I’m not your lover
I’m not your friend
I am something that you’ll never comprehend
No need to worry
No need to cry
I’m your messiah and you’re the reason why
‘Cause you, I would die for you, yea
Darling if you want me to
Have you ever fallen so totally in love with someone that to be without her is death, and to be with her life eternal? You cherish the ground she walks upon. Night and day, you think only of her. You would do anything for her… you would even die for her!
This is what every woman wants to hear from her man, like Juliet for her Romeo. Yes, you would truly die for her, but what about the world?
How Prince Electrified the World
In 1984, Prince Roger Nelson stunned America as he introduced a breathtaking new form of fusion. The son of two jazz musicians out of Minneapolis, Prince captured our imagination with his movie and soundtrack, “Purple Rain.” It broke all records, selling 13 million albums, with the film grossing $68 million. At one time, Prince had America’s No. 1 single, No. 1 album and No. 1 film.
Prince was already a master musician, playing dozens of instruments. His passion outshone both Michael Jackson and Madonna, his principal rivals. He threatened to relegate them to the sidelines. Prince radiated intense sex appeal and an indefinable spirituality at one and the same time. He introduced the Gospel in an idiom to which people of any persuasion could profoundly resonate.
While Prince initially flaunted his sexuality, he spoke at a much deeper, archetypal level. The year 1984 was the height of the Cold War, and it didn’t look like we would make it. Even the very year “1984” was ominous, as the title of George Orwell’s dystopian novel. Prince chanted “1999,” affirming he would celebrate in the face of devastation and ruin. He pointed to a self-sacrificing love. He would, like the Messiah, “Die for you.”
How could I possibly die for someone else? Prince forced us to ask that question.
The Lifeboat Exercise
You may remember back in school taking a humanities class dealing with values clarification. If so, you very likely got to play the most intriguing forced-choice quiz you are ever likely to encounter. Let’s say you have just bailed out from the Titanic, and there are 11 people in your boat, with only room for 10. Which one shall the group throw overboard to sink into the oceanic abyss?
This exercise can inspire the most vigorous discussions, especially when it dawns upon the participants that they have no choice. One of them has to go.
Should we save a Nobel Prize recipient and humanitarian, like Muhammad Yunus? A gorgeous, accomplished starlet, like Jennifer Lawrence? A young and promising world leader, such as France’s President Emmanuel Macron? Or a freaky but brilliant Terrence McKenna?
With any hope, the lifeboat game forces you to the realization that every human life is precious, if not sacred.
What Would Make You Actually Die for Someone Else?
Many people feel that they have only one life, and that they should give it all they’ve got. Why throw it away for anyone else, husband, wife, lover, mother or father? Just think of Uncle Sam in stripes pointing, “I want you!” In the Vietnam era, the preferred response was, “Hell no! We won’t go!”
However, there may be at least one person, and possibly more than one, who, were they gone, you would feel life wasn’t worth living. Perhaps you are supremely grateful to him or her, mother or father. Perhaps your man is the only person in the world who truly understands you. Perhaps your woman is the only person who could possibly make you happy.
Mothers and fathers would feel this way toward a son or daughter who loves them, depends upon them and has a full life ahead. You can already see it: he has built into him everything you dreamed for yourself. You’ve lived a full life up to this point, “Sure, I’ll give my life for my kids.”
Are You Ready to Meet Your Maker?
The great 20th Century evangelist, Billy Graham, used to ask his audiences before the alter call, “Are you ready to meet God?” Billy started out with fire and brimstone, but in his later years chose to emphasize an eternity without Christ, the very man who died for them. Dozens of people with tears in their eyes would make their way to the center of the stadium.
Billy had a point. Most of us in America feel that there is something after this life, whether in a vague spirit world, a glorious eternity in heaven (which has been suggested by such skeptics-turned-believers as Dr. Eben Alexander), or, God forbid, endless suffering for making other lives miserable.
It is interesting to observe people, either during the holiday season, or after a major disaster, such as an 8.6 earthquake. People are much nicer, more human and compassionate than you ever imagined. You might say that they are on their best behavior for Christmas. I choose to believe that they are in touch with what truly matters, and their have-it-together attitude is just a facade.
A Salute to the Men and Women in Uniform
Think of the millions of men and women around the globe under every possible flag, serving in the armed forces, as well as in the police or fire departments. These people routinely place themselves in the line of fire. No matter what your political convictions, or your sentiments about wars and military actions that are so often unwarranted and even pointless; we must deeply admire their courage.
These people are willing to die, not only for their loved ones, but also for a much larger sphere of concern. They are willing to risk their lives to protect you. Should they die in the process, as did many of the firemen in the Twin Towers, their widows and children might be left to fend for themselves, on the edge of poverty.
Many of these men and women, beyond the elusive glory of patriotism, find a profound sense of fulfillment in serving their country, protecting what they believe in and giving back all that has been given to them. As Jesus Christ put it, “He that seeks to save his life shall lose it, and he that loses his life for My sake shall save it.” We can’t be fulfilled on the highest level until we live for something much greater than ourselves.
Die for You? YES. Kill for You? NO.
Since the 2000’s, Americans have been acutely aware of the Islamic doctrine of “Jihad,” which actually means struggle, not murder. Mohammad counseled the early Muslims that the “Greater Jihad” is an internal battle with one’s own darker impulses. War and violence, for Mohammad, were the “Lesser Jihad.” Nothing to brag about. However, a few Islamic countries, have recently appropriated Jihad to justify all kinds of questionable, and downward dastardly acts.
When I was in high school, I had a brilliant Jewish-Christian history teacher who kept asking his students, “Is violence ever justified?” That was in an era when America was fighting a futile war that lost the confidence of its youth. I have given much thought to this. If one were to take the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount to heart, we never have a license to kill. After seeing Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, I actually saw how we need not resort to violence.
We are now at a turning point where can choose NOT to kill, no matter what societal influences are brought to bear. True, you could face punishment for not bearing arms. It is also true that if whole groups of people, such as the nation of Costa Rico, which has no standing army, renounce standard notions of defense, the price might be great. They will certainly have it no easier than did Gandhi, and perhaps much harder.
Would You Die for Even Your Enemy?
Supreme love is to, not only forgive your enemies and refuse to defend yourself against them, but to actually die for them, to wake them up, if you will. This was, of course, perfectly illustrated by Jesus of Nazareth on the cross when the Pharisees mocked him, and Christ prayed, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Some time ago, on the island of Hawaii, a despairing teenager went up to its highest peak, and was about to jump beyond the guardrail. A couple of cops following him, slammed on the brakes. One of them ran from the car and grabbed the boy’s legs as he took the plunge. His partner grabbed him, as the cop himself was clearly about to go with the boy off the cliff. This created quite a sensation and was written up in the local papers. The cop was interviewed as to why he held on to the boy, when he was about to lose everything. He said, “If I had let go of that boy, I couldn’t have lived with myself another day.”
The great mythologist, Joseph Campbell, who recounted this story, related the insight of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. When we give our lives for someone else, maybe someone we don’t even know, we do so because we realize in a metaphysical burst of insight that we and that other person are ONE.
I Would LIVE for You!
Today, most of us are not called to DIE for someone else. However, we are most definitely called to LIVE for other people, to be the light of the world, to reduce their suffering and give them joy. In an ironic sort of way, it easier to die for your wife and children than to live for them. One glorious act of selflessness and you are done. To live for your family and friends requires moment-by-moment giving.
While Prince died alone in an elevator in Paisley Park, he left behind millions whose lives he touched. Right to the end, he pushed himself with a broken hip taking constant medication. Prince entertained people while being sober himself. He kept living in the moment, opening up the envelope in musical and artistic innovation. As an ultracool Jehovah’s Witness, Prince had total confidence he would be well-taken-care-of at the other end.
We can choose to live, not only for those closest to us, but also for our Mother, Planet Earth. We can choose to look into the eyes of everyone we meet and see a uniquely precious soul. Living this way is as great as dying that way. If we love enough people with that kind of love, we may succeed in saving this Planet, as well ourselves.
Would You Die For Me? appeared first on http://consciousowl.com.
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