First of all Radny Pausch's death is a global event. The world is interested in this man because he made his life a public event so that we can perhaps learn from his circumstances. Randy Pausch, the computer-scientist, professor, husband, father, son, died at the age of 47. At such a young age one would think he would rage against his fate or against God. He was described as brilliant, an innovator, a mentor and a role model to his students and peers but death stopped this man in his prime in his track. Yes, there are some who who say "how can God do this, he had so much to offer" but Randy Pausch was not angry, he did not believe that he got a raw deal. He took the cards he was dealt and made the most of it - $6 million dollars or more financially speaking through his best seller book "The Last Lecture", he also changed people's lives, he spent quality time with his children, he played, had fun and try to complete his "bucket list" of things he dreamed of doing as a child. What a marvelous man. What a smart man indeed and quite evolved I would say. He could have run helter-skelter to Tibet and back looking for a cure for his pancreatic cancer, he could have waddled in self-pity, made himself and his family miserable but he chose to do something positive. Maybe he understood life as it should be. Maybe he is one of those people who got it.
Dying my friends, is part of every day life. Everything comes in a circular motion. According to the Bah'ai scriptures, the founder of the Faith, Baha'u'llah, wrote in Gleanings
Know thou that the soul of man is exalted above, and is independent of all infirmities of body or mind. That a sick person showeth signs of weakness is due to the hindrances that interpose themselves between his soul and his body, for the soul itself remaineth unaffected by any bodily ailments. Consider the light of the lamp. Though an external object may interfere with its radiance, the light itself continueth to shine with undiminished power. In like manner, every malady afflicting the body of man is an impediment that preventeth the soul from manifesting its inherent might and power. When it leaveth the body, however, it will evince such ascendancy, and reveal such influence as no force on earth can equal. Every pure, every refined and sanctified soul will be endowed with tremendous power, and shall rejoice with exceeding gladness."
Our life on this planet earth is but the first stage of our journey through eternal life. The Baha'is believe that this world is like being in the womb, we are nourished spiritually for the next world, the real world.
"Consciousness does not originate in the brain. In our ear we hear music even when no instrument plays. And dreams open the wondrous worlds in which man sees without eyes, listens without ears, touches without feeling and moves without limbs. Bahá’u’lláh reveals that the worlds of God are innumerable and unending. He calls the phenomenon of sleep "the most mysterious of the signs of God" on the plane of man.
Everything that is composed will decompose into the parts from which it originated. This principle controls crystals, organisms and stars. There is no physical re-birth, no repetition of the same. The body is a unique expression of man's personal being, a materialization of the true essence of the self. Therefore man cannot become a temple cat, a lapdog or another’s reborn son or daughter" (quote taken from a website on Baha'i vies on death)
I do not know what was Randy's perception of death but the lesson he taught since his diagnosis in 2006 was to live fully to the end. Do not give up on your dreams. You are in this realm of being until the transition until the body decomposes with the death of its cells, take what is handed you and make something good of it; our cries, our rage, our frustrations and even prayers for longer life will not change what is to be so why not do the best you can to enjoy your life to the end because as they say it is not the years of life but life in the years is what counts. In some cases death can be a friend or a messenger of joy to us. We are sad to leave because of what we are attached to in this world - to people, places and things - attachment of any kind is not good for the soul. Pausch did not appear to be attached to any of those things, he approached his death as in life in a practical way, providing what he can so that his children will not suffer, infuse them with his spirit and left the rest to the Universe.
If you knew what awaits you in the other world you may want to go there before your time, so Baha'u'llah wrote. This is not the end, only a transition. Many people have lost faith in the next world because there is no tangible proof but could all the sages, Christ, Muhammad, Zoroaster, Moses, Krishna, Buddha be wrong? Even the scientist these days are baffled by this question and quantum physics has come up with its own theories of life after death.
No matter what lies beyond this curtain we call life, there is a strong argument to go joyfully because you do not have a choice in the matter. May Randy Pausch's soul merge with the creative force from which we all emanate and may be soar in that world as he did in this.
