Is there life after death?
In my opinion, decidedly yes. Why do I say that? Well, because of three events that I have personally experienced or participated in. The first is an out-of-body experience I had in 1977 that showed me I was not my body.
It started as a lucid dream in which I was on the other side while some people harassed a friend of mine. I was emotionally distraught seeing how mean they were to him and I began crying. I already knew from my studies of life after death that, if one cannot take the vibrations on one plane, one needed to go back a plane.
If one was outside his body, then one returned to the body. It was therefore not surprising to me to find myself flying backward and ending up inserting myself, my spirit, back into the body.
I felt the consistency of the body, which was like a lacrosse ball. Very few of the feelings that I was experiencing could get through it. My cries were just a murmur.
However, I knew at that moment that I survived the death of the body.
A second experience was a vision that I had of the purpose of life. I’ve described it elsewhere (1) and won’t go over it again. But it left me with the knowledge that we live many lives, culminating in our union with God, whose conscious attainment was the purpose of life.
A third event I participated in was the writing of a book on life after death, (2) which cemented for me the learnings that were either packed into or suggested by the first two events.
What would be a thumbnail sketch of death and life after it? Each death is unique, but it can be said generally that there almost always is no pain attending death. Usually there are attendants or friends and family that assist with our transition.
The attendants may lift us out of our bodies at the moment of death. Or we may exit ourselves and find family and friends awaiting us. Everyone dear to us is told beforehand that we will be transitioning at that moment.
People who are destined to die in a car accident or similar situation are usually lifted from their bodies before the moment of impact. They are not required to go through painful circumstances.
What happens next depends on many factors. If we don’t believe in life after death, we may not be able to see our family and friends. We remain in a foggy consciousness until we are prepared to accept the actuality of an afterlife.
But if we accept life after death, we may see and recognize our family and friends right away.
If we have not suffered a lengthy disease or old age before death, we may be ready to set out on our journey immediately. But most people need a period of rest or convalescence after they pass over and so they will either be shown the home that awaits them where they rest or they will be taken to a spirit hospital where they heal.
We should know that people who have had limbs severed will have them restored; the blind will see; the mute will talk. And all of us will begin a return in age to the time we considered our prime.
Once we have recuperated, we begin to notice our surroundings. For people who have led lives of decency, they will either spend a short time acclimatizing on the etheric plane or “borderlands” or they will go directly to the astral planes.
Those who have led an evil life will be escorted to the “dark planes.” There they will be attended by spirit helpers who will explain to them what has happened and what must be done to progress.
Those who have led good lives will go to the “summerlands,” which they will find to be wonderful beyond imagination. There will be no need to eat or drink, sleep or seek shelter. A house will have been prepared for us, but there will be no need that we remain in it.
We will begin exploring these wonderful lands, perhaps first their cities with colleges and museums and all other forms of learning institutions in them. Then perhaps the seaside or even other lands, since each national group has its own area.
The astral planes are also called “the planes of desire.” In them we satisfy all the unfulfilled desires of Earth life. We may desire to be a musician. We may have been hungry on Earth and desire to eat our fill. We may have been prevented from travelling and set off to see foreign lands.
There is no need to work in the astral planes but most progress to ever-happier lands iby service. So we may seek a pleasing avenue of serving our fellows.
How we serve depends on the level of plane we are on. Those on planes near Earth may serve by healing and orienting newcomers. Those on higher planes may serve by visiting spirits on the lower planes and helping them progress. Others may communicate with the embodied through mediums.
Many may choose to raise children in the spirit world. Others will concentrate on scientific discoveries which they then attempt to send back to Earth by inspiring inventors. Still others may cultivate new forms of plants.
Above the astral planes, which I believe equate to what readers here will know as the “fourth dimension,” are the mental planes. These are what are called “Heaven” proper and coincide, if I am right, with the fifth dimension that we will achieve in 2012 upon ascension.
The mental planes are as wondrous again as the astral planes are compared to Earth.
Above these, the planes go on, each more splendid than the last. However, spirits lose their desire to communicate with Earth the higher they progress and so we know much less about the high planes than we do about the astral.
If you wish to read about any of these subjects, see New Maps of Heaven at https://www.angelfire.com/space2/light11/nmh/nmh-index1.html.
Namaste,
Steve
Footnotes
- New Maps of Heaven at https://www.angelfire.com/space2/light11/nmh/nmh-index1.html.
- See “Epilogue: Eight Seconds Out of Time,” https://www.angelfire.com/space2/light11/epilog.html.