Sunday, July 20, 2008

What comes next?

Have you ever wondered what comes next? We come into the world, just like everyone else, go through the phases of life - childhood, adolescence, adulthood - accumulate memories of each phase, both pleasant and unpleasant, and in the rat race to survive, build a life and a family, settle into a routine and face whatever comes each day.

But have you ever stopped to wonder what's next? Maybe we are too busy to ponder on this. When we look through the newspapers, we read of accidents that maim or bring fatal consequences; the obituaries that announce the passing of people, old and young. The passing, where do they pass to?

Religion states that we come from God. We have souls clothed in earthly form and when we pass on or depart from life, we discard this earthly form and return to God. Through the milleniums, there would have been millions of souls who have passed through the stages of birth and death. So what happens to souls after death?

My grandmother who was a Buddhist, used to tell me about the 18 stages of Hell which is depicted graphically in the Tiger Balm gardens (Haw Par Villa). I dont know if this is still in existence. She said that people who were kind would not go to hell where the wicked were tortured but could look forward to being reborn to a better life. Thus was I introduced to the importance of being kind and to do good and also the concept of reincarnation.

Reincarnation - many do not subscribe to this at all. However, what happens to the millions of souls then? WHere do they go? Is there a place which shelters all who have passed on? Such a vast space? OR are souls recycled? Do animals, creatures created to populate the earth also have souls? Are they recycled as well into animals again or into some other form?

Is there another realm that exists alongside ours? That which we cannot see, since we are earthlings in mortal form. There could be another dimension alongside ours, perhaps layers of dimensions into which souls pass once they shed their mortal form. Have you ever felt the presence of "others", especially those of kith and kin who have passed on?

I have felt such presence, of my family members and loved ones. The feeling is such as if they were still with me in our earthly realm except that I cannot see them. I feel their presence and recall their voices, remember their smiles, what they said. This feeling is always a happy feeling and the closeness of their presence is such that I feel that I could touch them. Sometimes I even feel the hug of a close one.

I dont know. Has anyone felt this way, or share my view about this other dimension?
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