Have you ever wondered what does this phrase ‘Rest in Peace’ mean? Fools argue that if you do not say ‘Rest in Peace’, the departed will not be at peace! Or this is simply a phrase that is used whenever someone dies? Or does it mean the departed was not at peace before his departure? Or does it simply mean that the departed has gone to the almighty and there he can rest in peace? Many meanings can be sought from the phrase ‘Rest in Peace’. Which one is true? Which one holds water? My interpretation of this classic well-known phrase is as follows:
Resting in peace means that departed person no longer has neither the need not the necessity to prove anything to anyone. He does not simply care to prove anything anymore. There is no necessity prove. It means he is outside the societal validation, beyond the worldly validation.
Even if there are a hundred rumors about the departed, there is no necessity for him to give his side of the story. Rumors are rumors. All he can do is to listen to them and enjoy. He has every reason to wonder at the stupidity of the society.
Earlier, the departed used to guard his name, himself and ego. He always wanted to have his name etched in the pages of history. He was guarding his ego. Ego mattered the most for him. Many a war he had waged for the sake of his ego. With his departure, he is no more guarding his name or ego. He has transcended. He has transcended to such heights that there only peace and nothing else matters. He knows eternally well that his peace is worth more than proving anything to anyone. This is the meaning of Rest in Peace (RIP).
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional. What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
RIP…Very well put!
However, knowing this truth, why then it is so difficult to live in peace while we exist ? The truth is to accept the process of life without questioning it and ‘Rest in Peace’