In each of our lives we will meet birth and death, in several forms. These moments are for many considered as turning points in their lives, where suddenly everything hits in a moment, where we realize how limited our actions and knowledge is. Why do I talk about knowledge? Well, most of us spend life to please the senses, accumulate hunt for more power, and wealth. Let's call it being successful. When the moment arrives that we face the point of possible transition, when the physical body starts to shut off different levels of function, suddenly we start to awake, to realize how limited all this was. When we are losing someone close to us, we go through moments of pain, loss, fear and even anger. 

The physical body will go when the journey in this lifetime is finished and the body dies. The spirit is transcended and the soul carries with it the mind, the intelligence, the knowledge, and the ego. The consciousness always exists) as is described in the Bhagavad-gita.

Erik Kucera practices counseling in West Palm Beach