I have written this last program to be able to indulge in my idealistic philosophy of human potential and perfection. I hope and believe that many of these idealized concepts can be practically applied to our daily lives. It seems appropriate and synchronistic that I am beginning to write this program on Sunday, September 20, 1987, with these words in front of me:
- I AM A SPIRITUAL BEING, AGELESS AND ETERNAL. The idea that the older one gets, the more one slows down may be a widely accepted belief, but I do not accept it. I am a spiritual being, expressing the ageless, eternal life of God. I do not look upon sickness as something that is synonymous with accrued age. I erase from my mind every thought and belief that would age or idle me either physically or mentally. (from the Daily Word, a spiritual publication of the Unity Church).
This section is not a discussion of death and dying per se, although that is an important topic, especially in this day of artificially prolonged life and unnatural, difficult death. The way in which I view death, which is also how it is described by those who have died and returned, is that our spirit and body separate, our body remaining on the earth and our spirit moving toward "Heaven" with complete awareness of the spiritual world from whence it came, full of timeless consciousness and life.
This discussion of immortality and optimum life obviously cannot be easily separated from religion and spirituality. This program is, in fact, about the spiritual awareness, or the "essence of things," existing in human life. It addresses many aspects of optimum lifestyle and consciousness.
What is immortality? It is usually defined as eternal life or exemption from death. In our Western culture, it seems to have more to do with fame, with one’s actions in life being planted deeply in the memory of subsequent generations. Spiritual immortality arises from our ability to carry on life simply and to nourish ourselves, our family, and our world. Fame, however, may be more a matter of material immortality through monuments, books, and records. Movie and rock stars, writers, musicians, and political leaders seem to lead the lists of famous immortals. Although fame may catapult some people into mass immortality, we all are immortal insofar as our lives have touched others and are remembered through our family genealogies and our careers, as our work, children, and influences on others leave part of us with them. Our greatest sense of immortality may lie in our bonds with our children, grandchildren, and future generations. Many of these circumstances of notoriety, fame, or remembrance may last hundreds or even thousands of years; however, that does not make them truly eternal or immortal. "I dance for life, and death is something I am sure to live through," says Bethany ArgIsle, founder of The Moment Museum Corporation.
For most of us, immortality is the sense that "something," some essence of ourselves, lives on after our death. Many people believe that the spirit is eternal, that it never dies, while death of the body is inevitable; we accept death as natural, like birth. Native Americans believe in the awareness of the right time to die, which then opens the way for the new beings to populate Earth.
Many cultures also believe in the possibility of a future existence, when our spiritual being may again enter a physical form and carry on the evolution of consciousness. Some of us remember (experience "re-memories") previous lives that may influence us in our current life. Although science cannot easily prove or disprove this concept, this philosophy of reincarnation is prevalent in many religions and spiritual paths.