Death and then what? (continued)

When I get to thinking about the spirit world, I bring into it all that I know about the physical world because no spiritual tradition or religion that tells me to ignore physical reality is one I am willing to follow. Truth is truth and a truth that tells people to ignore what they see, feel, and experience is more like a cult-- no matter how many members it has.

For quite awhile, especially this summer, I went through a period of exploring the possibility that there is nothing after death and that when we die, that is it. I was okay with that frankly as whatever is truth, that's what I want-- comforting or not.

But it did make me wonder about some things. For instance when we spend a whole lifetime developing our minds, what we know, our talents, our emotions, and then our body destructs, the whole thing was for nothing?

I got around this by thinking how we leave behind our impact on others. We leave behind our stories. So the good we did (or evil) will not end with us-- in some cases sadly. Like has Hilter's power lessened in terms of how it impacts minds as long as he keeps being dredged up over and over again? Want to end someone's power-- quit talking or thinking about them. Want to keep them alive? Tell their stories and make sure your family knows those stories; so they can also tell them when you are gone.

To look at the universe, its size, the beauty out there, the way it's constantly evolving and changing and it's easy to think we might've been a cosmic accident in a huge story. The Hubble photos of the Universe really could make me feel it's flesh to dust for us. This is too big and too organized to not be just an accident... or would that be the other way around?

In figuring out what might come after life, there is the question of ghosts. What is it that people saw who claim they saw an apparition? I find it impossible to not believe some kind of spirit beings exist (whatever they might be) because I know too many people (not me) who have seen, smelled or heard them, and these are people not given to hallucinations or wishful thinking. So if everything dies when the body dies, what would be those beings?

(Coincidentally after I wrote this, I came across this article by [Dan Aykroyd About Ghosts] and thought it worth including as part of the hmmm now what is that about debate. Some believe ghosts were those who weren't prepared for death and cannot accept it has happened. There is also the possibility, such as has been posed in many books, films and by psychics, that they are spirits who felt they had something more to do before they can leave. Definitive answers are few-- questions many. If they are those who have not prepared themselves for dying due to its suddenness or even their fear of it, could they then not find a way to go on? Does part of living require us to prepare ourselves for that other side, have 'contacts' there for wont of a better word?

Then there are past life memories which come to some spontaneously and to others through hypnotism. From where do those stories come? They could be fantasies but some connect to physical realities. They could be connecting to DNA memories or energy in the atmosphere, but they often don't seem to connect to any ancestor or even culture that we know was part of our family history, and they do seem very real. Many such memories end up relating to people's current physical life in terms of talents but sometimes in unexpected ways (now that I have experienced).

There is also the question of out of body experiences and I don't mean when people almost die where it might be hallucinations. No, I mean the kind that people have without planning or bring to themselves through spiritual practices such as deep meditations.

Farm Boss has talked of something that happened to him many years ago. He was in high school, studying science, but interested in Eastern religions. In doing a candle meditation, he felt, without asking it to happen, him leave his body. He said floating above it he saw the silver cord that connects our body to our spirit. When he went back into his body from the ceiling, he didn't feel fear at what had happened but he also didn't try repeating it.

What are those experiences? Is there a reason for the spirit to be able to leave the flesh if it's going to perish when the body does? I guess it would still be possible that the spirit can float around that way until its source of energy, the body, finally does die but what would the purpose be? And is our spirit energized by the body or the other way around? If the spirit can leave the body, then it seems to me likely that it is what happens at death.

So where does it go? If the spirit survives, should we prepare ourselves for what might come next? Will it matter if we do?

(one more to come)

Photo is one of Hubble's (you don't see color in space but they use the colors of the elements to enhance them to what we see)-- Starry Night.