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On Human Mortality

A Philosophy of Life and Death

Most (but certainly not all) of us are lucky to travel through childhood and youth with no indication of human mortality. But sooner or later, maybe through the loss of a loved one, our blissful innocence gives way to the realization that our bodies are fragile and our time here is finite. We can no longer count on the continued presence of anyone around us, or even ourselves.

I remember when I was about 10 I heard on the news about the passing of a well known TV personality. Although I didn't know him personally I felt I knew him through the screen. The event cast a shadow over me for days, and it's probably fair to say changed me forever. Much later in life I would experience the loss of close family, which certainly had a dramatic and lasting effect on my psyche.

Spiritually, the earth plane is not our home. We are visitors, Spiritual beings temporarily clothed in flesh for a finite period. Eventually we return home.

Awareness of our mortality can be depressing, even paralyzing, as we ask why we should bother to make an effort, to do anything at all, if it is all to be some day snatched away.

But such awareness can be positive in providing focus and perspective on what our real purpose should be. It's true that material things are impermanent, but what really counts is experience gained and lessons learned.

Every act of will is significant, having a slight, but permanent effect on what would otherwise have been. Every experience is significant, influencing and becoming part of the soul for eternity.

There are plenty of grounds for reassurance that the totality our existence is not merely finite and meaningless.

The English occult writer Colin Wilson says: "The sheer volume of evidence for survival after death is so immense that to ignore it is like standing at the foot of Mount Everest and insisting that you cannot see the mountain."

The Burden of Proof

Conventional science views consciousness as a mere side effect of a purely physical reality. But science can no more prove its position than survivalists can prove theirs. `So our knowledge is limited to a survey of the evidence.

The evidence is available to all of us. Any decent Spiritualist medium should be able to give messages accurate beyond the bounds of coincidence. Virtually all the major religions, whose combined followers form the majority of people on earth, speak of existence beyond physical death. And many of us have our own inner certainty, perhaps we have had contact with loved ones in Spirit, or maybe just sensed their presence.

Don't try to hold on to the moment. Accept this life's transience and determine to make the best of it, focusing on what really counts. Life is not something to be endured, it is a precious gift, every moment of which should be savored.