Camille Flammarion, 1888
Life Beyond Death
An ongoing inquiry into purpose of death,
the nature of life after death,
how we can prepare for death,
and how we can assist the dying.
All goes onward and outward,
nothing collapses,
And to die is different
from what any one supposed,
and luckier.
Walt Whitman - Song of Myself
Death looms like a dark cloud over our collective psyche, producing an underlying sense of fear and uncertainty. Sooner or later, death comes to everybody, and with it comes a number of urgent questions. "What is death? Is there an afterlife? What's the point of life and death, and how can I make sense of it all?"
In most cases, we only begin to ask these questions at the end of life. Having lived as if death would never come, we may be caught by surprise and ill-equipped to deal with the situation when it arises. A perfectly natural and even beautiful stage of life may be overcast with fear and confusion.
Why wait 'til the end? Why not ask these questions now, while there's time to make a serious inquiry? You might discover something completely unexpected. What if our fear of death is unfounded? What if, as Walt Whitman says, "to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier"?
From the great sages of the world, from the mystics, poets and saints, and from our own collective intuition, we have an opportunity to look deeply into the mystery of death and the role it plays in cosmic evolution. What follows is a distillation of this wisdom; not to be taken as the literal truth, but as a model and a starting point for your own inquiry. The truth about death is not contained in books or scriptures. It's a living, growing understanding that arises out of Self-discovery.
