Rise from the ashes: is it possible?
Yes, indeed this is the only possibility, because we are dust and when finished life, to dust we return, this is a fact and not just a word of the Bible and this awareness can make the most serene and happy earthly life, consciousness that it is fleeting.
In Greek Mythology the bird phenix (Greek: φοῖνιξ phoinix) is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn.
Did this is only a rite, a symbology, apparently in human history and the Bible either.
The book of Esther, the Bible says that Mardoque her first cousin who was a pious Jew dressed bag and covered with ashes when he learned of a decree of the king Assuer I of Persia (485-464 BC year) condemned death all Jews of that empire (Esther is 4.1).
Have Job of the book, which was written between the years 7:05 BC, says he repented and covered with ashes (Job 42.6) and also the prophet Daniel, about 550 B.C., predicted the conquest of the kingdom Babylon for Jerusalem, says “I turned to God to direct him a prayer of supplication, fasting and imposing me sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 4, 1-27).
And in the fifth century BC, shortly after preaching the Jonas project, which managed to change the habits of the people of Nineveh fasted and dressed with bags, it is said that even the King. (Jonas 3: 1-10) .
We live dark times, and if we want to change the reality around us, we must first change our heart and soul, to have courage and consistency to change the world.
The symbol of the ashes so is joy, hope that reality can change.