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Will you roll around heaven all day like that lucky old son or will you sit on your cloud playing your harp? Will you be bored to death? No you can’t be because you are already dead. Will you be sustained by giving glory to God, (whatever that means!)? As I suggested in my last talk here on the nature of worship, God doesn’t need our glory! A lot of new material has recently come to light about what happens after death. Many people have described having Near Death Experiences. They say they have briefly entered the spirit world but have been recalled to Earth because it was not the correct time for them to leave. Other information has come to us about people who have been hypnotically regressed to experience previous lives. You have probably heard of Dr. Brian Weiss and his book “Many Lives, Many Masters”. Other interesting material has recently come to my attention. This comes from the writings of Dr. Michael Newton a regression hypnotherapist and from Diana Cooper who is a clairvoyant and well-known for her books on angels. This not very scientific, you may say and I have to agree that none of it can be proved. But I have now read numerous books on the subject of what happens after death and they are remarkably consistent. Thousands of people have now told us what it is like after you die. It is worth hearing what they said as they cannot all be wrong. Nobody has reported going to the Pearly Gates and meeting St. Peter. Nobody has talked about being judged and sent to heaven or hell. They all talk about going to a place where they are welcomed by old friends and spirit guides. So much has been written about this that the evidence is compelling, and yet the traditional Christian churches are silent on this subject. How much good could they do by opening up to these possibilities especially to comfort the sick and dying? Dr. Michael Newton is an expert of regression to “Life-Between-Lives”. In his books “Journey of Souls” and “Destiny of Souls” he analyses the experiences of over 7,000 subjects. He relates the usual experiences of dying: looking down on your dead body from above and moving towards a tunnel and emerging out into light to be greeted by your deceased friends, relatives and spirit guides. Where it gets really interesting is what happens next and this is where Newton has added to our store of knowledge. There is a period of healing or adjustment where the recently arrived soul recovers from the rigours of an incarnation on Earth. Earth is described as one of a number of worlds where souls incarnate and one of the toughest in which lessons concerning our spiritual evolution can be gained. On the subject of reincarnation, I should say that existence of reincarnation is confirmed by all subjects and I have not read of any case where its existence is denied. The purpose of life on Earth is to evolve spiritually. Each life is selected by the soul and its guides to give learning opportunities which enable the soul to perfect aspects of itself. It is not a question of paying off bad karma. There is no element of punishment involved. More advanced souls who have had many Earth incarnations are able to move on to higher tasks and do not need to incarnate again. To return to the newly arrived soul, it has to adjust to dying and to shake off the limitations of an Earth existence which is very confining. If death was sudden or violent there may be some healing required as the separation of the soul from the body would have been very sudden. I recently read a book called “People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting bystanders and what to do about it” This was written by Gary Leon Hill. He explains that in the case of sudden death such as in a car crash some people cannot understand that they have died and keep hanging around their old haunts trying to communicate with their loved ones. They wonder why people don’t answer them. There is clearly an element of confusion in the case of sudden death and those who are unable to let go of their connection to Earth may need help from guides in finding their way to the spirit world. Even those who arrive safely may need to receive healing for some time to learn to shake off the conditioning on an Earth life and to recall how to function in the spirit world where souls can learn to create whatever they want just by thought alone. However Newton and the other writers play down the aspect of ghosts stating that although some souls get stuck, most are not malicious. He says that the subject of ghosts and haunting has been exploited by the media who play on people’s fears. After some healing, if needed, the soul meets with its guide for orientation. This is often done in a setting specially created by the guide to relax the newly arrived soul. The following is a quote from one of Newton’s sessions with a client: “At the centre of this place I found my bedroom where I was so happy as a child. I see my rose-coloured wallpaper and four-poster bed with the squeaky springs under a thick, pink quilt made for me by my grandmother. My grandmother and I used to have heart-to-heart chats whenever I was troubled and she is here, too – just sitting on the edge of my bed with my favourite stuffed animals around her – waiting for me. Her wrinkled face is full of love as always. After a while, I see that she is also my guide Amephus. (They always have strange names)! I talk to Amephus about the sad and happy times of the life I have finished. I know I made mistakes, but she is so kind to me. We laugh and cry together while I reminisce. Then we discuss all the things I didn’t do that I might have done with my life. But in the end it’s OK. She knows I must rest in this beautiful world. I’m going to relax. I don’t care if I ever go back to Earth again because my real home is here.” So the life review is not a judgement. If there is any judging we do it ourselves because we see what we should have done and we understand the purpose of our recent incarnation and if we managed to fulfil that purpose. After some rest and healing we have a meeting with a group of wise souls, a kind of council of elders. Here we review our recent life in a more long-term perspective. They help us to see what work we have yet to do to evolve spiritually, to iron out any immature tendencies and to move to a higher level. We then proceed to our main work between lives which is to reunite with our spirit group and to help each other. The hypnotic regression subjects describe moving, a kind of gliding, to a central area and then going down corridors which have areas or rooms off them. They pass by various groups some of whom they recognise until they come to their own group and are welcomed by their soul mates. This is what they call home, being with those who are related to you in spirit. There is great joy and celebration because you may have been with this group for millennia and have had many incarnations together. Some of these souls may have been your mother or your father, your husband or your wife in different lives on Earth or even on other worlds. The issue of choosing a gender is interesting. Souls are by no means confined to one gender and change gender to have different experiences in different lives. Some may need to balance out male or female aspects or to experience what it is like to be vulnerable or even abused. Some who have had many incarnations in a particular gender may find it hard to adjust to the other gender. They may find themselves still drawn to the tendencies of their last life. They may even have agreed to undergo some discomfort in their present life, experiencing what it is like to be discriminated against. As a footnote to this I should add that we are told that some very refined souls decide have an Earth incarnation in order to speed up their evolution but that some of them find this planet so coarse and rough that they just can’t adjust to life here. So they may decide to sit it out and refuse to play the game. It is interesting to note that there has been a fivefold increase in the incidence of autism in recent years. I would like to return to the subject of groups of souls who work together. These groups are formed when these souls are very young in spiritual terms. They work through many incarnations together, sometimes closely associated with each other and sometimes less closely depending on the purpose of the life on Earth. Diana Cooper gives some interesting insights on soul ages in her book “Angel Answers”. She says, “Each time your soul incarnates on Earth you become more familiar with physicality, emotions, sexuality and the ways of your world. During your first few lives you are akin to a baby in that you need to be looked after. As you visit your planet more often and your ‘soul age’ increases, you become more knowledgeable and worldly wise” Young souls, she says, need to be looked after. They are insecure and tend to follow authority blindly seeking security. They tend to incarnate into simple societies where their rôles are clear and leadership is strong and inflexible. The next level is what she calls “toddler souls”. These are the people who throw their toys out of the pram when things go wrong. These souls are beginning to explore their power on Earth but lack maturity and consideration for others. She says that they “hate change and try to prevent progress with their rigid, often judgemental views. They tend to be anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, pro-marriage and strong family ties, pro-Church, prison (and) hanging.” In terms of the world she says that these souls are found in the bible belt of America, as well as in some Arab countries. Teenage souls have more experience of Earth and are full of energy and trying to make an impact. They may try to make money at the expense of others. Some of them may be selfish or ruthless. They are turning up in Africa, China and India and those incarnating in the US are helping to challenge the toddler souls and bring about more social justice. Middle–aged souls have been on Earth many times. They are concerned about those less fortunate than themselves and tend to work in ways that are democratic and sustainable. You will be interested to hear that she says there are lots of them in Europe. There are also the wise old souls who often work quietly behind the scenes throughout the world. They are healers, teachers, shamans and others who are working at subtle levels using healing energy for the good of all. Michael Newton goes on to describe how the groups work together to learn from their previous lives and to advance their spiritual evolution. Eventually they are advised that they should go back to Earth for another incarnation and he describes the details of how this is planned and carried out. He also says a lot about the appearance of things in the spirit world and how souls spend their recreation time. I do not have time to go into it today and there is so much more material that it would easily make another talk. Some of you may feel that this is unscientific rubbish and I respect that. However Newton bases his research on over 7,000 sessions with clients and many other writers are saying the same thing. We should ask ourselves: do we want certainty like the toddler souls or are we prepared to consider some new information however strange? It is a few months now since I read these books and I was very taken with the details of what goes on after death. I was going to suggest a further talk on this subject but now I’m not so sure. I think there is a danger of getting hung up on the details, of looking for certainty. What I have learned from this is that life after death is not boring. There is lots to do and experience and opportunities to enjoy loving relationships with other souls. I don’t think the details are important. Death is not to be feared. As Ram Dass’ guide Emmanuel says “Death is entirely safe. It’s like taking off a tight shoe”.
© Kieran Comerford 2008
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