the only Hell that exists is the place without God. The only people that go there are the ones that don't accept God because how can you go to someplace that you don't believe exists. Is it fire & brimstone? no. that was made up around the 1600's I believe, but not sure. Hell is a place without love. So it is a hell, just not the one we envision.
The rest of us, depending on what we have learned, how giving we are, how caring we are, etc. go to different levels. We have earned our way to these levels and each one comes with its perks. We can learn on the other side but it takes much longer because we can't actually experience what we can experience by living here. I don't know if we can choose to come back or if we have to keep coming back. I hope we get to choose because this will be my last trip. I absolutely do not ever want to come back.
We can travel to these different levels but we can only travel down, not up. We have to earn our way to any level above us. We help others that are on the lower levels so they can get to the upper levels. We spend our time helping and teaching others. I do not know what the end game is or if there is one. This is all I know so far and not sure I'll ever know more about it while I am on this side : )
As far as those that we believe are going to hell, where they are actually going is to the lowest levels. I think they have to keep coming back and until they can at least get to a 2nd level.
Brandy, are babies or people who suffer from severe dementia or retardation excluded from going somewhere because they don't know it exists? A friend and I used to picture ourselves on the other side tinkering with our astrological charts: I think I'll put a square here and get blindsided there, because I need to grow in this way or that in my next life. We were wondering what the heck we must have been thinking. Imagine if everyone thought the way you did, though. If we all knew we had to come back, we might take care of our earth, because we knew we might end up in a random Shri Lankan garbage dump the next time around. We might work harder to make everything a lot better, because we knew the child we betrayed today would be the one we were born to tomorrow ...
I'll tell you what I saw when my grandmother died.
In my family, when someone is ready to pass, oftentimes we get a case of the 'twitching awfuls' and have a hard time settling down to sleep. My Mom had driven 250 miles to be with Gramma, and had been gone a couple days. Hadn't heard from her. The next night, I got the twitching awfuls...restless legs, a sense of 'something happening.'
I meditated, lying in bed. I clearly saw Gramma lying in a dark room on a black velvet covered table. Her chakras were muddy and dark. I told her I'd get her out of there.
I proceeded to counter spin each of her chakras from the 1st up to her crown, pushing the energies from each chakra up to her head. At the seventh, the crown chakra, I held my hands behind her head, and said "ok, breathe with me, and on the count of three, out you come into my hands & I'll catch you."
So we did, and out her soul popped into my hands. Then she went nova. It looked like a series of compressed and stretched images accelerating up to an event horizon. Being the curious sort, I tried to follow, but my silver cord bungeed and snapped me back into my own body.
Five seconds after that, I felt a hand press the top of my head. Annnd.... nobody was there.
I opened my eyes, and there was Gramma, Grampa, Great Gramma and Grampa, and Dead Aunt Donna.
Which quite flipped me out. I threw the covers over my head. 15 minutes later, I got a call from my Ma, telling me Gramma had died 15 min ago.
So, yeah, I think I saw some of what happens after death. There is a soul, it goes somewhere, my sense of it is a 'higher dimension' that is very dynamic with a lot going on.
Since then, I've had a few other doings with post-death issues. IMHO, conservation of soul applies. We continue learning and growing. It's a mistake for us to assume just because someone is awful that they are not serving The Divine in some fashion. Even rotten fish makes great fertilizer. Nothing goes to waste.
Our perceptions of what is 'real' are necessarily warped by the limited numbers of dimensions that we can see in. Transcendent Divinity operates in all of them, and has a great deal more scope than we puny humans.
If I say more than this, I'd have to write a theological treatise. R1
grace
no. only the ones that actually deny the existence of God. And not just on earth. Even if one is an atheist on earth one still has the opportunity to acknowledge God once they get to the other side. Once on the other side any aliments or disabilities are non existent so they are free to acknowledge God.
the problem is if every one knew for sure that reincarnation existed it could work the other way too. They might feel they can do whatever because they can come back and do it right the next time. This is why reincarnation will never be able to be proven. I think those that believe in it are the ones that don't take advantage of it and try their best. Similar to why we will never be able to prove life after death. If we could prove it then we wouldn't have/need faith.
This is something I've wrestled with talking about for awhile. April 12th 2015 (4 days before I turned 35) and again April 12th of this year at almost the exact same time as the first my heart went into tachycardia. The top half of my heart died and the bottom half started beating at 265-280 beats per minute.
I'll start with the first time this happened, I was out for a walk with my wife and, out of nowhere, my heart began racing. I knew I wasn't going to make it back to my apartment so my wife ran to get the car, hospital was 5 minutes away. We made it to the ER and for an hour 7 nurses and a cardiologist struggled to get my heart rate down. Nothing worked, I was then informed the last ditch effort would be to essentially stop my heart and restart it with a defibrillator. I asked the send my wife out of the room so she wouldn't have to watch me die. I've never told the rest of this story, not even my wife of 16 years, because there were warnings about talking about what happens given I was allowed to "return". I want to tell the rest of this story but I'm worried about consequences. I'm not trolling, but I need someone smarter and more spiritual than I to confirm that this is something I can continue talking about. I know it sounds crazy but I'm legitimately terrified to continue.
Cronoevolution-it depends on who warned you. God or man?
What would be either the good that could result to others if you spoke, or the bad if you spoke? (Examine situation morally.)
If you have a spiritual practice, is there someone you can consult and ask if you could discuss this? (Am thinking there is a difference between, say, describing the story with a single priestly confessor under seal of confession vs. broadcasting it on A.M. radio.)
The God of my understanding would only want the highest good and love to be served. I would ask if the shadow hovering over you is other than God.
R1
Cronoevolution- this is something only you will be able to decide whether you can share it or not. No one will ever be able to tell you what you should do because they don't know what the experience is.
I do have some questions without you sharing the experience.
Was it a positive experience?
did it scare you?
did it make you feel wonderful?
why do you feel the need to tell it?
are you okay with it if you decide you can never share it?
does it worry you?
do you have a religion and can you pray about what you should do about it?
Kind atheist/former believer here. I don't believe in heaven or hell. I think both can be found on Earth. I do believe that there is some life energy that continues after the body dies, and that it may fade over time but is never completely destroyed. I don't find this incompatible with my lack of structured belief system (nor do I look down on anyone with a structured belief system or faith of any kind, as long as it is not evil - to each his own).
I have had many experiences involving the dying/dead and the about-to-be-born and even the never-born. Somewhere on this forum are my stories of old ladies dying in a hospital, all of them seeing the same "man in a white suit" standing next to me the day before they died. I have had several souls appear to me in dreams to tell me goodbye, including 1 or 2 I didn't even know were ill. I dreamed that all my brothers would be brothers (and not sisters). Twice I have been visited in dreams by souls who were coming to let me know that they wouldn't be born to me in this life, but that they loved me anyway (I never gave birth). I seem to have a squad of rotating spirit guides who come and go depending on my needs at the time, including my 2 grandfathers who were both doctors (I sensed them when I worked in hospitals, and it was a medium who confirmed it - she described them both to a tee, and this was before social media and no way she could have known about them or guessed their names). At one point about 8 years ago, the squad all assembled at once - it was so loud! Both a pagan priestess friend and the medium (who didn't know each other), described each guide and told me what they were saying, all the info matched up. (I was able to meditate and get the squad to calm down enough to come to a consensus, and since then a couple of them have not returned, so I guess they did what they had to do and moved on.) In fact, one of the guides is someone who I share with a couple of other people (confirmed by each of us asking his name, writing it down and then exchanging the notes).
So I think safe to say something does happen, maybe it's best that it remains a mystery. I think it's most important to focus on present life and on love.
Peace.
Raymond Moody is a doctor and philosopher that has devoted 40+ years research to this subject. You might want to pick up his book Life after Life, it is a great read. Also, there is a website you might want to check out www.near-death.com which will link to all sorts of stories as well as to local IANDS (International Association of Near Death Studies). I've gone to several IANDS meetings in the Bay Area (Saratoga) and have met/talked with several people who have died (and returned). Incredibly spiritual people and all transformed by the experience.
I have zero doubts about life after death.