Die Before You Die, (Triple, from the right: The Birth, Gates of the Soul, The Transition)
Acrylic on Canvas, 48 x 120 (30+60+30) in
121.9 x 304.8 (76.2+152.4+76.2) cm
A SUFI teaching says, 'Die before you die.' One interpretation is that you should strive to learn what you would be shown at death while you still have time to make use of this knowledge, that is, while still alive in a body.
Die Before You Die means, the death of the ego and the possibility of a real life.
OSHO says:
Die as you are so that you can become that which you really are.
Die to the ego so that the divine can be born in you.
Die to the past so that you become open to the future.
Die to the known so the unknown can penetrate in you.
Die to the mind so the heart can start throbbing again so that you can rediscover your own heart which you have lost completely.”
Life and death are both gifts, then the prospect of death can become more a source of wonder than a cause for fear.
The Birth: It is the energy of the descending spirit from the spiritual world, every death is a new birth, it is representing the gate birth of the soul, so it is a vertical position of the painting.
Gates of the Soul: The gates are a crossover between the spiritual and the natural world. No one can enter the inner circle of the soul, without leaving behind the ordinary, for meditation and reflection, we enter a magical place where we can connect with the divinity.
Seven gates, seven chakras, seven bodies, seven colors, and seven phases of the soul, until union with the Absolute in the pure soul. The more you move through the gates, the more you see life with a different perspective and reach the higher level of the soul.
It is the mundane life we live in, so it is a horizontal position of the painting.
The Transition: The body dies, but the soul does not die, it continues to move up and down until it is uniting with nothingness. so, it is a vertical position of the painting, with brush strokes up and down and horizontal, close to abstraction style, to express nothingness, "things that exist through their absence".