UNDERSTANDING
PHYSICAL
DEATH

Explaining the importance of understanding physical death in metaphysical and spiritual terms in order to improve the quality of life.

On this topic I note from my personal experiences, that there has been a gross lack of understanding in the general community of the meaning of physical death, in metaphysical and spiritual terms, and this ignorance has compounded fears, and has caused, and continues to cause, a decrease in the quality of life among many.

I feel that the fear of death which is ever-present in the community and constantly in the mind of many, particularly the elderly, can be dispelled with the proper knowledge.

There are few things more dramatic than the effects of a close personal encounter with death and the fear it engenders in those people who have little apparent reason or apparent opportunity to prepare for such an encounter. The effects of that fear are often devastating to the quality of life of those affected.

I feel that recent metaphysical, spiritual and scientific breakthroughs on this topic should have been made part of the educational curriculums of all schools and part of disseminated general knowledge. These would have allowed a fuller understanding of the process of physical death in metaphysical and spiritual terms, indeed, in scientific terms also.

It is my belief, as supported by the published data, some of which I will discuss below, that the acquisition of such knowledge could have had a profoundly beneficial effect on the quality of life of all people who could truly understand the concept and occurrence of physical death as defined in the terms of metaphysical science. There are ample examples in the literature of all cultures to support the 3 points I am making here, which are:

1      The fear of death traumatises the greater part of humanity and causes many unwanted problems. It reduces the quality of life of individuals. And this is because society, generally speaking, has been negligent in its education of people regarding this aspect of their lives.

2      There is abundant anecdotal, historical, metaphysical, philosophical, psychiatric and scientific evidence, which is increasing daily, of the continuation of consciousness after physical death. There is enough, in fact, to silence all the fear-harbouring sceptics and agnostics who, in reality, seem to fear death far more than those they attack relentlessly.

3      Surveys of those who have suffered episodes which have been labelled "Near Death Experiences" and "Out-Of-Body-Experiences" are being published regularly and they clearly demonstrate the loss of fear of physical death in these experiencers who acquire an understanding of the metaphysical and spiritual significance of dropping the outer shell, that is, of dying physically, and of undergoing a natural process which, I believe, we have all undergone many times, due to the process of reincarnation.

I have met people who boldly declared that they were not afraid of dying. But in many of these, when they approached death's door, I witnessed an unwelcome and involuntary change, and most were reduced to trembling, frightened children wanting reassurance from someone, anyone, that they would be alright. Their bravado was false and deserted them in their hour of need. The most egotistical suffered all the more as they wrestled their fear in silence.

Egotistical pseudo-courage in the face of death is useless. Death can only be faced with the proper knowledge which gives faith, confidence and joy.

With such knowledge, fear is transmuted into true awareness and into acceptance of a natural process.

The greatly illuminating advances in thanatology, due to the investigations of the last 30 years, have hardly had any beneficial effects on the members of the general community.

I found ample evidence in my own personal life, in my medical practice, in the accounts of others and in the literature, for the belief that there is a problem in society caused by the ignorance of the true significance of physical death and I have found that this has caused much sorrow, pain and grief. I have also found ample evidence for the belief in the continuation of consciousness when the body dies, in many general, religious, historical, and scientific sources.

We have been blessed in this generation with a great deal of evidence which allows those of us who wish to do so, to conclude that consciousness does, in fact, continue after physical death. This, in my view, fulfils the ancient prophecy that there would occur a "generation which would not know death".

All true spiritual Masters have said that consciousness is distinct from the physical and survives the death of the body. The Biblical Prophets of old said this, as did Jesus Himself. Hence, why do some doubt that it should be so, especially after an examination of the evidence which is available from medical research and other investigations of this generation?

The fear of death, which is the fear of permanent loss, of permanent separation, fear of the unknown, often caused by indoctrinated untruths, is a reality in people's lives. The first 4 stages in the death process as described by Kubler-Ross (1970) are all due to fear. It is my belief that they can be bypassed.

We all know too well the fear of death and what it can do. No one would deny its existence and the havoc it can cause.

Just as all ancient sacred texts talk about the survival of consciousness beyond physical death, all religions base their concept of the soul upon that entity which outlives the body.

All cultures have references to Near Death Experiences and the consciousness' survival:

a.      The historian Frederick Holck has reported examples from South America, Russia, South Asia, China, India, from Jewish and Islamic literature and so on. He concludes that they are part of the wealth of experiences of the human race in general.

b.      Neville Randall's book (1980) exposes the similarity of Near Death Experiences world-wide.

c.      Psalm 23, taken from Egyptian mysticism (the cult of Osiris) avers to the eternal existence of consciousness for it ends thus: "... I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

d.      The Bible has many plagiarised facts in it, but few are aware that in 553 AD, the Council of Constantinople outlawed belief in Re-incarnation for Christians. References to Re-incarnation were removed by the church following this Second Council of Constantinople in 553 AD, a long, long time after the original gospels were supposed to have been written. The decree stated that:

"Whosoever shall support the mythical doctrine of the pre-existence of the Soul and the consequent wonderful opinion of its return, let him be anathema." Hence, the belief in Re-incarnation which was, and is, part of almost all other religious beliefs and mythologies around the world, and was included in the Gnostic writings of Plato, only became heretical 5 centuries after Jesus. Inspite of the fact that reincarnation was outlawed in the Christian church by this Council, there are numerous passages in the extant bibles which not only suggest the continuation of consciousness after physical death but also suggest reincarnation of that consciousness.

i      Thus the apostles reported to Jesus that many thought that Jesus was Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets (Matt 16:13).

ii      Even Jesus said that Elijah would reincarnate, (Matthew 17:11) that is, that the reincarnation of that consciousness would occur.

iii      In John 9:2 the apostles asked Jesus whether the man blind from birth was blind due to his previous sinning (obviously in a previous life, or due to the sinning of his parents (karma for the parents also?)

iv      Jesus promised the Apostles he would go to prepare a place for them. He did not say: "If there is a possibility that you will survive physical death I might see you". No. He was quite firm about what he said.

e.      The Koran describes astral states for the faithful ones. Such rewards are for the consciousness after physical death. Their survival is taken as an article of faith without dispute.

f.      Gnosticism is adamant about the soul surviving the physical death. Manichaeism speaks of the liberation of the soul from its physical prison as do Orphism and Zoroastrianism.

g.      The Buddhist soul seeks Nirvana after surviving physical death, and for the Tibetans the soul is guided in its after-life travels by the lessons of the Bardo Thodol (the Tibetan Book of the Dead) compiled and edited by W.Y. Evans-Wentz. (1960).

h.      Hinduism concerns itself with the journeys of the soul in and out of bodies. In the version of the Ramayana, also called "The Philosophy of Humanity", translated in 1982 by Swami Chidbhavanabda, fighting factions in humanity are described, with the wicked eventually going to damnation and the virtuous to eternal bliss. However, they all survive physical death.

i.      Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (1969) urges Arjuna to kill his enemy, for that was his duty as a soldier. He went further and explained the total insignificance of the physical expression. Krishna alludes to the insignificance of the physical in His discourse with Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita as these extracts demonstrate: " These bodies, which act as enveloping coverings for the souls occupying them, are but finite things of the moment ... They perish as all finite things perish. He who in his ignorance thinketh: "I slay" or "I am slain" babbleth like an infant lacking knowledge ... How can a man commit the folly of thinking that he can either kill; cause to kill; or be killed himself? ... Be self-centred and uncontrolled by the illusions of the finite world. When thou shalt rise beyond the plane of illusion, then shalt thou cease to disturb thyself regarding doctrines, theology, disputations concerning rites or ceremonies, and other useless trimmings upon the cloth of spiritual thought ... You will be liberated from those who would interpret that which they fail themselves to understand; but instead, shalt thou fix thy mind in earnest contemplation of the Spirit, and thus reach the harmony with thy Real Self ... That which seemeth real to the men of the sense-world is known to be illusion by the Sage. Knowing the whole Truth, thou shouldst beware of unsettling the minds of those not yet prepared to grasp it, as untimely teaching may drive from their work such as see only half-Truths, and become unsettled thereby."

In another passage He says: "Many lives, Arjuna, you and I have lived, I remember them all, but thou dost not." Why would a Divine Avatar want to lie?

j.      Plato (1973), in his "Republic" recounts, through the eyes of a soldier called Er who experiences a prolonged episode of Near Death Experience, how the souls in the astral planes are apportioned new life in new bodies and also suffer various rewards and admonitions.

k.      Swedenborg, threatened on his death bed by the local bishop with the fires of Hell, refused to recant the story of his astral visions which gave credence to consciousness existing outside the physical body. His refusal was based on faith and actual experience.

l.      The Apotheosis ritual of the Ancient Egyptians and other cultures, so mocked by the decadent churches of the Dark Ages, celebrated the flight of the soul of the deceased imminent personage to the astral plane. They had no doubt the soul survived physical death.

Indeed, in the Egyptian Book of the dead, the surviving consciousness was given instructions for progress after the body died.

m.      And so it is that I think even Shakespeare, as well as many other writers, were trying to educate the masses with their entertaining plays. Shakespeare is a special example because he recalled Archetypal Syndromes when he referred to after-life identities, the supernatural and psychic phenomena, as in Hamlet, in Macbeth, in the Tempest and other plays. It would be ungracious and demeaning to think he created these aspects of his plays just for entertainment. I think he was using the broadened reality within his psyche to assist in the expansion of our own awareness.

n.      The greatest body of evidence comes from the immensely fruitful thanatological work of our own generation. Modern researchers such as Moody, Wambach, Sabom and Stevenson have independently published results of investigations which allow one to conclude that the consciousness is a separate and capably-independent entity. It survives death of the physical body.

i      Dr I. Stevenson (1974) demonstrated the history of consciousness away from the body, before and after death of the physical.

ii      Dr Moody (1975) published information on the travel of consciousness to other realms and dimensions in cases called Near Death Experiences.

iii      Dr Sabom did likewise and also noted the loss of fear in experiencers. (1981).

iv      The psychologist Wambach (1979) published results of hypnotic inductions which allowed consciousnesses to reveal their existence, in many hundreds of patients at a time, during the time between different physical bodies in various lives.

v      Dr Rawlings (1978, 1993) a clinical cardiologist, with whom Amitakh and I spent some time, writes on the traumatising and unexpected Near Death Experiences in his patients who then tell him of conditions of the consciousness once the body is left behind. He presents a different view of the eventual conditions experienced by many consciousnesses after death, but nonetheless these episodes, different as they may be, demonstrate the continuity of consciousness.

vi      Kenneth Ring (1985) accumulates data from many Near Death Experiencers and they relate conditions in other planes and changes to occur on this one. His conclusions raise the possibility of other levels of consciousness having plans for the collective consciousness of humanity. This concept of other dimensions and levels of consciousness is now an established possibility in the minds of many people, including quantum physicists, as explained by Fred Wolf in his book "Parallel Universes". (1990)

vii      Melvin Morse (1983) confirms the occurrence of Near Death Experiences in toddlers and children.

Most of these medical investigators have eliminated physical conditions such as anoxia, carbon dioxide accumulation, the effects of drugs, a degenerating brain, etc., as being the reasons for the occurrence of the remarkable experiences of the consciousness. Physiological, pharmacological, neurological and psychological explanations have all been eliminated as the cause of Near Death Experiences which demonstrate the continuation of the consciousness after physical death.

It is worth noting that those who experience Out Of Body episodes describe seeing articles and incidences that were out of the field of vision of their bodies, thus eliminating simple mechanical vision as being the reason for their extended sight.

Those who awaken and relate their experiences in these Near Death Episodes often claim they have met dead people and have identified some whose existence they were not aware of, and could not have been aware of, in the physical. Examples abound.

Hence, it is reported that, they met siblings who died before the patient was born, and of whom they had never been told.

This contradicts one of the explanations for such experiences given by sceptics, and that is that such experiences are a final pleasant experience the brain gives itself as it is in the last stages of death. But how could the brain acquire information which it had never received to include in this final experience? It is impossible to be a function of the brain alone. Besides, the work of Rawlings demonstrates that this final brain replay may not be a pleasant experience in all cases. In many, it is hellish. Hence, why would the brain want to frighten itself to death? The explanation is that the experiences are of the consciousness and not of the brain.

And finally, it may be added that if these experiences were the last fling of a brain in its final stages, why are people who experience them often perfect in their cerebration once resuscitated, and why do they even show increased awareness and brain function? (Sutherland, 1992)

Surely, if these experiences were of a dying brain it would show evidence of destruction and malfunction on resuscitation!

The suggestion of similarity in those of similar culture and religion can be explained, I feel, by the fact that the brain interprets its experiences in the language, culture and religion which it has in that lifetime.

Hence, a Christian would relate to Jesus and the Saints, a Muslim to Mohammed, a Buddhist to Buddha, etc.

Kubler-Ross (1970) in her pioneering book, exposes the paradox that as society has hidden death from general view by denying it, religions have lost their believers in a life after death. This has compounded humanity's fears, not lessened them.

She then lists 5 stages in the process of dying: Denial and Isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

But it is my contention that, with proper knowledge and understanding of what physical life and death are about, these stages and their inherent fears and trauma do not have to be experienced.

Carl Parrish-Harra (1989) and Cherie Sutherland (1992) and many, many others have demonstrated the obvious benefits to be derived from acceptance of the knowledge of life after physical death. They aver repeatedly to the tremendous improvement in the quality of life that occurs to many who accept this knowledge and to those in their lives who are also touched by their faith and freedom from fears. Sutherland's title says it clearly: "Transformed by the Light!".

Sabom (1981) writes about the marked decrease in the fear of death in Near Death Experiences. And Sutherland reports that in her series there was a universal belief of life after death and a movement towards the belief in reincarnation after the Near Death Experience. (1992, 230) Often there is a change of direction in life, for the better, and this improves the quality of life. People reassess their values, their lives, their priorities. They become less materialistic, more loving, more sharing, more giving, of more service, more aware of the needs of others, etc. I repeat, it is my contention that these attributes can be taught even to robotic consciousnesses without the need to have traumatic and dramatic Near Death Experiences.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with the saying that there are only 2 certainties in life: Death and Taxes. While the latter is a nuisance and sometimes a burden to many, it is death that is the great inevitability which provokes the greatest fear, anxiety, depression, sorrow and grief in most people who do not have a proper understanding of the metaphysical and spiritual significance of physical death.

As a doctor I became acutely aware of the unpreparedness of the general community for the inevitable. This unpreparedness disturbed me.

I had just started my own practice when one afternoon I was called urgently to the house of one of my patients. When I arrived I was met by a weeping 74 year old woman who sadly said: "He is gone doctor. I am now all alone. What am I to do? He is gone, doctor." There was nothing I could say or do to console her.

Her 79 year old husband had died before I got there. Her acute pain, sorrow and grief were real enough, and as I looked at her I realised she would have to resolve these in order to continue living. She was numbed by the experience, as many are at that moment. And then the thought struck me.

Had this woman, who has lived 74 years, been negligent in not preparing for such an inevitable eventuality? Was she ignorant of events in life or was she just stupid? Why had she, at her age and in view of her husband's age, not prepared herself earlier and better for death's visitation? Later, I realised I was naive to blame the individuals, for as I noted that this process repeated itself with monotonous regularity, I realised that people like this widow were victims of an ignorant, uncaring, stupid, negligent society which had really done little to prepare them and ease their suffering in a formal way.

At other times I often heard: "But doctor, I don't want to die" or, "But doctor, I don't want my father to die", and many other similar pleadings and supplications in my life and medical practice. I have no doubt that these exclamations arose out of egotistical selfishness and the ignorance of the meaning of death. They occurred especially when a grave diagnosis was a possibility.

Many patients attend a doctor's surgery with fear and trepidation (caused by the unexpressed, but obviously present, fear of death) when they have symptoms that may be of a serious disease, and they pray lest the lump in the breast is cancer, or that the bleeding means cancer, or that the chest pain is the beginning of a fatal heart attack, and so on.

As a doctor, I noted that the fear of death was a constant companion of those with undiagnosed medical problems of a possibly serious nature.

I have the mental vision of many young women with breast lumps attending for consultation while their anxieties and open fear of death weighed down their very words as they spoke. Many others were unable to disguise their fear of cancer in their anxieties about a persistent cough, or overt bleeding, or an enlarged gland, etc., for cancer, in their minds, was a sentence of death. The very word sent shivers of fear into many patients who sought advice, and I learnt early on to avoid using it in my discussion with them.

The relief patients demonstrated, and their unashamed joy and happiness in receiving a clean bill of health after biopsies, extensive tests, etc., were marvels to behold in contrast to their previous appearance when they were racked with uncertainty, or worse still, threatened by the fear of death.

Modern culture and its poor education are to blame for this state of affairs. Modern societies have sanitised death so that it has been separated from "normal" life. Physical death has been made an unwanted, unspoken artificiality. Even the word is used less and the process has been euphemised. People no longer physically die, they move on, pass on, leave us, etc. People now often die alone and lonely in hospices, in geriatric homes and nursing homes, forgotten and unloved.

Many die in intensive care wards, where visitations are greatly restricted and where often the extent of medical heroics are far beyond that which is necessary or desirable.

They die unnaturally in an unnatural environment. They have tubes in most orifices, and respirators, drains and monitors. Their minds are totally clouded due to drugs and if they resist, they are artificially pacified. And all of this is ultimately to no avail. If they protest too much, some countries such as Australia even have laws by which the patient's opinion is bypassed. They are declared non compos mentis - not of sound mind. Then the doctors can take full control and do what they like.

Most cases do not go to this extreme, but many patients are too frightened to speak up, and besides, they are blackmailed by the illusionary hope the doctors always dangle before their eyes. And so it is that time passes in these intensive wards and the patients are denied the dignity and elegance of dying in peace.

Many would give their all to be allowed to leave and die in peace in their own homes, foregoing the false promise of recovery the medicos pander to them, as they use them to practice their skills and technologies, while often oblivious to the real needs of the patient! And this should not be so.

Often the death process is an exercise in (eventually failing) medical technology, apprehensive and fearful for the patient, for the relatives and for many of the medical personnel.

It is a cruel exploitation of the rights of the dying person, rather than the pleasant, indeed happy and serene, event that it should be. And this is so because of the fear of death our modern societies have hidden, neglected, failed to confront and not resolved. It is due to ignorance and medical failure in the psychological sense, as in the physical sense.

Death is made to appear foreign, like an unwanted performance for those not affected by its process who then often show indignation at its existence. It is seen by many as an almost remorseful shame to be forgotten as soon as possible. Is not a dead body hidden as quickly as possible from the view of the "living"? Does this not just compound fear of death in those who have not faced this fear?

The way Western societies have developed, the fear has been greatly increased, rather than decreased, for this naturally occurring event which is a phase of transition from one mode of living to another in different dimensions. This transition is the process of physical death.

Modern societies are desensitised to the true significance of death inspite of reports of the massive carnage of road fatalities, of the numbers killed in wars which we now witness on our TV monitors, of the violence in films and television, and even in many children's cartoons. Death is held at arm's length, and is tolerated, it seems, as long as it does not affect one personally.

Most people are in constant denial of death, until it touches them or their family. And then they are in the grip of fear, shock, grief, sorrow and so on. Some even panic.

I have found that modern society, modern medicine and its promises of miracle cures have diminished the spiritual and metaphysical meaning and importance of physical death and given those who have not yet awakened in these fields, a false sense of immortality. They have done nothing to prepare people for their inevitable physical demise.

Indeed, they pander to the very opposite. They bolster the unpreparedness with the promise of a cure for all things and resultant immortality. Some have been taken in by this falsehood and have given their diseased bodies to be resuscitated in the future when a cure for that which killed them is found. Those in this aspect of cryogenics are rubbing their hands in glee, not for the fulfilment of the promise of physical resuscitation, but for the growth of their bank balances.

At the hour of death, the promise of physical immortality, gullibly accepted by many, is seen to be false. The modern society and its medicine cannot deliver. And such patients are left to face the full brunt of the fear they thought they would never meet. They now realise they had been fooled all along and this only compounds their grief!

Society expects people to resolve their own fear of death while they are healthy, and as fewer and fewer attend to this, as can be gauged from the falling attendances to spiritual centres and religious institutions, fewer and fewer are prepared for death.

A small section of society is awakening gradually and the call for voluntary euthanasia is now at least talked about in many countries. But resistance is great, and doctors have been prosecuted and jailed for providing their patients the opportunity for a good death, one of the patients' own choosing, in their own setting, at their own time, when they, the patients, are best prepared to cope with the process.

I am of the opinion that various legal, medical, religious and ethical arguments put forward in total opposition to euthanasia only highlight the metaphysical and spiritual ignorance of those who oppose it.

The ignorance of spiritual matters in many doctors was brought home to me one evening when I was assisting a renal transplant procedure. The callousness of some doctors and their frustrations in the face of death, and their inability to accept death as anything but failure on their part, is highlighted by this experience I had.

A suitable kidney resulted from the sudden death of a young donor in a motor vehicle accident. By early evening all the legal matters had been settled and the patient who was to receive the kidney was transferred to the operating theatre. The procedure was not simple and although the patient was a woman in her thirties, her physical condition was poor, a result of constant dialysis, etc.

After some hours during which the vascular team dealt with her renal vessels and the urological team to the ureter and bladder, the patient suffered a massive myocardial infarction and died. No blood pressure existed. Her heart had stopped. External cardiac massage was tried at first. When there was no response, her chest was opened and direct cardiac massage was tried, all to no avail. There was no response. It was then, when it was obvious the patient could not be revived, that the chief surgeon, oblivious to the presence of many others, in obvious, utter frustration, and in his inability to cope with the death of this patient, flung his cap and mask across the room and yelled: "What a bloody waste, what a bloody waste!"

All fell silent. The gloom was thick and many were sad at the death of this young woman who seemed to be on the verge of a new physical life.

Not one word was uttered in a spiritually comforting sense. The room was a scene of failure. The body was now a cadaver to be thrust into the mortuary until burial. There was no sense of the continuity of life, or of the presence of God, or of the joy of liberation. There was nothing. The lack of awareness was like a black, cold blanket draped over us all.

At that moment I knew I wanted more than this in my life, for all this was a picture of meaningless, failed technology with no real purpose in it. I somehow knew the real picture contained more.

The fact that these doctors could not apparently see beyond the physical and could not acknowledge the possibility of a realm and intelligence far greater than theirs was frightening. I did not want to be like them, with such a narrow vision of what life was really like.

I had seen many, many patients throughout my years in practice with the fear of death in them and I was unable to help them. In those days, there was nothing I could do. I was not in a position to initiate any conversation to dispel their fears. It was up to them to seek what could be found, what answers there were. Most did not seek. They did not expect personal, philosophical or metaphysical answers to be given by a mere doctor of medicine and this is a negative aspect in the practice of modern medicine.

I had seen the benefits in those few who had initiated such a discussion and in those who asked a simple question that I was able to answer to their satisfaction.

Most had been either programmed or indoctrinated not to seek answers that were available, that could allay their fears and anxieties. And, of course, as doctors we were trained to ignore that fear, even when we saw it, because we were taught our role did not extend to the spiritual aspect of the patient.

But now as a metaphysician, I know that healing occurs, and needs to occur, on all levels of a patient's being -- in his physical, in his mental, in his emotional and in his spiritual aspect, even thought he results may not be what the physical mind expects.

Like most healthy, young people, I gave little thought to death. I was aware it occurred, knew people who suffered the loss of relatives, attended funerals, etc., but, like most, thoughts of my own demise were distant indeed. I can remember that as young schoolchildren we were all disturbed by having to attend funerals during school hours, especially when a pupil of the school had died.

It reminded one of one's own death and also, having been indoctrinated with the notion of eternal Hell fire in the Catholic school I attended, one was reminded of the thought of the punishment one must surely get when one died. It was not until later in life that I identified God with Love and Happiness rather than with fear, retribution and punishment.

Such morbid thoughts in us were quickly dispelled, of course, by the natural exuberance of children and the ability to forget the unpleasant as quickly as possible. Leaving the church, our thoughts were no longer of death, but of lunch, or football, or innocent children's chatter and all the other little thoughts that make children mentally healthy and happy.

It was in my medical years that I first had to confront and resolve within myself the constant occurrence of the direct effects of death and its fear on people. Sudden death from heart attacks, from post-operative complications, from poisoning, accidents, failed resuscitation, etc., often invoked a numbing depression and severe anxiety, usually with great grief in those associated closely with the diseased.

It was difficult not to be moved when one was part of the scene in a busy casualty section of a large hospital or when one had to break the news to the anxious relatives.

Nothing shatters the tranquillity and quality of one's life like the dramatic and heart-piercing news of the unexpected death of a loved one, especially a young, vibrant one, killed in an accident.

I was personally affected by the physical death of children especially and found it difficult at first, like all the other young medical staff, to attend their post-mortem examinations on the morning after their deaths, especially if I had seen or attended them just before their death. It was different with the older patients. One expected them to die. One impersonally rationalised that they had had a fair inning, were worn out, etc.

Childhood deaths were different. They easily stirred emotions of confusion, sadness and sometimes grief. I had no metaphysical understanding. But, being young and healthy, I quickly forgot these episodes, like all the other doctors, and got on with my life. As the years passed, I developed, again just like my peers, a brazen detachment from death and the effects it had on people.

But now I realise I had not resolved anything about this important subject. It was a form of denial. I was not in a position of knowledge at all, although like most doctors, I would never have admitted it then.

From the discussions that ensued from various cases, it appeared that often we doctors saw death as a result of the failure of our knowledge, skills and technology, rather than as a natural, inevitable process in the pattern of living in stages, at this point of our spiritual development and contemporary evolution. When death occurred, it was the end of that case, and the result was failure, period!

Any feelings, of depression, sadness, grief, etc., were personal things not to be demonstrated, seen or discussed. Even the psychiatric training we received saw the grief of death as an "unnatural", expected process which had to be treated as best as possible in order to allow those grieving to get on with their "normal", everyday duties. Metaphysical and spiritual considerations were personal, private, confidential and not part of one's medical armament, nor were they expected to be, by the doctors or by their patients.

It was not until I had been in general practice and developed a large cross-section of patients, which provided me with many unusual and philosophically- stimulating and mind-expanding experiences, that the question of the metaphysical and spiritual understanding of death was of greater importance to my patients and myself than I had previously thought. A number of incidents, as I ministered to dying patients, led me to this conclusion.

One outstanding example is clearly in my mind and it illustrates the significance of having an understanding of death and how this understanding can improve the quality of one's life. For me it highlighted the need, always even up to today, unheeded, to educate the community, and through this experience I made realisations which eventually allowed me to find the keys to the process of being a complete healer, not just a physician.

I had been reading spiritual and metaphysical literature for some time and many of my patients and friends knew of my changing philosophical views. At that time my father had a racehorse, and its trainer and his wife, who were also good friends of mine, were aware of my philosophical interests.

They asked if I would casually talk with a relative of theirs next time they were in the city where we lived, as this relative had recently lost a 20 year old son in an accident and was still very distressed. She apparently had some personal questions she wanted to ask me. She was searching for answers in the metaphysical realm. I said I would meet her and they arranged to drive her down for the race meeting which I would attend.

At the meeting, in a carnival atmosphere, I was introduced to the relative. I saw a woman in her early fifties with anxiety, depression, sorrow and grief written all over her face. This burden obviously affected her body as well. After telling me, in her quiet way, of the loss of her only son, of the guilt she had for unresolved conflicts with him, of her remorse, grief, etc., she asked me if I really believed there was life after death.

The trainer had told her I had read widely about the subject and she wanted to know directly from me what I thought.

When I met her, I said that I was convinced that the consciousness of a person does survive physical death and that her son's consciousness would certainly be alive and well somewhere. When I said this, the transformation in her face and body were instantaneous and miraculous. Her depression and grief seemed to vanish as if someone had lifted an enormous weight off her shoulders. She smiled with an infectious happiness and said: "Thank you, doctor, you have made me very happy."

I was astounded by the effect of my words. Certainly I had told others of my beliefs before, without such a dramatic effect. It was then I realised the importance of what I had said to this lady. She was in the grip of reactive depression and sorrow. By simply stating my belief of life after death, I had done more good for her in a few moments of discussion than I could have done with all the drugs I could have prescribed for her mental distress. I realised then that I could do far more good as a metaphysical doctor for those who needed such help than by simply being an allopathic physician.

I felt my words had helped to heal a great wound in this woman's heart, and I subsequently realised that not only would it be wonderful to heal such injuries, caused by the lack of understanding of the metaphysical and spiritual meaning of death, but also, that by using this knowledge one could help others avoid much of such misery in the first place.

Much pain and sorrow, depression and grief can be avoided if we accept the knowledge of the continuation of consciousness after physical death.

One would expect to receive such reassurance from a minister of religion, from fellow church attendants, etc., but here I was, a scientifically trained doctor, giving it, a doctor who based his belief on certain research which resonated with an inherent inner faith, and its truth, that had been neglected in the early years.

This knowledge had instantly removed all doubt in this grieving mother's mind and allowed a miraculous transformation to occur. Certainly she was ready and wanted to receive such information. But it must have also resonated with her own knowledge and faith within, otherwise from whence would such a transformation come?

Admittedly, my words helped, but the significance of them being uttered by a doctor who had confirmed his own belief by research, added strength to her own tenuous beliefs and hopes, and resulted in an instant acceptance of them, in this case.

The pain, sorrow and grief caused by physical death in many is indisputable. We can all relate to this, from the death of children to the assassination of Presidents. The fear of death looms as the largest fear in man (and, dare I say, in animals) for it plays on the mind with the uncertainty of what may lie behind death's door.

Other experiences and further reading revealed not only the persistence of the fear of death in the community and its effective dissolution by proper metaphysical and spiritual knowledge, but also the great improvement that can occur in one's life with the acquisition of such knowledge.

I have had many other personal experiences which highlight the significance of metaphysical and spiritual knowledge and the role they play in the spiritual awakening of individuals and in the amelioration of their quality of life in all aspects.

My late father's story is a classical example: He had been a youth through the world-wide depression of the 1930s, a soldier who survived the Second World War, a post-war migrant from Italy to Australia, and a hard-drinking, heavy-smoking, hard-working man, not atypical for the genre of his era.

With such experiences of the great depression, the second Great War, the problems of migration into a still hostile environment, such people as my father had been hardened by the heavy knocks of life. (Australia was very British and controlled by Great Britain, in every sense, in the late 1940s; Italians had lost the war and were still fair game for abusive racism which was, and still is, alive and barely disguised here. And of this I have had personal experience also.) Such people as my father had seen much of the worst that life had to throw at them.

He was not a religious man at all, but I know that in his own way, without ever telling anyone, he believed in a Superior Force.

One day he was stopped abruptly by a massive heart attack which he survived. It forced him to reassess his life. He lost weight, stopped smoking and drinking, and exercised regularly. But the quality of his mental life had changed for the worse. I could tell, as I had seen similar deterioration in many other patients in a similar predicament.

Inspite of his enthusiasm to do everything right and therefore live longer, he was now constantly living with the fear of death. Although physically he became much healthier, mentally he was sicker. Although he tried to hide it, he was miserable. He had not reached a satisfactory understanding of the meaning of physical death in order to improve his quality of life.

He subsequently had a second heart attack and complications set in. He suffered severe pulmonary oedema and it was feared that he would not survive. During his illness he had an Out-Of-Body-Experience and Death Bed visitations. He related that his dead mother and dead sister had come to him in the hospital room and told him not to be concerned; he would soon be well and be with them again. He also added that while out of the body, he felt wonderful with no restrictions or pain whatsoever.

He recovered, and although his physical condition did not greatly improve, he brightened up considerably. It was obvious that the quality of his life had vastly improved, inspite of the fact that he was physically sicker. He was happy and carefree. He did not worry at all about dying. He retired from his job and did all the things his physical condition allowed him to do.

And although he took his medication, he was not overly concerned about his prognosis. One could see this in his countenance. I have no doubt that this miraculous change in him was due to the death bed visitations he had had.

I have since found out that such experiences are common. Many of my dying patients told me of having had similar experiences and visitations. One old man even told me that his dead mother would come and visit him and tell him how he was progressing in his terminal illness.

Near the end, she gave him the day and hour of his death! This experience had the effect of making him forget the fact that he was dying in severe pain. Instead, he was looking forward very much to seeing his mother and other relatives again.

Many people with respiratory problems, especially pulmonary oedema, have Out-Of-Body-Experiences and they often relate these experiences to the various clinicians. Unfortunately, our collective ignorance is such that many doctors have labelled such episodes as PSYCHOSES. And that is very degrading!! Often psychotropic drugs are prescribed, or doses increased, to unfortunately poison the body and mind of the patient further. Just as often, the doctor or nurses tell the relatives that the patient is becoming insane, losing his/her mind, when, in fact, the opposite is true, and the patient is experiencing an expansion of awareness beyond the comprehension of the learned professionals!

Eventually my father suffered a third and fatal heart attack, but he died without the fear of death. And from subsequent investigations I have made, beyond the scope of this short article, I know that his consciousness exists and that he is fine.

This experience awakened me to the power of healing that exists in the acquisition of proper spiritual knowledge and highlighted for me why it is obligatory that it be gained by viables who wish to improve their lives and deal with the fear of physical death.

What Fear, O Physical Death, do you
think you can incite now in me?
Did you not on many days, unwanted by me,
send persistent reminders, that some day,
not all that far away, you would visit me,
and in that way spoil whatever chance I had, for a while,
even in this hell-hole, at fleeting felicity?
But now, I'm older, and a little wiser,
and prepared to call your bluff!
Of your spurious Fear, I've had enough!
Do your capricious worst to me and then
forever more shall I, of thee, be free,
luxuriating in eternal joyousness, where your
Fear can no longer spoil any part of my
existence, in even the slightest, smallest degree.

Even as you plan to abuse this physical body with injury
or senility, you are really liberating me.
That, in my eyes, makes You, O Death,
an unwitting, unbearable fool of the Evil Mind
and an agent of its backfiring depravity.
The best that can be said of you
is that you, O Death,
are just a progeny of Dark Stupidity!

*

Not all people express their emotions. Many suffer doubts, anxieties and fears in strained silence. The fear of death can, and does, drive some people insane. Others, paradoxically, are driven to suicide. People become irrational when affected by the fear of death. Some will give almost anything to postpone the aging process and therefore death, all out of ignorance. Still others, as in war, are frozen to the spot when the fear of death touches them. It is the fear of death which allows Catholics to beseech Mary, the Mother of God in Catholic Doctrine, to pray for them at their hour of death.

Those with no metaphysical understanding of physical death try to bargain with God in order for Him to allow them to stay longer on this earth. Therefore in reality, they are rejecting His call to go to Him, preferring to be in this "Valley of Tears" because they do not understand what physical death implies. Those who have no such understanding of physical death also tend to see the body as the "be all and end all" of their existence, and therefore they place undue emphasis on its value, attributes, longevity, on its appeasement, on its looks, on its aging and so on, and they are greatly traumatised by naturally occurring changes such as aging, injury, degeneration, and death.

Why do the dying bargain with God if not because of the fear of death? Without that fear they would look forward to dying and seeing Him, as many Near Death Experiencers who dissolved their fear of death do. None who are truly spiritually aware would regret being in the Divine Presence and they would not plead to linger on earth suffering, in their disease-ridden bodies, when the alternative is bliss. Is not union with God the one and only quest of the spiritually aware being? Many Near Death Experiencers who have been in another realm claim that they did NOT want to return to life on earth.

But those who did so see the return as being part of their current life's duty. My own personal experiences, and the available literature, show that there is a need to educate people in the spiritual and metaphysical significance of physical death, aside from eschatological considerations, in order to rid them of their greatest fear and improve their quality of life. Should this not be a role for all healers?

It is a very important milestone that is reached on the path of spiritual development when one realises one is not the body, but that the body is simply a disposable vehicle of expression. It is only then that the fear of physical death is dissolved. Where does the fear of death come from? It comes from the sense of the need for self-preservation of the basic physical, unaware being. It is instilled even in animals. But, like the gross unawareness in humanity in general, it is part of the corruption that has occurred on this plane, a subject I have covered extensively in my other books.

Many books demonstrate that consciousness does survive death of the physical body, and therefore it is valid to assume that all consciousness survives physical death. Documentation exists to prove the marked improvement in the quality of life that occurs when people understand the significance of the continuation of consciousness after physical death. I have referred to a few of these books.

Although some sceptics try (unsuccessfully in my view) to discount the validity of the continuation of life after physical death, they are lost when trying to explain the real improvement in the quality of life in those who have Near Death Experiences. They cannot explain the occurrence of often staggering increases in awareness, psychic abilities, in healing power, etc., in these people either. Auto-suggestion can go just so far. Ultimately, there must be a basis of substance to allow these powers to develop.

But most people are not spiritually aware. How many want to increase their life span in order to be of greater service to their fellow man? "Not many", is the answer. How many really want a long life out of selfishness and because of the fear of what may be in store for them after death? Most do. Just by the way, it appears that investigation and research into cases of Near Death Experience, Out-Of-Body Experiences and other phenomena assist both the patients and the investigators. Both have a strengthening of faith, and their quality of life improves. The literature reveals that this has occurred in doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists and many other health professionals.

I feel that teaching an understanding of what physical death means at an early age in life could have improved the quality of life greatly. One can resolve the inherent fear of death and bypass the grief, sorrow, anxiety and depression often felt by people who have little understanding of the meaning of physical death.

Do people need to undergo such traumas as massive heart attacks, severely painful cancer, life-threatening surgery, perilous transplant operations, all with their gloomy fear of death in order to awaken to the significance of physical death? I certainly do not think so! Viable people should now, in the little time that remains, be taught to dispel the fear of death while they are still healthy and strong, and not in danger of dying, so that when the episode which threatens or ends their lives, comes, they will cope quickly and easily, without fear, anxiety, depression, etc., and hence they can sustain the mental, if not the physical, quality of their lives.

The disease process may place a time limit on their physical existence, but at least they do not become devastated by a sense of impending doom, as many do at present. They could cheerfully close one chapter and look forward to the next.

I repeat, nothing can shatter and devastate the quality of life quite like the fear of impending death.

All else in one's life pales into insignificance when one is at death's door. When one can understand that physical death, whenever it happens, may be due to pollution of the body by negative energy on the subtle bodies, as seen by those with extended special vision, or due to past life karma or karma acquired in the present lifetime, or the fact that it may simply be a recall of the consciousness to ethereal levels for further retraining and instruction in those higher levels, then one understands the reasons for dying and simply accepts the situation and obeys diligently the command to leave by whatever means are prescribed, without fear, without anger, without any of the emotive stages enumerated by Kubler-Ross, except the final loving acceptance that God's will be done.

If unprepared for the confrontation with death and the fear it can engender, one may never recover from the emotional trauma until the final stages of the dying process. Of course, if there is no time, as in sudden traumatic death, it is my belief that the consciousness is affected by the explosive fear as it exists in the other levels. Rehabilitation may then be longer than would have otherwise been necessary.

When the dying process is a lengthy one, I have noted that the unprepared person, and those associated with him or her, often suffer a horrible destruction of the quality of their lives. In truth, the emotional pain of death is always there, for we have an emotional body which invariably and reflexly responds to such dramas as death.

But we can lessen the pain greatly and indeed, convert the process to one of true happiness, as shown by the examples of those who have suffered Near Death Experiences and who have sublimated their fear of death into Joy of anticipation of a new, better beginning. Viables can be educated to bypass the emotions of grief, pain and sorrow which drain them. These emotions serve no useful purpose. We can do without them, and we are better off for doing without them, as surveys of Near Death Experiences show.

As a doctor, I often witnessed the devastation of a person's or his family's life by the occurrence of sudden death or by the shadow of impending, expected death. Even a diagnosis of a fatal malady was enough to send some reeling into a gloom of desperation from which they never quite recovered. This does not have to be the case at all, as the following experience demonstrates:

One of my male patients in his late fifties was dying of liver cancer. He was too weak to attend my clinic and I would call on him periodically at home. When I did, I would take the opportunity of giving him certain vitamins and tonics by injection.

One day, as I was preparing the syringe with my back to him, he asked me this question: "Do you believe in God, doctor?" Almost reflexly and flippantly I said "Of course I believe in God."

And as I turned around to give him his injection, I saw in his countenance the seriousness he attached to his question and the importance he placed on the answer I furnished. I could see that he had been preparing for death and he was racked by the uncertainty of what he should believe and what was beyond death's door (just like most patients in his position are racked). At that moment I also realised the importance of my answer and the power I had, not the medical power, but the metaphysical and spiritual power, for had I not reinforced his belief in God and had I destroyed a little of his faith perhaps, by denying any belief in God, he could have been cast further into the despair and gloom he had looming about him since he became aware of the fatality of his illness.

Instead, from that day, he improved emotionally and mentally. He was far more settled and happy in his outlook, although his disease process continued unabated and his body deteriorated daily.

Thereafter, whenever I called on him he was happy to see me. Previously, I had been (or so I sensed) an unwanted reminder of his impending demise. His happiness was infectious and I could see he was heading for a happy physical death - a rare thing in this day and age.

Although he was too weak to pursue normal daily activities, the quality of his life, gauged from his mental and emotional outlook, had improved remarkably after he had obtained a simple answer to a question which really dealt with one of the most profound considerations a person can make. In this case also, I think I had given this man far greater service with my simple answer and reassurance than I could give with all the medications at my disposal which, in real spiritual and physical terms, were useless.

On another occasion, in my final medical school year while on a ward round, the eminent surgical clinician conducting the round, stopped by the bed of a 40 year old woman dying of breast cancer. It was obvious to all of us that she was at death's door with perhaps 2-3 weeks left to live.

When the clinical discussion of her treatment, which was mainly palliative, ended and we began to leave, the patient stopped the clinician by lifting her arm and asking: "Doctor, will I see another Christmas?" She fixed her gaze on his face with gross anxiety and anticipation. It was June. The fear of death and its gloom were in her words.

The surgeon turned to her and smiled saying: "Only God in His infinite Wisdom and Mercy knows the answer".

The patient cast her vision down to the floor. Her despair, sorrow and gloom deepened. One could actually see her abandon all hope. She died a few days later. I have no doubt that the answer she received accelerated her demise. She lost the will to live. Superficially, the clinician's answer may appear adequate. But on reflection, I do not think that it was sufficient.

This Catholic surgeon was presented with a wonderful opportunity to be able to improve the quality of life for the time left to this woman. He could have done this by simply stating that which we all knew, and which she herself surely realised, even if she was in a state of denial, that her physical body would die, and that she would be going to another realm where her consciousness would continue in possibly better, certainly different, conditions.

Her question was not "Will I still be here by Christmas in these miserable conditions, racked with pain and bedridden with the weakness of cancerous cachexia?" One could sense that was not what she was asking. She wanted to know what lay in store for her, what the alternative, in her death process, was. And her way of asking was whether she would be alive in six months. But her condition was not one of LIVING, but of dying.

The physical and mental quality of her life was very poor indeed. She was bed-ridden, in severe pain, and being poisoned with various drugs in the hope that they could perform a miracle. She was desperate, depressed, gloomy and in the grip of the fear of death. Her mind was as moribund as her body.

She was looking for a glimmer of hope to improve the quality of her life by wanting to be told that she would soon leave her painful and weakened body and proceed to something far better. I thought that the clinician had failed her, inspite of the fact that he mentioned God in his answer. In my experience doctors rarely talk of God to their patients. And she also thought he had failed her, for her body language said so. And, in my mind, the clinician missed the opportunity of being of service to her in probably her greatest moment of need. In fact, with his answer, he only reinforced all the fears that tormented her, and she died under the horrible despair and weight of those fears.

I feel the surgeon actually evaded the question and left the patient hanging in mid-air from whence she fell completely to her lowest point. This impressed on me the need to impart our truthful spiritual and metaphysical knowledge about death at even the last moment of life, for it can brighten, awaken, the gloomy consciousness of the dying patient and send him/her cheerfully on their journey.

Some patients, of course, have such knowledge given to them in death bed visitations which are well recorded in all cultures, and such visitations are a boon to the dying patient. The transformation into a happy being of light in the last few minutes of life is said to be also a revelation for those at the bedside who can truly gauge the value of such experiences. I have no doubt that they are a boon from the Divine Light to the witnesses also.

Inspite of all this, I have a suspicion that many doctors do not want to confront the fear of death that looms in many of their patients lest it grows in them also. It is obviously so in many, for they have no real philosophical or metaphysical answers.

Even today, most doctors scoff at metaphysical science and the suggestion of survival of consciousness beyond physical death. In attempting to discuss physical death and the preparation for death, some have objected on the grounds that this is a morbid subject and may be disturbing to others, especially children. But really, there is nothing morbid in giving people information which can be of great assistance to them in their lives, and which can improve the quality of those lives, as has been shown repeatedly by the publications that exist on the subject.

I do not think that it is morbid to suggest that we teach viables, regardless of age, to bypass much of the fear associated with death, and thus improve their quality of life. What would be morbid about teaching children that they have a physical body which must die sooner or later, and that they need to leave it at some stage?

I think that if such concepts are introduced in a real, scientific way, rather than in a religiously dogmatic manner, as has occurred to many in the past, it would help seekers to accept the inevitability of physical death and the continuation of consciousness, and therefore greatly reduce the trauma in their lives when they are affected by death (even the death of pets). And also this would decrease the inherent fear of death in such seekers.

The perfect situation is the one in which we are more fully Gnostically aware and are both physical and spiritual self-healers, consciously and contemporaneously. When we heal the physical, the mental, emotional and spiritual may not be healed.

It is when we heal the spiritual aspect that a far greater benefit can be achieved so that the mental and emotional aspects are also healed, but not necessarily the physical. To heal all four areas of ourselves is the best and most desired result. But often in the dying process it is not necessary to heal the physical, and the true healing is in the healing of the spiritual, mental and emotional bodies with death of the physical body. (Reid, 1969) And an understanding of this point and an understanding of the metaphysical and spiritual significance of death can greatly assist us all who are Gnostically awakened.

The stages of dying as described by Kubler-Ross and others can be bypassed. That is, by early education, aware viables can resolve certain stages of the process and their fear of physical death, so that when they are actually dying the process is much more pleasant for them and for others near them who share the understanding. The fear of physical death CAN be totally destroyed. This can be done long before the time of death. I know this is possible because I have resolved this matter within myself successfully.

We teach our children biology, anatomy, first aid, hygiene, pathology, bodily functions, disease processes and the avoidance of disease. It would not be difficult to extend this and teach them that the body dies in various ways and then the consciousness continues out of the body.

This would destroy any fear that they may have arising from the spurious assumption that physical death is the end of everything for the dying individual. Of course, a very big hurdle to be overcome would be the fact that so many in the health and healing professions do NOT themselves believe in the continuity of consciousness after physical death.

People such as Denton (1993) are caught in the darkness and gloom of their own ignorance. Such people view the consciousness simply as a product of the body and think that once the body dies, the consciousness is finished forever. Ultimately, it does not matter what the mechanism is that makes a person who has a Near Death Experience think that his consciousness survives physical death. That is not the important point in this discussion.

The important point is that the person improves his quality of life by that mechanism and the beliefs that arise from his experience, and he uses them to rid himself of many fears. It is just like the use of past-life regressions for facilitating the cure of many psycho-somatic illnesses in this lifetime.

The important thing is that these mechanisms do work, that the regression does help cure problems. It is not important to know whether the regression is truly of past lives, or of genetic memory, or of fantasy. If these two mechanisms of Near Death Experience and past-life regression can be so beneficial with no side-effects or harm, why should they not be used as mechanisms for the improvement of the quality of life in those who wish to avail themselves of their mechanisms?

It is absurd to refute their use when they are of such great and demonstrable benefit for those who wish to avail themselves of them. The reasons why physical death occurs in the first place (quantum scientists tell us atoms are estimated to be able to last millions of years) and why there is such an inherent fear of physical death in all living things, are obviously important philosophical considerations, which I have covered in the discussion on Evil and its corruptive processes. These topics have to do with the development of a Celestial Error at all levels of consciousness. Without evil there would be no clouding of awareness, no ignorance and no gross fear of death, as it exists now.

There is great fear in our lives when we are unawakened. All who become aware of past cycles of birth and death improve the quality of their lives. The problem is one of ignorance and misunderstanding which have been allowed to increase the suffering in humanity. It is time for the proper metaphysical and spiritual education of viables in order to reduce the fear of death and its inherent anxiety, pain, suffering and sorrow.

Doctors, even psychiatrists, in this very day, generally are reluctant to face the question of death and dying and the continuation of consciousness. That is because they themselves are confused. They themselves are not metaphysicians. They have not ventured forth into the spiritual aspect of living to any degree so as to be able to use such knowledge in the care of their patients. Hence, they are ignorant and are performing a disservice to all their patients, for eventually all patients must face this process of death.

In another sense, it is perverse indoctrination by a materialistic, hedonistic, non-spiritual and metaphysically ignorant society which encourages its members to neglect such an important topic as their own death. Modern society fosters the unpreparedness of its members for the inevitable, and this is just another programming, pollution and indoctrination mechanism by which suffering is increased.

Death is far more important than birth, for it is liberation of the spirit of viables.

Much energy and celebratory joy are usually placed in the process of birth, by the demons and robots, and in comparison, their lives are filled with fear and gloom on physical death. Physical birth is an entry into hell for True Beings, death is the exit. Now it will be for the Final time.

Some may object to the dissemination of this knowledge. Others may not accept it. But, as I said earlier, if it helps the true viables who remain on this plane in these last days of the Endtime to understand and prepare for death, and if it elevates the quality of their lives by reducing fear, anxiety, sorrow and grief, then it is indispensable for them.

This knowledge is presented as scientific evidence and postulation, not as religious dogma. There are far less credible postulates and hypotheses made by science which the community at large readily accepts. If some think this is an exaggeration, they should consider the fact that modern quantum theories and mechanics, which have allowed extraordinary advances in physics and science in this century, postulate that Newtonian Principles do not apply! Quantum mechanics and Newtonian mechanics are incompatible. They are mutually exclusive. Hence, only one is valid; the other is a fallacy. Quantum mechanics, judging by results, are closer to reality. We have accepted and believed Newtonian physics as "Gospel Truth" since the seventeenth century when, in fact, modern quantum physics now reveals to us that those things we believed as immutable truths, were fallacies. And just to keep things in perspective, we should consider the statement by Stephen Hawking, the physicist whom most consider to have inherited Einstein's mantle, that "any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only hypothesis: you can never prove it". (Hawking, 1988, 11)

There has been great progress in metaphysical thinking, especially with the discovery of such valuable documents as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library in 1947 and 1945 respectively. The Gnostic knowledge reduces the pain and suffering in True Beings. Such knowledge, and that of Metaphysical Science, greatly assists us. We must always bear in mind that there are many people who have chosen not to be helped in any way concerning spiritual matters.

Metaphysicians should take the initiative now in the days of the Endtime. Many ask "Where is the Loving, Merciful god that would allow such misery and suffering in humanity?" And even after asking this, many go no further; they make no further effort and simply accept the agnostic view that there is no God and that we are, as many ignorant scientists claim, a simple accident of nature, following a path of aimless evolution which depends entirely on the physical for existence, and in which the individual parts of consciousness cease to exist when the body dies, but that evolution continues in the genetic material of the progeny.

Having Gnostic Knowledge, I do not hold this view. Apart from the Nous, the physical, empirical evidence contrary to the agnostic, atheistic view is overwhelming and clearly demonstrates that there is Superior Intelligence above man's in the universe, and that consciousness does survive physical death.

We like to learn and to teach our children how to live well, but unless we teach ourselves how to die, we are neglecting a very important factor which has a great bearing on our well-beingness, and such neglect could shatter that well-beingness in these turbulent days ahead. Indeed, he who learns how to die well when the time comes, learns to live well while awaiting the Final Liberation.

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