There is a saying in Sufism: "One must die before he dies." What does it mean to die before dying?.. What kind of death is it?..
With death, the soul is reborn and attains eternity. However, one can find peace only by achieving this. To do so, a person must lose his ego self, learn to vanish completely, to neutralize themselves entirely. They should not dwell on bodily desires beyond a certain point, or their own existence. They must shed all layers of their "self," stripping away everything until nothing remains . When a person opens their heart and looks within, they realize that there are two different, opposing "selves" inside them. These are the dual aspects of our creation. One is positive, the other negative; one is light, the other darkness; one is good, the other evil. The body and mind are merely necessary elements for this life; they hold no value when our earthly lives come to an end. Yet, humanity has fallen into the misconception that their true existence depends on these. And over time, they have forgotten the true essence.
So how is it possible to let go of the body and mind before they abandon you due to aging? Especially while continuing to live in a virtual life where you think you need them? This requires dying before dying. It's realizing that everything you think is outside of yourself is actually a part of you, feeling their joy, happiness, and pain within you.
It's about annihilating yourself and your desires in front of them, attaching your happiness to them. Just like a mother finds infinite joy in feeding her child instead of herself. This is death. It's the cessation of desires, ego, and limited perceptions associated with the body; it's the birth of the soul into eternity. In fact, this death opens the doors to a world of eternal bliss for us. Once you pass through that door, you leave behind the limited and impoverished life you've led. You relinquish the constantly pursuing pleasure, the boundaries-filled body, mind, and desires that never find satisfaction.
To do this requires mastery, the art of living. The only way to reveal the true self, your soul, is to sacrifice the egoic self. There's no other way. Only then can you pass through the door to eternity and attain reality. We value our bodies, which are merely an illusion, so much that we fail to see their end and that what truly exists is something else entirely. When we shed this illusion, we'll see that our true self is our soul. That's why the experiences of our souls in this life are crucial. When the body ages, loses its functions, and leaves us, what remains for our soul is the reality we've created based on the experiences of this life. Our reality is shaped by how we interpret the events that befall us. If we've lived a life filled with suffering, we've created hell; if we've created a reality filled with joy and love, we've experienced heaven. The body may perish, but the soul continues to live on in eternity along with its experiences.
