Before you go, you need to know that we (your family and friends) salute you. Of course there is deep sorrow. Yet some of us are a little envious, because you’re graduating and moving on to better things….
You’ve played a good game on a tough playing field…
You’ve run the race. You toughened up and got through boot camp. You’ve suffered through the trials and still you persevere through the pains of life. Yet almost in slow motion, you still seem to see the beauty of it all. We marvel that you savour the exquisite snippets of memory, your recall of loving moments down through the years, like they’re all tied up with string. We are being left behind.
The world focuses inward for you, getting narrower through the last days of your journey. Darkness and deep discomfort move you forward into the birth canal to the afterlife. There was a time before that you experienced a warm dark womb, then were born into the light of a physical world. Now again, you’re going down the birth canal, exiting from mother earth to enter a new world of spiritual essence.
Hey, you are not alone. We are all dying. From age thirty or so, birthdays seem to be the fence posts we see going over the horizon. We all march down the timeline, gathering data by experiencing input, our brain processing the electrical synapses across an organic intricate hard-drive. Life pulsates around us. We too are composed of energy and energy can’t be destroyed. It just assumes a different state of existence! Of course there is more after death for you.
But let’s talk about this heaven/hell thing before you go. You need to know. Let’s get rid of the fear. If you are dying…you do realize that you’re not immortal? Then how could you “burn in hell forever” when you haven’t even been given immortality yet? Yes, lots of people die in fires, but it certainly doesn’t last forever. Pain hurts, so God gave us death as an act of mercy. Even he doesn’t want to prolong an evil man’s life and all the cruelty that’s heaped onto others. So if you’ve been a bad-ass and have no regrets, just say goodbye and be on your way. Adios. In life you had your ticket to play the game.
But wait. There is still time to make changes on your timeline and do your part. The Source of higher power wants to slice through to the very core of who you are to find the intent of your heart. This is what actually determines your destiny. You never did have to win the game, you just had to play it! Now when you’re in the locker room, you have to take stock of how it was played. Take pride in the effort you put into it, your courage and perseverance. Take pride in the honesty, integrity, and kindness you showed others. Feel the awe for the good things you accomplished. Count your exquisite encounters with love itself… Then look at the things you regret. It’s the key to your destiny. It’s like a magic eraser because deep regret is honoured by what’s called “the grace of God”.
You still have time to sort through the memory files in your mind and change your priorities. With regret you can measure the things you didn’t do right with a spiritual kind of measuring stick. But don’t worry if you’re so far down the tunnel of darkness that things seem foggy. It’s all being done for you subconsciously anyway.
What’s crucially important is the intent of your heart in the NOW. If you’re proud of the things you did right, and hate the things you did wrong; if you’d do it differently if there was a next time around…your spirit has evolved.
And that’s what life was for.
Now you’re ready to enter the next realm. Vaya con dios! Go with blessing, go with God! All the angels in heaven applaud you and you’ve got the key to the pearly-gate door.
Death is not the enemy here! We all eventually die a physical death; our victory is the entry into the realm of the celestial kingdom. Just as we fall asleep and leave this world, we’ll awake to a celestial reality.
(Quoted from The Celestial Proposal, Chapter 14, “Developing Spiritual Maturity”, page 182.)
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed….
(1 Corinthians 15:35-37, NIV Bible text)
Jane Catherine Rozek 