By Jurgen Ziewe
Generally, people who have researched the subject of life after death in some depth, will find that our afterlife may simply be a world very much like ours, hopefully prettier, less challenging with bonuses attached, like the freedom from the decay of a physical body and no need to struggle for survival. Indeed there are dimensional levels which are indistinguishable from earth, but for people, whose life has been carried on a positive note, who have lived primarily via a giving heart, will see all of their secret wishes materializing or at least they will been given the opportunity to make their wishes come true. These Astral levels are designed by nature to settle our unfulfilled desires and harmonize our negative energies, but they are by no means the pinnacle of our existence.
Some less informed people imagine that once we step over the threshold of death we will enter immediately into the eternal light of God and unite with our creator by default, regardless of the life we have led or the character we have indulged in. The reality is that all unsettled energies will need to be dealt with, all misdeeds balanced out and understood, all our needs, drives and wishes will need to be addressed and their inner energies exhausted. Even after all this has taken place however there are no guarantees that we will not be attracted to another round into physical flesh or any other part in the material or non material universe.
Our imagination of what this state entails is limited because we are dealing with a completely unaccustomed state of consciousness which no longer puts our ego with its self identification at the center. The ego will have to be surrendered in the same way as we untether a hot air balloon if we want to take to the air. Many believe that without our ego we simply dissolve into a state of nothingness, an amorphous cloudy and perhaps infinite sea of light devoid of any features or into a black void. What will become of us after we abandon all our cherished identifications we have worked so hard for and are seemingly absorbed into featureless void? In some way it appears for many of us like death, to be dreaded no less than physical death and therefore it is spoken of as the “Second Death”.
There is plenty of confusion and uncertainty about what it means to enter into our natural ultimate condition, via our second death into our true “Awakened State”, that state we all sprung from in the first place and we will ultimately enter into when we have completed all our self assigned journeys and exhausted all need for identification with external matter.
So how will “I”, this essential Self or Soul, which in its essence is simply pure awareness, experience this home state of being? What is it like?
Let us consider this from the position of “I”, the Soul, the primary essence of what we are. Here is what I see. The natural condition of my core “enlightened” state is Love, experienced within a universe of its own most sublime feelings. My focus is no longer tied to any of my past redundant identifications. Instead I am where my focus is. I am my being in essence wherever I am. When I look at a flower, I can become the flower from the inside out, but what is more I become the flower in its total state, it’s state of self realization as a flower. I am flower through and through and in billions of blossoming varieties from the core out, and because my essence is rooted in all, I realize that I am every flower in existence, whether past, present or future, which in my essential all pervading state is in reality timeless. My core reaches out beyond flowers and includes all plant life and all life forms by connection. The same way, as in my waking life, I pervade all humans and humanity and as a consequence all living things in the cosmos. Such is the spread of what I am. This is the beauty of the Enlightened State, of Unity Awareness. And the only feeling that will ever be able to embrace it all and encompass it is Love. These expressions are experienced in a state of bliss which is free of emotion, which expresses itself as Love. I am a participatory blissful intelligence residing in all creation.
The whole universe is made of opportunities to become a co-creator with God if I wish. Some of us, who have not had the experience, might consider such a state as “dull” or “boring”, but only because it cannot be imagined. In reality it is the most exquisite fulfillment. The idea that there is emptiness or nothingness is completely wrong, unless we are referring to being “empty of illusion” or “nothingness”, because everything I have identified with so exclusively has become void and meaningless, a concept which may simply be totally beyond our grasp.
Once we have reached a state of awakening we may be given the opportunity to enter this world of pure being while still in the body, and then been given the chance of traveling the inner dimensions. On our way we are given new tools of divinely calibrated perceptions which open up our inner worlds. We travel through these in super aware waking consciousness. Though this requires focus, meditation and unimpeded devotion to the creator itself. But equally it requires courage, because at every turn we will never know what lies beyond. Soaring through the refined layers of consciousness we are surprised by increasing varieties of beauty after beauty, so profuse and abundant that some of us may choose to retire into a place which is totally in keeping with our soul and is the very cradle of Stillness.
Any of this may not even feature as an option to other awakened souls still in the body, but once their body is shed it will be their new, present moment reality, their new default world which has been generated out of the energies they have realized. Entering this state of consciousness from our worldly perspective will be different for each one of us and different every time we enter into it, as each moment is unique and we enter from a different basis of being, emotion and circumstances every time.
So what is it like? One such entry can arise from a deep morning meditation. Let us again take up the first person view. During my deep meditation, infused with profound and consuming love, I may enter the state via something that may first appear like imagination or an apparition within my spiritual view, but on closer inspection it evolves into a scene which has seemingly formed of its own volition and suddenly stands quite clear in front of me. At this moment I will “step” inside it, surrounded by its complete splendor. Having already recognized that there is no division between the perceiver and the perceived, I hold this perception as mine and as a reality surrounding me and that I am a part of. I no longer travel out of body, I simply harness my awareness to being what I already am. In this core state of perception I have transcended time and space. Everything that appears before me is made of light and formed out of my own essential body and being. I am standing in the light of creation and can experience its fascinating intricate structures and beautiful designs which are in a constant state of flux, forever morphing as my very own body. This tells me that I have entered the forecourt of my true home, the seat of my Soul.
“To give an example from my own experience, in one instance, when I entered the state of being, I found myself surrounded by a vast gossamer “tent”, which was perhaps a hundred meters in diameter, woven out of an intricate radiant pattern, pulsating in splendid glory and colors. Once the sight opened up and the reception area disappeared, I was in my true home, a land beyond beautiful, beyond anything that was remotely imaginable, because imagination has limits, but not here, where imagination is reality, unbounded experience. This was just one such entry point. Before even setting out on my meditation the Self has already been realized with no old attachments to an ego Self. At other times I would enter it via a magnificent gate or a tunnel made out of light. The precondition is that I am already there before I set out, already realized, because I am already at one.”
Home is home; there is really nowhere else to go. All my wishes are granted at their core, my deepest desires already fulfilled and laid to rest. Here I live in the absolute fulfillment of my being and all I can do is deal with the abundant blessing and love, letting it flow through me and out into the world.
So what does this celestial home of mine look like? Let me place you again into the unique position of the experiencer. My environment can be anything I like it to be. I may dwell in a simple hut, covered in ivy or Wisteria, with a terrace overlooking a vast open plane, perhaps with a lake with crystal clear water or covered in water lilies with swans and sea birds. But it could be a massive palace with an inner sanctuary, serving as a gateway to higher states still. Or I could simply be a wanderer or pilgrim who claims his home wherever he sets foot. Whatever I chose to have or to be in total freedom is profoundly unique and is carried by its own vibration and sound, ambience and character, all in harmony with my innermost feelings. I am simply in a state which can be anything and everything. And everything means everything, but it is not chaos because I reside inside of everything at the highest, the core level, which is manifested by the laws of cosmic order and harmony. I am in concord with the supreme intelligence of creation, at the hub and essence of life. Consequently I can be in anything and experience it from the inside out.
I may just as naturally slip into an already existing celestial colony or consensus city, with its own unique structure, features and social condition. On another occasion I may enter the supernatural counterpart of my most favorite place on Earth, but here I experience it in its sublime essence and splendor. Or I may visit alien worlds in another universe, their planets made of substances unknown to us, so strange that I will quickly adopt a new set of sensory perception in order to tune in to the world. The surprising thing is, despite of where I go, no matter how aliens reality appears, it is already my home, and I have never left it as I remain united with the source of who I am.
So rich, so perfect, so complete is the home of my consciousness.
But let us not be fooled into believing that we have reached an endpoint, it simply does not exist. “Endpoint” is an assumption, an abstraction only applicable to our limited world view and the mind. In the greater reality there are no starts or endpoints, because one moments flows into the next, carried on the back of a sound, a life current which simply is, without beginning and without end. All of existence flows, transforms, mutates and harmonizes.
The pure ultimate state of being is just that, “Being”. Nothing moves. It is Stillness in essence, which simply does not exist when our focus is firmly fixed on the exclusive worlds of thought, intellect and emotions, where we so easily get trapped. It is a stillness with infinite potential, completely unattached to the dramas of the world and in it’s core state it has no attributes. It is difficult to understand why this is so, when at the same time it is everywhere and everything and expresses itself as pure love throughout? We may just begin to fathom the great mystery of what is the core of it, that there may be stillness beyond the stillness and God beyond God, reality beyond reality and at the same time reality in motion. How far do we dare to travel and what if we find the answer?
For the time being we are rooted with both feet in the physical word, we have chosen to sort out our “stuff”. Our time here is precious, because physical existence has restrictions, limitations and duration. So we do our best to get on with our worldly job. It is here where our attention needs to be applied, connected to the inner heart via Love and in the present moment alone. This way our path will be completed effectively soon enough. Following all the subtle hints and cues we receive along the way, acting authentically, motioned by love, we naturally follow the highway to home, our true home.
Often our tasks are dreary, exhausting and perhaps quite dull, but each time they can serve as a reminder for us to fasten our awareness to this very moment, with its stillness and its inexhaustible potential. So our conflicts become our servants, anchoring us to the reality of NOW.
“In one such moment, on the inner level, I found myself in the presence of a 4th century saint. Ever since I met her for the first time she has became a silent presence in my life. One grey day I yearned to go home inside, into the luminous space. So I called on my friend and asked her, “please take me to your home”. I expected her to take me into some super celestial realm. Instead we found ourselves in a dark slum of absolute squalor and pain. As I sent a questioning look towards her she responded with the most gently demeanor by saying ‘My home is where I am needed most’.”
We can join communities of kindred spirit, cooperate on unimaginable creative projects and can visit any part of Infinity we wish for or are called to. We are the working army of absolute consciousness, the co-workers of God. If you’ve ever wondered where Angels come from, we are the potential Angels. This is how Angels are borne. Emanuel Swedenborg was adamant about it: Angels are no supernatural beings, they were once humans like us.