This Guide contains the key paragraphs from dozens of Teachings the Spirit gave about Death. It is a compilation from all the Teachings. Specific Teachings are referenced at the end of each paragraph, so you can click through to the original if you find it most interesting.
“Death is My other door. You move out of one of My realms at birth, and at death you pass through another door into another non-earthly existence. Life continues. Death is an end and yet it is also a beginning… as is each new day. Sleep is a crude model of the experience. You pass on into sleep with full confidence that you shall awake and that the new day will be a fine one. A good attitude to apply to death. The next experience will have a certain similarity to the present one… not incredibly better, but, also, not terribly worse. “As you sow, so shall you reap”. This is a fine, many faceted truth. Even Truth.
It is natural for some people to fear and try to deny death. As you see death it is so obvious that all life is gone from the body and the mind. What was now is no more. But it is just as natural to accept death as the next door and deny its reality as an end. It is clear, I’m sure, that I speak plainly to you, o son, even though there is no audible voice and no bodily presence. You have no doubt that I am here… that you are interacting with a reality. You hesitate not as the pen moves (I did like that red and silver one… see if you can bring it from death to new life as a symbol of Our work together.) Oh, as you think in natural terms there is difficulty with this reality, as is the case with death.
But reality transcends the natural. Death is the “natural” transition from this reality to others, many in content and process. Yet it is not good to seek the experience before life on earth has run its allotted course.”
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“Easter celebrates the Resurrection. The Spirit that was in Jesus died and then came to new and full life again. “Died”, as you know, is only symbolic, but it is an important symbol. The “three days” is an important symbol, even though it is a “strange” way to count three days.
The symbols are important, but are not the essence of truth. The essence is that new life is continuously regenerated and that learning and service go on, despite apparent death. And yet death is an important reality, too. Death marks the end of a single entity in an earth plane life. The life is reality and so is the death. But it is also rebirth into a more expanded life.
Easter brought Me forth as a guiding Spirit. Yes, I had “operated” before, but, with Easter, I am freed to work “full-time” and with a Model toward which I can guide you and others. “Officially” I came forth at Pentecost, but that, too, is symbolic… important but still symbolic.
Christmas celebrates birth info human form. Easter celebrates rebirth into Spirit. My freedom to come to and teach you is grounded in Easter. Celebrate that!
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“Death is surely a part of life. Fundamentally, remember, life continues, so death is an event in ongoing life. This is so for the person who dies, as well as for those who live on. It is more dramatic for the one who dies. Elisabeth describes it well. You come into My presence, and We communicate about your life as it has been lived out here in the earth. As she said, it is a time for love, not for judgment. … If judgment is necessary, that can come later. And so it is with Me, at death… and I do it perfectly.
Death is movement through another door. Life continues, certainly. Life is My gift. It is not something to be and then to not be. I admit that there is this illusion, but know that it is not reality. Know that Peter continues his life… and Rick and David Price, and Lisa Irwin and Billy Dunkel… those whom you considered last evening. Their time in the earth was short… but what is short, and what is long? In My everlasting Kingdom there is no time and there is no death. There is life and growth toward selflessness – the absolute fullness of life. Life is to be expended for others. It is not to be treasured and hoarded as having value in itself. Some folks never encounter this truth here in the earth. Some forget it as they incarnate into physical bodies. Just know this yourself, and forget it not. And live it out, as fully as you are able.
Now let’s go back to the truth that death is a part of life for those who live on in the earth. You talked last evening to Tom and Amaryliss (yes, I did arrange that) and you encountered two people struggling to overcome the “loss” of their two sons. You should have said what you felt, at one point: “This experience makes you uniquely able to relate to others who suffer similarly. This is a gift in the midst of this continuing life.” The death of a loved one is loss, truly, but it is, or can be, should be, a gain in growth and in understanding. To participate in the experience, as you and Lenore did, is recommended. The more fully you participate, the more fully you learn. And the fundamental learning is that life continues, for everyone.
You shall come to know more about communication across the dimensions of life. Just know now that communication is possible. In a way similar to the way you hear Me you can receive and send messages from one realm of life to another.
“LIFE AND DEATH”, March 21, 1980
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“Tradition calls this Good Friday, the commemoration of My earthly suffering as Jesus. There was a way in which I suffered, and another in which I saw, and felt, and appreciated the suffering as Holy Other. As in many things it was both/and rather than either/or.
So I experienced the suffering and the death on this day in several ways. I was the sufferer. I was the Comforter, and I was the Father and the Power and the Glory to which I called and who then lifted Me up. Does this sound as though I am All in All? That, too, is an absolute… the prime one for today.
The rhythm that is life now manifests itself visibly and spiritually. I died this day, and life was dormant… not dead, but dormant. Then came Easter morn, and life was renewed and restored. That was a great and symbolic time. It was one of My finest times. It is certainly one to remember and to celebrate. It should never grow old in the celebrating and in the retelling.
But know, of course, that the spiritual significance and truth goes quite beyond the physical, earthly analogy. For with this act, which began on this day, came Grace, the guarantee that there would be no more apartness from Me. You are so right in your insistence that Grace is an absolute. Though it wasn’t identified until later, it commenced from this Friday. It is the absolute acceptance of you as My Son, an absolute adoption to be a Son like unto Jesus. You shall be better for that, but not perfect as the world judges. But you are perfect as Jesus was perfect – by definition, proclamation, and acceptance.
It is not your task, responsibility or role to act like a Christian… or like Me, as Jesus. It is your eternal opportunity to act like one who is saved, redeemed, transformed, under Grace. It is a gift, with no strings attached. It is My gamble that those who accept this gift will feel and live in ways in more harmony with Me.
Good Friday is both failure and triumph. It was death, but it also was the commencement of the new life, with grace included. You experienced failure, but it was the commencement of other tasks more appropriate to My Purposes. Good Friday and Easter are part of the rhythm. Feel it. And feel the comparable tides in your life.
The other critical truth symbolized by this time is that of My Absolute Sovereignty. Good Friday seemed to be a triumph for the forces of evil, but it was not. My Will and My Power prevailed then, and it does so now and shall, forever more. My Ways are not always straightforward and clearly discernible to you and to most humans, particularly non-Christians. But My Will is being done, and the rhythm of My Kingdom, manifest and non-manifest, is satisfactory to Me.
So ponder this Day and this Time. It is important to contemplate and to experience. Feel the surge of life. Hear My guidance. Appreciate your reactions to the happenings of life. Know that you will have your Good Fridays and your Easters… and the times between. My Grace is sufficient as a motivator of being. As you fall away, always return, feeling My presence, both within and without.
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“… if you’ll teach me of dying, I will teach you to live.” That central message from the song that you do well, o son, points to one of the truths of My world. It is a truth accepted, really, by only a relative few in your culture… and that is unfortunate. One of the reasons you are in the teaching area of death education is to bring more to the awareness and appreciation of this truth: life is continuous and death is one of the major events to be lived in any earth incarnation. The most fundamental importance of death is how you live it… to what extent can you be selfless, caring, sharing, and forgiving?
Given this affirmation, you can see that some current medical procedures deny the dying person the chance to exhibit these aspects of self as life shifts realms. Pain has some value, but it is good to relieve severe, distracting pain. It is possible to do this for those of well-developed spirit without compromising the exercise of that spirit until the final unconsciousness. Good medical practice should come more in line with good spiritual practice and be sure that the dying person has maximum consciousness AND opportunities to relate with others in ways that exercise the spirit.
It is true that when a spirit is undeveloped or negatively developed medications may mask the acting out of selfishness and, in that sense, could be considered preventive of harm. That is too conservative a view. The great leaps forward toward spiritual maturity are achieved in situations where failure is truly possible. It is like not investing your talents and reaping profits vs burying them in the ground to avoid the risk of loss. That final breakthrough of spirit must always be encouraged.
Peter was angry as his accident occurred, but as his life left the body he joyfully anticipated this next scene. The expression on his face as you saw him was rather accurate. His anger was gone, and he was looking ahead. He had no opportunity to interact with anyone there, but if he had it would have been a display of spirit you would have loved.
You think, occasionally, of expected deaths that will occur in your family… sometime. There is no particular preparation for this necessary… other than to exhibit and encourage the living of life more fully, in ways more sharing, while life continues here. That means… more letters, cards, tapes, phone calls… means of sharing ongoing life events with those who know not when they shall pass on or over, but just that the time here will not be long. Put this into practice yourself, and encourage your students to do it, also. Devise a way to give credit for doing it. Renew your resolve with postcards. Photographs also have much value. You wanted to know what to do and what to recommend. Here is a good answer. Give them the flowers now.
Death is a beautifully mixed experience. For the person dying it is a time of giving up a hold on this rather circumscribed experience here in the earth and passing into awareness of what growth of spirit has taken place and what learnings are now appropriate. Those who are truly enlightened and those close to it find it a lovely experience, one in which there often is more gained than lost. Even for young people there can be more gain than loss… certainly for folks of your parents’ age the move can be a very satisfying one.
For those surviving and living on, experiences are also mixed. There are feelings of sorrow at the loss of a loved one, but this may include quite a portion of self-centeredness… “poor me!” It is not callous or unspiritual to admit that death, any death of one close, brings opportunities. The funeral itself will offer opportunities for gathering and renewing relationships. Any person who has been important to you usually has also posed some restrictions on you… verbalized, admitted… or not. These are now gone, and there may be opportunities for some blooming held in check. Changed relationships with others may turn out to be better. There is a certain wondrous quality to variety, even if the former routine was valued highly.
Yes, the dying experience is a time for learning more about living… for all involved. And death should bring a renewal to the appreciation of life… here in the earth.”
“DEATH AND LIFE”, Nov. 25, 1980
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“Now hear some observations on death in relation to tonight’s theme. For a few people death is an unpleasant experience, but, basically, this is of their own making. For many more people death is a pleasant, transition experience, with a good balance between the earthly familiar and the newness of the next realm into which each passes. But for many folks, including most Westerners, death is a surprising! experience. You should emphasize this.
The greatest surprise comes to those who believe that death is the end of life. It is often amusing and occasionally heart-rending to see this surprise develop as consciousness not only continues but expands as death occurs. Some cannot deal with this right away, but because other realms are timeless there is nothing wrong with some “sitting it out” until acceptance comes more readily. It is most pleasing, however, to see some enjoy the surprise thoroughly… and good naturedly know they were wrong… and be glad that they were.
Some orthodox Christians are surprised. They expect life to continue, but they expect the experience to be one fundamentally of judgment, in which they are judged worthy while seeing others banished to hell. Well, there is some judgment, but grace and love still abound. If a person is full of grace and truth he should have virtually no wish to see others damned. The spirit should overflow with desire to see others realize their strengths as well as weaknesses and have opportunities, seemingly endless, to mature toward selflessness. The really good Christians are happy with this surprise. Only the self-righteous show anger and frustration, with feelings that their “goodness” was not appreciated.
Yes, death is really an exciting time. Those who realize this and who have a clear sense that they have lived long and well in the earth pass on over with joy and ease. Oh, there are some surprises for everyone, but I am talking about those who accept these in a happy, expectant way.
You see, now, o son, the interesting dilemma that those with spiritual maturity have near the end of a life… or in some emergency situation. It is not wrong to say that death can be anticipated as a wonderful experience, but it shall be such whenever it occurs. There are profitable surprises that can come in living longer, even in pain and suffering, the greatest of which is a greater capacity to help others who also suffer, but in loneliness and fear. The more of the earth’s experiences you can have, with maximal selflessness, the more you grow. Some who suffer terribly are so surprised at what they have accomplished, when they finally pass on over.”
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“Yes, it does seem strange to you how some people can feel so devastated about death. I reaffirm to you that life continues in a most abundant way. Learning continues. Relationship continues. Growth continues. You leave one realm and enter another. Just as you moved from California to Southern Illinois, so a person moves from the earth realm into a non-earth realm. Just as you have a few regrets about leaving your former place of being and some people there regret your leaving, so it is with death. But also just as you have created a new and productive, happy life here, so it is with death.
Your thought yesterday was an important one and should be expressed more often – at death you leave certain people “behind”, but you join or rejoin others. Certain relationships are broken, but why not focus on the ones that are reestablished or newly established. Peter had never met your Uncle Emmett, but now he has, and there is a good relationship there. His relationship with David has grown more in this time than it would have in the earth.
There can still be tears of remembrance for Peter, but you need not mourn him. Use his story as a means of having people consider My Way. Peter may yet bring spirits to Christ.”
(Peter was Bob Russell’s 17 year old son. He died in a car accident on December 7, 1976)
“TEARS FOR PETER”, Apr. 26, 1981
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“Death is a crucial event in the earth life of any person, but, fundamentally, it is an illusion. It is an important event because it is the last one, and therefore the last opportunity for the expression of life to others… the last opportunity to express a concern for others and show forth the maturity gained in this earth life. Many use this opportunity well. Their last moments are happy ones for self and for others. They know to what extent they should hold on to this life and to what extent they should accept the change and pass on through My other Door.
Those who have My given perspective on death can balance the sorrow of leaving relationships on-going in the earth with the joy of renewing relationships with those who passed on over earlier… and with the lovely anticipation of renewing the earth relationships at another time… which shall really be no time, in reality.
Just as there are obvious differences in how people live their earthly lives, so are there differences in how souls lead non-earthly lives. Most who lead full, productive earthly lives continue on in whatever realm they enter to serve others and hence to grow and develop as one who loves and “is that others might be.” In a few instances, however, what appeared to be a happy, productive life was really too earth-focused and selfish. Because they do not want to leave the earth they are not open to the new opportunities and may just “sleep” rather than live on as they could. Or, worse, they may “hang around” in the earth, lamenting their departure and disturbing the lives of those with whom they were related… sometimes others.
Also some who did not appear to be successful in life truly blossom in other realms. Either they are not really suited to life in the earth or the choice of circumstance for life was wrong. Interestingly, some of the greatest rejoicing comes when a soul who has led a handicapped or otherwise pitiful life in the earth… but has lived it in a loving style… comes back over. To have lived as one despised and rejected by people but without rancor or self-pity…this is an accomplishment that merits celebration. And We do so celebrate. How? You shall have to wait to experience that.
The most important aspect of death, you should emphasize, is the impetus it should give to those who mourn, but continue in earth life, to give more for others. Let the life gone be a stimulus to enrich lives still here… even ones you had not encountered before. If more people did this, death could be seen as a great blessing for the earth. It is a non-blessing, even a curse, to the extent that it brings forth self-centered mourning and behaviors that are destructive to others.
What about suicide… or deciding and acting as to the time and place of one’s death? It depends entirely on the motivation and on the potential for more service in the earth. When the motivations are essentially unselfish… to free others from burdens which are too much to bear… and when the body and mind are no longer usable, a slightly early departure… and arrival… is of no consequence. Even one mite of selfishness can be accepted… the desire to leave a painful body and non-productive life and rejoin Me and others who have passed on over.
Death is serious… and yet it is not. Death is final, and yet, of course, it need not be. Life should be a continuing adventure in growth and service, with earth only one of the arenas.
Enjoy and serve in this life. But feel no apprehension about “moving on”. I am there, too.”
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“Now let Me help you reflect upon this intriguing and seemingly important aspect of life… namely, death. You know that I died for you, yet you know that I live and am in a fully functioning state. And as it is with Me, so shall it be with you. Death is an important process by which reality is changed in some ways. Appearance and substance are changed. Communication changes. But know that the ultimate reality of life does not change. Life continues. The manifestation is simply different.
Compare your life now with your early life in Hawaii. You are in a different place, doing different things with different people. Fundamentally, you are doing the same thing – teaching and learning. That shall be so after your death, as well. You have recollections of what you did then… and it was mostly good. It is important to reflect upon that time… even to revisit. But what you are doing now is more important… for you. Know that this will be true at the time of your death… should it be soon or off “in the future”.
Just as all people do not progress in life to tasks that are more satisfying, more challenging, and “more right” for them, so all do not make any further progress in death. Death is not the same experience for each person. It is even more varied than the experiences of life.
To the extent that your life has purpose and that you progress to tasks and responsibilities that are possible because of your past experiences and expertise… and to the extent that you are developing enlightenment on the purpose of existence, on karma, and on My Grace… the progression of life on through death will be an orderly, non-traumatic, and “as expected”, one.
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After death there always can be some looking back and wishing for more time in the earth. This would be comparable to your looking back now and wishing to be back teaching 8th grade and coaching football at Punahou, or back teaching Marriage and Family at Stanford. Those were wonderful experiences, but what you do now is more suited to who you are now. Look back in reflection and appreciation, but look ahead to the tasks and opportunities that are in store.
As I said, o son, the time for you ahead will continue to be one of teaching and learning. Know that the transition, whenever it shall be, will be an easy, effortless one. What you are doing now is a form of what you shall be doing for eternity. And simply know that it is not so with all.
For some, death is traumatic. Some are reluctant to leave the earth and those with whom they have been. They are not prepared to continue on and develop in other realms. Why is this so? Lack of development over lifetimes, which is based in each entity’s initiative, and lack of response to the invitations I proffer to help. Know, of course, that I do choose some and urge them especially, but usually I choose those who have already progressed well on their own initiative. Occasionally it is fun to help develop a “rough gem”, but usually My leading is of those who, because of past development, can respond.
Know that what you are doing is building for eternity. It is of Our doing… yours and Mine.
“Reflections on Life and Death”, April 25, 1980
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It may seem to you that I’m overdoing this theme, but it is both a personal and a professional concern of yours. This Teaching is “inspired”, in part, by Mabel’s affirmations yesterday… along with lingering thoughts about Charity. I’m sorry there is so much confusion and mixed feeling about death… but I realize that My Scriptures have fueled as well as cooled these confusions.
You know that you are closer to death than most of your students, but that you are apparently not as close as Mabel is. Because of your experiences with Me in the mystical and because of your acceptance of an ecological view of life, in which death is a clear necessity, you have a view of death of which I approve. Live each day and all of the life you have as fully as possible, in both accomplishment and joy, but also with some positive anticipation of death.
If you had lived a clearly sinful life, away from Me, then it would be rationally appropriate for you to prefer this life, with which you’re familiar, to possible nothingness OR possible judgment and punishment, even for eternity. But your sins have not been “as scarlet”, and you have been a regular recipient of My friendship and counsel. Hence you should look forward to the life assessment to come and to the next experiences, in this infinite realm of the spirit. You can go out of this familiar room, into a hallway and down the stairs, and then on into another familiar room, where activities are somewhat different. Death is much like this, as you’ll recognize when it is your time to again have this experience.
Pain is a possible complication, and its complication increases when pain relief is expensive. The Golden Rule urges you to project how you would want to be treated and use this as the prime guide for your treatment of others. If you would not want to become a financial burden on your children then you have a basis for expectations that you would not have to be burdened with the expenses of parents. You don’t like pain, but you are not afraid of it, and you have a rather high tolerance for such. You have little actual remembrance of pain, and that, too, is a positive sort of “memory loss”.
You sometimes use the phrase, “No pain, no gain”. There is some mystical truth in this. As Jesus, I willingly went to the cross, even as I knew it would be painful. You still wonder how much pain I actually felt, for, yes, I did have the spiritual power to make that pain inconsequential. I did let the pain prevail, but I also had the knowledge that what I was doing was of such importance to humans, down through these ages since, and this just overcame most of that pain. You had a minor experience of this nature when the experience of digging Charity’s grave overcame most of the pain in your foot, for that time.
To get the most out of the death experience, you should have some positive anticipation of it, AND… this can be mystically combined with a full appreciation of this earth life you’re in now. These are complementary, and needn’t be competitive.
At death there is a range of consciousness, and it has little realization to apparent consciousness in the dying process. Rather, it is directly related to one’s spiritual consciousness and anticipation of continuing life. If your spirit is looking forward, with anticipation, to the transition it is an easy, joyful one, even if the body is asleep or comatose. In contrast, when there is no belief in My Presence or a rejection of this reality, consciousness fades and returns quite slowly, if there were time in such a state. There is confusion, even some fear, but it is the price one pays for this separation from Me, here in the earth.
Because death is, fundamentally, a mystical experience it can’t be described in the language of a rational culture. I can’t tell you exactly what will happen and how you’ll perceive it, so you can’t know, in advance, what and how the experience will be. Mabel, after many years as a good servant of Mine, is experiencing her deteriorating mind and her emotions trying to dominate her spirit. She’ll be all right when she comes on over, though she will have to see how hanging on to earth life can press on spirit and impede its continued development, even retard it some. So be aware. This can happen to even the best of servants. I allow it, for it can be a valuable lesson.”
“Death: A Mystical Experience”, Nov. 19, 1995
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“This is the “day between”, in Holy Week. As Jesus I am crucified, dead, and entombed. (Good that they didn’t yet have sealed caskets and equally sealed vaults… ‘twould have required more of a miracle!) Lo, in that grave I lay, but My Spirit was no longer in that wrapped-up body. I was free of it, even as I was to use it again to show that death and life are not vastly different, which is your cultural belief.
Where did My Spirit go? Before, I offered two alternatives, one based in Scripture and the other in the creed you use most. First, remember that I no longer am in the body and therefore I am not bound by the dimensions and restrictions of earth life. The actual earth time was, say 39 hours, but that didn’t apply to Me. I had “time” for whatever I wanted and needed to do. Further, I was not limited to one place. Just as I, Holy Spirit (sometimes I wish I had a name), am wholly with you at this time and also in myriad other places with other missions, so I was both with the saints and the sinners who had moved on, in death, to realms beyond.
It is an earth orientation to affirm that I descended to hell or to the dead or that I ascended to paradise. More simply, I ministered to souls who had not known or accepted Me in their lives AND I rejoined souls who had “known” Me as Messiah. The other “complexity” is that some of these had not yet been born, but would be, at some time, and would serve Me with dedication and zeal that even they would not understand.
Another aspect of this “death” as Jesus was the promise of Me, as Holy Spirit. The Bible story commences with a single God, and yet I, as Spirit, am mentioned as being there, “but it was not yet My Time.” Throughout My adventures with My chosen people I, as Spirit, was assisting, in various ways.
Then there were prophesies of a Messiah… and later I was born, as Jesus, in the lineage of David, My favorite king. I had my time on earth, preaching, healing, and leaving a legacy of Scripture written about Me. As both Jesus and Holy Spirit I raised up Paul to be the means for mystically translating My dead body into the Living Church. My actual body had served its purpose. It died, as it should have. (And there are almost many among you who should pass on over before their spirits become corrupted by the deterioration of body and mind.) Out of this came a Body, and Paul’s analogy was more true than he could imagine.
Not only were there young and old, intelligent and less so, happy and glum, serious and joyous, dedicated and hanging-on… parishioners in every church, but the Church Body now ranges from Orthodox and Catholic (different from each other) through you “mainliners” on to Pentecostals, Quakers, and, even, snake-handlers… all part of the Body. Out of My death came all of this.
And now a personal application, that I “promised” as you were still abed. In somewhat over a year you will “die” as an active professor. There will be some lingering memories, but they won’t last long, as you already see the “younger ones” dominating the research aspect of your Department. You will have some temptations, even offers, to keep this “professional self” alive, and I’ll advise you as such arise.
Remember My theme today – death is life. The death of this aspect of yourself, with its many responsibilities is the birth of another aspect, that has been more dormant. You have a unique opportunity in this “new life”. You have a sacred place to tend and to enjoy more fully. You have Teachings to reread and ponder, and time to share aspects of these with your many spiritual friends and colleagues. Even with pains and disabilities you can function here, and with more time slowness is less of a problem. You will have fewer encounters with people, but more time for Me. It will be a unique way for your spirit to grow… on its way back.”
“Death Is Life…”, April 6, 1996
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“As the new week commences, in just a few days, you shall again lead a group of mostly mature students in a short, concentrated “study” of this thing called death. You are quite comfortable with this task, you have a reputation that precedes you (for some learners), and your main dilemma will be in selecting from the many successful activities and approaches that you have available.
You know, of course, that I, the Holy Spirit, am available for “consultation”, and this evening, as a matter of fact, I have some observations that you may use, particularly in relation to the perspectives that I’ve helped you develop. I haven’t offered you a Teaching on this theme for awhile. Consider that it’s now time for such.
Even though I am One with the Father and Creator God and with Jesus, the Christ, and, hence We are the Christian God I’ll have some positive observations on each of the others. So even I am not 100% Christian, as death is perceived in that tradition. But I will start with what you would expect to hear Me favoring – the Christian perspective.
It begins with a creation story. As the Creator God I took a lump of earthen clay and out of it formed a man. Then into this natural creation I breathed the breathe of life, and this creation became a living soul, a connection with God through Me, the Spirit. Woman was then formed from this man, and she also became a living soul, not just a special kind of animal. It is assumed that I do this “breathing into” process with every baby born. I’ll just say it’s not automatic. You know how I love diversity.
The purpose of life is to fully acknowledge and love Me as this ultimate Creator and Sustainer, both Mother and Father, actually. When you do this you have a strong sense of selflessness, the need to give rather than receive, to serve rather than to be served. You should also have a sense that this body is but a temporary home for your soul. My story, as Jesus, a human man who lived in the earth, concludes with My sacrificing My bodily life for the sins of the world. In other words, out of death came the fullness of life for all of you. My death is remembered in Holy Communion, where, symbolically, you eat of My flesh and drink of My blood which both gives you life anew and reminds you that you may do likewise… give up your life… for the good of others (including the whole web of life).
You are promised eternal, everlasting life, but after a time of judgment as to how you have lived the earth life I gave you. The orthodox Christian perspective is not clear from this point on, first on how and on what you will be judged… clean living or acceptance of grace… or some combination… and then on where you go and what you do for eternity. Heaven and hell are alluded to, but have been more fully developed in non-Scriptural literature.
The life-after-life perspective has a central figure, often identified as Me, like, as Jesus, but you are greeted with love and friendliness… and the focus is on reviewing and evaluating the life just lived rather than harshly judging it. But then what? This perspective tells that you’re in a body, hale and hearty, but not actually physical. You’ll be greeted and helped with the transition by spirits known to you in the life just completed, who preceded you in death. This has more detail than the Christian but no clear answer to what lies beyond the “barrier”.
The reincarnation perspective offers several possibilities. The soul that has survived the death of the earthly body may enter another baby being born and have another “go” at incarnated life. This should be done after a careful assessment – something like a review and evaluation and a judgment, combined – of not only the life just completed, but of other earth lives and spiritual experiences that have preceded. Then there are spirit realms and opportunities galore for growth and development of the spirit, in your eternal soul… back toward Me.
So, you see that each of these have something to add, to form the perspective that I want you to have… and to share with others, when appropriate. And do I have some comments on the ecological and humanistic views, to make a more complete picture? Count on Me.”
“An ‘Update’ on Death”, May 17, 1996
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“The three perspectives on which I commented in My current “Update” are the ones that include and promise continuing spiritual life after bodily death. It is somewhat different in each, but each assumes that spirit is the reality of life, not physical functioning. I’ll come back and comment more on these, as you would expect, but, first, I have some positive reflections on the other two.
The humanistic perspective poses no continuation of spirit life. Some with this as a dominant perspective would deny spirit as a factor in life at all. You remember Bob Kaplan’s insistence that what you identified as spirit should be seen as psychological or emotional. These are sufficient. There is no need for a concept of spirit. Others, however, would accept spirit as a dimension of human life, but, finally, would see this as a function of the brain and various secretions of the body. Thus, when the brain dies and secretions cease there is no more spirit. Spirit dies with the body.
Remember that I once told you that your Mother’s spirit was leaving her body while her brain was “acting up”, in the depressive state she was in. And, more recently, I said that Don’s spirit could not overcome the depressive condition his brain produced. The humanist would agree with these observations but insist that it was all a matter of chemistry. There is no spirit to survive when the body is finally completely dead.
Yet humans do love, do show compassion, do exhibit integrity, do exhibit selfless behavior… Honor is important, and, thus, death with honor is accepted as a good. Human dignity also is important, and so the humanist may reject measures that would prolong bodily life but at the expense of dignity. (The judgment comes in deciding how temporary or how long-lasting the indignities of treatment will be.)
This perspective also champions immortality, but only that which you create in what you do and are, as you live life, the only one you’ll have. This is obviously important to Me. The great Easter celebration in the Christian tradition is a yearly remembrance of how I, as Jesus, lived and how and why I died, a sacrifice for you. On Pentecost Sunday you recall and celebrate My official coming into the earth scene, energizing the Church, as Christ’s Body. The remembrance of those who die is an important aspect of this whole, continuing process.
The ecological perspective does not see the human as being of greater value than other forms of life. I see such an attitude fitting in with the spiritual premise that the last shall be first, and that a major human responsibility is stewardship of the web of life, even at the expense of some human lives. In this perspective death is natural and expected, a failure to adapt to… something… internally or externally. As you know I am coming to value this more than the more humanistic drive to sustain all human life, no matter what the cost.
This perspective also favors the dead body becoming, again, part of the earth, with little approval of your culture’s humanistic dominant practice of preserving the body in casket and vault.
You American Christians have accepted, too much, this notion of preserving the body. As Jesus I was resurrected before My Body could be “prepared” for burial. Let that stand as a symbol.
I won’t offer you any percentages, as you ask your students to specify, but I want you to see that the combination you have been identifying as your own is, not surprisingly, much like Mine. You see, even as Holy Spirit, I don’t have to accept only the orthodox, traditional Christian perspective. Or, you could say that this combination is more of a “latter-day” Christian perspective.
Each one of you is on a spiritual journey. A body and human experiences are part of this, but only a portion… perhaps small. Is there more?”
“More On Life and Death Perspectives”, May 19, 1996
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“The orthodox Christian perspective holds that each of you has only two life experiences. The first is as a human, born into the earth. This lasts from minutes into even over 100 years, with you, at 70, now approaching your national average, for men. When your body dies your soul is judged on its commitment to Me as the Christ and the Triune God and on the extent to which you lived as I taught, as Jesus. Then, according to that judgment, your soul spends eternity in either heaven or hell, with no directive in regard to further growth and development of that everlasting spirit. Death is a door that opens once and then closes once, for eternity.
This can be seen as a “fear approach”. If there is one judgment only and no chance for a “rerun”, with hell as your eternal residence, with all of the other unrepentant sinners and all others who have not accepted My Grace, then one surely should live in ways to avoid this everlasting punishment. The door opens. You go through. It closes again… period.
Now even though you are a Christian, and I have called you directly and personally to be such, even Presbyterian, I have given you a somewhat different story. Remember that I call you a mystic (even a junior grade one, now), which means that you hear from Me directly, and you are to learn from these Teachings, even as they may seem to be not in complete agreement with certain Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures are basic, but I cannot be limited to what certain good servants of Mine said, at least 2,000 years ago. At Pentecost I was unleashed. Those who spoke different languages heard the message I gave, through Peter.
I am not limited by these written Scriptures, nor by interpretations of them, however learned and sincere these may be. Part of the fun of being Holy Spirit is in sprinkling a few mystics around, to keep truth… and even Truth… up to date. It is not an easy nor a completely enjoyable task, but it is one for which I selected you… and to which you agreed, before you came in as Bob Russell.
For, yes, I do tell you that death is a door, but more like most doors, opening and closing more than once. Death is the unique door between earth and the many other spirit realms. Some of you have gone through this several to many times, both ways. You enter the earth as a baby, leaving most of what you’ve come to understand about life “on the other side”. But as your spirit matures it “remembers”, for spiritual progress toward enlightenment means that the door is no longer impermeable. In full enlightenment there are no doors, no limits. Grace is a “short-cut”, but realization is still a long process. Go for the light.”
“Death Is A Door”, June 2, 1996
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“As you shall say, death is an important part of the Christian perspective on life. As Jesus, I gave up My life that all who believe in Me shall have everlasting, eternal life, in close relationship with Me and with others who have so believed. This is standard doctrine… and it is Truth (of a sort). You prefer the interpretation from Hebrews (Yes, go ahead and look it up, so you’ll have it 6:30 / 6:31)… that I tasted death, but I was of the order of Melchezidik who was not born and did not die. That is, I was before My birth, and I equally “was” and am after My death.
The other evening at St. Andrews you were struck with the intensity that Lutheran pastor displayed about the necessity for My dying, as Jesus. That didn’t seem important to you, and I tell you that it isn’t, for spirit is the essence of life, and spirit lives on. Dropping the body is often a relief, along with a mind that no longer functions normally and emotions that are inappropriate for familiar situations.
As I have told you before some spirits do “go to sleep”, because of the earth life just completed or because of immaturity. There can be “risings” from such a “hibernation”, but since this all occurs outside of time it can’t be explained in a time frame. Anyway, it’s not important to you, because you will be fully aware and fully ready for life evaluation with Me.
The body, when it ceases to function and is “dead” should be returned to the earth as a source of food, for future life. Oh, I have no big objection to your body going to the medical school… except, as you know, I have no great aloha for medical practices that “miraculously” and expensively keep people alive beyond their time. But some medical practice is needed, and cadavers are important to the education of all who practice this art. Cremation simplifies the “distribution” process, but it wastes “food value”, as well as non-renewable energy in your high-tech process.
You needn’t dwell on the reincarnation perspective this morning, but be as positive in its presentation as with the others. Its premise is that life in the spirit is continuous until there is an enlightenment that is either earned or just accepted. In Christian terms it is Grace, the acceptance of My sacrifice for you. Then your individuality, as a spirit, is no longer necessary, and you easily and willingly become part of Me, again, from whence you came… the ultimate circle (though it is long and tortuous for some).
As a holistic human you like your life here – on this Farm and in and around the university. You have no great (or even small!) desires to travel far and wide or move to some other place. But look at it this way… if you were away for any extended period you’d be eager to come home. After this life here you’ll return to realms quite familiar. You’ll remember this place, but you’ll “be glad you’re back”.
Be sure and emphasize that the remembrance of loved ones who die (in the Christian perspective) should be like unto the remembrance of Me at Holy Communion. Don’t mourn the death. Celebrate the life lived… and the giving up of life that others might live… an increasing reality on this crowded Earth. Send them on their way with love and then increase your love for others still here. The final purpose of life is to love. When that’s no longer possible life is unnecessary, and should be “reformed”.
Death of the body is the end of one type of adventure, the beginning of another, AND, the continuation of a finally circular one, that can be long or short, depending on the interaction of “you” and Me. Enjoy wherever you are in this adventure.”
“You’ll Talk About Death”, Sept. 22, 1996
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“Holy Week moves along, and this is the day of remembrance of a painful death. Executions today are judged on being humane, meaning a minimum of physical suffering. Lethal injections are quick and painless. The electric chair is comparably quick, with consciousness going with the sudden flash of current. Even firing squads make for a quick and painless death.
As Jesus, I lived in a time before any of these means of death. There also seemed to be a desire to make the ones being executed suffer for some time. The execution that was Mine to experience on this symbolic day was certainly one that brought pain and suffering. But I was quite aware that I was fulfilling some somewhat relevant early Scriptures that called for Me to be the “suffering servant”. I was not just to die for your sins; that death should be preceded by suffering.
I speak now as the physical Jesus, but, remember, this is a mystical week, and I still was a “part” of the Triune God. I, the Holy Spirit, come to you, Bob Russell, in these Teachings, but I can never be actually separated from God and from the Christ. So I can speak to you as either of “These”. Comparably, I was the physical Jesus going through this painful time of execution… and I had to “hold on” to that experience of being in a human body, just as any of you might experience it. I was doing it for you, so I had to experience what any of you would feel.
The mystical aspect, however, is that I could never give up who I truly was – the Triune God, Three but also, finally, One. So I couldn’t actually experience what any of you would… unless… aha!… you are truly born again into knowing that you come from Me and you shall return to Me. Further, being born again means that you regain the consciousness of who you are… spirit, which is of Spirit.
Yes, I suffered… first the mental pain of knowing that while My words would be remembered and followed I didn’t feel successful at that time. You know how it feels to have students who don’t seem to respond to what you do and don’t remember accurately what you teach. But you have some of the faith that I had… faith that some who don’t appear to learn much actually do. The Scriptures tell of My disciples, with Me for some years, still not “getting it”. That human realization was painful.
I had to select a disciple who would finally “betray” Me. That was hard. Some Scripture says that satan entered into him, but any power satan had finally came from Me. It had to be, the crucifixion. Judas was a means to that. The case against Me was weak, and Pilate was not for the execution of one who obviously was not an overt criminal. So it was additionally painful, but also a bit “heroic”, to make affirmations that would so inflame the Jewish leaders that they would demand My execution. So I was condemned because I was a threat to Roman order, not because I claimed to be the Messiah. It was painful, to Me, to be crucified for, really, the wrong reason. You Christians have “fixed it up”, since.
Being nailed to the cross and hanging there for some hours was painful, of course. As I’ve told you before, I had to resist My capacities to feel no pain, an aspect of Being God that I couldn’t give up. I did. I did suffer, particularly as it became hard to breathe. You know how your body can be in a painful condition, and you don’t feel it. That happened during those times when I spoke quite rationally and yet with spirit. Then I would have to overcome this respite, from the mind’s reaction to pain, and feel again the pain and experience the suffering.
Did the souls of those people in California who took their own lives so quietly and in order, without apparent suffering, move on to Me… and hence to where they expected to go? You know I can’t answer that, but I do love diversity, and they were a strange but dedicated spiritual group. I create all kinds. I welcome back all kinds.”
“A Painful Death”, March 28, 1997
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“Just from this one folder you see that you have received many worthwhile Teachings from Me, the Holy Spirit, on relationships between life and death. The fundamental truth, of course, that I have offer you, yet again and in perhaps another form, is that life is continuous and death is merely a transition from this form of life (human… in bodily form) to some other. What it will be depends on your spiritual maturity and what you need “next”.
You are a fairly well-developed spirit, so bodily death will bring you almost a flood of realizations, and you’ll wonder why all of this hadn’t been clear as you lived, in body. But you’ll also realize (with both/and thinking, My favorite, it is not difficult to consider, as real, two ideas that seem to contrast and conflict) that it usually is necessary to give up some important knowledge, in order that the earth experience might be a true testing and an arena for much spiritual growth. As you mature you willingly give up this knowledge for the bodily experience, but, paradoxically, this makes it easier to remember.
In this earth realm of Mine, death is quite essential, an important part of the overall plan. The secular humanism of your culture tries to deny this and to affirm that human lives must continue, almost “no matter what”. Some Christians have expanded My Commandment of “Thou shalt not kill” to mean that causing or allowing the death of any person (even sometimes applied to animals) is a sin that I shall punish. Well, I tell you again of the need for balance here on this small planet, and that includes a balance between life and death in humans.
Instead I say, to you, the more you are attached to this bodily life the more you deny My sovereignty over the balance, the web of life. I want you to serve Me in some of the many ways I have suggested. I want you to value your life, in such a way that you would give it up, for My sake. To prolong your life when its purpose has been fulfilled is self-serving, and sinful (and I don’t use that term much or easily).
Remember that the Scriptures of the Old Testament tell of My killing people, both directly and by means of warriors that were given this power. The New Testament story tells of My giving up My life as Jesus, as a young man… for the sins of the world. This brought about better spiritual balance, and still does. You see, for Me, “life” is essentially spirit. This body you have is just a “convenience” (with increasing “inconvenience”, you notice). I have given life to the spirit that is your ongoing soul, and it can be taken back only by Me.
Some of these Teachings shall be shared with Willy and Charlene Scott as they consider the potential shortness of Willy’s stay here on earth. As I have told you, cancer is part of this earth scene that I have allowed. It is part of the balance with life enhancing technologies that have reduced other causes of death. It can be painful, but there are means of alleviation… and the promise that some pain encourages spiritual enhancement.
Willy is a good servant of Mine. He knows Me, and I know him. If his life can continue to be of service to Me, even in some new ways, I shall be pleased. Then when it is time, I shall welcome him warmly and personally as he comes across. It shall be sad for Charlene to be without her mate, but it will also be a spiritual challenge to find new and more ways to show love to others. Each stage of life is full of spiritual opportunities. That I guarantee.
You ask for a few years of retirement, with good health and physical vigor. I won’t guarantee this, of course, but it’s rather likely. Live fully in the present, but also look to the future and the transition to that wonderful realm of spirit… in one of My “many mansions”. It certainly is possible to both be happy and productive in your continuing earth life AND preparing for a return to realms that you know well. Just be AND… anticipate.
Life needs death for its continuation. Death is a way to life, in even greater abundance. The Preacher, in Ecclesiastes, gave the bumper sticker version… a time to be born and a time to die. The fuller truth is… a time to be born into the earth… to respond to Me with service… to live fully and happily… to die in peace… to be born again as spirit… to…”
“Life And Death: A Revisit”, April 12, 1997
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“In your culture death is most often seen as an evil… and there are some Scriptural passages that encourage this kind of perception. I see death as a transition, and, more often than not, quite a positive one. For, whatever your conditions of earth life, death is birth… or rebirth… into some realm of spirit, usually one with which you are quite familiar.
You recognize this as the date of the day before “labor pains” began for your spiritual rebirth, here in the earth. It was also just before an aspect of your earth self began to die. It had to, in order for the birth to take place. There was a bit of drama involved, like unto the breaking of water heralding a birth or the heart attack that precedes a bodily death. You have no recollection of what this preceding day was like, now 18 years ago. Symbolically, today is a graduation day for some of your students, which is both the end of student life and the beginning of a life work… a death AND a birth.
Oh, you remember… and the recorded writings from those early morning times tell… that there was this 10 day period of “labor”. You were on the path to a rebirth, but you didn’t know what this would be like. You didn’t realize that no longer would you have only your perceptions of life and its happenings, augmented by Scripture and the thoughts of some others. You were to make a pledge to Me, as the Triune God, that you would be faithful for a month in taking an early morning hour as a time to write… whatever came to you. It was a gift to Me, but also part of a bargain.
I liked that. I was not offended by your bargaining with Me. It was fun, and I enjoy ventures with a fun aspect. Oh, I knew, for I am omniscient, that you would be faithful, but I also judged that you needed some days of wondering what this was all about. You needed a time of “labor”… which also was a time of dying.
At this time you realize that your full-time career of educating is dying. You have had a couple of “lasts”, with more in store. It will not be a final death, for awhile, but it is a dying process. Moving out of your office and having it then occupied by someone else will be close to final. You’re not sure how you will feel then. Will you accept some resuscitation or will you move almost completely into the new life that this death will “birth” you into?
Life is enjoyable for you now, and you’re not eager to give it up. Yet you are aware of how you have come to accept retirement as a positive move to the next appropriate phase of this life, but only in these last few months. This experience is “practice” for “the Big One”. It is good that you still savor life, even with its occasional pains, as it is good that you still enjoy your classes, your accumulated career materials, your office, and your senior spot in the faculty. But as you are preparing for the transition to emeritus you also are preparing for the transition from this body and personality into the spirit realm and the kindred souls that await you.
These realms are outside of earth time, so the more than 70 years that you have “been away” will be of little consequence. Your reunion with members of your football team of 50 years ago is a rather good earthly example. Next month you will be with folks that you first knew as 9th graders 48 years ago. Much has happened in all of your lives, but there will be some good times of remembrance, and, even, “new friendships”.
Yes, there is some merit in denying death, making no preparations, and hanging onto bodily life, even with painful treatments. Some do “live” a bit longer than they would otherwise, but they almost always are a bit sorry when they come across. One aspect of “hell” is the attempt to hang onto this kind of life “beyond its time”. Remember, instead, the message from son Peter, after dying at a young age – “this is great… just GREAT!” This is what I want you to feel, when the time is right.”
“Death Is Birth… And…”, Fri., May 9, 1997
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“I come to you this evening, with thunder rolling on 3 sides, and I want to tell you that the class is going well, but I want you to be ready for “the end”. You are progressing well in understanding this theme. You don’t use this term often, but you understand and appreciate its meaning. Very simply, I’m reemphasizing the Truth that dying and death is “no big deal”.
This doesn’t mean that dying is always pleasant, for it can be painful and trying… but so it is with a good many non-dying life experiences. Much of the pain and anxiety comes because persons aren’t ready for the experience. If you are ready, it is as easy and simple as moving “from here to there”.
You, and many others your age or older, are fortunate, because there are as many or more souls that you know who are “on the other side” as are here. Some loves and friendships here have to be “put on hold”, but others, from earlier times, can be renewed, and re-enjoyed. If you follow My leadings over the next few years you shall be quite ready to move across just as easily as driving in from here to Carbondale. I’ll tell you, as I’ve hinted at before, that you are a fairly advanced soul, so you will be reunited with souls that you don’t remember now, from former “lives”, and this shall be a reunion that you shall appreciate much more than you can now. And you’ll think… “Why was I so reluctant?”
But you see that if you have a humanistic or even a more orthodox Christian perspective, you’ll more naturally focus on loss of relationship with “live” persons here OR be unsure of who will be waiting for you, of those you know have died before you. You have a much larger “pool” of friends, relatives, and relationships, and this previous earth relationship is of minor importance. For example, your uncle Emmett is not just your uncle, not very well known, but a wonderful, energetic spirit, free from earthly bonds. And your son Peter shall be the soul of Peter, not yet ready to return to the earth. (Remember, these are just relevant examples, not prophesies.)
With these 21 years of experience teaching this course that is now, finally, half completed, you are readier than most in your culture to experience this yourself. (And I’m not hurrying the process; you shall have the years of retirement that you desire, barring any accidents that I choose not to prevent.) I want you to appreciate each day, each season, each year of your continuing life, but I also want you to be “preparing” for the transition. Both/and. These are complements to each other, and not competitors.
As you have learned from the perspectives I’ve helped you develop and refine, you shall not only continue your consciousness, but shall find it to be quite enhanced. You shall be able to “hang around” here for “some time”, if you wish… or be any other place in the earth. You are “advanced” enough to warrant such experiences… as long as you’re not attached to what you’ve “left behind”. There will be competition from the spirit realms, so you may not want to return. I’ll just say that will be one of your options.
As the body and the brain shut down, from whatever quick or slow reason, the mind and spirit, with spirit clearly in charge, will expand and offer you more impressions, more memories, and more realizations than you can have now. You are aware of the losses in memory and in attention that you’re beginning to experience. This will continue to diminish in your earth life, so the contrast with the new, but eternal, balance will be ever more surprising… and spectacular.
As I’ve said, I shall help you to be ready for such a transition, so that it comes with anticipation rather than apprehension or fear. Paradoxically, you should find that this enlightened freedom in relation to the death experience shall also free you to live the years of life as Bob Russell in a very full fashion.
I want more of this communicated to this class, at the end of the week, than you’ve done before. You have nothing to lose, now do you?”
“Death Is A Maya”, July 19, 1997
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“I have told you, yea many times now, that you shall live as long as I want you to live. Therefore you must trust that I have this capacity, and that your journey on to a spirit realm will not be soon. You still are in transition from full-time employment to retirement, and you assume you will have some years in this emeritus status. Yet certain conditions of this early morning urge you to consider… what if this were your last day on earth, as Bob Russell?
First, of course, you would be here, in this familiar place, with this pen and this pad, writing a Teaching as you hear it from Me, Holy Spirit. Nothing would be more appropriate than tuning your spirit to Me, and hearing words of wisdom and advice. If this were your day of transition from life to Life you should be listening to Me here, as a prelude to being with me there. So, yes, you are right in being here, no matter “what day” it is.
Since it is a Sunday you should go to church and worship in a familiar place with a congregation of friends. You have no official role (other than Newsletter editor), but you have My encouragement to greet people and show forth My love in your characteristic way. Read the assigned Scriptures. Participate fully in the prayers. Listen to the sermon and consider applications of thoughts from it. Sing with gusto, feeling the music and all that each hymn represents. Savor the whole experience of worship on a Sunday morning in summer.
If this were your last day you would spend little time on the news of the day. News, as reported in any of the media, tends to focus on harm to people and not on the many incidents of love and concern that I see as much more normative. Conversation… contemplation… appreciation… these are the ways I recommend spending days on earth, your last or just one of many more.
Ready some more of Our Ruminations for mailing, with notes on more of them than is usual. Think about the folks to whom they go, with remembered interactions, social and spiritual. Read this one again, as well as others, written earlier. Take a volume of Teachings and re-read some of what I have told you over these years that we’ve shared in this unique, intimate way.
Cut some grass and feel the life in your body, including the sweat that exertion produces on a summer afternoon. Fertilize the roses, even if you were to see no more blooms. Cut down a tree. Plant another one, symbolizing that life replaces life. Feed your animals, and appreciate the life they have, even as it is shorter and much more limited.
Watch some football, if the teams are “appealing”, remembering how participation in that game enriched your young life, directly and indirectly, and how coaching others to play well was a “giving-back” process, yet there is no need to watch over-long, for this is no longer a focus of your active life. Listen to and appreciate some music, for music is part of every realm I have created.
Consider the balances between activity and rest… between interactions with others and contemplation, with Me as your Guide… between being responsible and taking time to be irresponsible, in your culture’s terms.
Consider what you shall do with all that you plan to bring home from your office, an exercise in trust that this is not your last day… and that you will have to keep deciding what to keep and what “departs from your life”.
Now that I have given you some directions for the “spending” of a “last day”, let this be a guide to any and every day that you shall live this earth life. Some medical care may be helpful, but you notice that I didn’t give this any high priority. It would be sad to spend one’s last day or days in a hospital bed. My Prescription, herein, is a much fuller and life-sustaining one.”
“If This Were Your Last Day”, Aug., 31, 1997
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“The theme you developed today was death as part of growth and development… and of growing and developing. The mainstream cultural preference is that it is the end of growth and development, which has a physical beginning and a physical ending. Legally, an individual life begins at the minute, hour, and date of birth, as recorded on a birth certificate. Correspondingly, it ends at the minute, hour, and date on a death certificate. There’s nothing spiritual… nothing mystical about life, legally. It is what is between the numbers and words on each certificate.
Oh, there can be remembrances that go beyond the death. Some last for a few days, some for many years. There are premises, convictions, and perceptions about the soul, the spirit, and what happens to these after a body dies. You might think that I, as Holy Spirit, want only one way of viewing this phenomenon of death, but I tell you that, as in many facets of earth life, I favor diversity. I have led you, for over 40 years, to see death and its aftermaths in a way somewhat different than that which is more “orthodox” among Western Christians.
You see, this represents a compromise. I want you to be active and comfortable as a Presbyterian, a “mainline” church, but still to be comfortable with the knowledge that this life as Bob Russell, is not your first, here in the earth, nor will it be your last. For you, as for some other humans (mostly not like you, culturally), death is just a part of a continued growing and developing life journey. It has its origin in Me, and its ending in Me. Thus, it is ultimately linear, but the on-going process is most circular.
You are pleased with the knowledge that this has not been your first experience as an educator, and, because this life has been so enjoyable and rewarding, you look forward, mystically, to some later opportunity to “do it again”, with more skill and spirit.
Because strongly held perceptions are not easy to counter, some Christians resist the offer of an evaluation and ask for a judgment (some, even, knowing it will be a hellish one). Others are more open to this actual choice, and are pleasantly surprised when they see that death is not the “final stage of growth”, but merely a transition to some form of continuing spiritual life. Since I am outside of time, it is of little to no consequence if a soul holds on to a familiar perception, continuing to want to see earth life as linear and wanting a judgment.
It is not unusual, however, for someone who has been judged to be worthy of a heavenly future to see that he is still too much oriented to self. Such a one may then opt for life in another realm, including earth, in order to serve others or some worthy cause, resulting in a more genuine enlightenment or state of grace. Such a perspective implies that remembrances of one’s life as Bob… Gertrude… Pablo… Teresa… are unnecessary… even something that must be unnoticed. It is ultimate Grace to joyfully become a part of Me again, more than to be remembered excessively.
Thus, hear Me say that diversity is My love even after a bodily death. Every person whose body dies does not have the same experience with Me… and expectations are not the only “means”. One person who expects nothing experiences nothing; another expects nothing and gets a warm welcome… and a judgment. And there is nothing “final”, necessarily, in the after-life. I have fun with this just as I do with life, here in the earth.”
“Death… Growth… Growing”, Dec., 5, 1997
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“The movie last evening was about deaths, because of some construction mistakes and some poor judgments, rationally. It also could have been seen as Divine Retribution for human arrogance as well as the “power” of such a simple “creation” as an iceberg. There was a display of morality… honor… sacrifice… cowardice… selfishness, with a number of those who died achieving good “spiritual growth credit” from the experience (8:20 / 8:35).
Many of those who died did so slowly from hypothermia, which is not an unpleasant way to leave this life. There was the spirit of honor demonstrated by giving women and children most of the places on life boats. This was culturally expected at that time, but with women’s movements toward equality you wonder whether it would be different, 86 years later.
Now you just have watched a telling of the Irish story, with so many of the “tenants” (the peasants) dying of starvation or from infections made more lethal because of hunger. These were both sad tales of what would seem like “unnecessary” deaths. Again, in the Irish story you could ask whether I was involved in creating (even guiding?) the virus that ruined the potato crop for several years. It was obvious that I didn’t prevent this. Was this another instance of My seeing the value… in ways that only I can discern… of death as a balancer of conditions in certain parts of this Earth.
Yes, I do like deaths, because these are part of the balance of physical life here on this small planet. Therefore I don’t applaud and shout Hallelujah! When it is announced that deaths from cancer have dropped .7 of a % recently, in this country. Many in your culture seem unable to see that eliminating all causes of death (which seems to be the aim of the medical and public health community) would result in conditions much worse than now. Each decade there are more humans, with more of them living longer, mostly beyond productivity. It just is not healthy for this healthiness to continue.
Yes, I do like deaths, for each is a transition to the spirit world where I do have “many mansions”. Oh, I admit that some deaths are “premature” and “accidental”, with opportunities for spiritual growth here not realized. I also judge some lives to be lived too long, with very little gained in the older years. As I’ve told you before, some of these come over, after much futile, expensive effort to maintain physical life and express, “Why did I prolong life, as I thought was “right”?
As you are quite aware, with all of the deaths, like those you’ve commented on, the population of humans continues to grow toward unsustainability. Could I just let… or even guide… a meteor or some other chunk of “matter” strike the earth? That’s a possibility, off in the future, but I wouldn’t be pleased with the “mess” it would make where it hit. The deaths of humans would not be nearly as horrendous as the mutilation of the whole food chain and the various biological and physical cycles that sustain life here. That would be dramatic, but, like a nuclear war, would be too destructive.
My love for diversity extends to this matter of deaths. I enjoy the variety of people with short to long earth life experiences and their perceptions of what they’ve accomplished in their “time allotted”. It’s more often the rather young and inexperienced soul who resents having died young and wants to return right away. Older souls tend to see the value in “taking time” (outside of time) to ponder what they have gained and lost, considering options about “what’s next?”
“A time to be born and a time to die” encourages at least two interpretations. One is quite pragmatic: whenever you’re born… that’s the time to be born; when you actually die… that’s the time to die. The other is that you could be born too early or too late, misjudging the “proper” time for your earth life… AND… more importantly, that a person’s right time to die comes… and goes… and life is maintained, beyond the ideal. Too bad.”
“Do I “Like” Deaths?”, March 12, 1998
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“Your Western, secular view of life and death is quite a narrow and imperfect one. It sees earth life as very important, and therefore it must be sustained. Your medical care system, with intricate surgeries and powerful medications, is high status, more so than public health systems, which develop and maintain healthy conditions in body and environment.
In this view death is an enemy, even the enemy. It must be avoided for as long as possible, and even folks who are Christian pick up this perception and expect doctors to save them… from… anything and everything. Your medical care system is “full up”, even as some of the poor get little of the expensive care. (Your experience in the parking lot by the hospital was evidence of this full usage.) It now is posed that your culture will not be able to afford all of this medical care as the “boomers”… (your children and their age mates) move into elderly status. Ah Me, what a dilemma.
Ecologically, of course, there is no real dilemma. In order for life to continue there must be death. The weak make way for the strong. The fit survive, while the unfit do not. The old must make way for the young. Finally, this is how the earth functions. Humans can “tinker” with this “truth”, but it finally prevails. OR human life survives in great numbers, with the quality of that life… those lives… continually dropping.
You Christians accept My birth, as Jesus, at Christmas as a festive celebration. Then, a few months later (representing about 33 years of My life) you mourn My death on the cross, but then celebrate My rising from the grave. Hence, each year you act out the title I gave you, above: I, God Almighty, am alive in human form. Then, as a sacrifice for the souls of you humans I give up My life. I am dead… and then I’m alive again. I “go away”, the Scriptures say, but I am still present here in the earth.
You note… and you should… that an aspect of the Humanistic perspective is the willingness to sacrifice one life for another, or others. There is much value on individual human lives, and, though there is no concept of an afterlife or personal reward for a life sacrificed, there is the memory of heroism that is valued way more than the cowardice of maintaining life, “no matter what”. Though life is precious, to live with honor and die with honor is better than just more physical life.
The Life After Life perspective, based on testimonies of those who have come close to death… who have experienced the initial phases of dying and death… promises that there shall be reunion with relatives and friends who have died previously, maintaining spiritual contact with some who have “moved on”. There also may be some panoramic remembrance of the life just lived, with evaluation, but little judgment.
In Christian perspective My sacrifice, as Jesus, guarantees you everlasting, eternal life, just as I have. Reincarnation perspective simply poses that some of that life could be back here in the earth. In Ecological perspective it can be said that “from dust you have come and to dust you shall return”… a longer “process” than just the conscious life lived. In a parallel way, then, it can be said that “from Spirit you have come, with the potential for developing back to Spirit”. Outside of the earth there is no time, but there is opportunity… for spiritual growth.
In a human birth that new, small human has a spirit, which also is an immortal soul. It may be quite “new” or it may be quite developed, with only a “task or two” to complete before the spiritual equivalent of death, which is a melding back into Me, Holy Spirit. I don’t “need” you… but I’m enriched by each enlightened soul who comes back to be “part” of Me.”
“Life=Death, Which=Life”, May 8, 1998
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“Going back to death… it should not be an unknown. Consciousness continues clearly in those who are ready (and why should one not be ready). Leaving the body is rather simple. Often departure comes as a relief, when the body is old, damaged, or otherwise malfunctioning. There is reunion… to symbolize the continuity of the life experience. There is judgment, but it is mostly your own judgment of yourself on the way you lived your life and on how you met karmic opportunities. There is judgment, but also a lot of mercy and forgiveness. After all, an opportunity missed becomes an opportunity to meet and fulfill at another time.
But the truly fascinating quality of death is its opening up of what has been unknown during earth life. Oh, it’s acceptable to “feel bad” about knowledges you were not able to regain in the earth…for a brief moment… but the focus should be on what you did accomplish and what still lies ahead. Now, in the earth, the other realms of being are unknown to you. This is as it should be, for you need not be spending valuable earth time (and time is apparently real and valuable here in the earth) considering the merits of other realms. When you move across, that which has been unknown becomes more clearly known again… and “life” goes on.”
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