Alan's Thoughts on Life after Death

LIFE AFTER DEATH

Reverend Michael has invited us to share our thoughts on life after death.

Once, in a flash of insight, I realized that life somehow stands outside physics. It must have existed before the Big Bang and will continue after the Big Crunch or Great Dissipation as the case may be.

Here’s the proof. Pour layers of colored sand into a clear glass jar to form stripes on the side, as on a croquet stake. Leave some empty space and screw the lid on. Shake until the sand is mixed and the color becomes a smooth beige. Now ask yourself: How long must I shake for the stripes to return? They never will. It takes existing order to create new order – at least in conventional physics. String theory and worm holes may bring life here from very far away but no one can find its beginning or end. It has none.

Somehow you and I reflect and express the All-life. This makes us brothers and sisters with each other and cousins to moss and trees, lambs and lions, bacteria and prions. Not always friends. Life consists of harmony and discord.
The arc of history bends toward complexity and elegance. Prions and proteins at the beginning; humans today; who knows what farther on. You and I are built of systems upon systems upon systems.

At my death I will lose my separate being. That is horrible to contemplate but also wonderful. As my remaining years diminish I feel ever closer to the All-life and increasingly able to view this life with benevolent detachment. I look at young people with a touch of envy but more sweet pity. They have so much to do and so far to go till they too will find surcease.

I like to think that as I say goodbye to this life I will say a joyous hello to All-life. The door opens to the before and after. No more separation, only unification. I become you and you and you. Salvation by love.

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Comment by jill herndon on March 14, 2012 at 5:47pm: I love that you say the understanding that your heart has reached for.

At the moment, I do anticipate a survival, actually a thrival, of release into a greater order of magnitude with at least some time to continue as the heart felt person I know now -- but freer and more able in a different domain of experience. I feel that I will lose the feeling of being a separate being, but not the separate and unique expression. I expect to go on -- with way far more wisdom, compassion and grace and effectiveness than now. Yes -- effective both for my own expansion and for some looking back here for a while to reach the people I love and care about or never knew and love what they are doing.

We all have different thoughts about what comes next. Dad, while always of deep Christian faith and deeds meant to enter the "over there" Kingdom of Heaven, reports to me here that the problem with a happy death is that you have to die to do it. An inevitable mystery with a big jump to do it, and no back sliding.

I have always looked at my mini-self-transformations as little deaths but without the total loss. It has helped me make many a leap of faith. "This is not so bad. It is economical. I do not have to recycle and take those losses and all the new start-up activity that would require. At least I know something already about where I am." Practicing not holding on so hard.

Comment by Rhonda Buckner on March 13, 2012 at 11:08pm: Thank you Alan for sharing your inspiration. It touched my heart and connected! I don't know my cousin prion, but am happy to have you as my brother! I will keep this.

Comment by Beth Enriquez on March 11, 2012 at 10:35pm: Alan, I have read your post many times over. Your words speak to me. You have articulated something that I have felt in my heart and being, but have never been able to fully express. While I am still trying to sort out all of my own feelings about death and what may or may not come next, your words give me great hope. The All-life is indeed a wonderful concept and seems to ring true for me - very loudly. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Comment by Helen Hensgen on March 11, 2012 at 8:35am: Alan, this is such a beautiful and thoughtful idea of death. Thank you for sharing it. I am reading Andrew Cohen's "Evolutionary Enlightenment" and he expresses some similar thoughts. I liked the way you expressed the All-life better! Helen Hensgen

Comment by John L. Bohman on March 9, 2012 at 7:58am: Wow Alan!! What a blessing you have been given. It shows that revelation is not sealed.

What you are describing is something we seem compelled to give a name, and in naming it we attach a label to it or to ourselves, and we separate from each other. We argue about belief and non belief in God or whatever else we have named it, as if that really matters. We lose touch with and turn our backs on what we experience in our hearts. Both death and life become scary.

Thank you for reminding us to turn around and listen. That takes courage.

Comment by June Herold on March 8, 2012 at 5:53pm: Thank you Alan for this beautiful, thought provoking account of how you are experiencing life now and for how you explain the relationship between structured systems and physical manifestations.

I have wondered about this myself. Several times my thoughts along these lines have gone into scary territory. One of the reasons why UUism is my religious practice is that I believe it will help me grow out of the scary and into full acceptance into fully embracing what you refer to as the All-Life.

Thanks Barbara for posting on Alan's behalf.