divine_elixir

 

For myself, a moon rabbit whom is said to formulate such an elixir by mortar and pestle, immortality is a non-physical state of the spirit or soul. Physical form is meant to naturally transform and change into different states. For without these changes there couldn't be physical life.

 

The immortality of the spirit, from the knowledge I have, is innate in all things. It just might take much rumination and inner development to realize such a thing.

 

I do not have everything figured out as of yet. Only a set of concepts and things that have played an integral part in my nonhuman-ness. Those being: The moon, stars, universe, dreams, and inner alchemy.

 

The moon, which is an integral part of my identity, is usually found to be connected to many long lived beings in myth and lore. i.e. The fae, huli jing, of course moon rabbits, etc. There is also "The waters of rejuvenation", which is said to be in the possession of the Shinto kamisama of the moon, Tsukuyomi no Mikoto.

 

As the moon naturally wanes, only to be reborn again as it waxes during the passing of nights. Such cyclical phenomena could be interpreted and understood by anyone to represent a reincarnation of sorts. But for I, I feel it connected to how a spirit develops even through eternity and yet remains itself. For even when the moon isn't visible it does not change the fact that it is still there.

 

Something eternal is often seen as unchanging. Yet, even non physical beings change and grow. Unlike the changes of corporeal form which develop due to environmental or biological factors, intangible beings develop through the continual acquirment of self knowledge and imagination. Which I connect back to dreams, figurative and literal. Without physical form to hinder oneself, an imaginal thought or act could transform the spirit if one wills it. 

 

Life as one knows it exists today because of the death and transformation of the stars within the known universe. Birth and death is usually considered the beginning and then the inevitable end of something, but I as a moon rabbit I do not see it this way. To me, birth and death are nothing more than descriptive words for entering and exiting a physical life. If one could look beyond that, birth and death don't really exist. They are simply the transfiguration of form. The same could be said of the death of a star, the star did not cease in any way, the parts of its visible form simply transformed into other forms of being and life.

 

Alchemy is the transformation of matter from one state to another, and we already know matter can not be created or destroyed. My kind understand this universe and all beyond it as eternal, always remaining itself yet in an infinite dance of becoming and unbecoming. Though, such words as infinite and eternal fail to describe it in whole. Such are the limits of language.

 

But how does this all connect back to non-physical immortality? I would be lying if I said I had all the answers. I do not, I am just a simple moon rabbit. However, I do do a lot of musing. And the occasional hmm-ing and ha-ing. By which I mean I think a little to much for my own good and find myself in an unending cycle of ruminations. From my hours of thinking and connecting dots the best I could, I have come to feel that my kind see the wider universe in all things. And as it is unending and eternally changing, so to do all things. Making all immortal in a way, different to the folkloric idea of immortality. 

 

As for identity and how eternal that is, one changes every day. There is never a time when one does not change in some way. As with the paradox with the ship of Theseus. If you were to change a part of yourself everyday until every part of you has changed, are you still you? Do you gaze upon photos of your child self and still identify with them despite how different you are now? Of course most would. Then I would question what is that thing within us that continues to recognize ourselves in things of passed time, despite the visible changes. It must be something of the invisible world. The imaginal, self knowledge, dreams, and so on. Some might see these things as unrelated but my feelings and definitions of these topics differ greatly.

 

Dreams and the imaginal are born from nothing. Besides the application of knowledge and ideas one learns from their time in life, the imagination requires not the matter that makes up physical things. Dreams and imagination, unlike physical reality, can do the unthinkable. Breath seeming life into myth, turn back time, and bring about a shift in things on a psychological level. Many associate imagination with the young, so is keeping in touch with the imagination a means of realizing innate immortality? Perhaps.

 

If matter is the endless grains of sand on the beach, then dreams are the means by which the sand takes shape into a myriad of castles and sculptures.

 

I have spoken much in this write up, and I have done a lot of speaking that might seem like nonsense. But I love speaking nonsense....or maybe my nonsense seems intelligible to you. There is still so much I could have talked about. Things that feel natural for me to know as a moon rabbit, and things I come to connect and weave bit by bit. 

 

On one final note, I will say this. People say life goes on without you after you are gone from their sight. But to me that isn't true. Life goes on because of you and all things. Your body nourishes more life to come, your memory lives on in those who cherished you, and the endless universe will always have a place for you. Nothing is ever destroyed, only transformed.