The Hereafter
The Hereafter
from a memorial service message
I have attended many funerals and wakes. In all of them, I’ve never heard anyone directly tackle the essential questions of death and dying. Instead, I’ve heard warm words, comforting recitations from inspirational scriptures, and personal reassurances.
When it comes to death and dying I think it pays off for us to be practical in these matters. Take the idea of a hereafter. Why are we compelled to think about the hereafter in times like these? It’s because we look to the hereafter for answers that may comfort us in our sorrow and uncertainty. We far prefer to think of the here and now instead of the here and there.
When we think of the hereafter, we should not be reluctant to remind ourselves that we are the ones who are here, after someone else has moved on.
Part of what disturbs us about death is that we miss our loved ones. But death can also disturb us by forcing us to face uncertainty. From that point of view, something as intangible as eternity can be hard to see from the here and now. That’s because eternity is not confined to here and now. It’s here and there and it doesn’t have an off switch.
Regardless of our limited perspective, the concept of eternity persists. It is all around us. Quantum physics, for example, is currently test-driving the emerging theory of endless universes — multiverses — which completely upend the notions of beginnings and ends. That’s because multiverses imply eternal and timeless existence.
In the words of Joseph Campbell, arguably Carl Jung’s foremost student:
“Eternity isn’t a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now which thinking and time cuts out. And the experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life.”
Campbell speaks of the Hero’s Journey, the idea of the singular vision-quest. In a vision quest, the hero sets out to save his people or save the world. Along the way he encounters great difficulties as he seeks to find the deeper answers and the deeper solutions. He often experiences the supernatural or the miraculous along the way. It is through these encounters that he becomes inspired to continue. But nevertheless, in such journeys the hero can become discouraged with the notion of coming back to the reality of the problems he may still face back home. These daily life difficulties are issues we all encounter, each in our own way.
Perhaps our tribute to our departed loved ones can be discovered in what Joseph Campbell suggests: coming back.
Let us come back from the sadness, from our disappointments and from the abruptness of death, and find ways to become better motivated to look beneath the transient surface.
Let us come back to a better perspective, as we strive to better see that which is typically unseen.
Let us come back from the sensory overload called ‘normal everyday living,’ if for no more than just a few brief moments a day, stitched together here and there, as we continue our challenging journey through life.
This wondrous power
There is a wondrous power that is truly and genuinely available to be discovered. But many memorial services, in discussing the afterlife, only refer to a promise yet to come, instead of the wonder that is available now. This misconception misses Joseph Campbell’s point, as well as the point of the mystics: that the eternal is found in the now.
Even the great Sufi poet Rumi, while acknowledging the pain of goodbyes, never equated the eternal solely with death.
“Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation.”
In closing, we end with a passage from one of the most esteemed and sacred books of all time, the Bhagavad Gita. This passage is the Gita’s version of Jesus saying, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” It’s also the Gita’s version of the Book of Genesis saying, “In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.”
These closing verses are being said by the Lord of the Universe, the Master of all Creation, Lord Krishna:
“I am the higher nature; the life that sustains all beings in the world. The universe is born within me, and within me will be destroyed. There is nothing more fundamental than I; all worlds, all beings, are strung upon me like pearls on a single thread.”
“I am the taste in water, the light in the moon and sun, the sacred syllable Ôm in the Vedas, the sound in air. I am the fragrance in the earth, the manliness in men, the brilliance in fire, the life in the living, and the abstinence in ascetics.”
“I am the primal seed within all beings: the wisdom of those who know, the splendor of the high and mighty. I am the strength of the strong man who is free of desire and attachment; I am desire itself when desire is consistent with duty. All states of being, proceed from me; they are in me, not I in them.”
“Because most men are deluded by the states of being, they cannot recognize me, who am above these, supreme, eternal. But those men who turn to me can penetrate beyond this wondrous power of mine, this magic [of existence and creation].”
— from “Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation” by Stephen Mitchell