BY LUCY CAULKETT
Legendary innovator, David Bowie- a financial and music innovator, believed in the after life and is in a better place.
The British born music icon, worth an estimated £158m, foretold his death in the lyrics of his final single ‘Lazarus’, with the opening lines ”Look up here, I’m in heaven”. The piercing farewell released to fans on his 69th birthday, just 2days before his death signalled his larger than life character and personality, revealing strong religious beliefs in a secular world that relegates such notions to thrash bin of those reliant on some hope created and invented by those whose motive was allegedly to control people. The same day, he put up another post that read : ”I will love you till I die, I will see you in the sky tonight”
The much loved star who owned a £3m penthouse in Newyork and a 64 acre home in upstate Newyork, used Lazarus as a symbol to depict his deeply held views that his soul will live on even as his music will. Hours before his death, his wife Iman wrote on twitter and facebook ”the struggle is real, but so is God”. The day before she said ”sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory”.
Bowie had kept secret his battle with pancreatic cancer- a deadly disease with the lowest survival rate when compared to other forms of cancer, and one whose symptoms remain hidden until it reaches its advanced stages and becomes virtually beyond treatment. Nearly 10,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with the disease every year. According to his biographer, he had suffered six attacks in the past year alone. Close friend, Kate Moss was unaware he was on his death bed when she texted him on his birthday and got no reply. Clearly , this legend did not want anyone to witness his last moments, except close family and friends, who were with him on his death bed in his last moments.
The imminent death of the creative genius was reflected in his videos, one of which he says ”look up here, I’m in danger”- a she lies in an iron white hospital bed with his head bandaged and black buttons placed over his sockets. He subsequently steps into a wardrobe bearing the likeness of a coffin, then shuts the door behind him as though to denote his final demise. In the preceding clip from Lazarus, a scene features Bowie scribbling really fast as though to make the most of every moment, given his realization that time was against him.
Every time we loose a loved one, we always utter sentiments amounting to a hope of an eternal rest place for them, even when such sentiments may completely oppose our private beliefs. However, all accounts of this extraordinary man point to his inner conviction that he will rise again and be in a better place. And who are we to dispute this? The belief in an afterlife is not one I personally embrace, but that view has no affirmative basis that cannot be contested. Our view of life through a prism of convenience and suitability incontrovertibly assign value judgments to the set of realities we create and define. Bowie imposed his own reality on us by subtly and dogmatically insisting on a life beyond this temporary and disease ridden world.
His American producer , Visconti, said on Facebook yesterday ”his death was no different to his life”, a work of art. He made blackstar for us his partying gift”
”I knew for a year this was the way it would be, I wasn’t however prepared for it”. He was an extra ordinary man full of love and life” A moving comment that grips the heart is one from Belgian theatre director, Ivo van Hove, who worked with Bowie, and told the Times newspaper he saw Bowie crying on the opening night at the Newyork Theater workshop last month. He said ”I could see the behind his eyes because he was not a man to show of his emotions. He was really deep in fear”. He was still writing on his death bed. I saw a man fighting. He fought like a lion through it all. I had an incredible respect for that”.
The German government said Bowie who lived in Berlin during the 70’s helped tear down the wall that divided the city during the cold war. The German foreign office said ”Goodbye David Bowie. You are now among heroes. Thank you for helping bringing down the wall”. What moving words! This man was clearly a gift to our generation.
Whatever our personal views, we at The eye of Media say ”goodbye” to wonderful Bowie, and trust he is with angels on the other side.
IMAGE- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie
