Exploring Your Options for the Afterlife - Part 1 of 4

I had “that dream” again the other night. It’s the one where I am back in school, suddenly realizing I forgot to drop a class or have an upcoming final exam in a class I didn’t attend or study for! Perhaps you have had this or a similar dream. After all these years, “that dream” still surfaces in me from time to time. I interpret this dream symbolically. It signals that something in my life needs my attention or preparation.

Our lives often unfold as a series of events or challenges. We don’t always anticipate or prepare for them due to fear or other circumstances. I remember clearly the last week of my father’s earthly life. He shared with me some regrets, and one stood out in particular.

During his professional career, my dad was approached by a well-known businessman. This man sought someone with an accounting background who was dependable and trustworthy. My father had all these attributes and was quickly offered the position, along with a promise of good compensation and value in the company.

Ultimately, my dad turned down the offer. In his final week, he shared that this was one of his biggest regrets. He realized that he had not accepted the job due to fear of the unknown and a sense of unworthiness.

As I grow older (and hopefully wiser!), I experience my own regrets and occasional feelings of unworthiness. Regrets are not unusual. In the international best-selling book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, author and hospice nurse Bronnie Ware observed a pattern of regrets among her patients, including:

• I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

• I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

• I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

• I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

• I wish I had let myself be happier.

  
  

I noticed the word “courage” appears in two of these regrets. The lack of courage often equates to fear. Fear can keep us from fulfilling our highest potential in this world and hinder our progress in the next.

"Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood. Now is the time

to understand more, so that we may fear less." - Marie (Madam) Curie

When we talk to people or read surveys, we discover some of the biggest recurring fears in life. These include public speaking, heights, going to the dentist, and dying.

One of our hopes in part one of this three-part blog series is to demystify the change called death, making it less fearful. After all, our souls are on a continuum of birth and rebirth (reincarnation) here on Earth. Our ultimate goal is to graduate with honors from Earth’s schoolroom. This way, we can live, serve, and evolve in higher dimensions across God’s vast creation!

To begin our journey together, we want to share an excerpt from the TV series The Twilight Zone. It features a moving encounter between an elderly woman, who has feared death her entire life, and an angel played by a very young Robert Redford.

In upcoming posts in this series, we will continue exploring your options for the afterlife. We’ll describe some events you will likely encounter in the next world. Additionally, we hope to inspire you and offer the best tools available. This way, you can reach the highest possible level in the next world while avoiding the pitfalls or “hell” of our own creation!

Setting the Sail in Life

Remember, what determines where you go when you leave this Earth is your state of consciousness and your actions during your life. You set the sail! As you approach the end of this life, remember that you must be the captain of your ship. Set your sail for where you want to go and what you want to be. Don’t let someone else do it for you.

For now, I leave you with a beautiful poem by Henry Van Dyke called Gone From My Sight. It uses the metaphor of a ship sailing over the horizon to describe death. The poem offers solace by suggesting that a loved one's passing is not an ending but a continuation of their journey.

Gone From My Sight

by Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side, spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone."

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast, hull, and spar as she was when she left my side. And she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me—not in her.

And just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone," there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying...

Our story continues in part 2 of Exploring Your Options for the Afterlife