was the life within me as I was listening. I could feel an atomic bomb of light hit the dream of the world as we knew it, affecting us both. Yes, an atomic bomb of light called the unknown, the mystery, which in that moment blew the illusions of our personal reality away.

In shattering the tightly held pieces of our known existence, everything seemed suddenly to shine brighter. I felt this atomic bomb hit up against me, my friend and everyone who knew us, and I embraced it all. More was happening than I could describe. I surrendered and allowed it all, with no interpretations. As he told his story it became so clear that we were both forms that disguised the truth, and we were the truth that lived within those forms. We existed apart and we were one.

I cried over the loss of my friend’s dad in his company. I knew even as I cried not to judge it, but to allow the authenticity of this moment. Afterwards I felt relieved, revived, and stronger in truth than before. And I experienced an undeniable strength and presence in my friend. It was as if I remembered all the points of view of life that collectively gave him the opportunity to awaken and to become more authentic through this experience. The highest form of love his dad could have given him was this opportunity to see the truth, to see past the stories and events of his life and to awaken to his purest expression.

There is no difference between life and death. One is the dream of matter, and one is the force that makes all matter, and all dreams, happen. As my friend’s dad transformed back into to light, he offered his children and loved ones the opportunity to awaken here on earth. I thanked him, a man I never met, for this gift of unconditional love. He had offered me this moment of truth with a good friend, where we could openly celebrate our journey back to freedom through our love for each other and through the awareness that helps us grow and learn together, without fear.