Most people believe they are exempt from philosophical inquiry and metaphysics. However, this belief itself is a philosophical stance. The common conception that we are bodies existing in a material reality external to our consciousness is, in fact, a metaphysical position. This worldview is called materialism, and it has profound consequences for our approach to life and reality. To relate to the world, we must have an explanation of reality. In Western society, materialism is the predominant philosophy that allows us to make sense of our experiences.
Why Death Is Impossible: You Are Not Your Body
The reason it’s possible to discover the unreality of death is that death is merely a concept. Death consists of the loss of one’s identity. In fact, the main goal of every serious spiritual practices is to lose one’s identity and discover the unreality of death.
By implementing certain spiritual practices and contemplating the nature of reality, anyone can realize the unreality of death without causing any harm to their body. The main reason why death is impossible is that you are not your body. You are the consciousness that has identified with your body.
By the term consciousness, I mean the present moment, everything that is happening at this exact moment. In this moment, the present has identified with a single part of what is happening, and because of this identification, the fear of death arises. As soon as you identify with a limited part of reality, this limited part of reality can cease to exist.
The Process of Identification and The Illusion of Separation
To understand what I mean, imagine identifying with a common object like a cup. As soon as you’ve identified with the cup, you’ll start worrying about prolonging its survival. If I were to throw the cup to the ground and break it into a thousand pieces, you would experience a sense of loss or “death,” as you would lose a part of your identity.
The same thing happens when you identify with your body. It’s clear that it’s necessary to take care of your body and to pay attention to what happens to it. I’m not suggesting you abandon common sense. However, it’s important to understand the process of identification and how it shapes our perception of reality and death.
The Eternity of the Present Moment
Consciousness has contracted and identified with the body when in reality, consciousness is the eternal present moment. And the eternal present moment cannot die precisely because it has no opposite; it’s the Absolute. The concept of death arises from our belief in the existence of a future separate from the present. If you were able to understand the unreality of the future, you would also understand the unreality and impossibility of death.
The present moment, everything that is happening now, is eternal precisely because it exists. The eternity of anything is demonstrated by its very existence. Death is impossible because there is no reality separate from the present moment.
There Is No Material Universe
The external reality that you believe to be material is nothing but your own consciousness. There is no material universe separate from what you are. Everything you interact with is your own consciousness. The entire universe is a single phenomenal field, and there is only the subjective experience of reality. This means that there is no “other” to interact with; everything is your own subjectivity, everything is your own Self. As Eastern mystics of Advaita Vedanta would say, “There is nothing beyond your Mind.”
It’s impossible to prove the existence of anything beyond your subjective experience of reality. You can’t prove your existence to me as an entity separate from me. Your attempt to prove your existence to me would only prove my own existence, because to me, you are an happening in my subjectivity. The simple fact that I am able to perceive the external world, that I am able to perceive you as an entity, demonstrates my intimate equality with what I am perceiving, not my separation from what I perceive. The idea that you are a body and the idea that reality is material are just assumptions.
Jnana Yoga: The Path to Understanding
By conducting a philosophical analysis aimed at destroying all your beliefs and ideas about reality, you will arrive at the discovery of the Absolute Subjectivity of reality. This is precisely the goal of the branch of Yoga called Jnana Yoga. The goal of Jnana Yoga is to destroy all the beliefs and assumptions that the individual projects onto reality.
By destroying all these assumptions, what remains is the Truth. In Advaita Vedanta, a non-dualistic school of Hindu philosophy, Truth is called Brahman – pure consciousness, exactly what is happening at this moment. If material reality is nothing but your own Mind, it becomes clear that death is impossible because there is nothing beyond your own consciousness.