Nobody "Dies"

Death is the ever-present specter that we all know is a part of this experience but are reluctant to contemplate, examine or try to understand. So, we push this inevitable event into a dusty corner of an abandoned basement in our mind and try not to visit that corner of the basement, ever.

This unreasonable fear of Death creates many difficulties for the human-being. For one thing, knowing that our lives are finite, that our lives have an expiration date, has an effect on the mental state of the human-being and the choices that he or she makes during the physical life. 

One person may take a fatalistic approach to life and throw all cares to the wind. "Eat, Drink and be Merry, for tomorrow, we die!" is how the saying goes.

Another person may fear this idea of Death so much that s/he will dedicate his/her life to religiosity and "churchianity", hoping that some phony posing as a mediator between man and God can "save" his/her soul.

Still another person may engage in occult practices so as to "escape" death by using the knowledge gained during physical life to unlawfully extend the after-death soul-life. In this way, these ones attempt to obtain a measure of immortality, even though they are well aware that this sham immortality comes at the direct expense of physical human-beings on earth.

All of these coping strategies are ultimately futile, because Death is part-and-parcel of what physical "Life" is all about. The Seventh Cosmic Domain, our physical universe, is a temporary nature-order. Everything constantly changes. Nothing is permanent, nothing is lasting. This law of impermanence applies to all physical forms and creatures, including Man.

Please take notice of the fact that "you" as a personality are a one-shot deal. "You" are mortal. It is your microcosm that is immortal. Upon the death of your present personality, the Life that vitalized the physical body is withdrawn. The individual chemical elements that compose the physical body no longer have the vital body to hold them together and so they begin to disorganize. These elements are slowly returned to the earth. Man calls this process decay.

To the physical eye, that's it. The body is lifeless and decaying, so the person is considered "dead". But that is not the case. The death of the physical body is only the first stage of a lengthy process of dissolution. The "deceased" human personality still has possession of his/her more subtle vehicles: the higher half of the etheric body plus the full astral and mental bodies). Each of these bodies must individually undergo a process of "letting go" in order for the deceased to advance through the so-called heaven-worlds. This process plays out in stages after-death.

THE ETHERIC PLANE

While the deceased is in possession of the remains of the Etheric Body, he/she will still be attracted to the physical world. As long as deceased personalities do not let go of their attraction to the physical world, they will hang around the earth-plane. In brief, this is what explains the phenomena of so-called ghosts, spooks, shades, apparitions, poltergeists, earthbound spirits, etc. The process of losing this attraction to the physical world can take many years of our earth-time. Gradually, the deceased will lose interest in the physical world. He/she will drop the remains of the Etheric Body and obey the Call that attracts him/her to the next level of the hereafter: the Astral Plane.

THE ASTRAL PLANE

The Astral Plane is sometimes referred to as the Desire World. That is because this plane is the realm of feelings and emotions. Here, the deceased has an opportunity to purge himself/herself of all earthly desires (food, drink, sex, violence, excitement, etc.). Before the deceased can move on to the next higher plane, the Mental Plane, he/she must successfully let go of all emotional attachments to the physical world. When this has been accomplished, the deceased drops the emotional body, the Astral body, leaving him/her with only the Mental Body, which accompanies him/her to the Mental Plane.

Note: these first two stages are where "churchianity" got the idea of "purgatory". Yes, there is a purging that is necessary before the deceased can move on to a higher existence after-death. That has been described for you in the foregoing passages. However, "churchianity" has twisted it all out of proportion in order to instill fear in the masses. There is no pain associated with this process except for the unrequited longing that the deceased imposes upon himself/herself when stubbornly refusing to let go of desires for physical plane phenomena that can no longer be experienced due to the lack of a physical body. For example, a deceased smoker can want "just one last cigarette" as much as he/she wants, they are not going to be able to experience that sensation again. They may try in different ways to get close to experiencing that sensation but the effort eventually proves to be more trouble than it is worth. After a shorter or longer period of earth-time, they lose interest and move on.

THE MENTAL PLANE

The deceased personality remains on the Mental Plane for the longest period of time in the post-mortem state. It is said that here is where abstract ideas and archetypes are contemplated. The deceased is able to work with mental matter and can use that matter to form any sort of construction that he/she wants. Here is where one sees sound and hears colors. Also, if there are any attributes that the personality wishes to improve upon prior to the next incarnation, here is where that work is done. Whether it is musicianship, athletic ability, public speaking, some invention or another, all things can be examined from the "inside-out" as it were, while on the Mental Plane. Attributes and abilities can be improved upon or perfected in this region.

This is also the region of the so-called heaven-worlds that is referred to as "The Summerland". The post-mortem existence in this region is reportedly quite pleasant and peaceful. However, at some point the personality must drop the Mental Body and leave this region as well.

THE "SECOND DEATH"

So, what happens to the deceased personality once it has been divested of its three remaining subtle vehicles?  Well, the after-death experiences are stored in the lipika of the microcosm, adding to the collective experience obtained by all previous personalities that have been generated by the microcosm. The Mental Body dissolves and the deceased personality ceases to exist. This is referred to in the Holy Language as "the Second Death". The death of the physical human-being is "the First Death".

The following bears repeating: "you", as a personality, are a one-shot deal. "You" are mortal. It is your microcosm that is immortal. You, as a temporary personality, incarnate on earth via childbirth. You live the life-span allotted to you and transition out of physical life in the prescribed manner. You then pass through the after-death experience in the so-called "heaven-worlds" as we have just described. Ultimately, the remains of the mortal personality dissolve and the personality is no more.

The microcosm then prepares to generate a fresh personality for the next incarnation. This new personality will not be you, Mr. Smith or Ms. Smith. It will be a brand-new personality totally unrelated to who "you" were in the previous life. It may even be of the opposite sex. The only thing that this new personality will share with the previous personality will be the accumulated microcosmic karma as well as some of the attributes and abilities stored up in the lipika of the microcosm. The "you" that was will be erased, completely dissolved. The entire process takes about 1,000 earth-years, on average.

WRAP-UP

So, that's it? We're here and then we're gone? But what about reincarnation? What about the promise of eternal life? Well, a new personality does incarnate but, as mentioned above, that personality is not "you". It is the microcosm that persists from incarnation to incarnation. The human personality is a tool, a perfectly designed instrument that is tasked to fulfill a specific purpose while in physical incarnation: the Liberation of the microcosm.

We should also note that the promise of "eternal life" in the so-called heaven-worlds is a fallacy. The world's religions have intentionally misled mankind in that regard. There is no "eternal reward" for the ordinary human-being after-death.

This post is not meant to frighten or disturb you. It's purpose is to educate you. Fear of anything is the result of ignorance, of not-knowing. Once you know, fear dissipates like smoke in the wind.

The story does not end here. The next post will describe how we can avoid "the Second Death" and how we can become the final personality in our microcosm while obtaining a full share in its immortality.

~ g
.