I hope it is okay that I post this question here, but I am really curious to what all of your views are on the afterlife. Heaven & Hell/God & the Devil are a very Christian subject, but in most religions there *is* some sort of an afterlife where you will be judged Ancient Egypt, Hinduism etc.) and meet with your ancestors again. Spiritually there are also many beliefs in that direction.
We have spirits (emotional imprints or actual beings?) in our world, my great-uncle believed there was a 4th dimension and there are people who have died, came back and talked of 'heaven'.
However, there is also a lot of scientific research on what your brain does when the body is dying. Producing endorphins that make the experience similar to the tunnel of light. Just hope of heaven and then: 'fade out'?
Disbelievers point out that nobody ever crossed the line as a ghost to tell us about it. Famously, Houdini promised his wife he would do everything to give her a sign after his death: it never came.
Although there are extensive and descriptive books by people like Betty Eadie about near death experiences, there never has been a clear cut 'ghost' sighting. Even my mother saw her deceased father in the door opening shortly after his passing, but no (long) conversations are ever shared.
I have struggled with this since 2016. Although I have always been spiritual and kept the faith, it is different when it touches you personally.
2016 was the year I lost my cat Holly whom I loved very, very much (apologies if that sounds weird) and would love to hold again, but also my mother who was put in a home in that year due to an aggressive form of Alzheimer's. I have not been able to really talk to her since 2014 since she hid her illness until it was too late and I have been wondering if I ever get the chance to talk to her again. Now that she is doing rapidly worse and the end is in sight, this is on the forefront of my mind.
I know there is *something*, but as said, I am very curious as to what all of you see/think/imagine this to be. Is it the religious view of seeing your ancestors across a bridge waiting for you or a karma aspect? Or perhaps, the great, dark beyond/void? Love to hear your thoughts.
I don't know if we are meant to see behind the veil into the afterlife and yet some have had glimpses. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, wrote about his near death experience in his book "Proof of Heaven" and our own @Coyote has shared his own near death experience on this website. Those experiences are such gifts to us.
I've never seen a full bodied apparition, but can sense spirits of the deceased occasionally and have seen the deceased in dreams. Members of my immediate family have seen full bodied apparitions. Many of us on this site have sensed spirits of the deceased nearby and I know @Jeanne-Mayell recognizes their presence during readings. @Vestralux is particularly gifted in regard to communicating with these spirits and helping spirits continue passing on.
As far as what it all means, I expect each of us might have a unique interpretation. I was raised in the Christian church and had my first transcendent/spiritual experience at 15. So, I believe in God and practice the teachings of Christ in my daily life, pray and meditate. Over the years, my belief system has changed to a broader understanding of the interconnectedness of all religions including the belief systems of indigenous peoples. I call it expanded consciousness, a belief in a Higher Power who embodies love without preference of one path to Enlightenment over another.
I also believe in reincarnation and that we choose our lives and our struggles as our individual journey to grow in Spirit. Once I had a vivid dream of swaddled souls suspended in time between lives. That vision was repeated a few weeks later when I was touring an exhibit of Chihuly glass in a museum. His abstracted forms matched the suspended souls in my dream, even down to the color of the glass. My understanding is that quantum physics supports the possibility of reincarnation, but don't ask me to explain it. Here's a link to an NPR interview with Jim Tucker, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, on the topic of reincarnation. https://www.npr.org/2014/01/05/259886077/searching-for-science-behind-reincarnation
Will there be an accounting at the end of our lives? I don't know, but it seems reasonable to look back at the highs and lows, the struggles and the personal growth. I don't tend to believe in hell because there is so much suffering in this life. However, it would be satisfying if certain people (you know who) were judged for the harm they do to the innocent.
When my stepfather was in the final stages of Alzheimer's, he couldn't speak a coherent sentence. For a long time, nothing he said made sense. He didn't know us. A few weeks before he died, everyone in the family was coming together to visit him. He was very happy that day, but unable to communicate with anyone. Afterwards, my mother and I were sitting alone with him and he said, "It won't be long now and I will be passing through to Mother. It has been a privilege to live this long." He sounded excited and joyful. So after all the years of Alzheimer's confusing his mind, my stepfather was still aware of his surroundings and his life expectancy. And he knew he would be passing through to his beloved Mother. We took such comfort from those words. He knew that there is more to life than what we experience in the here and now.
I wrote about my NDE here.
And yes, Vestralux has posted some amazing insights on this forum. Check out the Kim Jong Un thread, where she shares some of what she has learned in her shamanic journeys.
To add to @bluebelle, I think that we also choose whether we want to reincarnate on Earth. We're not doomed to repeat the cycle of samsara until we reach enlightenment.
It is unique to our individual karmas, yes? I do feel that some of us are at different levels on our soul journey back home, and of course, it is not always a choice.
The Ascended Ones can choose, and perhaps we can choose to come back to fulfill our true purpose, which I feel in my deepest soul is the reason we are compelled to reincarnate in this world of terrible beauty and pain ... to come to the light in our higher selves.
Would that we had total recall of all the previous incarnations in order to have better bearings on what we are experiencing in the now ... and yet... what is necessary in the now is our trust in Spirit and that all is being fulfilled for our highest good and however the light is filtered into our everyday 3D lives from the 5D (Soul Plane)....
Embracing it all is not so difficult after all, when we remember to give it up to Spirit, and to be kind to ourselves in the process ?
This is probably going to be multiple parts because once I get going... ;-) Anyway, Part 1:
The problem with books about NDE's and past-life or other spiritual connections (even the ones I recommended above have this problem to a degree, although less so) is that they are (obviously) told from the perspective of the person who experiences them. I have had enough spiritual experiences to know (for myself only, I wouldn't dare to speak for anyone else) that the current religious paradigms on this planet are generally false or at least misleading with regard to who we are and who we answer to.
I personally think that those who claim to see heaven - or god or whatever religious representations that they have been taught exist - see those things precisely because they have been taught that those things exist in exactly the form they see them. To me, they are illusions; comforting illusions, but an illusions nevertheless, which must at some point dissipate so that we can get down to the business of doing what we're supposed to be doing there.
The material in the books I recommended resonates very strongly with me and validates much of what I already "knew" to be real and true for me. What is real to me is that our souls are born/created in groups, and the members of each group experience many, many lives together in almost limitless relational variations, choosing each time to be a help or hindrance to each other in order to help both the individuals and the group to progress spiritually. We do this because we are familiar with each other's soul energies and what each of us needs to learn. It's very likely that the people in your current life have been with you in many other lives as well, just in different relationships. For example, your mother this time might have been your child, your aunt, your spouse, or perhaps just a close friend in other lifetimes, and those relationships change with each incarnation.
And...part 2:
We are not required to incarnate on Earth, although most do, simply because of the variety of experiences that can be had here, and some of our soul group members may not be able to assist us in the way that we need if we go somewhere else. As we progress and learn through our various lives, we may have contact with and make arrangements/life agreements with souls from other groups in order to expand our learning or experience things that our home soul group cannot help us with because they haven't experienced it yet, either. Eventually, our circles of soul contact on "the other side" (in quotes because everything is truly here and now in spite of our limited 3-D view) expand so much that we are all part of the same group and can choose from a larger variety of experiences.
Each time upon returning, we do have a life review, but it isn't a "judgement" by a god or even a panel of "wise ones". We may have help in the review from older souls who are there for that purpose, but they do not judge us; we judge ourselves. We determine whether we fulfilled the purpose and/or lesson of the life just passed, and we determine the success or failure of it. Armed with the knowledge from that review, we then begin to plan the next one with the help of advisors, who - again - do not stand in judgement of our choices; they simply help us to arrange the circumstances for the next lifetime so that we can accomplish what we set out to do, and so the cycle continues as we grow and progress.
At some point in our advancement, we no longer have to incarnate, but we do help others who still do so. There's a lot more, but I've already typed too much, and Dr. Newton explains it much better than I can anyway. ;-)
There is much of what @bluebelle has written that speaks to me as well. She beautifully spoke about many things I could never articulate as well. Thank you Bluebelle.
What I understand about our purpose here on Earth and what happens after we die is limited.
Here are some thoughts I do hold.
I believe with confidence that there IS an afterlife when our time here on earth has come to completion. I believe that our spirit/soul continues onward. I believe we are not alone spiritually while we are here, nor when we move onward. I believe one of the greatest things we need to focus on while we are here is to love, with all our heart and all our soul.
Beyond that, our purpose for being is more of a mystery to me. I believe the mystery will be solved once we die. For now, we simply do not have the capability for fully understanding why we were created, how we were created, understanding the fullness of God (Source, Spirit) as creator and what lies ahead of us on our journey here and in the afterlife.
I also believe we are held accountable for our actions and inactions. The connections we make with other humans and all sentient beings are important. Extremely important. I believe we are more connected than most realize. I believe that our indigenous brothers and sisters have a much better understand of the world than most of humanity.
I have been blessed with having had contact with a few loved ones from the other side. An Uncle Al who was a Great Uncle whom I only met a few times while he was alive, an Uncle Arthur who wasn't a real uncle but a sweet friend , and my father. They came forth to a friend who was also a medium and each had messages of love to bring to me. Each also had at least one example of something they shared that was personal to our individual relationships. While I had hoped I would get a visit from my father ( and did), I never thought of uncle Al or uncle Arthur ahead of that visit. They were a delightful surprise and a reminder that we do not travel in this world alone.
First of, thank you all for responding. It remains a mystery, but it is balm for the soul that I am in the company of like-minded people and am blessed by your wisdom on these subjects.
@Bluebelle, I believe it was Betty Eadie who wrote in the 70s that we are reincarnated with 'missions' and indeed we choose our suffering before we reincarnate. Where we go can be anywhere incl. other planets and these are deemed 'schools'. Whether or not it is true, the idea that it is not over once we die and lose ends can be fixed is a great comfort.
Note. - I've always thought that the concept of hell was made up by mankind, because it is hard to swallow that there wouldn't be a reckoning. There are those who say hell is the absence of love, others say it is what you think it is. That we judge ourselves sounds viable as well when you look at some near-death accounts. That said, afterlife for me is not heaven/hell, but a next step, but boy is it a difficult concept to grasp.
@tgraf66, the group idea is nice! It does compliment the comments on reincarnation and learning experiences. A psychic once told me I'd had 37 past lives. I remembered some as a child. Not certain what to think or that 'my group' is still in tact after all of that! I'll check out the books your recommended, ty!
@Coyote, I saw Vestralux's posts! It's amazing that somebody can channel things like this. Quite a gift. Thank you for your link and ability to share it. I'm off to read about your experience now ❤️
@Stargazer, would you say afterlife, karma and reincarnation are the bases of 'everything' then? Incl. what we can sense as empaths?
@lovendures, oh yes the wisdom of ancient ones. I've read Hopi prophecies and wisdom pieces for years now. These people, and many other tribes, *know*. Pagans do have a tendency to have a deeper connection to earth and the world around us. That said, wow, your experience sounds like such a blessing; it must have given you such comfort!
Again, thank you all for taking the time to write about this.