Is there an afterlife? … (03/09/08)
I don’t know if these words will provide you with any consolation (as my experience has shown that only our selflessly caring actions can do so), and yet I offer them to you nonetheless …
As far as my feelings about the afterlife are concerned, it is most important to preface my thoughts by stating a few crucial Truths: First of all, no one has any concrete idea about the afterlife, and the only guarantee any of us have is that we will all be surprised. Secondly, every moment spent worrying about or pondering the afterlife is one moment less that we can enJOY our current lives … Thus, I would generally encourage you to release this kind of “ego-trap” as often as possible, and focus instead on the Wonders that allWays abound in every moment of your Life.
Now, as far as the afterlife itself goes, I’m “pretty sure” that it is a three-fold affair:
Firstly, eternity truly does exist for us in every Moment right NOW. And all it takes is one self-sacrificial deed to get us there (or a deeper proficiency of meditation, which I personally do not currently possess) …
Secondly, on our deathbed, our last conscious moment is one where we have no concrete mind-body with which to measure time. This “last moment” is literally an eternal one for our consciousness, and is probably the one referenced to by Jesus in many of his dialogues on “Heaven” and “the wrath of God” (especially in the 24th chapter of Mathew). If we have lived a powerful life by having regularly set aside our own selfishness for the betterment of others, this last moment is experienced as pure Bliss. Alternatively, if we have primarily invested our energies in self-centered concerns (including, ironically, our worries about “the afterlife”), then this moment becomes truly “the wrath of God” — when we remember what Life is “really about” (selfless service), and yet have no more functioning mind-body with which to do anything to fulfill that awareness …
Finally, after this “eternal instant” has passed, our “separate yet interconnected” consciousness fades — not away but rather into the ONENESS of everything. At this point I truly have no idea what happens. Maybe Souls “line up” to get back into another physical body that can experience the Wonders of Love. Or maybe we reincarnate into another material form — a form with challenges commensurate to our previous lifetime’s failures to embrace the opportunity to care for others … Who knows?
And yet what is IMPORTANT is that we pause every time we are “down” to be Thank-full for Life anyway; that we pause every time we are in pain to look for ways to actively relieve another’s burdens; that we pause every time we are confused and simply notice the Beauty that allWays surrounds us …
The more often we choose to do so (and this is simply a matter of choice — completely independent of all the external circumstances of our lives), the more at Peace we will Be, and the more powerful our Love for others will Become …
That is all — truly ALL!
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