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To understand the nature of the phoenix, one has to understand the nature of death. Cold, unforgiving, final. These are all words that could be used to describe death. But how does death relate to a phoenix, and why must one understand the nature of death to understand a phoenix?
Like all living things, a phoenix must die. While this is not necessarily the case for many fictional beasts, this is indeed true for the phoenix. Whether the bird is killed by natural means or otherwise, the phoenix does indeed expire. The phoenix's death, however, is where the biggest lesson of all lies.
This is where understanding of the phoenix and of death comes in. When a phoenix dies, its fiery body turns to ashes. Cold, final, unforgiving ashes. But, when enough time has passed, the phoenix is reborn. Not reborn in a traditional sense, such as hatching from an egg, no, a rebirth unique to only the phoenix. Out of the ashes a new being is born.
Bursting from the ashes of the grave in a fiery swirl, a new phoenix emerges. This new being, this new phoenix, can in some cases be an improvement from the original, emerging from its deathbed as a more majestic and more beautiful creature. It is still a phoenix and unapologetically so. It emerges from the ashes an improvement of its previous self, it emerges as a better being.
Death is final. The original phoenix has died. However, in its death, this phoenix has birthed a new phoenix, one potentially better than the original. We could learn many lessons from the death and life cycle of the phoenix.
Humans go through periods of death. I believe the phrase "I feel like something died inside me" could be a literal thing. It could be literal in the case of an organ dying and ceasing to function, but this is not what I mean. I mean emotional death. There is a certain quality of a human being that cannot be described; this quality can be called the mind, the soul, or any other term one chooses to use.
For the sake of ease, this explainable part of the human being will be referred to as "the self." There are parts of the self that can die. Remember, death is cold, unforgiving, and final. These adjectives do not apply strictly to death in the physical form, such as the phoenix expiring and turning to ashes. No, this could apply to emotions or feelings as well. Consider this example.
A dog has died. This dog was a member of the family to his owner, a young boy. The young boy mourns the loss of his dog and is changed forever. He cannot truly accept that his dog is gone and waits for him every day, and even goes so far as to wait for the dog at its grave. The dog never shows up. Its death is final. The emotional happiness and connection that dog had given the boy has died along with the dog. It is gone forever. The boy will never be happy the exact same way as he was with that dog again. But that does not mean this feeling has to be final, like death.
For death in cases of the self, human beings possess the quality of the phoenix. A new emotional fulfillment and happiness can be born from the death of the boy's dog. This is not to say that the boy does not have to accept the death of his dog. His dog is not a phoenix. It remains dead physically. However, the boy can cause the dog to be reborn in a different sense.
I speak not of things such as calling a taxidermist and stuffing the dog. That creates an unhealthy limbo between life and death, where the boy would perhaps never truly accept the loss of his dog. No, rising from the ashes like a phoenix is a different thing entirely.
The boy could use the memories of his dog to create a base for future happiness, perhaps with a future pet. The ashes in himself, the ashes of his dog's death, could be the birth of a new, potentially better emotional fulfillment. This is not to say that the boy would forget his deceased dog. No. His deceased dog would live on in the boy's memories, in his deepest emotional self, and the boy would use these memories.
He could draw from all the happy experiences he had with his first dog to create a new, maybe even better, set of memories for years to come. Should he eventually get a new pet, the old memories could mingle would the new memories he is creating with his new dog, creating an emotional "phoenix." His old and new dog, while entirely different beings, both give the boy a sense of emotional fulfillment of the self. The combination of these memories forms the emotional phoenix.
The boy and his dog is merely an example. Rising from the ashes like a phoenix could be applied to many situations. Consider the death of a loved human, the loss of a relationship, the feelings of depressing, etc...The possibilities are almost endless. We can accept emotional death of the self as final and leave it there. Or, we can be like a phoenix.
We can accept loss and death. Or we can be like a Phoenix From the Ashes.
