Sacred Life Sunday: What Happens When We Die....

For some reason, I have never experienced anything remotely close to fear of death. Sure, I have feared lingering illness, but not transition itself. It never occurred to me to be afraid.

Yet I couldn't have provided a picture of what the afterlife looked like, if challenged. I just knew there was one. It didn't concern me much. There was something at the inner core that knew when it was time, when I was done here, it would be time to go back where I came from.

In fact, honestly, I've never felt as though I belong here. Of course I do.. or I wouldn't be here.. but that's my way of saying that I feel like an observer more than a participant. The antics of Samsara often leave me feeling very odd - like watching a movie in a foreign language with poorly-written subtitles. The veil between the spirit world and this one is apparently fairly thin for me.

Last night I listened to a radio show about the afterlife. The man who was being interviewed has written a book claiming to provide scientific evidence that an afterlife exists. Clearly, in my opinion, he was trying to appeal to western minds that prefer scientific evidence of everything - but this is something that can't be proven. It's a matter of faith.

I believe we go somewhere familiar, that we have a complete understanding of what earthly (and otherworldly) life is all about, why we are here, the significance of this incarnation and the purpose of the next one. I do believe in a multiverse, that there is life that may or may not be similar to ours in other dimensions.

It just makes sense.

For a long time, I didn't believe we would recognize people from the past. The idea seemed rather absurd. It just makes no sense. While I try to keep an open mind, it's a hard one to grasp. It doesn't fit in with the process of reincarnation. If reincarnation exists, then those souls we know who have passed on have also moved on to other incarnations.

However, now I do believe that spirits can manifest as they choose and might imitate people known to us so that the newly arriving spirit won't be frightened. Remember that scene in the movie "Contact", as an example? For those who didn't believe or never thought about it, the whole process of transition would likely be rather frightening.

Some spirits don't realize they're dead and continue hanging around on earth for a while. Those are people who have died suddenly, violently or by suicide. That would explain poltergeists and other apparitions. Sometimes they don't know where to go. They need to be guided.

I believe we can be visited by spirits from the Other Side. In fact, I've had a visitation as I wrote about here some time back. My father visited me after his suicide. I don't believe he'd completely crossed over at that point but was looking for a way.

The purpose of all this rambling is to say that I believe death is just as sacred as life. It's not something to fear. It is a homecoming, a resolution and a completion. It's a graduation from one state of being to another.

I'd be interested in reading what you believe about the afterlife.

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