We are on the eve of celebrating the Day of the Dead. Families gather, move, gather around the decorated, beautified tomb. Indigenous communities usually bring meals to share around the grave, while others prepare what we remember best at home. Death is the big question of life.

Virtuous circles

What happens when we die? Do we somehow survive, are we judged based on our behavior on earth and receive reward or punishment, or are we left in limbo awaiting salvation?

The great mystery is life, this life of ours that slips through our hands while we run after a dream: to raise children well, a job, a vacation, a sports or political triumph, a walk, a wedding, a concert, recognition, a diploma… We run in search of happiness that we generally imagine as a result of things that happen to us and to which we give power, which are external to us, which come into our lives and integrate into it in a more or less way. less superficial like varnish that beautifies.

About us? What makes me? What sustains this life, this body, which changes with age, and I still think of myself as a unit? What is consciousness, can it be bought? What is this we call soul?

Some people were torturers and murderers, and at the same time apparently excellent parents. What internally distinguishes good behavior from abnormal behavior in the same people and why do we not detect them in time? We conquered the Earth and traveled through space, but we did not conquer hunger, injustice, or turn the desire for power into happiness.

The history of evolution shows us that small ones have a better chance of survival than big ones. Ants and cockroaches survived the dinosaurs. In Colorado, a huge 400-year-old tree that withstood storms, lightning, succumbed to tiny insects that attacked it, just as mealybugs killed hundreds of trees in Guayaquil.

In the midst of uncertainty, a little hope breaks through, we must learn to love…

How can we fit into this web of life of which we are a part, in which we are so integrated that without it we could not survive, and at the same time understand our desire for dominance that makes us want to stand out and believe that being more important and better than others and Therefore, does it undo that subtle collective framework that sustains and sustains us?

Ecuador without politics

Does life give meaning to our death or does death give meaning to our life?

How do we overcome the wars we create to defend rights or to gain power?

As human beings we have not learned to resolve conflicts, it is not part of our collective survival intelligence. Many people believe that their existence means the death of others.

A personal, intimate question becomes a collective one. In the midst of uncertainty, a little hope makes its way, we must learn to love, with a deep, personal and shared love, which transforms us and gives us wings, and at the same time suffers with those who suffer and seeks solutions. Let it rely on its own strength and give us life, like sap that overcomes gravity and fills a tree with leaves and flowers.

Then life and death will have meaning. (OR)