HOW DO YOU KNOW THE EGO IS CONSCIOUS AFTER DEATH? PLEASE REFER TO JOB, CHAPTER 14:12, WHICH READS: “SO MAN LIETH DOWN, AND RISETH NOT; TILL THE HEAVENS BE NO MORE, THEY SHALL NOT WAKE, NOR BE RAISED OUT OF THEIR SLEEP.”
ANSWER: When you are reading a book you do not take everything it contains literally, if the strain of the book is poetical. You see the absurdity of this literal interpretation of the Bible when it come to such passages which say that the trees sing or that the hills dance, for you know that as a matter of actual fact the hills do not dance nor the trees sing and laugh. You enter into the sentiment of the poet, but discount such expressions a poetical terms, not meant to be taken literally.
It is similar with other statements that are contrary to what is actually known to be the facts. When one has evolved the spiritual sight, it is a fact patent to him that consciousness does not begin with birth nor end with death. In reality the waking consciousness in the physical world which we think so paramount and important during life is really very limited when compared with the spiritual consciousness. We are more conscious before birth and after death, because we are closely in touch with the spiritual Source of our being in whom is all consciousness.
The Spiritualists and the Society for Psychic Research have done a great deal toward bringing positive evidence before the public that there is a continuance of consciousness after we pass out of this body. While there has been much fraud in these demonstrations, there has also been an overwhelming mass of truth brought out, under conditions that made deception or mistakes impossible. Messages have been received from persons who had passed out of this life and they have shown that such a state as that described in this passage from Job is absolutely not true. If you will read our lectures, “The Riddle of Life and Death,” and “Where Are the Dead?” you will find the question of rebirth very thoroughly discussed.
Both biblical and historical instances, such a that of Joan of Arc, the French liberator, who was an ignorant peasant maid, but guided by the Spirit voices intelligently out-maneuvered the English generals and brought victory to the French armies, prove that those who pass out of this life are not in a state of unconsciousness and do not lose their intelligence to any degree whatever.
Besides, it is not necessary to rely on Spirits from the other side of the veil of death to communicate to us the facts of existence there. Each one of us has latent within himself or herself a sixth sense which, when cultivated, enables us consciously to penetrate that field and to see, know, and function upon that plane of life and existence together with those Spirits who have passed out of the present life. We may then talk with them, walk with them, and in all things enter into their lives, so that we may know for ourselves without depending upon anyone else that the consciousness which we have in life is augmented, if anything, by the shuffling off of this mortal coil.
It requires exercise and labor, however, to awaken that spiritual faculty an use that sense, just as it requires time, labor, and application to acquire the art of playing upon a piano or making a watch. However, everyone has the faculty latent within and may develop it if he or she so wills.
In the course of time every human being will have that faculty in addition or our present five senses. That is what is meant in Revelation when it is said that in the new heaven and the new earth there shall be no death. Job speaks of the body and the present heavens. These pass away, but Revelation speaks about a New Heaven and a new Earth where dwelleth righteousness. The last enemy that is conquered is death. When we have evolved that spiritual faculty so that it is possible for us at any moment to focus our vision upon that plane of existence where those whom we call “dead” are now living, we see them as they were before and we realize that there is in reality no death. That is the best proof.
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