The Other Side

SAT., AUG. 4, 1984, 6:44 AM
FARM, STUDY

This fall again you will conduct a class where learning more about dying and about death will be the focus. That is a worthy educational goal, particularly if it relates to the quality of life now being lived. You shall learn as you are the teacher, and, from time to time (what-ever that means) I shall cause you to consider some aspects of what is called death. I, with you, o son, prefer to call it “the other side”.

This is a symbolic and rather slang term, for life and death are really not “sides” of anything. It has, rather, the connotation of crossing to the other side of a river, even the other side of a field or forest. Included is the implication that, while in some ways the other side is different from “this side”, it also has some similarities. It is separated, one “side” from the other, by something that can be like unto each (the field or forest) or different (the river).

The other side, after death, is like this side in that consciousness continues, and there is an awareness and appreciation of other individual souls, embodied sufficiently so that relationships can continue. With lesser spiritual development the individuality of souls is more important. As you progress in spiritual development there is less need for this individuality, and you more clearly perceive yourself as part of many other souls, who are, at the same time, parts of you. Each time that you end an earth life and come forth on the other side the parts should be less evident and the whole more.

You work more and more comfortably with the concept of holistic health… functioning and adapting as a whole, integrated person. Each dimension, such as the physical, is made up of many parts and sub-parts (for example, blood is a part and each corpuscle and each lymphocyte is a sub-part). Yet in the well-functioning person, such as these you have been observing in the Olympics, the functioning is coordinated and unified… and the identification of parts and sub-parts is no longer necessary.

The analogy is a gross rather than a precise one. On the other side there is less need to be a separate, individual “part” and much more desire to be part of a unified, universal Godhead. If this doesn’t seem desirable or if it seems to be even repugnant it indicates either less spiritual development OR a capacity to play the “individual human in the earth” role so well that one won’t even acknowledge other realities. And it is rarely possible to know definitely which is the major factor. The individual may not even be accurate in assessing self. This earth side can be quite compelling.