Written by August Goforth, a Psychotherapist and co-author of THE RISEN
"Rob, a colleague and friend who has an passionate interest in spirit rescue, recently commented:
"I am really starting to understand the challenging, difficult, confusing egocentric realm of soul rescue work. If people 'die' totally ego-centric - it would seem to me that on transition they could possibly self perceive as being 'consciously dead,' 'cut off' or even completely 'estranged' from all previous self-understanding . . . because of one's transported physically diminishing 'this is me' physically-created sensate consciousness . . . a state of 'spiritual alzheimer's' - created by a physically-manifested 'identity crisis' - as our ego selves are denied all physical-based sensory input, along with no perceived link to one's Authentic Self! That state of 'total sensate deprivation' with no Risen awareness - could become a real hell-like existence for some disembodied souls!"
Well said with words for such a dense and often difficult subject. One can see in Rob's thought process the progression towards working it all out from outside an ego-mentality. And indeed, a seemingly real hellish geography can arise from one's mistaken beliefs about self and mortality. Rob's comments made me think of a particular scene in the beautiful 1998 movie, "What Dreams May Come" — where a very clinically depressed person, after several failed attempts, manages a successful suicide, and becomes at once lost, seemingly without hope, in an environment made of her own mindless act. She is unable and unwilling to ask for help.
Fortunately, she is saved by her compassionate and loving non-judgmental partner, who refuses to join in her beliefs. Unfortunately, the ego-mind that wrote the material resolves everything with its own logic by jettisoning the two back to earth via reincarnation, "to try again."
In reality, what mostly likely would happen is that after her healed self-consciousness is raised a bit in vibration, much higher-vibrating Risen would be able to reach her and lift her up to the next level in her transition. Whether she would become fully Risen at that point depends on her level of vibration, understanding, and acquiescence to assistance.
The film does a commendable job of showing how our thinking — sane or not — manifests one's reality.
When someone kills their own body, or "self-exits" as it's termed inThe Risen, it seems as if a cosmic monkey wrench has been thrown into the works, upsetting everything and everybody. Viewed at from a perspective of Authentic Self, it can be seen that the act, and most of the reactions from others afterwards, are all fear-based. Vanquish the fear:
“We see in your mind that fear of the future, of punishment, of judgment, weighs heavily around such decisions. There is fear that you will not be able to be with those whom you love and that they will be unable to reach you. There need not be any fear. If you are in suffering when you arrive after leaving your body, you will be attended to unless you desire otherwise. Healing is always available and the opportunities to learn will continue. Those whom you love and who love you will be available. Those who are higher can move to the lower, but the lower cannot as easily move to the higher. And even when it can, it cannot sustain that movement. Their vibrations may be of a higher nature than yours and so they may have varying qualities of presence, and thus they may seemingly dwell on a different plane. But the nature of love is such that all dwelling places, all positions of vibration are totally, perfectly appropriate. Love allows all who are similar to intermingle in some way. The more present you are to yourself, the more present you will be to others like yourself. If in seeking to obliterate your consciousness because of the pain, this will be achieved because it is important to you and you have made the decision that this is to be so. You will eventually awaken in the arms of those who love you and who understand and accept you. No one will shun you, none will condemn you.
From Chapter 11 - Grief Evolved and Self-Exiting (The Risen, p. 105)
In such a relationship as the one Tim and I are blessed to share, there is little time or space for judgment because there is so little fear at this point. Instead, there is a shared, committed acceptance of the knowledge that there is no death, and never will be. This irreversible knowledge, based on my experience here on Earth, and Tim's awareness as Risen, could never support a resolution of differences by a "reincarnational transition." As Tim says, it's "Onward, Ho!" from here on, forevermore."
August Goforth
