On Death and Dying by Arthur Hakalani Pacheco

These five stages are usually experienced by those dealing with a terminal illness. But, later in her years of work, Dr. Kubler-Ross observed that grief, as expressed by these 5 stages also occurred during generally traumatic or even catastrophe that did not lead to death. For example, people who have experienced divorce, the loss of employment, and other personal losses often grief in this process. I found this work very fascinating because in my work as a medium, which deals with similar subject matter.But, what actually happens to us all at the point of physical death?
          It has often been said that the most valid testimony of a physical death tends to come from someone who has  experienced a near-death experience. This is where my own my work as a medium comes into play. I stated earlier that my expertise is that one that busies itself with that system by which we may be able to verify the current status of our loved ones beyond the veil of death. To do this, I must first have an established form of valid communication with a departed one, one that can be tested for its veracity. Well, one of the major efforts to prove or disprove this route of inquiry was practiced from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s in the form of what was known as Spiritualism. This was a movement that was in its heyday during that time, and which claimed that under the right conditions, communication could be established, and was actually provable. Now, as one might imagine, this claim was greatly contested. This was mostly done by the scientists of the day, who were totally into the contemporary methods of the laboratory, which always demanded that anything that was provable, must be provable under any similar conditions. In other words, their patience ran out when confronted by the occasional inability of the mediums involved to produce the evidence, if that person may have been having a bad time, or feeling “under the weather”. Mediums are physical people after all. However, setting aside the  “scientific method’s” strict protocols, there were indeed plenty of times when the mediums being tested did produce the evidence that had been agreed upon. But it was the inconsistency of this method that mostly caused the scientists of the day to abandon its study. Their argument was that, due to its inconsistencies, it wasn’t something that could be adequately studied as they were accustomed to, and thus, they let it go. This is usually when they decide that something isn’t “real”, and thereafter, they refuse to acknowledge it. This is what happened in this case.
         Nevertheless, there were certain notable examples of this kind of psychic phenomena that seemed to easily bear the weight of scrutiny, and one of these was the Kentucky seer, Edgar Cayce.   He is best known and remembered for his “readings”, which were given in a trance state, and which he rarely remembered when awake again. Perhaps one of the most amazing things about this man was his ability to “tune in” to unknown people at a distance and to be able to accurately describe their medical conditions, and then to even recommend remedies for these same afflictions. Usually, these seemed a bit odd- that is, they were not what a medical man would prescribe. Although he began by giving what was called life readings, he soon found that he could also give health readings, and these were among the most popular ones that he gave, totaling over 14,000 in his lifetime. It should be noted that his remedies usually worked, even when modern science had nothing to offer in its place. 
         Back to the original topic. So today, in what’s considered “normal contemporary society”, there appears to be a marked lack of interest or even a distaste for considering things that remind us of our own mortality. And this can easily be traced to the fact that most of us know very little about death and what really happens then to us afterward – thus the awkwardness. 
          So, to help alleviate this stalemate a bit, I am given the task of sharing with you all what my own views on death are. Not only how I came to have them, but furthermore, how what most people believe about death today is inaccurate, and at worst, it’s a total fantasy. For we are spiritual beings having human experiences, and nothing less. What is born is a physical body, of its natural parents, and that little baby itself, is actually a spirit being that has simply decided to reincarnate again until all of its lessons are learned.
         The little one has just come from the spiritual dimension and has need of a physical body or vehicle to use during its duration here. The infant has just come from the spirit plane or dimension and has probably also agreed to take on the “veil of forgetfulness” that we all endure at the point of physical birth. The purpose of this condition is to prevent any recalling of past roles that this soul may have played, and thus to be able to fully focus on and learn from the current incarnation. It also serves in cases where two or more souls who have known themselves before, but whose current roles are not the same, may focus on their current roles, and not the previous ones. 
          To put it in the words of a very wise Man, reincarnation is Life’s privilege to be able to experience what we may have caused others to go through in a previous lifetime. Only in this way can we truly gauge what our conduct has been toward others, whether for good or ill.  Also, if the current roles were very different from before, then we’d want to have “a clear line drawn in the sand”, so to speak, to be able to remain appropriate in this lifetime’s needs and obligations.  An example of this was to be found in a reading that I recall, in which it happened that a certain couple who had come for reading were brother and sister in this lifetime, but who had been husband and wife previously. Their passion for each other had been too strong then, they couldn’t seem to get along for very long altogether, their emotions always getting in the way. So it had been determined prenatally, that to be born as brother and sister might give them an easier platform to work from in getting along, than the one they had before. It seemed to be working too.
          Taking reincarnation into consideration, its acceptance does explain many things in life, such as apparent inequalities as to why some are born with much more to work with, and other souls much less so, that don’t seem to make sense otherwise. Yet when considered as the backdrop of this theory of life, it suddenly causes so many things to fall into place logically. The unique experience of being in a mental conversation that makes total sense, but with someone who is supposed to be dead, goes a long way towards convincing me that they are not dead, as we think of dead anyway.
          Death, as most people seem to think about it, is seen as a snuffing out of the life force, after which, there just isn’t much of anything that we can know about it. This is a mistaken view of this phenomenon, especially when considering how many times those we have thought to be dead,  have even gone so far as to protect us at times when we most needed it.  So, for any intelligent person who chooses to take the time to fully investigate this fascinating field, they will find, I believe, ample evidence of many exchanges that have occurred between the so-called “living” and the so-called “dead”. It’s all there, as a matter of record.
          It is also a manifest fact that many people think that the worse thing that can happen to them is for them to die. The threat that if one doesn’t do the required act it will mean their physical death is still a very effective one, is it not?  The familiar scene of a thug holding another at bay with a gun is a very common one in many movies and in life itself sometimes. Why, our very national security seems to lie in our sense that with sufficient weapons, our lot is safe and secure. Perhaps this would be a good place to include a comment made by one of our Guides when asked why a certain lady had not been able to be present at the passing of her husband. Our guide simply explained to her the following: “When it is your time to die, nothing can save you. And when it isn’t your time to die, nothing can kill you except your hand.” 
          Perhaps there is more than just tradition that makes some Gypsy tribes dance and celebrate when one among them passes on. Could it be that they have never forgotten the truth about these things? They seem to come from a common source in India, which they are said to have left centuries ago, and with a little reflection, and some help from one of my guides, it became obvious in their style of dress and jewelry. It is to be seen that even today, among those who call themselves Gypsies, there are to be found things like long and ornate skirts worn by the women, similar to that of current-day ladies in  India.  Similar styles of wearing lots of necklaces, and rings on their fingers, are another item that the two groups of human beings have in common. Also, it is commonly known that many Gypsy ladies profess to be able to tell ones’ future, usually by palm reading.  Palmistry is still to be found in India today as a fairly respectable means of earning one’s living.

Could it be that they may have taken this talent with them in their travels?
They have said that they celebrate because their loved one is in heaven now. With each passing day, we are progressing further and further into the new age that is still dawning upon us all. This will be a time of great new scientific discoveries and many new advancements in all fields of life. So, I expect that these things we are here discussing will be of more common report. Soon, it will be only the most uninformed of people who will still believe that we only live once, and after that, we are just “snuffed out”.

There is a growing number of scientific experiments that keep coming to the same conclusion; there must be something to the theory of reincarnation.  Another field that has seen much growth in the last ten to fifteen years is that of past life regression hypnotherapy. What some doctors have discovered, not surprisingly though, is that when they can get their clients to submit to hypnosis, they are able to often unearth or cause to surface some memories that seem to come from a previous existence. And it has also happened that these same researchers have delved into that state between lives, known as the “intervals in spirit”.  Most subjects have been both willing and able to delve into their memories of this interim state between earth lives, during which some can recall planning the coming lifetime, and its conditions too. So, looking at all this evidence, it starts to outline a full picture of ourselves as spirit beings evolving on this earth schoolroom, who do alternate between earth lives, and intervals in the spirit world, our natural home. This is also why occasionally, we find a soul who doesn’t feel that they ‘belong here”, on earth as our home, and this is due, in part, to their own soul’s memories of being from another planet, as their home planet.  
         Another bit of evidence along these lines comes from Those Who have graduated out of this same schoolroom of earth and are now as Overseers for those of us still evolving here in the planes of matter. They tell the same truth. Most of the great religions of the world do speak of an after-death state. Indeed, it is one of those things that most religions do have in common.
         It is for this reason that most of the great Prophets and Masters have come back to earth, mostly to teach by example, and also to demonstrate what man’s future state will be. Was it not the Master Jesus who was quoted in the gospels as saying, “The things that I do, ye also shall do, and greater things shall ye do?” Could it be that He was hinting at this greater truth? Speaking of Him, there are some schools of thought that hold that this was one of the main reasons for His incarnation, not so much to “die for our sins”,  but to live in the fullness of what we all could accomplish through time, by repeating incarnations. “I am man as he shall be.” Master Jesus 
         For some parting comments on the subject of death and dying. Well, it seems that what happens at the time of our so-called death, is that we must have reached the point wherein what we came into this life to accomplish, gets accomplished. This, or at least our physical bodies get too worn out to function anymore, and thus, our relinquishments of them. This very concept, that once we’re done with this world for its lessons, we do choose to leave this earth schoolroom, is not one that comes easily. 
         Most of us who are born in the Western world will have to really work with this new concept, due to the fact that since our births, we’ve been programmed to think that the physical body is ourselves, and none other. Whatever happens to our bodies, is actually happening to us directly. This isn’t the case, yet it is certainly how it appears to the outer senses and the world of form. To anyone who has developed the psychic sight that lies latent within all of us, this question of one’s physical death is a matter of observation.
         That is to say that a clairvoyant person will easily see the soul, or finer body of man leaving the physical body at the moment of dissolution of the two bodies, the physical and the astral bodies, and that separation is called death.
         To any of you who have experienced the phenomena known as astral projection, there is total proof that one is not one’s body, for how to be able to see it lying asleep somewhere while being fully conscious out of it?        
         As you can see, my dear reader, this subject is a vast one and one that we could continue discussing for years to come. And yet, it is definitely up to each one of us to have the experiences necessary to prove it to ourselves, otherwise, no one else’s explanation will ever suffice. 
         The last point I’d like to make is what I’ve learned through séance work. As most of you know, a séance is an attempt to communicate with the soul that has passed on and to be able to do it in such a way that enough evidence can be gathered that there is no doubt that what we’ve just seen and heard has been true, our departed loved one, someone who is still alive. 
         One of the main ways that this conclusion is reached is by gathering enough information that was given from those communicating that we can verify as being the truth. This isn’t hard to do, especially when dealing with a very experienced medium. There are mediums and there are mediums. That is to say that just like any other field of endeavor, many types and levels of true accomplishments can be found in any given field of interest. So it follows that just as there are “quack” doctors,  and “scheister” lawyers, so there are some mediums who are not what they claim to be but are impostors. This has given the honest mediums a “bad name”, due to the dishonest reputations they are then associated with. All I can say about this is that we can always find a good medium when we ourselves are sincere in our quest for the Truth. 
         In parting, it comes to me to mention that each person can garner enough evidence that this is so, when, and if they truly want the Truth here.
         The next time you choose to attend the modern funeral of most people here in the West, and especially if it is an open casket funeral, one look at the corpse in that box will show you that there isn’t anyone left in that dead form. So, it follows that whatever was there before this change called death, must be gone, but just not on earth anymore.  
         It was also when I first attended such an event, that I was fully shocked to see that dead form in the box. That wasn’t my Aunt Genevieve, not as I knew her anyway. That olive-skinned thing in the casket must be only her shell, but surely not the laughing, loving lady I had known all of my life. It was a true shock for me to see this the first time, and I never forgot it. In this day and age, I can safely predict that there will be more cases of “soul recognition” sometimes called “love at first sight”, and then there will also be more cases of youngsters having talents that they ordinarily wouldn’t have, due to their young ages. But when we remember that in some cases, the talents and the abilities are “carried through” from one life to the next, it won’t be such a surprise when we see things like a 4-year-old playing Mozart. I’ve begun to see traces of this already in our world. If you care to, you can go to YouTube, on the internet, and key in words like: “child geniuses” or “youngsters amazing musicians” or anything like this to see for yourself. 
         So, to leave you with some food for thought, what do you think explains the phenomena of the growing number of babies being born today with some of their mental faculties such as speaking, or walking, being demonstrated at increasingly early ages, and with no one to encourage them? Surely, there is some explanation for this happening. And it also follows that many of them seem to be rather aware in other areas of life too, too young to have been taught by anybody around them. My belief is that these are some of those who are here to remind us of the basic truths of our life, that of reincarnation. If you have lost a dear one and would like to speak to or hear from that soul again, perhaps for nothing so much as some closure which you may feel you were denied, then it can be done when the way is known. And one way is to find yourself a reputable medium, one recommended by people you know is preferable. Then, send a telepathic message to your loved one to come. 
         In the inner world, most communicating is accomplished by telepathy. So that is what you can expect from your loved one if he or she is trying to get in touch with you again. The fact that most of us haven’t been trained in this psychic art will only get in the way if you don’t know what you’re doing. So to get the aid of a qualified medium would be one sure way to get back in touch with your loved one, that is if they also want to be in touch with you. As I have learned, many times the newly departed may be involved in one of the many processes that are common over there for “new arrivals”. These can include such things as a deep soul resting after a very vigorous life, one in which that soul really went through much that life had to offer, and so, understandably, they are resting in one of the many places for that activity.             Then, we are told of the personal evaluation process that all souls go through sooner or later, for indeed, it is true that we tend to judge or evaluate our own behavior, as opposed to being judged by a jealous God figure. So, we have learned that in this process, which is pretty much universal, each soul gets to see “without the blinders of their previously worn personality self” what they really did while on earth, just completed. We are also told that during this process, there are usually some accompanying spirits who sit in with us to prevent us from being too harsh on ourselves or anybody else. In any case, our desire to be back in touch with our loved ones is sooner or later communicated to them, and then, they are at liberty to either do this or not, depending upon the circumstances of their soul at the time.              If they choose to try this route, then they are directed to the various lawful ways that this can be achieved, and going through a reputable medium is just one of them. Other souls choose rather get in touch with us through our dreams, which they only hope that we will recall upon awakening from our sleep. Either way, if there is an honest desire to be back in touch with a loved one, and if that desire is mutual, then there are ways and means to get this done safely and legally. The oft-repeated concern that such things can “slow them down” is for the most part ungrounded. However, once this has been established, then it is usually best for the one left on earth to leave such things up to the one in spirit, where they will be best able to evaluate how valuable such communications can be, and also for how long to sustain them.         
         All in all, my dear ones, I have it to report that what we think of as death, that state of no more life, is actually very misunderstood on earth as of today, by most people still living here. The latest advances in modern quantum physics tell us openly that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, and that goes for our souls and ourselves too, more than ever. So, the fact that the energy self of our loved one is no longer inhabiting the physical form in which you knew them, doesn’t mean that when they drop that form, they have ceased to exist. 
         On the contrary, we are told consistently that those living on the higher side of Life are more alive than ever they were in these physical bodies. They insist that without the need of resting, working, or having to make a living, they are free to examine God’s kingdom without any impediments, and this is one of the greatest things about living out of the solid body, and simply living in a spirit body that is much more resilient than these physical bodies we tend to think of as ourselves. Just think what it must be like to live in a state where you don’t have to eat, rest, or do anything that you don’t really want to do. Add to this the ability to be anywhere you desire with just a thought in that direction, and you thus begin to feel what it will be like for you too, once you have regained to that world of spirit from which we all have come originally.
         If we haven’t had the chance to visit a certain country we are interested in seeing, then the next best thing is usually to speak to someone who has. And if we can get them to tell us about it, we can nevertheless learn quite a bit about our desired place of visiting, simply by listening to them speak. And so it also follows that in matters relating to the spirit world and its inhabitants we can learn much from speaking with someone who is currently living there. The next best thing is to speak to someone who has spoken to them.
         So, this has been my mode of gathering information of the spirit realms, and also of learning the conditions of their current lifestyles, while they still are there.  It is from these people that I have gotten my current views on what it’s like over there, and universally, it does appear that for most of us, it will also be a place of much life that is nothing like the life we lead here, in that it lacks the limitations, restrictions, and other irritating aspects of life as we find it here on this schoolroom of earth. Although it is important to recall that these conditions exist for good reasons, a reminder that earth is a schoolroom for our souls to gain their educations and to master these limits while still here where they exist. It has been said to me that without these imposed limitations and restrictions upon our souls, we find it difficult to really learn much, in that our spiritual “muscles” are only rarely challenged. And so,  just as a child sent away to schooling, can easily forget that there is another home for them at all. And these kids can regularly, totally forget that their true homes are waiting for them.  So it is with most of us, we’ve forgotten about our true Home. Could this be why some of the elderly folks begin to speak about “ wanting to go home?” I believe so. 
         In conclusion, we should recall that if only half of what we’ve been told about this intriguing subject is real, then we have nothing or little to worry about. Through the centuries, in one way or another, we have gotten enough messages from those thought to be dead that should give us the clear indication that those thought to be dead, just are not.
        Going back to the movement of Spiritualism, their main premise was found in their universally accepted premise: There is no death. There are no dead. In a cemetery on the East Coast, is a cemetery containing many graves from the mid-1800’s, and a particular gravestone has a message written on it that says:

“YOU ARE WHAT I ONCE WAS… I AM WHAT YOU WILL BE… 

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