I might add that I had two out of body experiences when I was in my 20s and therefore have zero fear of death or the afterlife. I do think I'll miss being alive, however. I really like being alive, even with all of its drawbacks. The Earth is gorgeous, and the animals, and all of the art we create and human interaction and laughter. That's why "heaven" never appealed to me in my youth. Who wants to sit around on a cloud all day? How will Joan Rivers tell her low-brow jokes around prudes? Lame! :)
Don't think of "time" as linear. There is only "now", this instant. We just experience it as linear. In his book, "A Brief History of Time", Steven Hawking asked if we were thinking of time all wrong and that instead of being linear, it went off at a right angle. If that is the case, we can be here in this life experience, in other life experiences, and in the spiritual realm all at the same time.
Both my wife and I have had experience with beloved dogs of ours that have passed. We have had multiple instances of them coming to us in dreams and have experienced their presence in times of great stress. (And they have been a great comfort.)
I'd love to be greeted by all the pooches I loved and lost. That's my idea of heaven. :)
mizmargo
why do you think you will be at the beck and call of those on earth? people who help us from the other side, I am sure, get to choose if they want to or not , it is not an obligation. But some want to be around to help those here. We are unaware of how much they can actually do for us from the other side but they can't interfere with our learning experiences. no one waits around to find someone on earth to help like Clarence in "A Wonderful Life"
people don't usually come back right away as they spend time in reflection on the life they just experienced. it could take hundreds of years or 40 years to come back. I know some have turned around and come back within a very short time but I think that is rare. time is not the same on the other side and to us. 100 yrs is long but on that side it is like a minute.
I can assure you that you won't be bored on the other side. We spend time teaching those that are already there but on lower levels than ourselves. I am also sure there are a multitude of things that souls do that we have no knowledge of.
Maybe your partner wants to see her brother or maybe he feels she needs him and it only takes minutes. I am sure he isn't just hanging around waiting to be called on : ) As far as Lincoln & Kennedy, maybe they are between lives or maybe they are done coming back. we have no way of knowing. The other thing I don't know is that maybe a part of our consciousness stays there even while we are here or part of the consciousness from the last life we lived.
as far as earth we have no idea. I have seen some say that we do live alien lives too but have never had an interest in that so have not looked into it.
I think you are worried for nothing. you are looking at all this form a human point of view and it won't be like that. You will be very happy and you will be back : ) and you won't be bored!
Brandy, I'm not purposefully trying to look at it through a human POV -- but, that's my only frame of reference, of course. I'm just asking questions based on some of the posts in the forum from those who seem to have some direct knowledge of the other side. I'm trying to be logical, I guess. Perhaps that is merely a construct of a human mind, as well. I'd still like to hear from anyone who has direct knowledge, like some people on this site seem to have. I'm open to alternatives to what I'm formulating, because for me, it's just guess work and, again, logic. The universe is definitely ordered -- and I think the other side must be, as well. Again, if it takes some souls hundreds of years to reincarnate, seems like a stretch, when so many have claimed to have been reincarnated dozens of times. The Earth has only been here with humans for a blink of an eye, when compared to the cosmos. I'd just really like some insight on how it all fits together. Regardless of all of my questions, it doesn't keep me up at night. I trust that it all works out in the end and believe that it's very complicated for a human brain -- too complicated -- to understand. Like trying to explain Donald Trump to a cat. You'd have to make the animal aware of so much more first that it just wouldn't get -- you're on a planet, in a universe, humans are in this position, this is a computer, this is Rachel Maddow reporting the news... etc. The cat just isn't built to comprehend. I think that's us, in regard to what's "really going on" and that's cool with me. But, yes, I really don't like the idea that some have seemed to suggest, that I'm assigned to floating around some Earthling for fifty years. Even one that I love. But, I'm a teacher here, and incredibly passionate about it, so doing that on the other side sounds fine. But I DO want weekends off! I also don't like the idea that I might lose my personality and become part of of some big "whole" of consciousness. I'd rather be me. I suppose the weirdest thing, and what I'm getting at, as well, is that many of the things that people believe about the afterlife, and that psychics and mediums tell us -- things that are supposed to make us feel BETTER about dying -- actually make me feel LESS excited about the afterlife, lol. Not comforting at all, for reasons I've already mentioned in previous posts. So, just asking more questions. And believe me, if they're not all answered after I die, I will stage an afterlife protest march for more transparency! Thanks for your response, btw!
MizMargo, what fun questions!
All I can add is from personal experience...
I've probably a dozen past lives brought back under hypnosis, from being a medicine person/elder in 8,000bc Germany, to a Saami reindeer herder, to horseman running letters of credit through the Alps during the plague in the 1400's, to a Northumbrian mining engineer in the 19th C, to a young girl who died in the blitz in East London--the last causing no end of problems in this life.
There is a common thread or flavor that runs through all that, that is probably the 'essence' of me, or my soul.
I think what happens is that when you croak, you see how all of those lives are facets of the larger 'you.' In all of yours, MM, you probably have the same lust for life, the same logical bent, the same curiosity, the same desire to kick up your heels. So when you croak, you'll just be going home to yourself. All good.
Now I'm gonna get really weird.
It's my personal opinion that in some regard, time is an illusion, and in some ways past lives are still alive, or simultaneous.
Had a strange experience where something that happened in this life shivered up and down the entire line of my lives, back to now. It was a great healing, like a piece of spiritual chiropractic.
IMHO it it is only once we are dead--de-coupled from the slowness of material life--that we have a fully dimensional understanding of WTF reality really is.
Of course, if you've never experienced any of these things, this all sounds like gobbledygook, as you've no reference points!
As for the post-death collegial experience, I did once have a conversation with my Grandfather via a medium...asked him how Gramma was doing. He related that she was "in training to be a bigot," so he didn't see much of her any more. He had work to do on the other side. FWIW.
It kinda would make sense, if you've got to play a certain role in the broad sweep of human history, that you don't get booted back into flesh without a bit of training for the job.
Ghods know what training Hair Furor got! <snark!> R1
After 3 intense near death experiences from ages 12 to 50 and having the precursor to the 3rd experience being full on symptoms of heart failure with my medical internist m.d/acupuncturist/intuitive doctor screaming at me on her table for accepting instead of fighting it, later passing out right after Y2K New Years Day and being rushed to an e.r. hooked up with electrodes and me saying "I'm ok wjth dying but I don't think it's me, I'm picking up some one else." I explained my empathic healing abilities by describing my impressions right then..3 of the people around the e.r. table saying they believed me..as I was describing each of them and their health problems.
Four days later my dad was rushed into an operating room for a gall bladder about to rupture and with beginning cardiac arrest symptoms.
(We both ended up fine though every one was upset that my dad never saw a dr.or told anyone about his severe pain.)
I'd seen my life flash before my eye's...not his life.. in amazing depth and knew it was ok to pass on. No fear at all. Just if I live I will honor that chance by doing more, giving more, serving more.
When it was closer to my dad's real time..10 years later...he asked what I thought about heaven and hell, what were our lives really about and what did i think would happen after death.
Synchronicityly, I'd just read "Life after Death The Burden of Proof" by Deeoak Chopra. So, I shared my thoughts and his with my dad.
Deepak Chopra's book is a journey into the many levels of consciousness and the idea that who we meet, what we experience in the afterlife reflects our present beliefs, our expectations and our individual level of awareness in this life.
The karmic connection is that the here and now can therefore shape what happens after we die. And as I said to my dad if we can create our own heaven, our own hell by a combination of choices, beliefs, and actions, then I believe we can create our own afterlife, as well. To me that is the essence of karmic manifestation.
I asked him how he wanted it to be and we talked about it. He was very animated and happy and accepting and told me our talk gave him a sense of peace. He lived his 93 years of life to the fullest and passed 6 months later, still living at home and helping to care for his wife, my mom, who we took care of by ourselves with Alzheimer's at home.
I spent the night holding her after his death and she asked me if he'd died, i said yes and we talked about it. "It's ok," she said "he was old and sick, he'll be ok." The 3rd night as we lay there, I felt a rush of wind across the room, knew my dad's soul was rising. Out of the blue, my mom said, "your father is leaving us now." "Yes, he is," I told her "and its all o.k." And it was.
MizM you are hilarious! All your questions, then your perspectives make me laugh! I have had your questions and more. I can tell you that all of your questions are in books and now on websites. If you want answers you will find them. I know because I feel as if I have read them all. I will weigh in here with my humble perspective. As a child I had some NDE and wanted answers. After a lifetime of trying to find such answers, I stumbled upon some clarity and began to laugh. I've been laughing and laughing and laughing at the absurdity of "trying" to find the answers. Honestly i have felt like i was left out, that others "knew" and it was up to me to "find out" . One day I realized that in some ways it was all futile...and that made me laugh because I was such a serious seeker. I'll try to explain. The real answers are in life itself! Wisdom comes from life. The answers come in an array of different perspectives as their is of life. Death is no different than life is for us now, so to speak.. MizM You are funny as s_*%! I am sure Joan Rivers has a blast with her soul group hooping it up with sarcasm. So too will you. In life we gravitate to certain perspectives, religions, beliefs, energies, souls. We have choice because we have consciousness. But our choices are limited by our perspectives. So... many lives means many perspectives. Makes sense to me.
My experience crashing my car, twice, was that in the middle of "Oh shit, I am going to die", and, what you would think would be sheer terror...is not at all! Instead, it is a simple...Oh, so this is how I am going to die, never thought this would happen. And peace! Calming Peace, and no pain. And, our consciousness remains. For how long our personalities, who knows...
My mother in-law just passed away and my partner is having a very hard time with the loss. She feels as if she is in a boat and has lost her rudder. Everyday I try to assure her that her mother is still here, though transformed. Although she may not have a physical rudder, there is a subtle warm breeze, that if you are still, you will feel pushing your boat along. My best friend also just died after a 20 year battle with cancer. She was my soul sister and I loved her dearly! She was all about expanding her consciousness! She wanted to have a conscious death as well. Present to the end was her death. She visits me now in dreams, and in animals. Makes sense because she was a dream worker in life and I am an animal lover. Her messages to me, some subtle, some not, "The love remains! We are never alone!" If we are quiet and still we feel it, in everything. When we die we finally feel the wholeness we forever strive for in this life.Love to all, so glad to have found you!