Musing Over Life After Death looks at the spiritual and scientific debates for and against life after death (L.A.D).
I attended my brother’s funeral. It was sad, it was uncanny, and I actually felt my heart being ripped out of my body. I looked at my brother and my body shook. I wondered if his soul was right there next to me, staring at that same coffin. I wanted so badly to feel his comforting hands on my shoulders. I desired my brother to tell me it would be alright. And though he misses me, he is fine wherever he is.
Diverse Musings Over Life After Death
Musing over life after death shows the great mystery of life about what happens after death. Do you believe the soul goes on? Or is it buried to go to dust? I know many of us are interested in life after death. It is one topic I am not qualified to talk about. Nonetheless, I find quite enthralling different comments from scientists and ordinary people on the subject. A few are inspiring, some are thought-provoking, while others give you peace.
Tibetan Buddhists’ Belief
Tibetan Buddhists believe that each Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of his predecessors. They are in turn the manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, or Chenrezi, the patron saint of Tibet and Bodhisattva of Compassion. Tibetan Buddhists believe that the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the 74th manifestation of Chenrezi. This is a line that originated with a Brahmin boy who lived during the Buddha’s lifetime.
In the history of Tibet, there are several cases reported of children considered to be the spiritual continuation of Lamas who have died. The children recognise adults as their former disciples and identify their former possessions. They also acknowledge specific places where they lived in a former life. For example, as a young boy, the 14th Dalai Lama immediately recognised the toys of the 13th Dalai Lama as his own toys.
Xenoglossy Significance
Xenoglossy is a paranormal phenomenon whereby a person is able to speak a language that he or she could not have learned naturally. There are people who, when deep in meditation or hypnosis, are able to mysteriously speak extinct languages.
For example, the New Testament in the Book of Acts (2:1-13) describes Galileans speaking in non-native languages. This enabled visitors from different tribes and regions of the Roman Empire to understand what was being said. Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, called this phenomenon, “speaking in tongues”. A miraculous spiritual gift through which the speaker could communicate in a natural language not previously studied.
Modern-day research into Xenoglossy is rare and few studies done are unable to provide strong evidence to support the claims of Xenoglossy.
Medical & Science
The term near-death-experience (NDE) was thought up and promoted in 1975 by an American physician, Raymond Moody. In his book “Life After Life”, near-death experiences are compelling paranormal experiential evidence of an afterlife.
Also, according to Kenneth Ring, a psychologist, there are five stages of near-death-experiences. Firstly, peace. Secondly, your separation from the body. Thirdly, entering the darkness. Fourthly, you see the light. Finally, you enter the light. While conceding that not all experience these five stages, Ring argued that these five stages -of -near-death experiences are proof of a mutual spiritual realm waiting to be experienced.
Near-death experiences are also triggering medical doctors to focus on the part of the brain that continues to function after death. The aim is to find scientific and medical proof of life after death.
While science ruled that near-death experiences are real and personal. Science explains near-death experiences in terms of the brain and its transformed change of consciousness. Or as the biology of dying rather than in terms of immortality or any close encounter with death.
Individual Thoughts & Experiences
For many people, however, there is still something mystical about near-death experiences that cannot be accounted for by science. Near-death experiences are central to much spiritualism. They are difficult to deny and have been essential to religious development inside and through many cultures. Different people have reacted to the musing over life after death mystery in various ways as presented here:
The Christian Perspective
For one person, looking at it from a Christian perspective, the best proof of life after death is none other than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. One thing and one thing only can explain it. That is the fact that his disciples had encountered the real, solid, bodily-resurrected Jesus Christ. Not a hallucination. Not hypnosis. The flesh of Christ was seen and touched by many people, as narrated in 1 Corinthians 15, 6.
A grandmother’s death
Someone else recollected his experience when his grandmother died of cancer at the age of eighty-seven. His grandmother’s determination to live was amazing. He had said his goodbyes and cried. His mother had told him to leave the room so she could have the last words.
As he got to the door, he stopped for a second and looked back to see his mother place a kiss on his grandmother’s lips. His grandmother, a strong Christian, raised her right hand in the air and told God she was ready.
The next thing he felt was the pressure in the room change. After about ten seconds, her hand dropped to her side and things normalised in the room. His mother wept. It was an experience he would never forget and strongly believes that his grandmother is waiting for him somewhere.
The thought of death used to scare him, but it no longer does. Funerals remain creepy and gloomy, but the good news is that the soul continues to live on for sure. After all, the body is made of sand. It is to sand it will return. A very good reason to nurture the spirit, the man concluded.
A school teacher’s near-death experience
A school teacher was brought back to life by some injections after her heart stopped. She said no more proof is needed after being there and seeing there is life after death. She believes that the spirit lives on because she saw family members who had died before her. The near-death experience showed that even during the most traumatic and awful times, God is there. She accepted the experience as a blessing. An experience that enabled her to see the other side and live to talk about it and spread the good news.
A banker’s belief
The world is terrible, admits a thirty-year-old banker. Nonetheless, she’s not in a hurry to leave it. Musing over life after death does not resonate with her. This is because she is not sure about life after death. Then again, she believes the world is not terrible for all people all the time if they don’t obsess about it. As far as she is concerned, when something is terrible, she asks herself what she is going to do about it. She looks inward spiritually. Or she gets a hobby, plants a garden. Or just does something that makes her feel better.
On the other hand, the alternative will be to do nothing and moan about everything. These negative actions will not change the past. But that something you decide to do today can change the future. The fact is we can’t do anything about death. It will surely come, so the best way to deal with this inevitability is to make a difference while we still have life by caring for others. Nothing can be done after death.
A heart disease survivor
Many years ago, a heart disease patient had a couple of near-death experiences. These left him with the belief that when you survive death, you see your life flash before your eyes. You move on with your souls and memories intact.
It was an experience that strengthened his belief that the deceased have the ability to watch and hear all that is going on wherever they are when they die. You are even able to see your funeral before you move on. You are able to think, feel, move, communicate, and exist but just in a different form. His near-death experience also led him to believe that he was pulled back into this world by the power of love and grace of God.
Bottom Line
Musing over life after death is interesting, enlightening, confusing, and controversial. Or just simply thought-provoking? The important thing is to approach each different dimension with an open mind. For instance, someone argued that when you die, that is the complete cessation of the ability of life to exist in your body. So if you “come back,” you did not die.
Cynics will stay cynical, believers will stay believers. Whichever side you belong to, the simple truth is that death will come one day. Eventually, when that time comes, all of us are destined to learn individually the truth about death—whether there is a life after death or not.
I want to believe when that time comes we will be happy with whatever is after. In the end, believing gives us hope. Without hope and without faith our lives would be quite meaningless.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-near-death-experiences-reveal-about-the-brain/
https://www.amazon.es/Waving-Wind-Real-Stories-English-ebook/dp/B00I5VQ18G
Photo Credit: Creative Commons
