The Body
Alone is Mortal
The teachings
of Theosophy possess especial power to console the bereaved and to illumine
those who seek knowledge of the life after death. Theosophy has power to
console because it affirms most positively that there is a life beyond
the grave, that the body alone dies, whilst the immortal Son of God, the
real Ego, lives on eternally. Theosophy reaffirms the great teaching in
the Bible (The Apocrypha) which gives the solution to the problem
of life after death in the words: "For God created man for immortality,
and made him the image of his own eternity." (The Wisdom of Solomon,
II. 23.) A Hindu Scripture affirms the same truth:
" Never
the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never;
Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams!
Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit forever;
Death hath not touched it all,
dead though at the house
of it seems."
-The
Song Celestial, Sir Edwin Arnold.
There,
if we can receive it, is the real answer to the question as to whether
life continues after death. Theosophy teaches that the spiritual Soul of
man, his true, divine Self, is immortal, eternal and indestructible. Furthermore,
this undying Soul of man is evolving to perfection through the experiences
of many lives on earth. It is only the body which dies and not the true
Self of man, the real individuality behind the bodily veil. Such, then,
is the answer to the first of our questions.
Research
by Extra-Sensory Perception
Theosophy has
power to illumine also, because it shows how man may know for himself,
while still on this earth, the facts of the life beyond the grave. It teaches
that there resides in man a faculty by means of which the veil hiding the
invisible world from our sight may be rent asunder and the facts and phenomena
of that world, the conditions of life in it, may be seen, investigated
and understood. This extended vision, which is a sixth sense, latent in
the majority, awakened in a few, will be used quite normally and naturally
by later Races. When developed in these days, this faculty enables its
possessor to do what later Races of mankind will do; namely, to explore
at first hand and in full waking consciousness the world of the life after
death, to meet its inhabitants face to face, and to study with scientific
accuracy the conditions under which they live.
This
is an arresting and important statement, one which demands deep consideration.
I must ask acceptance of the existence of this faculty as a hypothesis,
susceptible of test and proof in due course; for almost all theosophical
teachings concerning the invisible worlds are gained by the use of such
extended vision as an instrument of research. Direct, positive knowledge
is available and can be tested by the appropriate means of investigation;
for there resides in each one of us a power of direct seership. As I have
said above, this extended vision is latent in the great majority of men,
is sporadically active in a few, and is susceptible of development by a
process of self-training. The existence of such extra-sensory perception,
or ESP as it is now called, is no longer in doubt. Scientific tests, carried
out under the strictest precautions through a long period and with thousands
of subjects, have proven that clairvoyance, clairaudience and telepathy
are powers possessed by large numbers of people.[The
Reach of the Mind (Penguin Series) and New
Frontiers of the Mind (Pelican Series), Dr. J. B. Rhine ]
The
Collected Fruits of Research
Throughout
all ages men and women, seeking to solve the mysterious of life, have submitted
themselves to the training necessary to awaken from latency into activity
these slumbering powers with which every man is endowed. Generations of
seers, having awakened these faculties into controlled activity, have carried
out researches into the normally invisible aspects of Nature and of man.
The fruits of their investigations are all preserved and have been continually
extended checked and counter-checked. As a result, there is available to
the student of today a vast treasury of knowledge on every subject to which
the mind of man can be turned. The Greeks named this wisdom of the ages Theosophia, Divine
Wisdom, and modern man possesses a fragment of it in what today is called
Theosophy.
THE
PROCESS OF DYING
The
Approach of Death
IF the existence
of the faculty of extended vision be granted - not the negative psychism
of the entranced medium, but a positive, trained power under the control
of the will, just as is physical vision - then let us assume that we are
in the chamber of death, watching with the "seeing eye" the transition
from this world to the next of someone dying from old age or disease. We
shall at once discover the answer to our second question: "Were the
deceased aware of the immediate approach of death?" The answer is: "Generally,
no." The failure of the supply of blood, and so of oxygen, to the
brain brings on unconsciousness, a process which is just like falling asleep.
Even if there has been suffering at the near approach of death, that suffering
ceases before the end.
What
shall we see as the process of dying is directly observed? As the hour
of dissolution approaches we shall see the life-forces of the body being
withdrawn from the extremities and centred in the heart, there to be visible
as glowing golden light. After this, sensation in the lower limbs is greatly
diminished. Then, as death draws nearer, the life-forces are withdrawn
still further into the middle of the head, into the third ventricle of
the brain, which is the seat of Egoic consciousness during physical life.
The dying
person may or may not still be physically conscious. If unconscious, in
a coma preceding death, he will be visible to clairvoyant sight out of
the body in his superphysical vehicle. This vehicle is built of much finer
matter than the ether, and in outline resembles almost exactly the physical
body; it is, in fact, its counterpart. It differs in appearance from the
physical in that the substance of which it is built is self luminous, so
that it glows as if lighted from within, and it is surrounded by an atmosphere
which is visible as light in constantly changing colours.
The Superphysical
Vesture of the Soul
These colours
of the aura, as it is called, correspond to states of consciousness and
are seen to vary with every change of feeling and thought. Indeed, there
exists a veritable science to which I may refer in passing - the science
of the correlation of states of consciousness with the colours of the aura.
A rush of sympathy for someone in pain or trouble, for example, suffuses
the aura with green; intellectual effort floods it with yellow. Blue denotes
devotional activity; lilac, spirituality; rose deepening to crimson, love.
Red is the colour of anger and irritability; brown, of selfishness - and
so on. As stated, these colours are visible to clairvoyant sight, so that
by looking at people's auras it is possible to tell the kind of thoughts
and feelings to which they habitually give expression, and thus to discover
their temperament and character. Naturally, such a power is not used save
by permission and for research purposes.
The Silver
Cord
Thus,
the aura will be visible around the dying person who, physically unconscious,
is then outside his physical body and floating just above it, but is joined
to it by a stream of flowing forces which shine with a delicate silvery
light. This current flows between the heads of the physical and the superphysical
bodies, thus connecting them. So long as it continues to flow, there is
always the possibility of physical awakening. Once it is broken, as at
the moment of death, there is no longer any possibility of return. Cases
of apparent resuscitation are in reality only reawakenings into bodies
that were not dead. This is described in Christianity as follows: “Or ever
the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl [the etheric double] be broken,
or the pitcher [the physical body] be broken at the fountain, or the wheel
broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was:
and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Ecl., XII. 6,
7.)
The
Cord Is Loosed
The dying person
may return temporarily to his body and, on opening his eyes, may see some
of the phenomena of the next world and make reference to people not physically
present. When the actual moment of death arrives, the "silver cord" is
seen to break and the man himself to rise, as though released from some
gravitational pull. Although not absolutely certain, I am inclined to think
that the exact moment of death for each one of us is fixed. Whether this
is so or not, the moment comes, the cord breaks, the man is free of his
body and can awaken in it no more. The signs of death then appear in it;
its work is done.
The Past
Life Reviewed
In nearly
all cases man is as unconscious of dying as he is of falling asleep. He
passes, as it were, upon a sigh from this world to the next. He is generally
engaged in a process of review, in which the events of the life just closed
pass before his mind's eye in clear perspective, causes and their effects,
successes and their results, failures and their outworkings, being seen
and correlated. This process of review is very important, for from it is
distilled a certain wisdom - the fruitage of the life just closed. It
is for this reason that we should mentally, emotionally and physically
be quiet in the chamber of death, lest by an excess of grief we disturb
the loved one in this important process. He is now living in his subtler
body, the body of feeling, and is therefore highly sensitive to the forces
of thought and emotion. Calmly and with self-control, our thoughts should
rightly be turned in love towards him, and in blessing and aspiration for
his progress inwards to the inner worlds. In Theosophy we are taught to
dwell not so much upon our own great loss as upon his transcendent gain;
and transcendent gain it is to be freed from the physical body and its
limitations when once its valuable work is done and not before.
Such, then, is a theosophical answer to the question: " Were the deceased
conscious of the process of dying? "
CHAPTER
III
The Awakening
THE review
ended, there generally follows a period of complete unconsciousness which
may last from thirty-six to forty-eight hours varying with the individual.
Then awakening occurs and the deceased, frequently still unaware of what
has happened, looks about him. In nearly all cases some friend or relative
is awaiting him; or, if he has none such to welcome him, then some member
of the great band of helpers whose work it is to greet newcomers comes
forward to receive him. Such helpers are members of a highly trained band
of servers deputed to this particular work of assisting new arrivals.[Invisible
Helpers, C. W. Leadbeater.] They
welcome newcomers, explain the change, and help them to settle down to
it as comfortably as possible. Few, if any, in these days enter that world
without some hand being stretched forth to welcome and to assist them in
the first stages. Such is a theosophical answer to the question: " How
is the life after death entered upon? "
No
Strange Land
What will
be the nature of this life? At this point I am going to say something which
will perhaps be difficult to believe, but since I know it to be true and
of great importance, I must state it. The world to which our friends have
gone, and to which we will all go when our time comes, is no strange land;
for we go there every night whilst our physical body sleeps. Sleep has
aptly and truly been called the twin brother of death. We may go further
and call them the same thing; for whilst the physical body sleeps we are
awake in the body which we shall use after death. Our dreams are, in part,
the confused memories of our life in that world which we bring back on
awakening, such as, for instance, the pleasant, poetic, floating motion
by which we move, thought-propelled, in the superphysical worlds. Hence
quite naturally, the world of the life after death proves to be a familiar
place. The difference between sleep and death lies in the fact that, in
sleep, the "silver cord" which links us to the body is not broken.
In death the cord is broken and, as we then have no link with the
physical body, we can return to it no more.
The superphysical
world and state of consciousness entered at death consist of two divisions
or planes of Nature, the emotional or astral and the mental. The former,
the emotional, contains human and angelic inhabitants, and scenery [The
Astral Plane, C. W. Leadbeater. ] and other
forms visible to the deceased. The latter, the mental, also has its own
inhabitants and phenomena, but the experience of the departed whilst living
there is more subjective and individual.[The
Devachanic Plane, C. W. Leadbeater.]
The
Influence of Temperament and Character
The next
general principle which I wish to advance is that the conditions in which
a person finds himself after death depend largely upon his temperament,
and upon the nature of the life he has led on the physical plane. We each
see the world around us through the windows of our temperament. The sunny
natured, friendly individual awakens after death to a sunny, friendly world;
whilst the gloomy, self-centered hypochondriac may awaken to a dull, gloomy
and somewhat lonely world - not because that world is lonely, but because
the self-centered individual does not inspire and is unable to give friendship.
Happily, the pain, the boredom and the isolation which such people have
unconsciously created for themselves, spur them into changing their attitude
towards life.
The Scientist After
Death
To move
now from general to particular statements, clairvoyant research reveals
a tendency in new arrivals to pursue after death sublimated forms of those
occupations which most appealed to them on earth. Thus, the scientific
investigator whose ideal on earth was the pursuit of truth, finds that
he can follow truth there as he did here. He also finds that his investigations
are far more fruitful because he has left the world of densest matter,
is conscious in much finer substance, and is nearer to the world of causes.
It is in the higher consciousness and in the world of causes that truth
and understanding abide.
The deceased
finds that many of the factors in the structure of matter and in evolution
which were previously hidden from him are now objectively revealed. The
laws and forces under which atoms combine in certain ways to form the molecules
of the different elements, the development from protoplasm to cell and
from single cell to man -the great mystery for the biologist - these things
are understood more clearly there; for the operation of the Divine Mind
and Its embodiments may be everywhere observed.
The flowing
forces of which this physical world is an illusory product are visible
as such in the next world. The great engineers of the Logos, the Beings
who direct the flow of these forces, operating and administering the processes
and laws of Nature - the Angelic Hosts- can be seen at work and the scientific
investigator thus finds himself in a realm in which his work is far more
fruitful than it was on earth. Indeed, in the after-death world one finds
groups of scientists gathered together by affinity of temperament, absorbed
in their accustomed pursuit of knowledge, equipped with laboratories, observatories
and research stations, and not only investigating but teaching as well.
There is, indeed, a continuation of education there, educationists, like
scientists and all other specialised workers, tending to follow their own
bent, giving their time to unravelling the problems met with in their work,
and to the carrying of that work to a higher state of perfection than was
possible on earth. Sometimes, ideas, thus discovered in the inner world
are picked up by minds incarnate here on earth; for there is considerable
interplay and interchange of thought between the dwellers in the two worlds.
The Artist and the Quest
of Beauty
Similarly,
the artist, he for whom beauty is the goal, finds that in that world his
quest can be carried far nearer to its consummation than was possible in
the world of dense physical matter. If he be painter or sculptor, no longer
need he with effort reproduce his concepts in the dull pigments of earth,
for instantly and automatically the responsive matter of the next world
assumes forms appropriate to his thought. Not only is his vision objectively
before him, but he finds to his great joy that he can refine and remould
it until relative perfection is attained. Thus, because groups are drawn
together in that world by affinity of temperament rather than by racial
or family relationship, he finds himself nearer to his own kind, a member,
probably, of one of the many groups of similar workers dedicated to the
pursuit of beauty, to the discovery of their Highest Selves through the
medium of the beautiful.
Music and Music Forms
For the
musician, too, the way is open to a wider, deeper understanding of his
art. Music has, on the inner planes, aspects of which we normally know
little down here. The musician finds, for example, that sound there is
not so much heard as seen. If physical music is observed clairvoyantly
it is seen to produce forms in the glowing, self-luminous substance of
the inner worlds, this. living, responsive matter being thrown into changing,
iridescent forms by the sound and the intent of the music.[Thought
Forms, A.Besant and C.W.Leadbeater, ] In
the inner planes, too, the real Song of Creation can be heard, that ever-uttered
Word which is the theme of the great Symphony of Creation.
This
exquisite responsiveness of the matter of the subtler worlds to every change
of thought and feeling is one of the first discoveries the student makes
when his inner eyes are opened. He finds, as do all who enter those worlds
at death, that thought is a mighty power, potent to affect the lives of
others as well as to help him on his way, if he uses it aright.
The Altruist
The reformer,
the servant, the healer, the physician -each finds, if he can enter into
it, a new world of service opening up before him. If he possesses the true
spirit of the healer, the physician will find coming to him for help men
and women with twisted minds and tortured feelings, people who have died
with uneasy consciences, duties left undone, vices unconquered, obliquities
of vision, complexes unresolved and other psychical disturbances. Such
conditions are to a far greater extent sources of difficulty there than
here, for that is the world of emotion. People thus disturbed are greatly
in need of the services of a physician. There is, in fact, a great host
of workers dedicated to this task of re-attuning and harmonising those
in need.
Business Left Behind
The business
man, for the first few days after his passing, tends to gravitate by force
of habit to his old business premises; but he soon finds that he cannot affect
his colleagues. They do not respond to his presence or to his thoughts.
They do not even know that he is with them. Happily, however, the wider
interests and greater freedom of the new life, the responsive and buoyant
body he is using, his realisation that the main causes of business do not
obtain here in his new sphere and that consequently there is not much to
be busy about in that direction - all these things soon draw him away from
his physical preoccupations. The life after death can, indeed, be the beginning
of a most wonderful freedom; for the grinding business necessities which,
doubtless for our own good, keep us busy here and tend to chain our thoughts
and feelings to material things, no longer exist.
Food,
for example, though one of the principal causes of business and personal
effort on the physical plane, ceases to have any significance in the life
after death, for all the nourishment our subtle bodies need is absorbed
automatically from the atmosphere. The air there, as here, is charged with
the life-force of God, outpoured through the sun, and contains all that
is needed for bodily sustenance in that world. The whole process of its
absorption and assimilation is as unconscious as is breathing on the physical
plane. Food, consequently, is not a source of business activity.
Clothing
is made by thought. Since the matter of the next world responds instantly
to thought, to think of oneself as clothed is to be clothed. Whilst one
finds people dressed in various modes of attire, in the fashion of their
own day or Race, the most general raiment would seem to be a convenient,
loose garment, the colour and decoration of which can be changed instantly
of will.
Transportation
does not depend upon the labours of others. In the superphysical worlds
we move thought impelled. To think of oneself in a place is to move to
that place, swiftly or slowly at will, by a delightful, floating motion
as of flying. Dreams of the body as light and easily elevated, or as gliding
gently or swiftly through the air, are frequently memories of the normal
mode of progression in the world of the life after death.
Shelter,
the fourth of the great sources of business and human effort on the physical
plane, is also created by thought in the next world. There, as here, people
gather together in thought-forms of houses and cities. Privacy is needed
in the after-death life just as it is needed on earth, but not shelter
from the climate, for our adverse climatic conditions are not reproduced
there.
Thus,
life in that world can be as varied and fascinating as life on this earth;
indeed, more so, for there is not only an almost endless variety of activities
from which to choose, but each activity can be pursued further and for
a longer period of time than on earth, where certain pressing necessities
make their demands. There are, for instance, not only centres for child-life
and services for the new-comer and for those in need, but in addition all
the normal, healthy mental activities of human beings seeking greater light
and joy and usefulness along the lines of knowledge, love and beauty.
Religion and the Religious
Life
There
are religious centres also, and to enter a church on that plane is to find
that religion elevates the worshipper to far greater heights than are usually
attained on earth. This is partly because the objects of worship are visible,
being thought-created, and partly because emotion there is purer and more
powerful. At the east end of the church there will not be symbols and stained-glass
windows so much as living images, perhaps of the Saviours of the world,
or of the Saints or the Angelic Hosts. These phantasms created by human
thought are used as living representations into which their great Originals
pour some of Their love and consciousness, and which They use as channels
for the outpouring of Their blessing and power. Since all this is visible
to the worshipper there, religious services evoke a fervour and a depth
of response rarely experienced down here and provide a religious belief
founded far more upon living experience than upon blind faith.
Life in the Intermediate
Worlds only Transient
There
is, however, no permanence in any of these conditions and states of consciousness.
Every normal person who dies a natural death passes through the worlds
of emotion and mind with varying speeds, until the centre of life and awareness
which had been incarnated in the physical body is withdrawn into its Source,
which is the Ego in the Causal Body. Whilst there are exceptions, this
is the general rule and the time spent in the intermediate, astral world
after death depends largely upon the degree of spirituality or materialism
in the character and interests of the deceased. The ideal, naturally, is
to pass as rapidly as possible through the worlds of emotion and analytical
thought into the beatitude of the heaven life, and later to full re-absorption
into the Higher Self.
Such,
briefly, are the theosophical answers to the three questions: "To
what conditions does the Soul awaken after death?", "Is there
continuity of personality, with memory, affection, sympathy and continued
interests?" and "Is there time, business, work, pressure there,
or is one free of these in the life after death?"
THE REUNION
OF THOSE WHO LOVE
Love Itself
is Immortal
SINCE bereavement
is the certain lot of each and every one of us, it is inevitable that many
times throughout our lives we should ask ourselves the question as to whether
death means a final separation, or whether somehow and somewhere we and
our loved ones will meet again. What has Theosophy to say concerning this
pressing human problem? Shall we meet again or does death bring the extinction
of human identity, and so the end of human relationship? Theosophy answers " Yes,
very definitely those who love will be reunited." Nothing, neither
death nor rebirth can break the bonds of true love. Love itself is immortal
and is, moreover, the strongest force in the universe. Reunion is therefore
utterly assured for all those who truly love.
The Time
and Place of Reunion
When, where
and how shall we meet our loved ones again? Human nature is so diverse
and human life so complex, that an exposition of the subject of reunion
cannot be entirely a simple one. Whilst Theosophy does teach that reunion
is assured, this does not necessarily always take place in the intermediate
worlds entered directly after death. Time is a factor to be considered.
If we die within a few months of their death, then we go directly into
the presence of our loved ones who have gone before. If several years intervene
and they are withdrawn into the heaven condition of consciousness, then,
when our time comes, there will a brief period without them until we in
our turn enter our heaven world. Then a great revelation will come to us.
We shall see and know that mentally, in terms of their consciousness, we
have been with them in their heaven ever since they entered there; for
heaven could never be heaven without the presence of those we love.
Many Mansions
Is this
too difficult an idea to understand? I know that this theosophical concept
of a self-created, individual heaven in which reunion occurs does, at first,
seem to be contrary to the Christian doctrine, for example. I would ask
you not to reject it too hastily, however, for it is a very beautiful truth
and one, moreover, which does not really conflict with original Christianity;
for Our Lord referred to it, saying: "In my Father's house are many
mansions". (John, XIV.2.) Simply put, it may be said that when
those who love us die and enter their heaven, their thought and love construct
for them a form of us which is ever present to their eyes. This is not
a mere thought form only; for we in our essential Selves, as spiritual
Intelligences, at once use this thought-form, as it is called, as a vehicle
for communion and companionship. When we die, we shall find that we have
been fully present with them all the time. We, in our turn, will similarly
be surrounded by all those whom we love. Each one of us thus has our own
individual heaven after death where, in perfect bliss and peace, we shall
enjoy reunion with all those we have truly loved.
Reunion on Earth
This is
not all, however. As I have already said, we are also certain to meet our
loved ones again physically. This is a further part of the great and consoling
revelation of Theosophy which teaches that, after the heaven life which
usually lasts for many earth time centuries of perfect bliss, a return
to earth is made. The teaching that man evolves spiritually to perfection
through successive lives on earth is found, on investigation, to be literally
true. The spiritual Souls of men are, indeed, repeatedly reborn in new
bodies. In each life they unfold their innate powers a little more, develop
added faculties, attain to deeper wisdom, greater insight, nobler love,
and this process culminates in the attainment of the stature of the perfect
man.[For a fuller consideration of this
doctrine see Reincarnation: Fact or Fallacy? Geoffrey Hodson, T.
P. H., Adyar.] In these continual rebirths, we
who have deeply loved are sure both to meet again and to love again. Indeed,
the comradeships and the affections of this life, when very strong, are
almost certainly continuances or renewals of the same attachments formed
in preceding lives.
The parents
who provide us with our new bodies are often themselves loved ones from
the past. Our brothers and sisters in the family may be linked to us by
ties from previous incarnations. Our colleagues and co-workers, many of
our fellow-citizens, now work with us, live near us, are happy and unhappy
with us, because we have forged bonds with each other in previous lives
and those past experiences have drawn us together again in the present
life. If there come into our life one or more especial persons who evoke
from us the deepest love, whose presence is a joy, whose absence is a
loss, then we may be utterly sure that out of the past a reunion has occurred.
Love a Renewal of a
Former Bond
This is
the reason for the strange selectivity and the extraordinary potency of
the experience called "falling in love". Though actual incidents
from the past are not usually remembered - sometimes they are - the heart
is moved by the reunion, recognises, greets and loves once more the loved
one of long ago. Thus, the parting caused by death which seemed so final
is not really so. The decree of separation is not irrevocable. On the contrary,
reunion is assured, both in heaven after death and, again and again, here
on earth. One day, by virtue of these successive lives of ours and all
their multifarious experiences, the purpose of human existence will be
fulfilled. Evolution will bring us to "a perfect man, unto the measure
of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph., IV. 13), as
St. Paul has beautifully described the summit of human achievement. Then,
of course, the illusion of death will have been dispelled. Then parting
will be no more, for we shall live in the full realisation of our immortal,
spiritual nature.
CHAPTER
Vl
SUICIDE
The Selfless
Motive
IN the preceding
Chapters normal after-death conditions have been considered. Certain deviations
from the normal occur in cases of suicide and sudden and premature death. At
least three varieties of after-death experience follow upon suicide. When
committed from unselfish motives, after the shock has passed which generally
accompanies sudden death, the person settles down to the new life under
the conditions previously described. There is generally no coma in
these cases, and no time in which the person can become gradually readjusted
to the altered conditions of life.
The Escape Motive
Those who take
their lives in order to escape from unacceptable conditions may sink into
unconsciousness immediately on leaving the physical body, and remain in
that condition until the time of natural death. They then awaken and become
subject to the appropriate laws and conditions. It is this fact of awakening
when the natural term of physical life would have ended which suggests
that, apart from abnormal happenings such as suicide, there is a time of
natural death - fixed partly by our conduct, of course-for each one of
us.
Victims of Desire
The experience
of those who commit the third type of suicide is less enviable still. Gross
and sensual, they have ended their physical existence in the full flush
of life, driven by passion or fear. Their strong desires then keep them
earth-bound. They can see the replica in subtle matter of the physical
plane and live in a half-world - between this one and the next. Driven
by desires and passions which they cannot satisfy, they seek gratification
by entering places of sensual indulgence on the physical plane and trying
to unite their consciousness with that of the drunkard or the sensualist
indulging there. In such circumstances, the physical plane people experience
intensification of their desires so that the relationship, even though
they are ignorant of it, can be as harmful for them as for the earthbound
souls seeking gratification through them.
Suicide, a Profound
Error
To the
Theosophist possessed of this knowledge, suicide is always a mistake. It
temporarily solves certain problems, it is true, but it also raises new
ones; for eventually, every obligation must be met, every debt paid, every
pain lived through. "God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap." (Gal., VI. 7.) It is wiser, therefore,
to accept and endure the difficulties, no matter how painful they may be,
than to perpetuate and intensify them by attempted evasion and the additional
complication of self-murder, the karmic reaction from which may adversely
affect successive incarnations.
PURGATORY
Self Created Suffering
THE person
who dies in the grip of a vice suffers severely after physical death. He
is then living in his emotional body and is consequently experiencing his
particular craving with an intensity unknown to him when the matter of
his physical body greatly reduced or damped it down. With no means
of gratifying the vice, it burns itself out in him, sometimes through acute
suffering.
If there
be a Hell anywhere, then it is this condition of strong and ungratifiable
craving. Such a Hell differs, however, in at least four respects from the
Hell of orthodox religion. Firstly, it is not a place; it is a state of
consciousness, as also is Heaven. One can be in either, according to the
condition of one's consciousness, wherever one's body may be. Secondly,
this suffering is not imposed as a punishment after judgment by an external
authority; it is self-produced, as is all suffering and all joy. Both are
automatic "reapings" from preceding "sowings". Thirdly,
the suffering caused by unsatisfied desire is not everlasting. Even a human
father would not be so illogical and cruel as to condemn his son to perpetual
punishment for a sin committed in time. On the contrary, the post-mortem suffering
resulting from an unconquered vice lasts only so long as does the energy
spent in its continued indulgence. When that dies out the man is free of
it, and enters into normal post-mortem life.
Lesson Learnt and Progress
Made
The last
of the differences between the reality and the orthodox Christian ideas
of Hell is that such suffering is by no means a futile experience. On the
contrary, it can be very fruitful; for it impresses itself upon the consciousness
of the sufferer strongly enough to affect the next physical incarnation,
in which he will probably be born with a repugnance to the vice which caused
so much pain. It is doubtless for such reasons that the conditions immediately
beyond the grave are regarded as purgatorial.
"Accidents"
[ The instructed Theosophist cannot admit of accidents in
the accepted meaning of the word. Every experience of man throughout the
life cycle, which consists of descent to birth, birth, physical life, death
and ascent or return, is self-created under the law of cause and effect.
No slightest injustice to any human being is ever regarded as possible. Man
is his own lawgiver, the decreer of his own physical destiny.]
Sudden death may cause a temporary
shock. Catastrophe may bring panic. Knowledge of evil deeds performed on
earth and the voice of conscience may torture the mind. There may be a
vice unconquered, obligations unfulfilled, psychological conflicts and
complexes unresolved, deep longings never gratified, and these can and
do cause some temporary suffering after death. Happily help is available.
Helpers receive, soothe and guide those who are in need, thereby finding
in the life after death a continuance and an extension of the service which
they gave, or longed to give, on earth.
CHAPTER
VIII
THE
SOLDIER AFTER DEATH
Death in Battle
SOLDIERS who
are killed sometimes undertake the task of helping new arrivals and, not
unusually, at first, on behalf of their own comrades who immediately follow
them. As has been said, at the moment of normal death the deceased is generally
engaged in reviewing the life just closed. In sudden death, however, there
is, in many cases, neither review nor restful pause. A brief instant alone
separates consciousness in this world from awareness in the next.
The serviceman,
who generally finds himself raised in the air, is therefore able to look
down upon his deceased body and, if using one at the time, the wrecked
aeroplane or vehicle. In consequence, he rapidly comprehends what has happened
and realises the fundamental fact that, though his body has died, he still
lives on. He finds himself more fully alive than ever, more charged with
vitality and enjoying a greater freedom of life and movement than was known
to him on earth. Unless something very dramatic is occurring all round
him, thoughts of family and home generally bear him, thought-propelled,
into the presence of those he loves - his family. He cannot help grieving
for them in the pain which he knows must soon be theirs.
Invisible Helping
Like nearly
all those who die and think of their loved ones still on earth, he longs
to bring them the assurance that there is no death, that despite the body's
passing he still lives, still loves, still visits them. Sometimes his strong
thought enables someone to see him, or know intuitively that he has left
his body and is present in a subtler form. Then, memory of his comrades
and the habits of a soldier's life, generally, take him back to the neighbourhood
of his military unit. There he meets, greets and is helped by comrades
who have preceded him into the next world, sees others more recently arrived
and, in his turn, may begin to help them as he has been helped.
Indeed,
many members of the Forces killed in battle tend to become absorbed in
the highly organised system of ministration to wounded, dying and deceased
comrades which is in full operation in all wars. This helps them greatly
and whilst thus serving they grow in knowledge and in power, discovering
and perceiving in operation the laws and processes of human evolution to
the stature of the perfect man.
Early
Rebirth, Retaining Existing Emotional and Mental Bodies
Eventually,
the soldier killed in battle will either withdraw to the subtler, superphysical
realms as do all who have left their bodies naturally or he may be quickly
reborn, beginning physical life once more as a little child, but retaining
his adult personality. The evolutionary advantages of such a quick rebirth
can be considerable, and may enable him to move far more rapidly than is
normal towards his spiritual goal. Added knowledge, faculty, experience
and power, and the opportunity to fulfil the desires and the aspirations
of the preceding life, which would normally have been delayed until the
next rebirth - these are some of the advantages immediately gained when
a deceased soldier accepts this special privilege of quick rebirth.
Instinctual
Memory
In one
interesting case amongst many known, a wartime child began, whilst very
young, to march about the family garden shouldering a stick and shouting
out orders to invisible troops! Nothing in the child's environment or experience
in the present life could have contributed to such an instinct. Almost
certainly it arose from the fact that within the child's body was a recently
deceased soldier now reborn. Such quick rebirths not infrequently occur
in the country, and even in the environment, from which the deceased soldier
had come. Reunion and a renewal of the fond ties of the previous life are
therefore by no means impossible, even though direct remembrance and recognition
may usually be withheld.
Courage
in Bereavement
Before
I leave this aspect of our subject, let me quote a few lines from Lord
Moran's recent book, The Anatomy of Courage. Writing of the early
death which can come to soldiers, he says: "Yet it is a fine free
setting forth, this end in the field. It comes to a man in the spring time,
before age and disease have soiled his body and traffic of cities has stained
his soul. He has lived his brief manhood among men, knowing what is best
in them, and has gone but untouched and undefeated by the petty strife
of a world at peace."
The following
poem by Nigel Tangye, which appeared in The Spectator, London, during
the Battle of Britain in the Second World War, exemplifies an ideal and
a courageous attitude towards all bereavement, and more especially towards
the sudden loss of a loved one in battle:
“On Monday,
on The Times front page, I read A notice in memoriam of the dead
From `
Pamela ',
