Taboo

[poliphilo]

I don't think it's death that's the taboo subject in our society- because, God only knows, our media are as full of images of mortality as an 18th century graveyard. No, it's not death we don't want to discuss, it's what comes after, that undiscovered country etc etc. The not very good movie I watched yesterday afternoon is predicated on society's reluctance to deal with it. Our heroine- played by Cecile de France- is told (because she's a well-known public face) that her publishers will take any book she cares to throw at them. She pitches a biography of Francois Mitterand. They say, "Great, here's a huge advance." So she goes away and thinks about it and decides she's not that interested in Mitterand after all and instead turns in the first couple of chapters of a book about her Near Death Experience. Her publishers squirm.

I was thinking, that's a bit exaggerated, but then I thought, no, actually, it's not. We don't talk about the afterlife. We're embarrassed by it.. The odd newspaper article- more likely to be published in the Mail than the Guardian- draws comments about "sky fairies" and all that fundamentalist rot from semi-literate Dawkinsians- and one realises why people who have something to say on the subject are reluctant to put themselves in the spotlight. Mention angels or spirit guides in any public arena and expect the cabbage stalks to fly.  My readers on LJ are too polite to shout at me but I notice that I never get any comments if I post about- say- the spiritualist books I've been reading. I used to have conversations here about God and the afterlife with dear jackiejj but since she went off to explore the undiscovered country for herself there's been next to nothing.

I refuse to believe people are simply not interested, because, really, what subject could be more relevant or urgent? We're all going to die and we're all either going to wink out like a candle flame or find out that, hey, actually...

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So, do you have a view about what comes next? Did your brushes with death afford you any glimpses?

Jackie was very special.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

I nearly drowned when I was 11 years old and to be honest, I remember that after the first initial shock of "oh my, I don't think I'm going to make it", I felt a great warmth coming over me and I still remember the golden light of the sun coming down through the lake water, but then a guy got me by my hair and pulled me out, but I remember feeling rather sorry he had done so.

The suicide attempts, well, they were all part of bi-polar II and at the time, they seemed like a good idea just to make the pain stop, you know?

No tunnels with light at the end, no relatives hanging about, but no fear either and I don't have any now. I was alone with both my mother and father when they died - my mother, just before she became unconscious for the last time, looked beyond me and her face lit up and she said "Mommy", so I presume she felt her mother was there. My dad kind of slipped away while I held his hand over about an hour, so no revelations there, but I do know that while he was still able, he all of a sudden started thinking about God and such. He asked me what I thought and after I told him, he asked me if I could ask the neighbour across the street (Methodist) to come and have a chat and he seemed a lot easier in his mind after that. My thoughts, by the way, are more in line with the whole re-birth of the soul thing.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My personal experience is limited. It comes down to a few dreams- which seem to have transpired in a more real than real environment- and recent experiences with my father who I feel is waiting around for my mother to join him.

But I have read a great deal. I think this world is at the cutting edge of the universe- a place we come to in order to have experiences that we cannot have in a less material environment. Eventually I think we'll move away altogether but only after completing a round of incarnations. For the time being we hang out between lives in a spiritual sphere- or spheres (they're probably graded according to spiritual maturity)- where we reflect on the past life and further our education.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Well if there is one thing I am certain about, we're all going to be in for a big surprise!