Romans 14:8 Meaning For If We Live

The ego fears death because it believes it is the passing form it identifies with, the name, the story, the body it calls me. But there is something in you that was never born and cannot die, a deeper Being that lives through this form for a time and is not ended when the form dissolves. When you know yourself as this, the terror loses its grip.

To live and die unto the Lord is to belong, in both, to that which does not come and go. Living or dying, you remain held by the formless life that gave rise to you. The fear of death eases because what you most deeply are does not depend on the body remaining.

To God we belong, and to Him we return: nothing about you was ever your property Muslims say this line from the Quran out loud whenever someone dies. It answers the assumption sitting underneath most worry, that your life is a possession you have to guard. Once you see that you arrived owned and will leave the same way, your own survival stops being the thing you must defend at all costs.

'Ubūdiyya: Being God's servant The word names standing before God as someone owned, not self-owned. Belonging to one owner settles who your life is accounted to, which takes the pressure off winning approval from everyone watching. It also quiets the urge to grade how other people are living, since they answer where you do.

Tawakkul: Trusting God with the outcome The word comes from handing your business to someone you trust to act for you. You still do your part, and you stop gripping outcomes that were never yours to secure, including how many years you get. Plans keep getting made, and the weight of guaranteeing them comes off your shoulders.

Riḍā: Contentment with whatever God gives Sufis rank this above patience, because patience grits its teeth and contentment does not have to. A person who has it stops keeping a private preference for one condition over another, so staying alive and dying are both acceptable to them. Fear of dying loses some of its grip, since both sides sit in the same care.

Die before you die: the handing over happens while you are still alive Sufis repeat this line constantly, and someone who has already loosened their grip on their own life has less to lose when the end comes. The ownership question got settled early, so the years still left start to feel like a loan. The end of them stops being the thing every day is organized around avoiding.