亲爱的Haven社区，
我们满怀着一颗伤透的心，写下这封信给所有认识并热爱大卫的人们。
在11月13日，大卫患上了主动脉剥离，并紧急被救护车送往医院。急诊室的医生说他需要手术，并被转移到了维多利亚。但医生在准备手术时发现他突然发生了中风，身体已无法承受手术。我们将他转移到了临终关怀病房，让他能够安静地休息。
他在11月14日的凌晨离开我们，被家人包围着，充满了爱。我们痛不欲生，努力理解这一切究竟发生了什么。感谢大家送来的爱意和支持，我们请求你们继续将大卫放在心中，以爱护送他在超越肉体的旅程中。
现在还没有安排正式的葬礼，而是我们将在不久的将来举行一场生命的庆典。如果你想表达对大卫离世的感受，欢迎给我们发送电子邮件。请理解我们可能无法回复每一封邮件。
如果你愿意的话，可以选择向国际儿童发展协会 Kids International Development Society (KIDS) 捐赠，以此向大卫致敬，而非送花。
最后，我们与你们分享大卫写的一段美丽的文字。他在11月4日写下了以下的文字，并在离世前一天发给了桑迪Sandey。我们在他离世后看到了那封邮件，不禁思考是否有一种缘分存在其中。他的话语给予了我们极大的安慰，让我们知道生命在不断的运动中延续着，而他也在延续着。
流动
没有其他地方可去，至少看起来是这样的。只有坐着等待，直到等待失去了吸引力，只剩下坐着，也许像佛陀一样。
没有其他感觉可感受，或许只是一厢情愿。喜悦、悲伤、绝望、恐惧和愤怒已经在他的生命中流淌，展现出了它们的深度和广度，以至于感受似乎缺少了质地和力量。
并不是世界已经抛弃了他，也不是他已经对世界绝望。事实上，他深爱生命，爱得胜过生命本身。相反，他是如此地嵌入其中，如此地渗透，如此不可否认地完全融入其中，以至于没有其他地方可去，所有的感觉似乎与当下密不可分。
甚至所有事物和所有人都继续照常著，从这个角度看，没什么改变。至少，不是我们平常认为的改变，那种一件事情迅速明显地变成另一件事情的改变。
秋天里，我们注意到树叶从树上飘落，直到树枝露出了冬日的光秃。我们认为这是变化，但我们没有看到树所隐藏的生命，它一直与世界流动著，为这种更明显的变化铺垫著舞台。我敢说，树只是爱着生命，按照它的本性而行，而掉落的树叶只是一个明显的副产品。
不，他并没有放弃生活，生活也没有放弃他。他只是学会了去爱，借此发现原來没有其他地方可去。
于是，他坐下来，感受着他的爱是如此纯粹温柔，感受着一切的奇妙，明白任何一种流动都是可能的，也都是不必要的，明白当流动降临时，他將像那棵树一样的流动。
写 于2023年11月4日
Dear Haven Community,
We are writing this, with a full and broken heart, to the many people who knew and loved David.On November 13th, David suffered from an aortic dissection and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. The ER doctors said he needed to have surgery and had to be flown to Victoria. As doctors worked on him, he began to stroke and was no longer stable enough to undergo surgery. We moved him to palliative care, where he could rest quietly.He was surrounded by his family and engulfed in love as he passed away early on November 14th.We are absolutely devastated and trying to wrap our heads around what has happened. We are appreciating the many messages of love and support coming in. We ask that you continue to keep David in your thoughts and loving as he continues on his journey beyond the body.At this time there are no plans for a formal funeral, rather we will have a Celebration of Life in the near future. If you wish to express your feelings around losing David, you're welcome to email us. We’re sure you’ll understand that we may not respond.In lieu of flowers and if you feel drawn to do so, you could make a donation to Kids International Development Society (KIDS) as you honour David. We leave you with a beautiful piece of writing from David. He wrote the below piece on November 4th and sent it to Sandey the day before he passed. We didn’t see his email until after his passing and we somehow wonder if there was a reason for that. We have taken much comfort in his words and knowing that life continues in movement and he continues.Sandey, Annika, Tess and family
Movement
There was nowhere else to go, or at least it seemed that way. There was only sitting and waiting, and eventually waiting lost its appeal and there was only sitting, maybe like the Buddha.
There was nothing else to feel, or maybe that was only wishful thinking. Joy, grief, despair, fear and rage had already found their depth and shown their range in his life, so that feeling seemed to hold little texture or strength.
It was not that the world had given up on him nor that he had given up on the world. Indeed, he loved life more than life itself, as they say. Rather, he seemed so imbedded, so permeated through, so undeniably and completely a part of it all, that there was nowhere else to be, and all feeling seemed so inseparable from any moment that there was nothing else to feel.
It was not even that everything and everyone did not continue as they always had, for in that way nothing had changed. At least, not in the way we always tend to think of change, as one thing quickly and obviously becoming another.
In the fall we notice the leaves dropping from a tree until its branches have bared themselves to winter, and we think of that as change, but we do not see the tree’s hidden life that has always been flowing with the world, setting the stage for that more obvious change. Dare I say that the tree has only been loving life as it was meant to do, and that it’s falling leaves are only an obvious by-product?
No, he had not given up on life, nor life on him. He had only learned to love and in doing so had discovered there was nowhere else to be.
So he sat, and felt the raw tenderness of his love, and the wonder of it all, knowing that any movement was possible yet none was necessary, and that when movement was necessary it would also be possible, so that nothing need be done about it. When movement was upon him he would move, like the tree.
Written by David Raithby, November 4, 2023
网友评论