4 Questions For My Readers
February 20, 2009 by Akemi
I usually play the role of an educator (haha) here at Yes to Me, but today, I want to switch roles. I have some serious questions about life, this world, and myself and I’m hoping my wise readers can help me. (Photo by Sailing)
1. Why are people afraid of death?
There seems to be a consensus that the longer a person lives, the better. I hear people say something like, “If I’m really lucky, I’d live to 100 . . .” And when someone dies young, whether that is 80 years old or 60 years old or 40 years old or as a minor, that is considered bad and shameful. Or in the case of children’s death, they blame God or the doctors or something.
Like (this is just one example of many, nothing personal here), Tim Brownson commented in Zen Habits regarding the Law of Attraction, “. . .my introduction to manifesting was The 28 Laws of Attraction by Thomas Leonard that originally came out (I think) about 6 or 7 years ago. Thomas Leonard then died at the age of 48, so his manifesting ability as an expert seems questionable at best 
”
But then, most older people I see don’t seem to be particularly happy. Why? If living long life is the ultimate goal of life (or at least one of them) and everyone wants it, they are the winners, right?
I don’t get it. I don’t mind leaving here on Earth this afternoon (except that I have several weeks worth of waiting list for my service – hope someone would refund them after I’m gone). Not that I want to die. Well, honestly, I’m getting a bit tired of all the mess in the world, but I still enjoy my life and I don’t mind continuing to live and do some service work in the meantime. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing to die. Just spare me with excessive pain and drama. (So don’t send me paper bomb, okay?)
But maybe I’m missing something? Can someone give me a few reasons why living long is the ultimate goal?
2. Why do people want more money than they can spend?
I do understand that we live in a monetary system and money comes handy to get the products and services I want. That is why I have my business and charge a heck of money ^_^ (I raised my rate three times in less than a year.) But I don’t understand wanting more money than I need.
Let’s just say I make a comfortable living with 100K a year. And let’s also say I achieve this goal. (Not quite there yet, and I probably don’t need this much, but hey, it’s fun to think. And I’m not good with numbers so I don’t want to work out the real numbers.) There are three choices I can make at this point:
- Keep working hard and make even more money
- Work less, enjoy life more
- Keep working hard but in a different way, including some work that may not produce income
I’d choose either 2 or 3. But many people seem to choose 1. Why?
For rainy days? Again, I do understand the benefit of having some buffers. Life is full of ups and downs. But really, isn’t it a bit obsessive to think the more the better? Or are there other reasons I have not noticed?
3. Why are some people so passionately against same sex marriage and other stuffs they are not involved?
I do understand that if you are homosexual and want to get married, you are passionate about legalizing same sex marriage. It’s your issue. I don’t necessarily think legal marriage is particularly a wonderful institution, but if you want it, you want it, and that is fine.
But if you are heterosexual, what do you care about same sex marriage? It has nothing to do with you. I’m straight, and I simply don’t have much to say about homosexualism. For me, they are just people like me or anyone else.
However, I do have something to say about love and marriage in general regardless of the participants’ gender.
And that is: love is good. If you are gay and really hate being gay, that may be an issue, like a sugar addict hating sugar cravings. But as long as you are happy with yourself, I don’t think any form of love is “wrong”. (Oooops, I forgot the possibilities of extremes like incest. There are people who want to argue using the fake logic of extremes.)
Some argue same sex marriage weakens marriage. BS. Marriage has been weakened by people getting married for wrong reasons like for money, security, or validation, and also weakened by married people who are cheating. Two adults getting married for mutual love and care cannot damage the institution of marriage whatever their gender may be.
I don’t understand the whole homophobia stuff, either. Why is it bad for a man to sxxx another man’s penis while it is fine for a woman to do the same? And why do you care about what other people do in their privacy? It’s not like they are dumping lead paint off the drain, contaminating our Earth.
4. What is my image or brand?
The dignified, outspoken, and secretly sensitive James Chartland (the last one is tricky. Apparently sensitive is not the image he likes to cast on himself, so he works hard to impress his readers with his manliness. But I bet he is sensitive) wrote an interesting post about branding. In that article, he points out how Frank Kern utilizes the laid-back, every man image as his brand to sell his expensive info product.
I’m intrigued. While I think I know myself pretty well, I also know it is extremely hard to know oneself. So will you please help me? Describe Akemi as you know her with three (or more) words, like I did for James and write them in the comment. You can be honest ^_^
Thank you and a big smile!
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I like posts like these, ones that discuss the different values and beliefs we all have in a neutral, non-confrontational way.
I think the answer to the “why do people chase money” question is a complex one. Some people value money higher than other areas of life, like love, or health or relationships. Some seek fulfillment via material wealth. Some want a better life and think money provides that. Different reasons, complex reasons.
As for same sex marriage and homophobia, you’re dead on. Love is good, no matter how it happens. Rock on with that. No issues there.
And for The Brand of Akemi…
Wise, Quiet, Calm.
Oh, and as for secretly sensitive… Heh. Possibly. Just a bit. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone.
I’m told that my astrology signs, Cancer on the cusp of Gemini with Leo ascendant, pretty much make anyone roll their eyes, nod wisely and say, “OOOH! Well! That explains it!” I have yet to learn what that all means, but there you go.
Here’s my take on it –
Why are people afraid of death? Because many don’t believe in an afterlife and because even if we have faith, we have no proof. We have no communication (for most of us) with those who have died, and we can’t be sure that life will go on for us, except here on earth. Some people also think death might hurt.
Why do people want more money than they can spend? Status. The one who has the most money wins. And why people want a lot of money (but not more than they can spend) is usually to be able to stop working, or at least to be able to stop working for someone else. It can be very difficult working for other people, and they may believe it will be easier working for themselves. Some want to live in luxury.
Why are some people so passionately against same sex marriage and other stuffs they are not involved? There are a variety of reasons. One is that they may have internalized their parents’ views. Some claim that the Bible prohibits same-sex relationships. And many people believe that the most outspoken people who oppose gay people are secretly gay and ashamed of it, so they take a stance against what is inside themselves and thus protect themselves from the kind of blame they feel they would receive.
What is my image or brand? That’s a tough one, because I don’t want to say anything that would hurt your feelings. I think I’ve been sensing changes in you since your soul shift, so I’ll comment on the Akemi I had a little contact with before that. From your photo, my impression was that you were young, innocent, sincere and good. From reading your blog, my impression is that you are kind to all, yet you have power and will use it to protect yourself if necessary. That’s image.
As for brand, I guess if you found a motif or a graphic that symbolized your strengths, that would make a good brand. Some people use animals, such as a bird, butterfly, lion, etc., or symbols, such as yin/yang, zodiac symbols or the symbol of a club they belong to, and some use a more abstract design such as circles or squares, My intuition is saying some type of bird for you, perhaps a seagull. I’m think it should be a bird that is strong, but never cruel.
James,
Well, I’ve already said it. You are — sensitive.
No idea what astrology means.
Quiet and calm? Really? These days, I feel like Archangel Michael, thrashing out the old — but with love and good intention. I take wise, though. That is nice you said that — I suspect some people think I’m totally nuts.
Dot,
Thank you for your input. I’ll think about all these. I think you are right on about money as status. Not sure if the idea of afterlife really saves people’s fear of death. I think it’s more about people not living fully right now. . .
Why are people afraid of death? Fear of death is different from fear of dying young. Fear of death is understandable because it’s a big unknown. But I don’t see why living a really long time is supposed to be a good thing.
Why do people want more money than they can spend? I’m not sure that many people do. I see a lot of people saying that money doesn’t matter.
Why are some people so passionately against same sex marriage and other stuffs they are not involved? In general, you don’t need to be involved in something to be passionately against it. Like you can think murder is wrong, even if no one is trying to kill you. But with regard to gay marriage specifically, I’m not sure why people care so much.
What is my image or brand? I think your “love and light” thing fits well. If you need a third word, let’s say peaceful.
Okay, I did think a bit more regarding Dot and Hunter’s answers.
1. Fear of death
Is fear of dying young different from fear of death? Hmmm… maybe. Like, if someone is on a project they love or project that they believe to be very important (or both), they want to complete it, so dying young is a bothersome idea. I still don’t understand why people make blanket judgment of “Hey that person died young, so they must have done something wrong.”
The real question is the kind of people who don’t seem to be enjoying their life and still hate the idea of death. Isn’t it like a kid who don’t care about a particular toy but start crying when that toy is taken away from him?
2. Many people may say money doesn’t matter, but that doesn’t mean they mean it. Given the choice, I think many of them opt for #1 in the article than #2 or 3.
Dot’s point on money as status is interesting because then they are using money as a manipulation tool on others, rather than simply using it to exchange with something they want.
3. I’ve heard of people worrying about their kids getting “recruited” to gay people if they don’t fight against them. Which sounds stupid to me. Kids love to experiment what their parents or adults in general prohibit. So by oppressing homosexuality, they may well be raising awareness for them.
Of course, going the opposite direction from what the parents say is just as no good as to blindly following them.
4. Dot, I think you are right that I’m going through changes. And I like the image of a free, loving, yet strong bird (not sure if a bird is all that strong, but maybe). Having a solid visual image is a great idea. Thank you.
BTW that pic is when I was 43. Thank you for the compliment that I look young.
Hunter, I’m peaceful? That’s nice. Thank you.
Wow another great post, i will definitely post this on my top 10 list probably tomorrow or Wednesday.
1. Death – This has nothing to do with religion but I believe there is an after life. We are probably on this earth as a test to see if we can survive and succeed and then move on to other galaxies or perhaps life forms.
2. Money – I think people buy things for the experience, the feeling they get from it. The “stuff” are just tools to get that feeling.
3. Gay marriage – my problem lies with why does the government or church have a say and a law to tell people what to do and not do? That is stupid.
Here watch Ron Paul talking about this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0GZznxMC14
4. Image – here is another area that people are afraid to show their true face. Remember variety is spice of life and that is how we form one society that strives yet so many of us are afraid to be ourselves.
toms last blog post..Rich vs. Poor: Who is more greedy?
@ Akemi – I don’t believe most people fear death itself. I believe people fear the unknown, and what is more unknown than what happens to us after death? Add to that fact the knowledge of what happens to our bodies when we do die, and that is a terrifying area for many people out there.
Somehow I sense the answer to your first three questions has to do with people’s fear that their lives will not matter, that they’ll die with their music still inside, their contribution to Earth left hidden and unrealized.
People are afraid of death because it pretty well guarantees you’re done searching for your avenue of contribution right now. You become unafraid of death by inner exploration and expanding upon your spirituality.
People want more money than they can spend because it makes them feel like they’ve accomplished something meaningful. It’s a matter of perspective, though. What is meaningful changes.
It’s the same with people being so passionately against same sex marriage. They want what they have or believe in (heterosexual marriage) to have meaning. It doesn’t have a strong enough meaning for them (yet) or else they wouldn’t feel threatened by anyone else’s happiness.
As for you, dearest Akemi, joy, lightness, wisdom. I enjoy you very much.
Yay, I’ve got wise twice. Of course ^_^
BTW my name Akemi literally has light in it. The characters mean bright and beautiful, and the “bright” part (Ake-) has the sun and the moon in it. Fun to think about, huh?
James,
Fear of the unknown and uncertainty — yeah, that’s it.
I guess many people would choose the devil they know than to venture out for the new.
Suze,
Yes, the first three questions are fundamentally spiritual questions. Why did you come to live? Are you fulfilling that purpose? That purpose cannot be replaced by wealth accumulation or keeping the existing belief system. That purpose is THE most important in life.
Tom,
Thank you for your kind words.
It’s interesting what you have to say about afterlife. You know I read people’s soul records (called Akashic Records) that span over many many lifetimes, right?
I see the Earth experiment more like a playground or amusement park. With physical body, we get to DO things! How interesting, compared to just having everything as a spirit!
I think you are right on the “retail therapy” issue.
Akemi, so what really happens when we “die”, our spirit rises and joins a different body in a different world?
What about all this fear of the “elites” taking over our world and forming a one world government? Is that another test?
toms last blog post..Rich vs. Poor: Who is more greedy?
Tom,
Usually, when we die, our soul leaves the body and “crosses over” to the other side. Then souls review their past lives, rest, and eventually aspire to come back for another lifetime, choose the birth setting, life lessons, and come back. You may like my book review of Journey of Souls.
Usually. There are some tragic traumatic cases, and I wonder if the soul’s memory of past traumatic death is part of the fear of death . . .
About your second question. Are you talking about the story of aliens taking over the Earth in 2012? We are heading to a New World Order, or Ascension, but it’s not a take over.
Well 2012 is apparently just a shift in the ages of the earth or something like that.
When i say one world government I mean like the very few in this world that control the planet. The education, health care, business, money, etc.
Tom,
That sounds like yet another bad rumor darkworkers love to spread. . .
BTW I think 2012 is a meaningful year although I am not sure exactly how. Hope you read my post on soul shifting, ascension, and 2012.
I will definitely read your other posts about those topics, thanks.
James,
BTW I know at least one thing that is more unknown than death, and that is Ascension. Death, we know to some extent — there are some people who came back after being declared dead. Ascension is something totally new to humanity. And I love it.
Fear of Death:
Well, here are 3 reasons I can think of:
1. Fear of unfinished business: I have a mission or a goal I mean to achieve, and I fear leaving before accomplishing them.
2. Associating death with painful memories from the past. If you experience a painful death in your life, you associate death with that tragedy.
3. Leaving loved ones behind: As a father of two small children, I very much fear this: dying and leaving them while they are young. I know that I will still see them and be around them and such, but I don’t know if anything will make me stop wishing to be around my kids physically as a father. In fact, if I were trapped somewhere with one other person who is single and only one can survive, I am afraid I’m going to kill the other person just so my kids will not experience the pain of losing a parent.
I also think that the fear of unknown and general social conditioning of death as bad also is true.
2. Wanting more money than you can spend: hmm, this one I’m not sure. I am not sure if I will get to a point where I will have more money than I can spend. My not so secret ambition is to build an empire like Newman’s Own and donate millions to worthy causes, so I am not sure if I will ever feel that I don’t want more money!
3. About homophobia. Well, I have a background in fundamentalist Christianity (though I myself am not a fundamentalist, never been) so I know why those people oppose same sex marriage. They believe that the Bible defines it as a sinful act, and they don’t want the government condoning (by legalizing) a sinful act. It’s the same motivation as forbidding schools from distributing condoms or preaching anything other than abstinence — they do know that kids are out there having unprotected sex, but they believe that by letting the official body admit to its existence, they feel that the society as a whole is condoning the act. The same goes for prostitution and abortion — everyone knows it happens, but people don’t want the government to make room for them legally. They want the government to stand up for what’s “right.”
4. I see you as strong-willed (opinionated, even), pragmatic (because you run your business so well), and straight-shooter (meaning, you say things the way it is. You don’t sugar-coat).
ari
Hi Ari,
Thank you for reminding me the attachment to small children issue in death. This is indeed a biggie, for a good reason as you explained. And it’s a tricky one. While I do understand the sentiment of a parent, I also know excessive attachment to your children at death can be problematic . . . some souls refuse to cross over and end up becoming earthbound.
Fear of unfinished business or project is also very relevant in fear of death. And I guess you are right in saying associating death with the death you saw before. No one in my family died in tragic way like in murder or bloody accident, but if that were the case, that would be scary . . .
In terms of money, if you are wanting money for others, I guess that’s a bit different from wanting more money than you can spend ^_^
Interesting what you have to say about social hypocrisy. We can add Prohibition to the list of stupidity although it is a history now. (Good grief — I don’t care about drinking, but I’d hate to see people doing stupid things just to get some alcohole.)
Re my image: Hmm. Interesting. No one has pointed out I have an attitude (a good one, though) It’s nice you say I’m pragmatic, but you may be disappointed when you learn how I actually do it. It’s pretty haphazard, and I don’t care all that much about it. (Yeah, I may have the single person’s perspective and attitude esp when it comes to money. )
“I see the Earth experiment more like a playground or amusement park. With physical body, we get to DO things! How interesting, compared to just having everything as a spirit! ”
Hmm, that’s interesting. It does fit with one of my reasons for not looking forward to death — how boring it seems to become a spirit (or playing a harp in the clouds, as they used to show heaven in the movies) and just hang around not being abale to do anything.
Although I still don’t see how my daily life fits in with the life purpose you discussed in my reading, I’m enjoying my daily life.
question 1 -
I have found that the fear of death is the uncertainty that life will carry on. people are to focus on living and the goals that they want to reach in live that billions of people are still forgeting that the reason we are here is to infact learn.
Many people say that ‘death is just a new adventure’, this would be a way to look at it but many have gone though the experience before. I do not know if you have heard of the story Peter Pan. Its about a boy that went to live in a place called never land, so that he would never grow up from being a little boy. Although he stays the sane age, does his mine still not work and mature? So many questions are un known to so many people.
The many fear that people also see is the loss of attachments, so many people look to much at what they would lose rather than the memories and teachings they would be living behind.
Death is a path to something more that we will all take to reach our ultimate goal, but many are still in the process of realising that death is not the end. Many can not except that there is more after death so they fear it. We all have the task to realise that death is not more than a steping stone to the otherside.
I hope this will help, Love and light
Sarah-Marie Francis
question 2 -
Money… money… money…
this is the simple reason why people want it. They like the fact that they’ll can say i have more money, they like to say that thay have earnt it with out doing so much as any effort. Greed basically.
If you think of it as just money you will see that it doesnt seem like anything, but if i said this to you, ‘money is a mean of exchanging energies between one person and another’, would you understand more? of course. The more money, the more power, the more control, the more greed. People will do anything to gain more energy and money is a form of doing so.
But if we worked to earn money and gave our money once someone has earned it this is a different concept. This is using energy efficently, we are sharing and giving and recieve what we have put our efforts into. Paying for things and paying for a service that we have asked for is nevertheless givinging energy for something we have recieved in return.
One thing that people most disagree with is the dreaded ‘tax’. Who can blame them, money is being taken that you have rightfully earned. But do not forget that although this is controling of the government, we will get the services back in return. Although i do not agree with goverment run countries that divide us up. If we do not have these rules and controls the people that are not aware of the truth would be left to take energyies more effectively. Before we are able to help others with understanding money, we must first look at the money and energies we are taking and recieving. hope this helps to.
Kind regards and lasting light
Sarah-Marie Francis
question 3-
being gay is just a means of being with someone that you are comfortable with, whether that is a man or a women is nothing to do with another person. We all seek for energy types, most males are attracted to female energies, most females are attracted to male energys as it supplies the type of energy that we dont carry. this is why you normally get daddy’s girl and mummy’s boy. this also shows that some people are just after the energy of the sex that they are.
Its about exchanging money the way that you think is right and want makes you feel more free and happier. Marriage is a way to show commitment, that all gay relationships are trying to show, commitment to the one we love.
Some religons forbid this… take christianity for example (im not singling this is just easier to explain), where is the bible and where by gods or jesuses words does it say not to love the same sex, it states to love trully. I am a buddhist and i find that love is what we should seek for. We are entitled to it, who has ever said that we are not.
love and light
sarah-marie francis
question 4 -
One can only now oneself after following there own heart and clearly any attactment they might have that is unwanted.
I do not know what it is like to know oneself completely, but i have been told by a dear friend that life is no more than finding oneself. You are not you body and the influences society and life has had on you but your higher being.
Only you will know yourself. Just see past everything you want, where you are going. at look at where you have been and what as a higher being you have learnt.
Someone mentioned 2012. this is from the mayan prophecy. i cant state what will happen exactly, some people do know, but will not tell. but i know it as a shift in spitirtual awareness. People cant explain to others, they have to witeness and feel it themselves. The more people that are awoken to the truth the better.
Love and Light
Sarah-marie Francis
Why do people want to live long? Because they fear death… I think. They fear death because they either think they’ll be judged (christian brainwashing… Edgar Cayce said that this lie originated to keep people under control, because at that stage of their development they wouldn’t work on themselves if they thought they could leave it off to their next lives) or they don’t know what will happen and they just don’t want to think about it.
OR the ego wants control, so one of the ways it can do it is by thinking of years as some sort of pointage system and try to get as many as possible.
Why do people want more money than they can spend? Ego
And lack of life purpose? I mean, if you don’t know what your life is about, accumulating comfort can be a fair substitute….
People against same sex marriage? Ego
And stupidity 
What’s your image or brand? Um… “adorable” came to mind… and “cool”…
My guides brought me here because I’m working on my life purpose and understanding of LOA……………………………. so you’re a life-empowerment specialist?
Hugs
Andrew
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