Death and After Death

Once again I must place a disclaimer at the beginning of this writing. My opinions and/or my truths are mine. I am in no way attempting to force my truths upon anyone. If you happen to accept my truths then please do so. If not, then please reject them. I share with you my truths because I believe that secrets or information not shared is selfish.

Death is not a popular topic. Death has been taboo since man first started dying and is still a taboo today.
A few days a go I was on a web site that posts photographs. People that are members can critique photos that have been posted by other members. The quality of photos runs from superb to base. There are photos of flowers, sunsets, nudes, cars, candid snapshots and much more. While browsing some of these photos I came across one that caught my eye. It was a photograph of a lady lying in an open coffin. My first reaction was to wonder why someone would even bother to post this photo but since I was planning on writing this article I ventured further into the WHY of this photo. The photographer had posted a lengthy comment about how this person was their friend and the wonderful times they had had and now this was to be the last photograph of her they would ever take. Upon reading this entire note I had no doubt as to the emotional loss this person was feeling.
What surprised me the most was what other people who had taken the time to critique the photo had to say. Some applauded the photograph at capturing such a sensitive moment, but the majority of people found it disgusting. They made it almost blasphemous to photograph a dead person lying in a coffin. Comments such as “I'm sorry for your friend, this is of real bad taste.” “Just morbid.” “ Not what I would call a smart move, posting something as personal as this in such a public place.” “It is very disrespectful.” “The story may be interesting but I don't see dignity in making this sick kind of photograph.” and so on. Death has this way of making people feel yucky. It is uncomfortable yet inevitable.
Man has made much out of death primarily because man fears the unknown. The unknown of death and post death possibilities has forced man to create elaborate ritual and ceremonies all to appease the spirits, the Gods or God. Cannibalism, cremation, burying the dead have all had their origins from way back and all of the disposing of the dead and how we perceive the dead are fear based not love based.

So here’s my thoughts on death

There are 3 ways that death is brought about.
1. By disease. The body stops functioning
2. By accident.
3. By choice . Suicide

There is no higher force determining as to when you will die. It may be by accident and it may be by disease. There is no such thing as God claiming you because you’re time is up. Disease is biological and our bodies are of a biological nature. Our bodies are subject to the laws of nature.

Accidents do happen. And even saying this all accidents have a cause and effect. There is always a cause for the accident and the result was the death. Again I say that God does not choose who should live and who should die in an accident. (I just know people are going to cite example of miraculous recoveries and such and how God or Jesus saves lives. I know people are going to say that God favored them when they prayed and they received their wishes. While I believe in miracles or appeared miracles I don’t want anyone to think that God picks and chooses who lives and who dies based on the amount of praying one does or does not do.

I find it highly unfair that all man is expected to raise his consciousness and spiritual awareness to the point where he knows God in one short lifetime. And while many of you reading this may find that not too difficult a task consider the majority of the world who have to live their life in abject poverty just trying to stay alive from day to day. Tell me when one is starving and one is overcome with famine and disease how these people have the mental capacity or physical desire to consider the possibility of a God that reside inside … one who comforts and nourishes?

Reincarnation is not for real. Now this is hard for me to say being a big fan of reincarnation for many years. The thought of returning to earth over and over again until I have perfected myself and learned all my lessons correctly made sense to me. However this possibility has lost its truth for me. I see returning again and again as being futile, for with each entry into earth we are stripped of our past lives and our consciousness of who we be, thus we begin over and over again never really going nowhere.
Can you tell me that you are more spiritually aware, more tuned into God than you were when you were a laborer building pyramids in Egypt? I think not.
Yet, many people have extraordinary experiences that seem to validate past lives. I have thought that it maybe memories stored in cellular DNA but I don’t know this for a fact… just speculating.
Perhaps there is another explanation for these events.

The key that opens the door to life after death is …. DESIRE… It doesn’t matter what religion you belong to, what foolish incantations, silly artifacts you hold or wave, or what meaningless rituals you perform. The key to moving on is having a desire to be with God, to be like him, to serve him. The choosing of God is a personal decision and is not based on any religion. One can choose God and never attend nor even be aware of organized religion.
It matters not what happened to you or what you did in this life, but if there is a sincere desire and I do mean heartfelt desire that comes from wanting out of love, not from “I better desire this or I’m gonna be toast” Having this desire gains you entrance in to the afterlife.
And you and God only know what desire is in your heart.
“All men are created equal” Each one has the opportunity to choose.

Upon your death and even afterward you still have the opportunity to choose into God. Those that do, continue on an amazing journey of learning the spiritual truths. Religious School begins after death.
The personality that you take with you to the other side is based upon all the spiritual decisions that you made while here. The positive spiritual choices that you made become who you are on the other side. Do not confuse spiritual choices with moral choices, for each society has slightly different or even extremely different choices. Spiritual choices are those where you assisted and served your fellow man or those where you made a decision that uplifted your spiritual ideals…. and took action… Decisions such as where to eat at McDonald’ or Wendy’s have no spiritual significance and thus do not become a part of you.

The death of children. Those unable to make choice because of age are held in limbo until such a time, as the parents are deceased. They then merge with the parent of the highest spiritual awareness and continue.

Suicide. Certainly a taboo in our society. Many movies and books speak of the horrific afterlife of anyone who chooses to end their life. I don’t buy this. This societal fear and the ramifications of suicide stem from the beliefs that no one has the right end a life but God. This moral choice is most noticeable in our hospitals where humans are left to suffer until every last possible breath has been drawn. I believe that suicide, although purely selfish in motivation, does not change the fact that the person still has the same opportunity to desire to choose God.

In the after life each of us must, as part of our spiritual progress must deal with the choices made on earth. Each of us will see how the choices that we made impacted others and how their choices impacted us. All will be revealed. There will be no secrets. The ability to forgive and to be forgiven must be accomplished.

You begin your new spiritual life where you left this one. Because you have died does not mean that all the wisdom of heaven is bestowed upon you. There is much work to do. Spiritual awareness and knowing God comes from only one way….. experience. We have to learn.

Dead people do not return as angels. Angels, while very real are of their own created order and different from the souls of the dead. Angels will assist us in our journey but they are not our deceased ancestors.

If we were a more spiritually advanced race, we would see death not as a loss but as a moving on. It is but a changing of state. I think of it as changing from water to steam. The water has not died it has just changed state. We would not wear the dark clothes of mourning and the emotional of personal loss but our love for that person would be enhanced knowing that they are about to begin the next stage of their journey to be with their creator.
Death needs to come out of the darkness and into the light. Life on earth is but a place for the embryo of the soul. It is not until we die that actually become born.

Let it be spoken that each and everyone has the opportunity for salvation for everlasting life, not through the fear of displeasing God but rather through the joy of being in service of being in love with your fellow man and God. Everlasting life is a place where we continually grow, forever expanding our consciousness, expanding our willingness to assist others, our willingness to be God-like. God is approachable and being God like is attainable but only through the willingness to serve.

This has not been easy to write knowing some of you will have different opinions or think I am right off my rocker but I have shared my truth. If your truth is similar or different I offer you the opportunity to share with me on my new website where we can interact with each other.
Visit http://groups.msn.com/101Insights
Thank you for reading this. Your comments are always welcome.
Phil