Discussions about Death

[canadiandaughter]

I have a friend who lost her son very tragically when he was about 21. Her husband was having a terrible time, even a few years later accepting his death. So she decided to go to see a psychic. The week before she went, she had been down south visiting her mom. While there she saw some yellow roses, she thought she should buy them for herself as it was her birthday right away, but decided against it as her mom hated roses and she was heading home in a few days and couldnt take them on the plane. WHen she went to her appt, the lady right away picked up on their son. SHe told them many things that only their son would know, but the eeriest one was she asked my friend if she had recently had a birthday, then she said Chad says he wishes he could have bought you the yellow roses. Now there is NO way that the psychic could have known that story. My friend told me that they went to her several times until they were reassured that their son was ok where he was and that really helped them with their healing. I personally feel there is something after death. My husbands grandmother on her deathbed was talking to her deceased husband like he was in the room waiting to take her home. It was scary but peaceful at the same time. My mom woke up one night shortly before my dads diagnosis last spring and saw a man dressed in black standing over their bed. SHe feels very strongly it was her father as he always wore black. In her mind he came to let her know it would be ok. SHe is really leaning on him now for support as she can feel his presence around her a lot of the time. It gives her peace. I find it very comforting to have this sense that there is something after this life and that all this suffering and hurting we have will end and there will be something so peaceful waiting for us.

[Nik Colon]

Canadian...I believe that also. I have had many of my own experiences. I find it very comforting.

[singingholly]

Since then I have been on a journey of my own to come to terms with my soul and who I am. I've done 20 more rounds of chemo, therapy, past life regression, hypnosis, reiki, meditation, chanting, yelling, singing....trying to seek guidance from my subconscious and to see a sign from God.

I wish I could put into words the feelings I have as I come to terms with my physical mortality. I have bought at least ten journals/note books that are waiting for words to fill them. I'm having a hard to explaining the transition that I am going through. What I can say, is that there are times I feel so wonderful and am filled with so much joy and love that I want to explode (its not the weed for those who know me...lol). This love and energy is God. This is WHY we are here, to feel, to love, to experience as much as possible. I never felt this before now. Yes, I have cancer. Yes, I know the reality of this disease. No, I am not crazy. Sometimes, I even have moments where I forget about the cancer and just LIVE in that moment....

Beliefs about death and life and spirituality are so personal and can be controversial...

Carm, I'm really impressed by the similarity of our journey in this sense, I often find myself in your words... So I think I can tell you what happened to me once while I was sort of meditating about death... and it turned out to be a meditaion on identity instead...
I felt secretly guilty because I was alive and my mom has died... then I had a sort of vision: we all are wonderful and powerful and at the same time little lights burnin bright for who knows how much on this earth... My light won't last forever (probably won't last much time at all... ) so to feel guilty for being alive is just silly, if you know what I mean... I'm just the next one on the list! Well: this conclusion of mine is not the only effect of seing myself like a little but beautiful and anyway strong light that lights in this universe: from the moment I think about myself in these terms I have a sort of leading star to follow: where I feel that my light shines the more THERE I am. For example in any little or big choice I have to make everyday, the right one is the one that makes me feel "brighter" (this feeling is a sort of inner joy of living...). This helps me a lot in distinguishing what is me and what is not me... what is "self" and what is "non self"...
Wow, very difficult to dig... Even for the linguistic gap...
All this to say that talking and thinking about death sometimes unlocks doors that open on life. It's worth it!

(What a mess of a post, mine...)

[singingholly]

N.B.
One may also translate that sensation of "feeling brighter" with other metaphores... for example I might say that I feel my soul "resounding"... It's always a kind of vibration anyway. The important is to pay attention to that sensation... For me is new as an approach to life.

[Don.in.Dallas]

Though I was raised in a spiritual environment I found little value there and made a deliberate escape as a young adult. In the 40 years since, and despite being married to a devout and involved christian, I have encountered no circumstance that causes me to reconsider. I expect nothing after death.

[KWT]

I expect nothing after death.

Same here, we're all so afraid of death it's not like you're going to be sitting around saying, this really sucks.

[Sandy1962]

I don't post much but I felt I needed to post to this topic. I am with Kennytwisted. When were gone were gone, just like before we were born. I am surprised at how many here feel this way. It seems when something bad happens, cancer, that people turn to religion. I don't believe in prayer and don't believe we have a set time.

[JDinNC]

As a child, I was raised to believe when we die we'll go to heaven. But where is heaven, obvious the sky, space and the universe is not heaven as we were taught to believe. As for hell, I believe we are living in hell now....by the way we live our lives will determine where our souls will go. As for heaven, I believe it's a different dimension, which our minds can't register.
Many have spoken how a dear one that was dying seem to be talking to someone. At the time when my mother was dying, she was in a coma for a few days. Hours before she died, the nurse walked into her room and found her with her eyes wide opened reaching her arms towards the ceiling. Who was she seeing and reaching for? What allowed her the strength to open her eyes and reach? This is why I feel heaven is a different dimension. They can see us, but we can't see them. I do believe in spirits, ghost and the evil. I've had enough eerie, unexplained experiences in my years to tell me not to question this. I pray to my parents for their help to get me through this Cancer because I know they are watching over me.
And if I'm wrong about all of this...well, I won't be around to know.

[Deborah614]

I was diagnosed with stage 2 rectal cancer 12/17/14. For a quick moment I doubted God had a good plan for my life, after all. I quickly let that emotion skip through my mind and settled on what I know to be true. God is Love.
The outpouring of love and compassion I have received since my diagnosis has been mind blowing. My 14 year old grandson says I have a "supernatural calm" and he's right on. I feel the prayers. I feel God in this. I see Him when my children gather around me in concern and my husband nurtures me. I am heartbroken that they have to endure this with me, butt I also realize that my illness has put us each on a spiritual quest. I feel an innate responsibility for my crowd of witnesses to not waiver in my faith, to rely on God's Love for us and to have faith that no matter what, we will be alright. Better than alright. I'm looking for the miracles, the blessings that each will receive by loving me, caring for me, praying for me and above all, hoping and believing with me.
Of course, I've had to wonder if I'll survive cancer. I sat beside my best friend for nine months as she succumbed to bile duct cancer. She laid the course for me as to how to continue to have faith while suffering. She never once asked "why me?" she asked, "why not me? Why not me and not the child in the cancer ward or the young mother with children who depend on her or the father who needs to support his family." Why has no place with cancer. It is what it is. An unlucky fluke.
God did not give me cancer, but God will love me and guide me through this unfortunate turn of events. God is Love.
Blaise Pascal, the christian philosopher (who died of stomach cancer) wrote The Wager and it goes like this:
"Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists." In other words, as far as eternal life is concerned, I'll make the safe bet that it does. "so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal"- Corinthians 4:18

[Cb75]

Since then I have been on a journey of my own to come to terms with my soul and who I am. I've done 20 more rounds of chemo, therapy, past life regression, hypnosis, reiki, meditation, chanting, yelling, singing....trying to seek guidance from my subconscious and to see a sign from God.

I wish I could put into words the feelings I have as I come to terms with my physical mortality. I have bought at least ten journals/note books that are waiting for words to fill them. I'm having a hard to explaining the transition that I am going through. What I can say, is that there are times I feel so wonderful and am filled with so much joy and love that I want to explode (its not the weed for those who know me...lol). This love and energy is God. This is WHY we are here, to feel, to love, to experience as much as possible. I never felt this before now. Yes, I have cancer. Yes, I know the reality of this disease. No, I am not crazy. Sometimes, I even have moments where I forget about the cancer and just LIVE in that moment....

Beliefs about death and life and spirituality are so personal and can be controversial...

Carm, I'm really impressed by the similarity of our journey in this sense, I often find myself in your words... So I think I can tell you what happened to me once while I was sort of meditating about death... and it turned out to be a meditaion on identity instead...
I felt secretly guilty because I was alive and my mom has died... then I had a sort of vision: we all are wonderful and powerful and at the same time little lights burnin bright for who knows how much on this earth... My light won't last forever (probably won't last much time at all... ) so to feel guilty for being alive is just silly, if you know what I mean... I'm just the next one on the list! Well: this conclusion of mine is not the only effect of seing myself like a little but beautiful and anyway strong light that lights in this universe: from the moment I think about myself in these terms I have a sort of leading star to follow: where I feel that my light shines the more THERE I am. For example in any little or big choice I have to make everyday, the right one is the one that makes me feel "brighter" (this feeling is a sort of inner joy of living...). This helps me a lot in distinguishing what is me and what is not me... what is "self" and what is "non self"...
Wow, very difficult to dig... Even for the linguistic gap...
All this to say that talking and thinking about death sometimes unlocks doors that open on life. It's worth it!

(What a mess of a post, mine...)

I have to say I understand what you are saying Olivia. I can say, I'm happy to find someone else who gets it. Six months ago, I wouldn't have. It's funny, I did a hypnosis and Reiki session last week and the way I described how I was feeling was the same. My light was dim, I need more energy from my source. These were my words, something I have never ever said. For anyone who has any interest and is reading this, these are words i would NEVER have used before. I am a very grounded person. Educated by life and school. Through meditation I've really been able to get in touch with myself and feel calm and at peace, still. For anyone interested in any of these ideas of energy, I highly recommend Reiki, it was amazing and I've been feeling great ever since.

cb <3

[singingholly]

I understand we're walking parallel, Carm! Me too I'm having great benefits from meditation, I'm yoga oriented and as you already said: if someone is interested in this kind of practice or talking about spiritual approach to the disease, here I am.

[Deb m]

I believe very strongly that there is a heaven and a hell. I believe Jesus Christ is our savior and that he died on the cross to open the gates of heaven for those who believe and are worth, (die in the state of grace and not mortal sin.) Jesus and his mother Mary endured a very hard and poor life on earth with many very hard crosses. Neither of them had any sin in them at all. Why on earth do we think that we don't deserve crosses when for instance I myself can even make it to the breakfast table without sinning. Jesus dying on the cross was an example for us on how to endure our crosses and a proof of his love for us. When he rose from the dead, it was his way of letting us know that death is not final, and that he is the one and only true God! As a parent when my children do wrong, of course I forgive them, but they still get punished for their own good. I don't give them what they want and I do make things hard for them for their own good, because I love them. I feel these crosses we get in life our for our own good. Everything bad that comes my way I can't say I don't deserve because I do, but I know that Jesus will never give me more than I can handle and he knows whats best. Crosses are a way to make reparation for our sins and to offer it up for good intentions.. Earth is not our final resting place, it is not what we were ultimately created for. I believe it is only a place we pass thru, a test so to speak. Our existence here on earth is only a blink of an eye compared to the eternity in heaven or hell. How we conduct our lives here will determine whether we spend eternity in heaven or hell. I believe Jesus is very merciful, but also very just. Everything that happens every second of our lives is not by chance, it's all controlled by our savior for reasons that sometimes we don't understand. Jesus gives everybody the graces at some point in their lives to make it to heaven and these graces,(opportunities) almost always come in the form of some kind of pain and suffering.

Just my two cents on this topic. I do wish everybody a happy groundhogs day and hope it results in a early, warm spring!

God bless,

deb m

[KWT]

deb, if your going to post stuff like that your opening yourself up to some twisted comments. I'll have to refrain for now as I have a coffee date with the Easter bunny.

[Deb m]

Kenny,

Thats ok, I don't mind. When you believe in heaven, hell And Jesus,I believe it's the other comments to the contrary that are twisted. But like I said, I don't mind nore do I wish to insult anybody. It's just my faith and belief and it's very strong!

God Bless,

Deb m

[KWT]

I figured, you're just replying to a post. I for one am insulted at the mere mention of beep and what a great guy he is. That is my problem and I know it. Two questions did he really die for our sins or just take a long nap? And if I watch porn will I go to hell? ( not that I watch porn Id be more worried about my wife than jesus)