Most of us fear the great unknown we call death. We have no idea how or when we might exit, or what we can expect during our final years on Earth. Perhaps the greatest fear is that those we love will die before us, leaving us behind with our grief and pain. We view death as the end of life as we know it. Perhaps we wonder when or if we will see our loved ones again. The more I have studied the nature of souls, soul families, and life selection, the easier I have found it to understand death as an important part of the birth and rebirth process.
Grief is an essential part of our human experience. When we lose someone we love, our hearts remain heavy with sorrow for a long time. My mother and father passed away many years ago. To this day, I still miss them, even though I often feel their presence. I not only miss them as cherished parents but I also mourn the end of the physical incarnation that we chose together, much like a treasured movie that comes to an end. I know that I will unite with my parents again. They remain beloved members of my soul’s family, and I believe we will choose future lives together in a different capacity. Yet, I often wish that our time together in this incarnation had been much longer.
Souls choose not only the time and circumstances of their birth but also the length of a particular physical embodiment. Souls also choose the means by which they leave their physical bodies to return to their soul’s family. For those who have chosen a fluid life plan with a great deal of free will, options are provided for different exit times and ways. For others who have chosen plans with little deviation, options for time and manner of death may be more limited.
Death by suicide is especially difficult to accept, but the choice of suicide may also be part of a soul’s life selection process. As a Catholic, I was taught that suicide was a mortal sin punishable by eternal damnation in hell. That thinking was based on the belief that God created us to live only one human life, and our actions in it determined what would happen to us in the afterlife. Dying by one’s own hand was akin to rejecting God’s precious gift of life.
My parents experienced this type of grief first hand. I never knew either of my grandfathers. Both of them committed suicide—one before I was born and the other when I was a young child. My parents kept their fathers’ deaths a secret from me. They were the shameful family skeletons, never intended to fall out of the closet.
Eternal life is not something we win or lose. It is our birthright, because we are beloved expressions of the One. Moreover, we don’t have only one chance to experience a human life. We have multiple opportunities for our souls to grow and evolve.
A spiritual being having a difficult human experience is not punished for ending their physical life. They are given time to heal and rest before choosing another incarnation.
Many people have shared stories about the afterlife following a near-death experience, when they technically died and then were resuscitated. They often report that, upon leaving their body, they followed a bright white light through a tunnel to a different dimension. They were greeted there by loved ones, including cherished pets, who had passed on before them.
We were taught as children to fear Judgment Day, when a stern deity would evaluate our deeds and then either punish or reward us in the afterlife. The reality of what happens is the exact opposite.
We must balance the negative karma we have incurred as a result of our actions. Those who inflict great pain on others may require multiple lifetimes to rectify their wrongs, often by incarnating in similar circumstances to the ones in which they caused harm.
Death is not the end of life. It is merely the end of a particular incarnation for an eternal soul. We are not condemned and punished for our deeds on earth, not even suicide. Souls are given many opportunities to heal the wounds they have inflicted during past incarnations. No matter what you have done or failed to do, please know how deeply you are loved by the Creator and all souls in service to the One.
Excerpted from The Way of the One by Susan M. Hoskins, published by Of Love Creations in 2019.
Awarded the U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2007, Susan M. Hoskins is an ordained interfaith minister with a doctorate in Holistic Theology. Susan is the author of The Way of the One, Molly’s Rocker, Dancing with Angels: The Journey Home, Twisted Blues, Twisted Secrets and Twisted Lights. Susan’s web site is www.thewayoftheone.org
