by Ra'Anan Elozory

Created on: January 25, 2010   Last Updated: January 26, 2010

Death is when our souls leave most of the constraints of the physical world and gradually become closer and closer to G-d for an infinity of time. Each step of this journey brings us more and more pleasure because we have earned this closeness through the good choices we have made in this present world.

Upon death, souls appreciate more fully the implications of their thoughts, words and actions by "seeing" a much bigger picture. All souls rejoice in (re)viewing each person’s "This Is Your Life" when good choices are relived. Sorrow, though, also occurs in the face of the not-good choices. If the dead have touched people in a good way in This World before having left, any later snowball or cumulative effects will also bring additional pleasure in the World to Come. This means that those cheesy email forwards that talk about "all that matters is love" are right (maybe they were emailed from upstairs). That means that the more we love everyone in this world in thought, speech and action, the more pleasure we get in the next world and the more we can transform this present world into the perfect world it longs to be.

Our goal in this life should be to make good choices. This is what will bring us our greatest pleasure in the next life. And this is why G-d created us. When we set out to love somebody who is difficult to love or to help someone when it is troubling to do so, we are acting like G-d.

Adolph Hitler did very, very evil things, yet he considered himself to be a good man. Imagine reaching him as a younger man and touching his soul with love so that maybe, just maybe, he would have passed on that love instead of hate.

 
Touching others can be achieved by validating their feelings on one level. Trying to help the broken-hearted (because most hatred is an attempt to protect oneself from pain) and to see their heartache in a different way lessens or removes that pain. A lot of people are unnecessarily lonely and in unnecessary pain. We can bring so much pleasure to people even by just smiling sincerely at them.

After death, we have use only of our metaphysical limbs that we used for good. Love means taking pleasure in the goodness of others. To love humanity we must strive to see the goodness of people. It is this higher form of love that carries us weightlessly into the World to Come. And the more completely we use our bodies to love each other, the more complete will be our pleasure in the next world.

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