Werner Pless, my beloved father. His thoughts on death

The text he wrote in Spanish (below) is self-explanatory. It could be understood as a preface to his book, "La Luz de la Muerte" published in Bolivia in 1973. It is pretty amazing for me to fathom that he wrote an entire book to explore his own thoughts on death and dying. One might think he had a morbid interest in the world beyond ours. Or perhaps he was fascinated by the mystery of life and the meaning of will-power. I believe it is the latter that characterised his life. In my view of him, my perception of his influence on my life and living, my memory of his blessed life, he was a positive, optimistic, generous man with a heart of gold and a very spiritual sense of life.

Although he was raised Jewish and he believed in the traditions and practices of Judaism, I do not believe he was a Jewish believer in the traditional sense. He surrounded himself with books on Buddhism and Hinduism and had a fascination with the spiritual needs and lives of men. He spent many years studying yoga techniques and as far as I can tell could perform some of the basic aspects of the Kundalini method. He once told me he could levitate in his twilight state, in the midst of a meditation session.  Many a time he taught me about the breathing technique espoused by the Kundalini Yoga method a method of relaxation I still use today,

I miss my father deeply and think of him every day. As I write these lines, he has been gone for 28 years.  He died at a tender age of 56. There are so many moments during the day, so many experiences I go through, that remind me of him, that bring me back to my own childhood, a childhood that was deeply influenced by him.

But I will write about him in greater detail later. For now I wish to transcribe his thoughts on death, perhaps his only manifesto as to what was become the mentioned book, which at the time was a best-seller, and which influenced a generation of Bolivian academics.

La Muerte

Final. Termina todo. Oscuridad. Paz. Vacio. La nada. Será?

Los que volvieren, que dijeron? Vieron La Luz al final?

Será cierto?

Cuál luz?

La luz de la Muerte.

Qe es eso?

Es el cielo.

Cuál cielo?

El de arriba.

Si no es el cielo. Es el firmamento. Todo comprobado

fisicamente. La atmosfera, la ionosfera y demas "feras"

Qué hay después?

Vacío.

No puede ser. En qué queda toda la vida?

En nada.

No puede ser.

Puede. Al morir tu cuerpo, muere todo. Final.

Y el espíritu?

Otra invención del hombre, de las religiones. El consuelo del

mas alla

Y el alma?

Lo mismo.

Piensas que todo acabó?

Sí, eso pienso.

Que pasa con el premio para los justos y el castigo

para los malos?

Esa es la conciencia. Muere con el cuerpo.

Me parece que entonces no existe la justicia.

Verdad. No existe la justicia divina, tal como te la

prometen.

Me resisto a aceptar esa. No te creo. Eres un ser humano

materialista. Un ser sin fé. Viviste tu vida en vano.

Y tu, para que viviste?

Para mejorarme. Para hacer de este mundo un lugar mejor. Para

encontrar un poco de felicidad para mi y los demás que me

rodean.

Lo lograste?

Espero que si. De todos modos, seguiré luchando hasta lograr

aunque sea algo.

Buena suerte.

My father, Werner Pless, of blessed memory, around 1962

The cover of the book written by Werner Pless, "La Luz de la Muerte" published by Editorial Los Amigos del Libro in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1973