DOC HOLLIDAY

One of the most feared and deadly gunfighters in the Old West of the American frontier was Dr. John Henry Holliday. A strange subject for the Chief Joseph Newsletter, wouldn't you say?

John Cali
          When I was younger, I was a big fan of the Old West and all its colorful characters, including Doc Holliday and Buffalo Bill Cody. Buffalo Bill founded the town I now live in.
          In the early 1870s Doc Holliday left his dentistry practice after he discovered he had tuberculosis. His doctors said he had only months to live. To support himself he became a gambler, and a very good one. In those days gamblers often had to defend themselves. So Doc became an expert with a six-gun (usually a Colt revolver).
          Doc, despite his lawless ways, was a close friend of the legendary frontier lawman, Wyatt Earp. They fought side-by-side at the infamous 1881 gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Both survived unhurt and went on to die natural deaths.
          Wyatt lived into the 20th century and even became a western film consultant to the then-new California movie industry. He died in 1929 in Los Angeles.
          Doc died in 1887 in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, 123 years ago. Outliving his doctors' predictions by far, Doc became a legend in his own lifetime. He knew he was dying of tuberculosis and so had no fear of dying in a gunfight. In fact, he welcomed it. That made him a nearly invincible opponent.
          He had no fear of death and therefore no fear of life. Although he lived what many considered a wrongful life, he lived it with energy and enthusiasm till his dying moment.
          Not a bad role model for us all -- not the wrongful life part, just the energy and enthusiasm. ;-)
          Here's Chief Joseph.

Chief Joseph
         We know death is a distasteful, fearful subject for many of you. Our goal today is to take some of that distaste and fear out of it.
          Friends, dying is the easiest thing you will ever do. The first time we said that there were some raised eyebrows in the room. But it's true. After all, you've had plenty of practice. Most of you have lived -- and died -- many, many times.
          We know you don't usually remember your earlier lives and deaths, although you can certainly "revisit" them at will. You fear death because it represents the unknown. Although, as we just said, it doesn't have to be unknown. But for most of you it is.
          Fear of death is based on a total misunderstanding of what it really is. Death is not ceasing to exist. It is not the end of you. That is where your fear comes from -- thinking your current physical bodies are all of you.
          They are not -- they are a very small part of the grand and glorious divine beings you are. When you shed your bodies, you go on forever and ever. Your consciousness is eternal. You are eternal.
          Emerging on the other side of that veil you call death will be an incredibly joyous experience. You do not lose your sense of self. You will be greeted by your loved ones and the angels. It will be a warm homecoming, a celebration. Then you'll wonder why you ever feared death.
          Friends, if you can see death from that perspective, you will cease to fear it. And if you cease to fear it, you will have no fear of life. Then you can fully and joyfully live out the rest of your lives until you die.
Have fun with all this. Life is not serious. And death is certainly not serious.
          All is well.
       

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Copyright © 2011 by John Cali
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