This Life as a Precursor to the Next

In the Old World, the adherence to doctrine was to help prepare one’s self for entering the gates of Heaven and receiving eternal life.  To not follow the dogma as prescribed by the hierarchy was tantamount to turning one’s back on God and committing the soul to everlasting torture and pain.

In our modern society, the purely materialistic members of the populace will tell you there is “No such thing as an afterlife.  When you die, you’re as good as worm food.”

Yet afterlife spirit research contradicts both these assertions.  Over more than one hundred years ago, the scientists and academics who headed up the Society for Psychical Research in both England and America laid the groundwork and brought forth incredible evidence suggestive of spirit return through such mediums as Leonora Piper, Mrs. Chenoweth, Mrs. Gladys Osborne Leonard, as well as others.  The “cross- correspondences” convinced many in the organization that they had obtained scientific proof of survival and communication.  This history unfortunately got dismissed, mostly forgotten, and it wasn’t until the late 1990’s that mediumship once again was taken seriously – at least by a minority few in academia, starting with Dr. Gary Schwarz.

In addition to the research done with mediums, modern technology has given us unprecedented tools for reaching out to those in spirit, most notably through Electronic Voice Phenomena (recording spirit voices on recorders).  Though both these techniques (EVPs and Mediumship) have their detractors and skeptics, the overall data and results from skilled researchers along with asking the right questions still point in the same direction as the earlier Society for Psychical Research archives – consciousness survives.

The next question is: what does that survival of consciousness look like?  Staying with the theme of this article, for centuries we were told that if we follow the rules of a particular theology, it would grant us a hoped-for peace and everlasting life (and consequently, those who didn’t …) Well … it just doesn’t work that way.  There isn’t any Hell and no one is blocking you at the gate for not following a particular brand of theism.  However, the idea of how you live your life on earth does still hold some truth as to how one might acclimate to the Other Side.

When original Society for Psychical Research members passed away and began communicating through mediums in an effort to prove their identity to their earth-bound colleagues, many of them stated how their lives – both on earth and the afterlife – would have been much better had they known eternal life was a matter of natural existence and paid attention to what that meant (and not in the way it had been traditionally taught).   They were all adamant about the joys of the next life, yet they stated how they still had much more to learn.  Indeed, they were saying that had they approached things a bit differently on the earthly side of life, it would have made them less ignorant when it came to their own existence in the afterlife, and consequently they would be getting "more" out of it.

In a way, this makes some sense.  Think of it like stages in earthly life.  We now know that events in our childhood can still have irrevocable influence and outcome on who we are and what we do when we are adults.  In this way, we can also see how our lives on earth might also have an effect on our existence in the next life as well.  How could it not?  This is not to say we must always be on-guard, or give our earthly thoughts away and think only of the next world …. That would be akin to saying “forget childhood and jump straight into adult life.”  No, no, no.  One is needed to inform and shape the other.  And this is not out fear either.  Just like our journey through childhood we learn what is needed as we move into adulthood and society, so too is this life preparing us in ways for the Other Side.

To me, this is how we must view our relationship between our existence here and our future existence over there.  They are intertwined; one informs the other.  When we reach the Other Side, we are told that we exist beyond Time and Space and that we cannot die – yet the nature of our experience (what we are capable of accomplishing) falls upon the simple axiom of knowledge over ignorance – in this case, I gather it is “spiritual” knowledge over “spiritual” ignorance.  Wherever one falls on such a spectrum plays a unique role on what one is capable of accomplishing or where they can go right out in the afterlife.  All are granted eternal life – that is not an issue – but just what one can experience or do in the afterlife is correlated with what one knows or doesn’t know spiritually.  This is not so different from earth – knowledge opens doors to possibilities, whereas without proper knowledge, a door will oftentimes remain shut until the deficit in wisdom is corrected.  In all cases, spirits coming through speak of the afterlife in joyous and loving terms, but also acknowledge there is so much more, and that access to this “more” is somehow related to knowledge, and that our earthly experience can help with that foundation.

In knowing this ahead of time, it forces us to examine ourselves (and primarily our relationships) in the Here and Now.  If we can master unconditional love, compassion, joy, then when we arrive into the next world we will not feel so much like a fish out of water – at least so I’ve been told.  We won’t have as many regrets, we will spare ourselves a sense of possible embarrassment or exposure as the Life Review reveals our most nonsensical and ignorant moments, and we won’t feel that we have sold ourselves short for what is possible in the spiritual environments.  We are not asked to be perfect, but we are asked to pay attention.

In other words, we can come into our spiritual life with a rich foundation gathered from our earthly experiences.  We will acclimate better; find ourselves capable; and will be more at the ready to become true citizens in the communities built for the spiritual realms of eternity. 

Enjoy and learn from our earthly journey - as it's all Spiritual.

-- Jeffrey

A Welcome to Your Spirit this Spring

Spring in the Pacific Northwest is just right around the corner for us.  Already, some of the trees are starting to flower and I am seeing new flowers sprout from the soil.  If you’re like me, you are getting excited.  It’s time to wake up from the cold dark winter and welcome back the light!

This time of year always harkens to a sense of rejuvenation.  In a way, it is not much different than what happens to our loved ones when they leave their body to transition into the afterlife.  One could easily make the case that while we are alive on planet earth, our senses become dull to the fullness of our multidimensional selves and we have entered into a type of focus that mimics a sense of hibernation inside the vastness of our souls.  Indeed, those in spirit report back that when they look at us from their vantage point, we oftentimes appear asleep in terms of our awareness.  Some spirits report that we look “dark and shadowy” – not much different than nature looking dark and barren during the winter.   

This changes when we leave this environment at death.  It is not so much because we are leaving the limited body behind (that is part of it), but also because we are stepping out of the entire space/time framework the world works in.  This departure gives the newfound spirit an entirely new perspective on the life and world just left behind.  It’s as if we have been living like a two-dimensional painting on canvass, then suddenly peeling ourselves off and seeing not only the canvass, but that we are really three-dimensional with properties and aspects of being we never knew we had!    

This has got to feel like waking up from a cold winter and finding yourself being greeted by a warm and luscious new Spring.  The Other Side has oftentimes affectionately been referred to as “the Summer Land.”  No doubt, at the moment of earthly departure, we move into the Spring time of new spiritual life and then dance into the Summer.

As we begin to re-awaken from our winter slumber, take some time to go within and re-awaken your spirit.  If you have spent much of the winter indoors, head out to welcome the new life growing all around you.  Reconnect with it.  Feel its vibrancy re-emerging and allow it to inspire a re-emergence within you.   You are a vital, beautiful, loving spirit!  Let your light shine with the new light of Spring!  Stretch out your arms, take in a big gulp of air, then feel your energy skyrocket to every corner of creation.  Know that our loved ones in spirit see this, feel it, and send it back to us.

It’s all about the cycle of life and its eternal nature.  Let’s embrace the coming seasons … or rather, let the coming seasons embrace us. 

Remember, you were born a perfect spirit.  So be sure to have a spirited day!

What Unconditional Love from the Other Side Reveals ...

I oftentimes compare and contrast what we learn from direct spirit communication and interaction (whether it be in readings or spirit research with the Washington State Ghost Society) to what was written in ancient biblical texts, and to what organized religion says about the nature of man and how it equates to the notion of God's love for us (FYI, I prefer the term "Great Creative Force" over the term "God").  I find myself often at odds with the notion that the Great Creative Force perceives us as "fallen," or "broken" or "off-the-mark."  Indeed, those in the spirit world tell us how much we are loved, that judgment is nothing like what has been told to us, and that we were actually born perfect.  

"Perfect?  Really?"  I can hear you saying.   

Actually, yes.  

Those in spirit are telling us that we were born perfect, for the simple fact that we have the ability to express and experience all outcomes (good and bad) so that we may have access to all roads of learning and expression.  "Perfection" is not an "end state" of static being, but rather the functionality inherent within our design.  Only love would grant the ability to potentially experience all possible states, positive or negative.  Those on the Other Side tell us that If we did not have access to all these different avenues, then we would be stunted; we would not fully learn; we would be held back in whatever was needed for us to become the greatest expression and reflection of the Great Spirit that we can be.  Without this perfection of experiencing all probabilities and states, spirituality would be more like a prison, rather than the unconditional love that is given us to experience All There Is. 

So as we march forward to that day of love this month, take a moment to reflect on just how much you are loved from those on the Other Side -- it is truly unconditional.  All paths to learning, to spirituality, to the Great Creative Force are already being lived by you and through you.  If you weren't loved, then such capabilities would not even exist.

A Response to Futility

Several weeks ago I was contacted by a lovely lady on Facebook, who was having a hard time reconciling the meaning of her life when faced with the inevitable outcome of death.  She feared that if her loved ones were to pass away before her, then wouldn’t the bonds of those relationships lose their meaning?  That is, why do we care so much for others when inevitably our relationships would be ruined by the spectre of death?  It admittedly made her very anxious and concerned that life – in the grand scheme – didn’t have much meaning when it would eventually come to that inevitable end. 

I can understand her dilemma.  In a universe that we’re being told all happened by “chance” or “accident” and that when it’s all over we just rot in the ground, then life does take on a sense of futility.  What’s the point of such love when it all will vanish and disappear and was only by “luck” in the first place?  Or – perhaps even more torturous – our loved ones die, move on to another dimension, and yet we are here left alone?   What does all this mean and why do we do it?

Having been working with the spirit world for over fifteen years (and with spirit events stretching as far back as my early childhood), the best I can do is assert that, first, we do not die and therefore there isn’t an “end”; and two, we can still communicate with our loved ones after they have passed.  Of course, the next natural question is “how?”

The way I explained it to my friend was that our loved ones in spirit are really only a thought away (you might have heard John Holland use this phrase).   Granted, to me that sounds like a somewhat “pat answer,” but it is literally the spiritual truth.  When you can make yourself available to your loved ones in spirit as a vessel of love, they will return the favor – through thoughts, dreams, and occasional “calling cards” of physical events in your everyday life which demonstrates they are still bonded with you and care about you.  We’ve all heard stories about the coins which mysteriously show up after a loved one has passed.  Or – a story I heard more recently (and the photo to prove it) – of a butterfly that landed on the memorial program then alighted to the mother’s hand during the memorial service … with butterflies being the deceased’s favorite token for collectibles ... Spirit will find a way to make themselves known, so long as we are open to them.

But it is natural to fret over our time apart.  My grandmother did this with the loss of my grandfather.  To me, it is normal to feel this type of grief as the years grow longer in the empty space left from our loss.   However, as I explained to my friend, do not worry about the time of “physically being apart” for that is only the result of our vibration in the physical world, and Time is only relative.  That is, the energy of our beings only allows for certain wavelengths of energetic frequencies to be filtered by the physical body’s senses.  Our loved ones in spirit vibrate a bit too fast for our physical senses to typically register them, but they are still there, and with practice, you can alter your mental awareness to become somewhat “in tune” with them, for the mind is not bound by the confines of the body, time or space.  This is what mediums do in order to make that link to the spirit world for their clients.  Granted, the context of the relationship has been altered due to the “veil” created by the dissonance in frequencies that the body is somewhat stunted in fully receiving from the domain of Spirit, but that does not mean the relationship itself is severed and that our loved ones have disappeared from our lives, nor that the relationship was meaningless.  That hasn’t happened at all.  To declare the relationship “dead” “over” and “meaningless” would negate not only every emotion and action taken with our loved ones while they were alive, but also theirs towards us.  The truth is, they have not left us – so we should not leave them.       

Of course, this does lead to some of the deepest questions we ask about life:  Why are we here?  Why do we go through this journey (if our relationships and loves are to be separated from us by death)?

These are questions I have pondered for years.  Fortunately, again my work with spirits – both in sittings and ghost research – has helped pull out some possible answers.  What I have learned from the spirits is that why we need to be here (as well as transition to the Other Side) is because each place offers opportunities for expression and growth of the Self and the God-force within us.  Spirits have told us that the purpose of life is to experience the magnitude of our probabilities – to unfold the nature of our unique, individual spirits.  Each dimension of existence offers a multitude of avenues in doing this, to unfold and realize our innate sense of “value fulfillment” (a term coined by “Seth” through Jane Roberts, early 1980's).  “Value Fulfillment”, upon closer inspection, makes a lot of sense to me in regards to the evolution of our spiritual lives.  It offers life meaning.  That life has purpose and meaning is made manifest by the complexity of a single cell and its cooperation with all other cells to ignite gestalt mechanisms for the expression of a soul’s intentions.  That is, the complexity of cellular structure to create tissue, bones, organs, intake and excrete waste (both at the micro and macro levels), transmit data between cells and organs, heal, and move us simply by the expression of our spirit’s willpower – without our real conscious left-brain understanding of it – demonstrates that we are multidimensional, filled with the power and vitality of divinity and purpose; able to create equally with love, compassion, and joy as we do with hate, jealousy, and destruction.

So many people think that their purpose must be “one thing” and one thing only, such as “I am supposed to be a mother; or a nurse; or a lawyer.”  Those are just occupations.  Your purpose is to express your divinity.  What you choose, in order to do that, is boundless, and you are not at all confined to one single avenue or occupation.  Consciousness (spirit) is unlimited, and so are your options; you need only choose which one you wish to experience and begin moving your intentions, emotions, and beliefs into its actualization. 

Let us never forget that we were first born of Spirit, and then came into flesh (so you can leave behind all that nonsense of being born “sinful” or “less than perfect,” as you are a spark of the Great Spirit, and it all depends on what you choose to focus on for your divine expression).  It is by our very design that we are eternal, everlasting, and ultimately loving – even beyond Space and Time.

So live in the beauty of your Light.  Your Spirit.  Have a Spirited day!

The Afterlife Judgment: "Thank you for your life. You did beautifully."

I had a very deep meditation on Friday, April 15th, that put me in such an incredibly profound state of being. At one point, the feeling of my body was nothing more than a mere memory. Where my consciousness actually resided at that point, I couldn’t tell you. But I do know I was far and away from the structure of my body. There was a sense of ecstasy; an intoxicating drink that my mind was floating within a dazzling sea of eternal existence; a primary ground just this side of Heaven for the soul still locked in its transitory earthly journey – not yet admitted to the infinite abode, but permitted to stand just centimeters from its gate. Being wrapped in this blanket of timeless emotion and immeasurable brilliance, it would not be without question that some kind of information, wisdom, or concept, might find its way into my “normal” earthbound cognizance. Indeed, the little sip of eternity from the cup of life made absolute sense when it flashed into my mind … It was pure harmony; a puzzle piece that fit perfectly with its partners on all corners.

The fireworks of wisdom that exploded inside my consciousness had to deal with the notion of your life being judged after death, and why the answer was always “You are forgiven, and you are loved.” It had nothing to do with the life review process – that sequence of events which puts you square in the middle of all your life’s choices and consequences. No, it wasn’t that at all. It seems, the life review process is an event for the individual personality’s benefit to come to terms, harmony, and understanding within the energetic makeup of his being – to make sense of the tributaries he traveled through the river of life; why the waterways wound about, rose, and then dived. Such revelations tie up life’s loose ends and answers many questions … It pulls the curtain to reveal the individual’s power, ramifications of choice, and hence responsibility he ultimately wielded in the course of earthly existence. Of course, this comes after the fact, after the life has been lived. It doesn’t address the whole point of living the life in the first place.

Yes, we are here on purpose. There was a point to being born into the physical universe on the day your bare bottom found air and the doctor spanked you. There was a reason why your life had a particular length to it – whether it be 20, 40, 80, or 100 years. There was a reason why you explored defined tributaries of life’s river – why you tromped upon one shore and not another. These were all potentials that were inherent in your spirit before you were born, and it was your intention to live them out for the expression of your greater consciousness (whether you wish to define that greater consciousness as the Oversoul, God, whatever).

When we start to look at life as the fulfillment of all potentials inherent within the makeup of existence, we begin to see why the structure of the universe – time and space – came into being. For the Great Soul to have complete expression – complete movement, total awareness, unbounded wisdom – to know all of this in its many permutations – all avenues of energetic experience and expression must be allowed to take form; to witness through and through on all levels these many layers – this becomes the drive and intention for life in the physical domain.

The impression I received from the quick glimpse afforded by my sip of ambrosia was awesome. The Great Soul, the Oversoul, whatever you wish to call it, sends portions of itself out into multiple time periods and domains. These time periods and domains are occurring simultaneously within the Oversoul, yet we break them down in order to fully enrapture and take in the components of each locality and bring them to the fullest expression and intimate awareness within our consciousness that we wish to experience. Each time and place can be considered a single locality, with energetic qualities and potentials wholly unique to its design. Our time period obviously is unique in comparison to ancient Greece, Middle Ages Europe, or even the American Revolution or Civil War. These localities afford unique opportunities for experience and expression which get fed to the Oversoul, so its energy (which is essentially your energy) lives out a course of existence in such localities … to sip from the intoxicating liquor each life offers. In doing so, the culmination resides in its wondrous joy of being All It Can Be, all at once, yet fulfilled through the lives of each “fragment self” spread out over time and space. It is such a rush, an amazing joy, to witness and feel the varied expressions of life happening concurrently for the Oversoul … It relishes all manner of experience.

From this admittedly higher and a bit perplexing view, our earthly concepts of morality seem to break down. Similar to how the laws of physics break down the deeper you go into the quantum realm, our notions of right and wrong turn fuzzy and lose coherence once we realize life is eternal, does not end, exists beyond time and space, and the goal of the Oversoul’s life is to have full breadth of experiences across all ranges of existence. And in some ways, for this to happen naturally and organically, the Oversoul grants free will to each “fragment” personality. (Or, one could say, each fragment personality is a mini-portion of the Oversoul individualized, complete with free will as its intended purpose of mission, drawing itself out of the Oversoul to breathe into a certain localized existence). In this way, experiential ranges can be explored with spontaneity, fullness of emotion, and expansion of thought. Therefore, one fragment may end up being an energetic expression and experience of a horrid murderer or other dastardly criminal/madman, while another may be the highest saint to bless earth’s grains of sand, all originating from the same source, for the sole point of being All Things Inherent in Potential. In either case, eternity, infinity, All That Is, is the Oversoul’s true “combined” nature, so these experiences fulfill the nature of its intentions – manifest all potentials in the theater of a “real-ized” universe.

It is sometimes hard to accept this, when we think of criminal elements. However, the fragment personality doesn’t end when the physical life is over. Because of the free will granted in projecting such energy into the different times and domains, the desire for spontaneity to bring the fulfillment of expression as the lifeblood of the Oversoul, the personality continues to evolve and move into other areas of experience after this existence. This again affords the Great Oversoul its complete act of expression. We would be remiss to assume that life only exists in two different locations – earthly physical domain and that of spirit. There may be, in fact, other domains with experiential structures we cannot even imagine, and the Oversoul delights in allowing its many fragments (which it may not even perceive as fragments, but simply the nature of its life) all the possibilities of expression and experience available. Here, we have a “completed timeline” of a “fragment” madman/criminal coming to terms with his energetic imbalances and later becoming the saint through the multiple domains he chooses to travel through. The sense of moral righteousness, productivity, all the things we hold as internal personal rules and conventions (and so highly regarded, I might add) are just other forms of varietal expression and experience to the Higher Great Oversoul, fulfilling its mission of being All That Is. It judges them not on “this being good, that being bad” but rather “the fullest expression and experience of my possibilities.”

Because the fragment personality is simply doing its intended purpose for being alive in this particular time and this particular place – to provide experience and expression in concert with the unique variables co-existent in locale (and partake and shape them), to be life itself in some part of its various form – this is why the only afterlife judgment one truly receives is “you are forgiven … and you are loved.” The Oversoul is not made of one life, but the “spreading out” of many through the prism of time and space, so the judgment of one would serve no purpose – it holds no water for it cannot address the bigger picture of the whole – and who would do the judging?

There has never been (and never can be) the apocalyptic judgment that we have been so taught throughout the ages, for it goes against the very grain of why life is here in the first place. We came to life on purpose and for a reason: to live life in its unique variations. What is life? It is the release of thoughts, emotions, and mental attitudes, manifesting experiences across space and time for energetic expression. All of these are affected by various matrixes put in place by all consciousness: the value systems, beliefs, etc. unique to the moments of history, time and place.

If the course of history has taught us anything, it is that the judgments for or against life are transitory. Concepts of good and evil change and evolve as we change and evolve. What is acceptable one day becomes unacceptable the next. And these differences are but a single layer in the makeup of expression and existence. This does not mean it is okay to go out and kill your neighbor, for we have all agreed such an act is horrendous; that judgment produces a framework which informs and guides the nature of choices, and hence expression and experience along the river of life in this particular time and space framework. That is our designation as fragment personalities that we choose to adhere to.

To the eternal Oversoul – free from earthly time and space – it makes no call of right or wrong, but only love and thanks for ultimate expression in the framework of the domain. It does not recognize morality or immorality … only freedom to express and be All It Can Be (life is eternal, never ending, and a full expression of energetic possibilities, utilizing the domain matrix for inspiration, so how could anything be wrong?). That freedom, that bursting of choice manifesting into all possibilities through the prism of time and space is the whole point to existence. So do not fear a negative judgment for doing only what the point of existence was to begin with: live life in whatever way you choose, for in the end, that was the only directive to begin with. That was the purpose for exiting the womb in the doctor’s office. That was the purpose for traveling certain inlets along the river, and why certain “fragments” left the physical domain at certain times. It’s all good. It’s all life. It’s all potentials being experienced purposefully.

It’s the whole reason you burst out into existence in the first place.

I have written similar posts like this in the past, but coming out of meditation and being struck with the concept and an attached “feeling” was quite an interesting moment.



PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS

In considering this epiphany, I was struck with a couple thoughts.

1) You cannot judge another person’s life, for it is a holy expression. We have been told this for centuries, though not quite grasping or understanding the nuances of why. Yet this insight fills out some of those details. Yes, we may think the homeless man or drunken bum doesn’t have much of a life, or that some other person is “wrong” or “bad” based on any number of labels, concepts, or inferences we concoct. But that is all within the context of our own personal and agreed-upon societal value system. I am reminded of when my wife’s cousin interviewed a homeless man sleeping on a park bench for a college project. The homeless guy said “I love my life. I have no boss. I don’t have to answer to anybody but myself. I can go anywhere I want, whenever I want. I don’t punch a clock and can go anywhere in the city so long as I got a pair of shoes.” He was living his life in the expression he wished! And he was quite conscious of it, too!

2) The notion of “forgiveness” is for our personal benefit – we were never in need of forgiveness in the first place. Since we are living the directive of life, it is to the value system we cling and the psychological framework we adopt which produces the “I must be forgiven” desire. Therefore, it is by this perception that those who meet us upon entering the next world grant us the gift “you are forgiven.” Ultimately, we were never in any peril to begin with. Our only prison has been the one we built in our own minds from what we’ve accepted inside the matrix of this physical earth-life domain.