Death In Ecological Perspective

THURS., MAY 19, 1988, 5:30 AM
FARM, STUDY

One of the perspectives you present in this course now in session is an ecological one. Because, in its pure form, it has no place for Me, for afterlife, for other spiritual realms, and for spirit itself, you might think I have no interest in it. Wrong. It is important enough, in partial form, for a Teaching and hence for some attention next week. Hear, o son, for I speak early morning words to you.

Ecological perspective is certainly faulty in not recognizing Me (or God in any “form”). It is completely naturalistic, and is appropriate for those who do not consider Me, but do feel reverently about the complex web of life (even as I get no credit for creating it and keeping it in motion). Thus, to be consistent with your Wellspring of Human/Spiritual Interaction, this perspective can include a sense of spirit in nature, moving on from the purely mechanistic. It is not God as I Am, but recognition of spirit in self that responds to the spirit in nature. In self this spirit is seen as merely a natural appreciative development, with no creator (no Creator) and no destiny beyond death.

My interest and involvement is naturally more in the Christian, reincarnation, and life after life perspectives, since each has Me as important reality. This does not mean, however, that I approve of the modern funeral industry. Instead I approve of the simple burial of a body in a shroud or degradable container. Once life has gone from the body there is no further need to honor it. To do so is a form of idolatry, for the body is a temple only when inhabited by spirit. When the spirit has passed I see the body as useful only in relation to its value in enriching the earth… in returning not just to dust but to more healthful soil. Small creatures in the soil can hasten this transformation, and of it I approve.

How do I feel about cremation? I reluctantly accept the value of a modern, technological crematorium, though the process wastes some valuable body material. The mineral matter from bones (yes, dry bones!) is available for return to the earth, but this is thwarted when these remains are left in some rigid, non-degradable container. When these fragments are returned to be a part of this magnificent earth, I am pleased. The plan that Jean and Scott have for scattering the remains of the body of young Nick (whose spirit is safe with Me, certainly) in the wilderness is one of which I approve (and so does he). The spirit moves on and away from the body (be it young and vigorous or old and deteriorating). Often there is genuine appreciation for the life completed in the earth and a desire, by spirit, to have that body become part of the earth, even as the spirit’s final goal is to again become part of Me, the Holy Spirit. This desire is thwarted when the embalmed body remains alone in its rigid coffin, within its even more rigid vault.

Cremation reduces the body to a form that can more easily and readily become a functional part of the living earth. For practical reasons… as in the deaths of Nick and Anthony… I approve of this practice… because of its ecological possibility.

My other approval of this perspective rests in its preference for letting the old die as bodies deteriorate. Though I smile on the humanistic desire to prolong functional life I see this as being foolish for the health of the total earth. To be maintained in earthly life in a non-functional state does not have My blessing. Oftentimes the spirit of an elderly person is ready to move on to other realms… or should, even if it does not recognize this value.