Would reincarnation make the idea of dying more palatable? I am of the school of thought this is something worth studying. So far, the literature that reaches me is 'The Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Book of the Dead'. Since Michael Jackson lived in public, I figured his afterlife might resonate publicly as well... so here's another spin on this death.
The Book of the Dead describes the journey of the soul in the intermediate state between death and rebirth. It speaks of fascinating and terrifying visionary apparitions or 'deities' stemming from the deceased person's own consciousness. The book emphasizes these are not gods or mythological figures, but rather 'illusionary images of one's own mind'. It lays out a generally accepted timetable of 49 days for this trip.
Until the 11th day, there is a successive emanation of peaceful deities, followed by wrathful deities through the 41st day. Michael died on June 25th. His life was joyously celebrated in the media until his memorial, which was held July 7th, the 12th day after his death. That's when confrontation with self is supposed to set in. On July 9th, the creepy Illinois mass grave story came out, coinciding with the Tibetans' schedule of terrifying deities and hell worlds. I also find it interesting the curious story of Harvard's African American scholar Henry Louis Gates' racially motivated arrest dominated the news in king of pop style, as racial anguish would play a large part in Michael's introspection. On the 41st day, the ordeal is supposed to end. That was the day everyone rejoiced over the release from North Korea of the two Asian American journalists.
Between the 42nd and 49th day the soul searches for an appropriate place of rebirth. At any time during this process, the book stresses that "if all the temptations of deceptive visionary images, which are continually referred to in the texts as hostile forms of the intellect, can be recognized as empty creations of one's own mind and can be immediately penetrated, one will attain liberation. These images dissolve away and the awareness reaches the peaceful and imageless release of nirvana." In that case, it would be worthwhile to practice 'in life' by recognizing the illusory nature of problems and hassles as the same self-spun creations.
In days 42 to 49 of Michael Jackson's travels in the death realm, two words dominated the news in the tirade over the health care bill, resurrected on day 49 by Senator Grassley: DEATH PANEL
These are just a few parallels to play with. Poetry may be a good place to start to decipher quintessence.
