Life and Death

Life and Death

1995 3-4 March-April 11 Life and Death (351) Death is not the end of everything. On the contrary, it is the beginning of a new life. It is nevertheless the most serious moment in one’s lifespan, for it is the day when one embarks on a new stage in the totality of one’s existence.

On the day of his death, a man leaves behind him a phase which is only temporary in order to enter upon the eternal state of being. Having completed his period of earthly action, he now commences his period of heavenly reward. Before death, he lived in a world where realities lay hidden; after death he will find himself in a world where realities are as bright as the sun and the moon. The test man has to undergo during his lifetime is of his ability to discover the hidden reality; after death, he will see reality with the utmost clarity.

In the life before death, he is put to the test of believing in realities as yet unseen; of surrendering to the truth without any external compulsion. He must follow God’s guidance, even if, in default, no material interest of his would be thereby affected. This state of affairs makes the present life a very serious matter, for one who fails in the trials of today, incurs the danger of eternal failure.

If, while still in possession of his eyes, his heart and his mind, a man still fails to recognize the truth, he will find himself deaf and blind the moment he enters upon the world of eternity. When the truth appears before a man, and he still fails to acknowledge it as such, he will be doomed to dumbness and insignificance, and there will be no way to extricate himself from that plight. One who has used his tongue and his pen to distance others from the truth will find himself thrust far away from God’s vicinity in the world of the hereafter. He will never be blessed with the sight of his Lord.

Death, it should be remembered, is the name for the greatest transition from the present to the eternal.