by Paula Maher

Created on: January 28, 2009   Last Updated: March 10, 2011

Life is a journey.
Death is a return to earth.
The universe is like an inn.
The passing years are like dust.

Regard this phantom world
As a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp - a phantom - and a dream."
The Buddha

A while ago I wrote an article titled Near Death Experiences-What Happens After We Die?  In it I described the "for and against" if you like of what happens after we die. I described both sides of the argument and each one made perfect sense. I tried not to disclose my opinion on the subject in order to allow the reader to make his or her mind up.

I have often been asked what do I believe and I have always replied with certainty that, "of course there is life after death" and I would describe what I knew to be the answer; that we all may have lived several lives and may return to the Earth Plane again and again after we pass. I have argued with "non believers" and stood my ground on what I supposed was true and would not hear anything different other than my own view, that is until I began researching for "Near Death Experiences" (NDE) and the way opened up for another way of thinking. After talking with Dr John Happs president of "Western Australian Skeptics" I realised that his estimation made a lot of sense and I began to wonder, "What if he is right? What if there is nothing after you die?" That is a depressing suggestion to say the least, but it is incomprehensible to me that the essence of a person can just cease to exist.

Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) had the ability to leave his body and travel into the after life. He has astonished people from all over the globe with tales of his experiences. He had the ability to experience regular NDEs and developed the ability of being able to diagnose and treat sick individuals from a distance by astral travelling.

Christian beliefs are that once the body is no longer alive the soul faces judgement and is directed either into Heaven or to suffer forever in Hell.

Buddhists accept as true that whatever happens to the soul after the body dies is related to how the individual lived his or her life. Karma comes into play in regards to determining what life the spirit will be reborn into. They believe in the concept of reincarnation.

According to The Government Of Tibet In Exile (http://www.tibet.com/ His Holiness the Dalai Lama was born in 1935 and was acknowledged when he was around two years old to be the reincarnation of 13th Dalai Lama, his forerunner.

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