We are now at Samhain, the Day of the Dead, where the veil between the living and the dead thins-- or so some believe-- and communication from the other side would be easier. Of course, this could only happen if a soul survives the body's death.
Now to get technical here, I have been told that the soul is never in the body, that it's the driving force from elsewhere which could be living more than one fleshly life. They would say the spirit is what leaves the body at death. It's a metaphysical concept; but for the purposes of asking what happens after death, it doesn't matter a lot. The question is more about what happens to what we consider us. Disappear or go on, and if go on, go on where?
Most religions claim they know the answers and can assure their adherents of security-- if they properly follow their rules (too bad they don't agree on what those are). Will it be heaven where we sit in heaven with angels singing the praises of a heavenly father, or will it be hell where we roast forever with the devil and lost souls? Or what about reincarnation, where like the wheel of life, we keep coming back until we finally get it right, which could explain why so many here today don't seem to be getting it right.
I don't know the answers, but I am one who believes there is something that comes after the body dies. I don't have the certainty of what it might be like some of those at a recent burial service apparently had. Do they ever allow themselves to doubt? Doubt is a bad word to many believers. Last week, I saw one of those bulletin boards out in front of a church which said (paraphrasing) to pray without expectation was to pray with disbelief. In short, if you didn't get what you prayed for, it was your fault. Doubt got in the way!
As an adult, the feeling of a warm loving presence with me hasn't given me prophetic messages, no burning bushes or speaking out loud although sometimes there have been dreams that helped me solve problems or see insights. Sometimes there have been things that came together in a way that I can only label synchronicity. That didn't mean always as I hoped by the way, but always as I could later see were for the best. Best isn't always easiest or most popular. I tried to put a name to what this might be at one point in my life, but now am content to not name it.
As an adult, when I became a member of churches (two of them and for about 13 years each time), it was to try and understand that spiritual power, what was behind all of this, and to do what would please it. It was never because of fear of dying. Several pastors were much amazed that fear of hell hadn't brought me to our local church. No, I came into religion out of a desire to live my life fully and as close to the truth as I felt I could.
Since leaving organized religion, my truth has encompassed exploration of Tarot cards, astrology, reincarnation, visiting sacred energy sites (which sometimes can be a church), psychics (not sweat lodges), but none of it religiously. Although I follow no religion now and don't know if I ever will be again, I also don't know that I won't. I accept that I have taken a less traveled road which to some would be fallen away or even evil. To me it has been following my truth as far as I can.
I think for as long as I live, I will be a seeker. I still hope someday to find my answer to what it's all about-- although I recognize that might not come while I am alive. I don't spend hours fretting over it but it's part of my personality to think about spiritual questions. I do not believe churches have the answer for me even though I much enjoyed the experience of both of the ones to which I became part. They can be great social communities, with some wonderful people.
Sometimes I dream about those people at night. After all, I was in the nearby church and very much part of its community a lot of years. When I was there, I believed in what it claimed. I left almost 20 years ago because my belief on what was true changed and my presence there would have been a testimony to believing something I no longer did. Worse I (personally) came to believe it not only doesn't get us closer to the truth of life but might be a barrier when it becomes a substitute or teaches things that work against fully living (and religions can do that).
I hope there is more to life than what we can see... and hope it doesn't encompass hell for anyone (even though that's an important part of many religions). I don't put a lot of stock in hope but do stand on what I believe is truth-- convenient or not. There should be no inconsistency between the two.
!Happy Samhain!
(pronounced with many possibilities from my researching but possibly SAH-vin, SOW-in, or shavnah. Until I run across someone with Gaelic language credentials, I have no clue which is correct. Whatever the case, the m is definitely not pronounced... probably) .By my age, many I have loved have gone on. Someday I will also. I hope that when I do, some of my family and friends, who have gone before me, will be there waiting to help me across-- along with the spirit helpers I have experienced through the years (call them what you will--angels, spirit guides, or god). Perhaps someday I will be the one waiting to help those I love also to cross when their time comes.
The people in this collage, they are the ones whose stories have impacted my life, who I still dream about sometimes, from whom I came and maybe someday to whom I shall return.
"The year is dying," she asks, "am I?" The Hags say it is not her time. She is led to the Altar of the Dead to light candles for her ancestors. She glances beyond the Old Ones and sees her beloved dead gathered on the bridge. They offer gifts: acceptance of her Crone-self, and the slow death of her physical body. She embraces death as a delicious reunion. She weeps with gratitude."Ffiona Morgan © Mother Tongue Ink 2009
12 comments:
There is the hot blue flame all around you and warm burning of salts around your departed family. When we die our physical chemistry returns to dust but could the energy continue? Could the soul be memory in the elements? Could energy memory go beyond the storing of impressions in the gray matter in our brains? Maybe the way you have put colors around yourself and family is a break through in understanding the nature of the cosmos.
Thanks on the color thoughts, parapluie as that adds to the interpretattion possibilities. I was thinking energy colors and it's why I used those. My actual aura colors (from one of those cameras that interprets your energy into colors) would be the deep reds, gold and oranges, but that particular photograph had a blue light around it by accident of lighting and I liked it. The idea of the colors being energy around the memories is an intriguing one.
Hi Rain . . Your shift from politics to spirituality is interesting. The depth of your reasoning on all subjects is breathtaking. Frankly, I'm rather skeptical in the spiritual area. Like you I have a history belonging to an organized church, and like you I rejected many of their notions. Thomas Jefferson famously deleted all sentences in the Holy Bible that were not reported as the actual words of Christ. In the end he had a pretty slim book and a more accurate record of what he assumed was the word of God. I have felt for a long time that he was following a more direct route to religious truth. In a similar way I think much of what we think we know about spirituality is no more than man devised bunk. With my limited ability to reason, I prefer to trust only a few elements to faith. I accept that God exists. I do not accept that anybody walked on water. I believe every human being has a spiritual essense. I believe ghosts exist only in a persons imagination, more or less like the guy who walks on water.
Parapluie's comments are fascinating though I don't think she meant them to be so. When the Bible talks about life without end, perhaps it refers to a person living on as a recolection in someone elses memory? Is a soul (spiritual part)involved? Yeah. Maybe so. Is memory propelled by some sort of energy? How could it happen otherwise. Doesn't a minute element of electrical energy empower the interconnections of the brain? And color. Isn't color somehow related to energy in the same way?
Dixon
Rain I sense that you are feeling your mortality. The fact is we will all die-there's no debating the issue. There is a lot of debate about what occurs after death. And there has been since day one. The key is to find spiritual peace, but a lot of "smart" people chase their tails like a dog in a frenzy. They look and do not see what is in their own heart in a lot of cases.
I find conversations about spirituality, the meaning of life, what lies beyond, what is here now all of them to be fascinating. Off and on I have read quite a few books on the topics.
I don't think I fear my mortality particularly (although since I don't anticipate it being soon, that might change). Some part of me thinks it'll be interesting to see what is there and if there's nothing, well I won't know that, will I.
Since I did not expect to live past 30, had told my husband as much, everything past that has been a bonus and I quit surmising how long I might live. I am not sure why I expected a short lifespan as I had no health problems or anything but I clearly remember the expectation. I have mentioned before that I am in no hurry to go to the other side but I don't fear it either. I just find exploring what it might be to be of major interest to me and a lot more fun to write about than politics right now :)
I gave up trying to find answers like you are seeking a long time ago. Whatever happens, happens and it doesn't worry me or interest me. I am and that's all I care about.
people are all different in terms of their interest in the spiritual side of life. Some would say that was astrology (stars under which we were born) but not likely the ones with limited spiritual interests. I think the difference is one of the appealing things about mankind.
Now, as to whether it makes a difference which kind of person we are; well it probably does in a lot of ways, but we are what we are. I could no more deny my interest in spirituality, the feelings I have when say I am in San Xavier or at a petroglyph site than deny my physical reality.
My interest in spirituality isn't about whether we die when we die, because even if there is a spiritual realm, that might be what happens with us, but also about what is here while we are alive, what we experience, what we feel. I have had many experiences that come out of that but not to the level some of my friends have had. I love the way life has so much to it. makes it very exciting and when say my husband shares a spiritual dream as he did the other night, it adds to my own life experience.
I much prefer writing about this kind of thing to writing about politics-- even though some of that has to come through now and then.
Rain, a blessed Samhain, All Saints and All Souls Day to you! I love your collage of your own saints.
Couldn't get up the energy to put up my Day of the Dead altar this year, but I'm thinking of them all.
Rain, be sure to read Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol." I think you will find it interesting and he raises some interesting possibilities. It has the same main character that his two previous books had but it does stand alone so if you haven't read the others you will still enjoy this one. It is very much about what there may be after life here as we know it.
Happy Samhain Rain, and peace to you! MandT & Bodhi
I'm afraid that I'm one of those annoying people who thinks that when you're dead you're dead and that's it. However...
The idea of "keep coming back until we get it right" makes a lot of sense - if we could remember the last time so we'd perhaps learn something.
"It's a pity they don't agree about the rules..." Oh, absolutely!
Of course, one could argue that humans can and will reach a state where they are so special they can separate from their body and perhaps go on.
My problem with that is, why? It seems to me it might be another few million years before humanity gets to be that worthwhile.
I have been following your several posts on the concept of death, souls, the thereafter, etc. And I am still trying to organize my thoughts on this (based on what my culture taught me), and my observation of my parents' last days and death, their attitudes about it, where I was the sole and fulltime caretaker.
Just came across this in the meanwhile. I just thought you would like to see Course on Death at Yale ......
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