I’m re-reading Journey of Souls this week.  I recently lost another friend and find that I often, spontaneously, peruse either this or Destiny of Souls shortly after losing someone close.

Somehow, reading about the stages a soul passes through, the assistance it receives, and the reunion with one’s spiritual “family” is comforting and makes me feel a little closer to my friends by experiencing, vicariously, what they are probably experiencing.

There are so many belief systems and constructs to contemplate, evaluate, and sift through where the topic of life after death is concerned.  This is the main reason I set-out on my quest to find the “Truth” at age twelve.

I never found the explanation offered by my Sunday School teachers about what happens to us after we die to be either believable or attractive.  Where Hell is concerned, though the image is certainly scary, my child’s heart could never believe that the God of Creation, our heavenly “Father,” would ever relegate any one of his children to such a horrid place.  I thought, there must be a better, more loving and constructive manner by which He teaches His children the error of their ways, the consequences of their actions, and provides a road to redemption.

With regard to Heaven, I was taught that this is an actual “place” where, if one was perceived as “good,” he or she would live forever, somewhere amid the clouds, cavorting with angels and playing the harp or something.  I pictured it as portrayed in the children’s book, The Littlest Angel, and thought: “What a boring life!”  I mean, you spend your whole time on Earth hoping to get there, and then what?  An eternity of unproductive nothingness? Again, my child’s mind could not wrap itself around such a meaningless “plan,” and this is what catapulted me into a quest that would last a lifetime.

While the larger questions of why we are created, live, die, and what the eternal life of a soul really entails were answered to my satisfaction when I discovered  Eastern and mystical Christian and Judaistic teachings about reincarnation and karma, the actual process by which we transition from physical to spiritual life; what we experience between lives; and what the ultimate goal and destination is in the realm of spirit still poses questions.  The continuing desire to find answers to these is what draws me to knowledge shared by those who have undergone Near Death Experiences and knowledge gleaned and recorded by psychologists such as Dr. Michael Newton during regression therapy and hypnosis sessions.

If you are at this point in your personal quest, I would highly recommend the two books noted above.  He has also written two additional books which I haven’t yet read:  Life Between Lives and Memories of the Afterlife.  All are published by Llewellyn Publication.