“It is very beautiful over there.”  Thomas Edison, on his deathbed, describing a vision he was having.

“Oh wow! Oh wow! Oh wow!”  Steve Jobs, on his deathbed, last words uttered.

Yes, losing a child is a terrible thing.  Attending your own child’s funeral has to be the most devastating, surreal and painful event you could ever live through and yet, somehow we have, and some of us more than once! What’s worse is that we now get to go through the rest of our physical lives without them here to share the events and milestones of a lifetime, but, I ask you, what is a lifetime? Is it merely what takes place between the forceps and the stone?

I agree with Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”  I believe that what takes place between the physical birth and death is a brief chapter in the much longer lifetime of the soul, which is eternal and therefore cannot cease to be. Let me put it another way: There is no end to who and what you are….no end, only a change of form.

This knowledge, this awareness of the bigger picture is necessary in order for us to continue our lives on earth in a positive way.  According to Eben Alexander MD, author of “Proof of Heaven—A Neurosurgeons’ Journey Into The Afterlife,” “Heaven makes us human. We forget it at our peril. Without knowledge of the larger geography of where we came from and where we are going again when our physical bodies die, we are lost. That golden thread is the connection to above that makes life below not just tolerable but joyful. We are lost without it.”

I believe this is true. In a sense we have all been a little lost, wandering through our lives without an accepted awareness of that “larger geography of where we came from and where we are going again when our physical bodies die.”  I would have been a much less frightened person if I had an understanding of this!

Having a child or children-in-spirit propels us in the direction of spiritual exploration. Because what I call “The Parental Mantra” (Where is my child and is he or she okay?) never ceases to be, we are constantly urged to answer those two questions and that inevitably leads us to spirit. What I have learned is that a beautiful life in spirit awaits each of us and that there is absolutely nothing to fear in death.  I believe that Oliver Goldsmith was indeed correct when he said: “Death when unmasked shows us a friendly face and is a terror only at a distance.”

As I see it, I have a little more time here on earth before I make the crossing and am reunited with my loved ones-in-spirit. I am comforted to know that although everything is impermanent in the physical world, “There is a larger world behind the one we see around us every day. That larger world loves us more than we can possibly imagine and it is watching us at every moment. Hoping that we will see hence, in the world around us, that it is there.” (Eben Alexander MD)

While I remain here, I will stay open to “that larger world” and allow for connections with Danny and those I love-in-spirit, to take place. I urge each of you to devote some time to this exploration too, for the more we learn and open up to the spirit within and around us, the more we are able to heal.

 

by Sheri Perl

www.sheriperl.com

Sheri Perl

Sheri Perl is a spiritual healer and counselor, author, teacher, and interfaith minister. She became involved in spiritualism in a desperate attempt to save her life. At age sixteen, Sheri was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. After years of medical treatment, she was fighting for her life on the operating table. While recovering from surgery, a second illness contracted through blood transfusions was declared fatal. At this time Sheri contacted British spiritual healer, Harry Edwards, “purely out of desperation.” To her amazement, the healing stopped her illness in its tracks, and returned her liver functions to normal. As a result of this experience, Sheri opened the doors to spiritual exploration. She has studied with many great mediums and healers, eventually earning her doctorate in Therapeutic Counseling from the Open International University, Institute for Alternative Medicine. Her book, “Healing From the Inside Out” chronicles her experience with illness and spiritual healing and shares what she has learned along the way. In 2008, her 22-year-old son Daniel died of an overdose of alcohol and prescription drugs. Needless-to-say, Sheri suffers greatly from this loss; however, what helps her is the knowledge that Daniel is safe in the spirit world and “connecting up” with him through thought, feelings, dreams, signs and reputable mediums. Sheri is currently working on a new book to share her perspective with others who are mourning. She recently created the PRAYER REGISTRY for parents who wish to join with others to send group prayers out to their child on the anniversary day of their passing. You can read more about Sheri and the Prayer Registry at her website, www.sheriperl.com or visit her own blog, “Loss, Bereavement and Connecting Up” at www.sheriperlmigdol.wordpress.com

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