Reflections on death

HAPPY WEEKEND

Gina Dizon

(With the death of my younger brother Roderick last July 5 and demise of  younger sister Bessie last Nov. 15, a neighbor, relative, friend, acquaintance and kailyan, here’s a reflection on death. May their souls rest in peace.)

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- Death is such an ugly word that a human being could just suddenly disappear from your sight and not to be seen anymore.  

The reality leaves a void that a person is not here anymore whom you have been talking to, eating and staying with.

Suddenly, the person is not around to talk to. We realize the person is dead and has gone through rituals and prayers for the dead and has been buried in the cemetery.   

You could cry out loudly or silently and all feelings get mixed up. From the emotional grief of missing someone to guilty feelings of not having done enough and wishing something should have been done to avert death.

The living is comforted with the thought that God is the one who calls a person to die or be with Him, the Creator of all things seen and unseen and determines death.

There is a spirit which directly links the self to God. Much as humans search for a higher being to ask for guidance, to lean on when there is suffering, to pray to for comfort or give thanks to blessings, there must be a spirit which relates humans to God to make the living stronger.  

It must be that the spirit stays with God in his kingdom where there is no pain nor suffering. It is a comforting thought that what is what is going to happen will happen due to an Unseen Hand.

Thus, the living should tend to the sick and helpless instead of wallowing in misery that a dearly beloved has died.

It is a reassuring thought that through prayer, the spirit of the dead is led to God.  Prayers help ease the pain of being left behind and slowly erase emotional feelings of not seeing a loved one and thoughts of doing or not doing enough for the dead.

With the frailties and imperfections of human beings, the living suffer and when it is time to go and join Him, there should be suffering no more.

The living should live healthy until the Creator shall call him to His kingdom.

That is the comforting link of the human being’s spirit to God.

Another comforting thought is the ‘ab-abiik’ or soul of the dead.

In Igorot belief particularly in culture-rich Sagada, the ‘ab-abiik’ remains while the body is buried.

My classmate and cousin Pecdasen considered here as an elder says the ‘ab-abiik’ is that part of a human being which leaves the body when one dies.

The ‘ab-abiik’ he says, watches over the living and move amongst the living. It can travel anywhere and stay anywhere. The primary role of which is to watch over the living and guide them to goodness especially the immediate members of the family.  

The ‘ab-abiik’ is “fed” in what Ilocanos call ‘atang’ wherein food is offered to them.

During death when the body is being watched over during wakes and even when the body is buried, talking to the dead and giving them food is a practice. It is a belief that in this manner, the ab-abiik shall continue to be within the midst of the living.  

Folks here talk to the dead imploring them to bless them and keep them safe and not for souls to talk back to the living since it will cause sickness to the latter.

A Christian saying says, “May the souls of the dearly departed rest in peace.”  It must be that there are restless or confused souls living amongst the living, thus the need to have them “rest in peace” through prayer -- for there is a Supernatural Unseen Being that human beings look up to and seek through prayers.

A human being is believed to have three parts- the body, the soul and the spirit.

Among the pagans here, rituals and prayers are done to make the dead’s journey to the “other life” easier. The mystery of the unseen soul and spirit continue to have a role in the lives of humans while they are alive.

Death is mysterious considering the living cannot die and live again to tell the experience.