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Death & Eternal Life by Rev. Christine Emmerling D.D. 10/29/2023

“Death and Eternal Life” by Rev. Christine 10/29/2023


This week on Oct. 31st many people celebrate the traditions of Halloween. Then we have All Saints Day on Nov. 1st, and Nov. 2nd All Souls Day also referred to as the Day of the Dead. In Mexico they begin celebrations from Oct. 31-Nov. 2. Much of this is from the Catholic tradition. Although, in the Eastern traditions they also have an All Saints Day on Nov. 1st to honor saints and holy people.


It all began with All Saints Day, a sacred holy day honoring saints in heaven. Then it became a custom to begin celebrating the night before in a feast called “Eve of All Hallows” meaning to honor as holy which eventually became translated to Halloween. Later on the custom to celebrate Halloween became a secular holiday to ward off the evil of the world by children dressing up in costumes, and going around knocking on doors collecting sweets yelling “Trick or Treat.”


All Souls Day, is an ancient custom to remember and honor our ancestors, and to pray for the recent dead that they may be released from hell or purgatory to go on to heaven. People would light candles for the dead, visit graves, bring flowers and talk about them keeping their memory alive.


My talk today is titled Death and Eternal Life. We are all living an illusion of life and death. Death in New Thought is referred to as a transition. It is a transition in consciousness from this material physical world. Its like living a dream, and then we awaken to the truth of our spiritual nature living in a spiritual world.


As a young child I knew of death. When I was 6 years old my biological father made his transition following a long illness. At 9 my second father died following a car accident. It was with my second father that after a few months I had a visitation in a dream. I knew then that life continued after what we called death.


The following is an experience my mother shared with me. One night while she was still deeply grieving the loss of her husband, she awoke to a bright light as his presence appeared in the bedroom. He walked towards her and sat on the bed. She could even touch him, and they spoke to one another. He wanted her to know that he was alright, that his life was good and that he had purpose and work on the other side to do. He said, it was very much like here with buildings, parks, and such. The purpose for his visit was to comfort, and to let her know that he wanted her to be happy and live a good full life. This experience helped my mother to move on with living life.


As a teenager my close girlfriend had taken her life. About 9 years later she came to me in a dream state from which I suddenly woke up. I sat straight up to find a man’s face, like a picture hanging on the wall, surrounded by a glowing white light. He seemed of the 1800s wearing a sea captain’s hat and a full beard. His lips were moving but I could not hear anything. I knew though, I was given a warning to change my life — which I did. I did not go back to sleep that night. Later my mother told me that it probably was my great grandfather who had been a captain of a sea merchant ship sailing the Carribean sea.


My mother had made her transition in May 1998. While sleeping I had a visitation with my mother. Nine days before what would have been her 80th birthday. It is not uncommon to have communication with loved ones around their birthday or around the anniversary of their death.


My mother told me that she did not really die; she only moved away. She went up north to a clinic where she was cared for and nurtured back to health. She looked great like in her early 40s with rosy cheeks and eyes so bright. My sister who had passed in 1992 was with her and also looked young and beautiful.


This next one was strange. For about 1 ½ years I had dreams of a girlfriend that I had lost track of and hadn’t seen for years. The first time I found myself in a room sitting in a rocking chair holding my adult girlfriend in my lap with my arms around her like a child. I was rocking and comforting her.


With each visit things progressed, it was like I was helping her to heal and prepare to go out into the world. Then the last time was when I helped her to pick out a new wardrobe, she was happy and ready to have a job. Shortly after these dream visits my sister brought this girlfriend’s brother to my home. I told him of my dreams. To my surprise, his sister had been dead for close to two years.


I’ve had other experiences but won’t be sharing them with you today. This world and what is referred to as heaven, the otherside or the hereafter is much like a veil in consciousness. When this veil is lifted we can see and experience this other dimension of reality. Some say this veil is getting thinner. Can you imagine what it would be like once the veil is removed?


There is much research into whether there is an afterlife and reincarnation. In India there are documented cases of young children who have remembered their past life in great detail. They remembered where they lived, names of loved ones, and actually identified people that were still alive that they knew in their prior life.


Hypnotists have written books about taking people into a hypnotic state where they describe their death, the after life, and their past lives. Many people being hypnotized have claimed to have resolved issues in their current life that had been carried over from a past life.


There are some people that have experienced a near death experience or called NDE. These experiences have been recorded to happen while they actually died. They came back with great detail of how it is on the other side. Most go through a dark tunnel following a bright light with a sensation of great love. Then they are met by one or more other beings which are there to guide them. Always these people come back with a great sense of knowing that life is eternal, and that there is a purpose for them being here. They had to come back because they weren’t finished with this life experience. Their lives are changed forever. Some people have written about their near death experience, and there are videos on Youtube.

In much of Christianity it is taught a person has to die before having eternal life. In New Thought we don’t have to die to have eternal life. We already are eternally living. Life continues on whether in this body or not - it is continuous. Our form may change, it’s much like changing our clothes.


Truly awakened people, can experience this state of consciousness while still here in the 3rd dimension realizing they are multidimensional; meaning they can move in and out of this state of realization experiencing different worlds and dimensions. They have been known as the great teachers of the world. It is recorded that Christ Jesus had this ability.


Then we hear of deceased souls that seem to be haunting, hanging around suffering. They are living out their beliefs of purgatory and hell. Some souls have guilt while others have attachment to the earthly scene - unfinished business. We pray, we send love for them to awaken and to move on into the light.


This 3D world we live in may be referred to as the shadow world. Light reflects shadows giving the appearance of form and denseness. I think of it as the reflection of our consciousness which is light. This light gets obscured by fear, and false beliefs leaving us to see something that isn’t truly so. Although, we do experience this false sense of self, it is not who we truly are. They are just projections or masks, and these masks may be taken off at anytime as we awaken to them.


“This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds. To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance. A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky, rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain.” The Buddha.


I like that “death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance,” the dance of life; graceful twirls, joyful leaps and bounds, dramatic movements and the final stance — acceptance -- we take our bow -- it is done.


Life is like a beautiful melody -- one musical note after another. When we finish this melody, it is time for a new one — a new theme — a new vibration. We go through transitions all the time. Every life is like a book with many chapters, and each closed chapter is a major transition, and the next chapter a new experience in life. Each new birth, is a new volume to the existing books. The volumes go on and on into eternity.


Living through transitions gracefully takes trust. Trust to let go of everything in the past and control of the future. Trust in a divine order, a purpose, and a time for all things. Trust in our God Self, in eternal life. Then one is truly liberated to live in the present now, and free to dance their dance of life.


I invite you to take a moment to send love to an ancestor or loved one passed on. Let us bring our focus to our heart center, and feel it filling with love, and now allow our heart to open up and radiate this love forth to our deceased one. It is done. Amen.

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