Good morning. My name
is Todd and I’m one of Mike’s brothers.
I’m the older one, which as it turns out, is a disadvantage for me
because when I met Mike I was a teenager and he was a little kid. I had all the
teenager diseases and distractions and desires and so didn’t really have a lot
of intimacy with Mike until much more recently. My loss. But, lately, I have had the chance to get to
know Mike, and Susan and Michael, on a much more intimate level because I moved
into the same house they live in. Thanks
Dad and thank you God for that Blessing. The more I got to know Mike, the more
I liked him and so the more I miss him now.
But, I’ve still got Susan and Michael and so have a lot left to be
thankful for. Anyway, when I started thinking about what I could add to this
morning’s comments I felt somewhat at a loss.
I didn’t have a lot of experiences about Mike I felt were worth sharing.
So, I was sort of forced to take a more philosophic approach which I hope
brings some measure of joy.
I’ve always thought that humans could only do two things;
Have fun and learn.
Some of us’ve been having some experience with the having fun
part, I think. (haven’t we?)
Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m not having much fun
today, so, this must be the learning part. And we’re learning the only way we
seem to know how to…through experience.
We are learning the pain of loss. And the confusion of tragedy. But, we are also learning the relief of
grieving and the lift in remembering;
the laugher in the tears and the power of our family.
The toughest lesson, though, the thing we resist, actually,
is learning the Joy in this situation… Joy in the dyeing!? Everything inside is saying emptiness and
calamity and shock and terror and loneliness and unfairness and why me and why
Mike and anything other than joy.
But, there is joy to be learned here. There has to be!
But, we need to expand our awareness a bit so see it. We need to perceive it from the perspective
of our soul.
When I say “soul” I don’t mean a soul as something I have or
that is residing in me somehow. A soul
is who and what I am. A soul is who and
what you are. And, it is who and what Mike is.
We are all souls.
Another way to imagine the same idea is, we are all spirits having an
earthly experience.
I imagine all these immensely powerful eternal things moving
– I like to visualize them as spinning – through infinity
That’s Mike. That’s Mike now and will be Mike forever.
But how can this be? All us souls are formed completely of
energy and therefore eternal, but not unlimited because the soul, being energy,
cannot interact with or manipulate matter directly. So, each soul creates one
of us -- a Todd, a Susan, a Michael, a Mar,
a Bill, a Jason – and then we interact with and manipulate matter.
So, the soul we know as Mike created Mike the person we all
experienced in the physical world we shared with him. And, in so doing we
interacted, loved, argued with made love with the soul that we knew as
Mike. That soul exists now, just as it
did last week and just as it will a hundred years from now.
So, Mike the soul produced Mike the person who entered the
physical universe, and all our lives.
What’s the point? Mike the person
had a mission. A mission his soul sent him on. There was a reason Mike was
here. Only the soul knows the specifics
of Mikes’, or my or your, mission, but one thing is certain. No person can fail to accomplish their
mission.
This is not to say we, Mike, had no choices. We have an almost infinite number of
choices. But, the mission is to learn
and we cannot avoid learning. Each
person who lives learns something the soul needs to know. The decision for us and for Mike is how we
choose to learn. We can choose to learn
through fear and pain or we can choose to learn through love and compassion,
but we will learn, regardless, and accomplish our mission.
Mike’s mission has ended…Mike accomplished his mission.
And now the soul we knew as Mike rejoices upon his return … mission accomplished! And the souls of his parents and grandparents
and brothers and sisters and every soul who has come here today to say
farewell. We are all rejoicing.
And that part of that soul we all knew and loved and grieve
for today is involved right now in planning his next mission.
OK…back to the fun part!
A group activity…
Close your eyes, please. You may bow your head if you like,
but that is not necessary, this is not a prayer. See if you can clear your mind of
thoughts. See how quiet you can
get. Now, think about Mike. About something specific. Recall a situation where you can see him.
Where is he? See if you can picture
him. Is he talking to you or just doing
something? Maybe he’s yelling trying to
make his point. Or, is he laughing? Maybe he’s cooking. Got a good picture of
him? Get closer. See if you can see details of his face. Now, put your arms around him. Hug him real tight. A big bear hug. Ummmm.
Hold him away a bit and look into his eyes..
now, say good bye.