Life After Death

Death can be seen as a positive experience, if it is not thought of as an ending. A concept of immortality seems to be the solution to what otherwise creates a sense of despair. By immortality is meant an essential element of waking consciousness that survives death — it may experience many changes, but there is still continuity of consciousness.

Increasing Evidence

Although it is still difficult to prove the continuing existence of human consciousness, evidence for this is growing as the result of research within the disciplines of science into O.O.B. (out-of-the-body experiences) and also into E.S.P. (extrasensory perception). It has been found that many people have become aware of themselves outside the physical body, which is still on the bed, or in the case of "near death" experiences, on the operating table or in a wrecked car. Such experiences show us that the range of consciousness which we consider "normal" can be extended, but it is left to Theosophical concepts to explain the essential nature of consciousness itself.

The Indwelling Spirit

The Ageless Wisdom (Theosophy) affirms an indwelling spirit which exists before birth and continues to exist after death. It also suggests that each one of us who, in our essential nature are that indwelling spirit, are on an evolutionary journey which requires many lives in which to develop our spiritual potential. All of us have therefore passed through the gates of birth and death many times.

The research of Dr lan Stevenson, and others, into the memories many people have (especially in childhood) of previous lives on earth, provides evidence for reincarnation which requires the concept of continuing existence

The Field Of Consciousness

Although there is an instinctive awareness that one is more than one’s body, it is difficult to realise that the physical world is only a part of a great continuum of matter, which increases in subtlety or rate of vibration as it extends beyond the reach of our senses. Nowadays knowledge of X-rays, radio and television, make it easier for us to accept the reality of the unseen world. Science is dealing with ever-widening concepts of the nature of matter and energy, and the layman is better able to grasp ideas that include invisible as well as visible forces.

Death And Sleep

Accepting the continuity of existence after leaving the physical body, makes death not so very different from sleep. When we go to sleep or are anaesthetised, consciousness is temporarily withdrawn from the body; but we continue to have emotional and mental adventures which we often remember on waking. In our dream state, we plumb depths and reach heights that indicate realms of consciousness beyond those experienced in our waking hours. Theosophy suggests that at death, when the body is abandoned permanently, the consciousness begins a journey into realms much more exalted than those entered while asleep. During out-of-thebody experiences one usually sees oneself connected to one’s physical body by a silver cord of subtle energy. At the moment of death the clairvoyant can see the life-force leave the body by this same cord as a fine silver stream from the crown of the head, but.the link between the physical and the superphysical is then permanently broken.

Where Do We Go?

According to the Theosophy, at death we go to a world of starry light (thus often refered to as astral), and experience increasing freedom, as consciousness is progressively released from the heavier vibrations of physical matter. A process of purification takes place before the soul can goes on into the deep and blissful state which it has earned. During earth life it has become identified with the desires of the physical world which remain and may even be temporarily intensified. They must now be left behind before the soul can complete the next stage of its journey. By analogy when salt is extracted from sea water, as the water evaporates it leaves a residue which is not pure salt but which contains impurities that have to be removed; it still has to go through a process of purification.

What Shall We Experience?

It is while the soul is on the astral plane that clairvoyants and clairaudients in the physical world sometimes make contact possible. Many books have been written describing communication between the living and the dead. According to those writings, the activities of the physical life - our choice of companions and occupations, our processes of thought and emotion - condition our astral experience. There is a process described as self-purification in which the soul evaluates the qualtiy of its actions in the life just past.

Then purified and refined, one can enter the world of mind and here, too, pursue the refinement of life's experiences. Whether one was a deep thinker or concerned only with the petty trivia of daily existenceand what motivated one’s life on earthdetermine the level of the mental world at which one can begin to extract the essence of one’s life’s efforts. .

Near-Death Experiences

In recent years the testimony of hundreds of people who have experienced "clinical death" have been collected and published by medical researchers, the best known being Dr. Raymond Moody (author of Life After Life) and Dr. Kubler Ross (author of On Death and Dying).

The experiences of these people who were revived and lived to tell what happened to them when they were "dead", bear a striking similarity to those described in Theosophical literature. For most, the first experience is the passing through a dark enclosure, before their consciousness refocusses and they become aware of themselves, in a hard-to-define spiritual body, from which they watch, in a detached way, their physical body being revived on the operating table or rescued from a wrecked car. Many then find themselves in a world of light and freedom in which they meet a "being of light" which epitomises perfect understanding and perfect love. Often they experienced an incredibly vivid instant review or replay of their lives and understand that they must return to complete the unfinished business of this incarnation. Many were reluctant to do so and all testified (including the actor Peter Sellers and other well-known persons) that the experience completely changed their lives. They no longer had any fear of death and understood that, from this time on, their mission was to cultivate love for others and to go on learning, to the end of life.

Helping At The Moment Of Death

Both modern investigators and the ancient teachings are definite that those present at the moment of death should assist the departing soul, by (where possible) allowing the transition to take place in a calm and peaceful atmosphere. Imagine how it must feel to slip quietly from a pain-wracked body to find yourself free, though perhaps slightly bewildered at first - even unaware that the realm of consciousness which you have just entered is not the physical world to which you have been so long accustomed. As explained in The Tibetan Book of the Dead this adjustment is made more difficult if those who loved the dead person prolong their grief and sorrow

The Greater Journey

For a fuller understanding of life after death, it is necessary to grasp the idea that we are individual sparks of the One Flame, and have lived many lives; died many deaths. Each life giving renewed hope of final perfection.

The physical lives provide opportunities for experiences which we refine and synthesise in the emotional and mental world into greater capacities and powers with which to pursue our journey. Our heaven is therefore of our own making; it is not an eternity but rather a period of time determined by our own needs.

Suggestions for further reading:

Through The Gateway Of Death by Geoffrey Hodson

Through Death To Rebirth by James S. Perkins

On Death And Dying by Dr. Kubler-Ross

The Evidence For Survival From Claimed Memories Of Former Incarnations by Ian Stevenson

Beyond Death - The Undiscovered Country by Howard Murphet

Letters To A Dying Friend - What Comes Next by Anton Grosz

A Matter Of Personal Survival - Life After Death by Michael Marsh