What happens to the soul after death? At first glance, the question may seem a little unnecessary and unhelpful. After all, this will supposedly happen later, and who knows whether it will happen?
But!
Firstly, human death is inevitable. And avoiding this question can be equated to a kind of avoidance, avoidance. And accordingly, this can be regarded as an attempt to hide from death itself, which is impossible. And no matter how much we want it, we will all meet her. Absolutely and without exception.
Secondly, as it turns out, the question is not only necessary and useful, but is one of the main ones.
Why does a person need to know where the soul goes after death?
Anyone who believes that our body is all there is, and after its death there is nothing, close this page and don’t waste your time.
If you feel that this is not the case, read on.
The life of a person in this incarnation is only one of many lives, and to place it much higher in importance than the life of the eternal soul, even from the position of the physical world and rationality, is somehow illogical, stupid and completely short-sighted.
- A look at reincarnation
It just so happens today that the topic of death is avoided. We are in a hurry to live and do not want to let thoughts about it enter our heads.
This is what my beloved Leo Tolstoy says:
“We look at death as something not only completely different from life, but as something that ends life, and it is as much the future as next year, and we must be able to look at it that way.”
“The unforeseenness of people is amazing when we eat harmful things out of greed, knowing that we will suffer, the unforeseenness of those who squander their property is amazing, but just as amazing is the unforeseenness of people who do not think about death and therefore do not think about life.”
Death is what awaits us.
This is a transition, a change, a movement of the human soul that it will have to experience. And we need to think about what happens to the soul after death in the same way as we think about our future and tomorrow.
And who knows when this path on Earth will end?
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Awareness of the finitude of physical life makes it better
We will look from the position of Christianity, or Buddhism or Hinduism, it doesn’t matter. Awareness of our soul, awareness of the necessity of its transition to another world, makes our life here on Earth better.
It makes sense. Like doing good, helping others, doing charity. This is how we understand the importance of our spiritual development and self-improvement.
The East has long devoted a lot of space to death, understanding this process and the path of movement of the soul of the deceased to the next birth.
In Tibetan Buddhism, for example, there is a practice called phowa. This is the so-called death training, leaving the body.
Death is only rebirth
According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the soul of a deceased person has the opportunity to “choose” (this is not entirely true) its next birth, or avoid it altogether (this is considered the best option).
But for this she must understand and realize what happens to her after death.
More often, the soul simply misses everything, being in an unconscious state of sleep, pushed by karmic flows to the next birth.
It is very interesting. And your soul really needs it.
ordeals
The Orthodox Church believes that the spirit goes through certain ordeals or tests on the way to the throne of God. The traditions of the holy fathers say that ordeals consist of conviction by evil spirits that make one doubt one’s own salvation, the Lord or His Sacrifice.
The word ordeal comes from the Old Russian “mytnya” - a place for collecting fines. That is, the spirit must pay some fine or be tested by certain sins. The deceased person’s own virtues, which he acquired while on earth, can help him pass this test.
From a spiritual point of view, this is not a tribute to the Lord, but a complete awareness and recognition of everything that tormented a person during his life and with which he was not able to fully cope. Only hope in Christ and His mercy can help the soul overcome this line.
Orthodox lives of saints contain many descriptions of ordeals. Their stories are extremely vivid and written in sufficient detail so that you can vividly imagine all the pictures described.
Icon of the Ordeal of Blessed Theodora
A particularly detailed description can be found in St. Basil the New, in his life, which contains the story of Blessed Theodora about her ordeals. She mentions 20 trials of sins, including:
- a word - it can heal or kill, it is the beginning of the world, according to the Gospel of John. The sins that are contained in the word are not empty statements; they have the same sin as material, committed actions. There is no difference between cheating on your husband or saying it out loud while dreaming - the sin is the same. Such sins include rudeness, obscenity, idle talk, incitement, blasphemy;
- lie or deception - any untruth spoken by a person is a sin. This also includes perjury and perjury, which are serious sins, as well as dishonest trial and falsehood;
- gluttony is not only the pleasure of one’s belly, but also any indulgence of carnal passion: drunkenness, nicotine addiction or drug addiction;
- laziness, together with hack work and parasitism;
- theft - any act the consequence of which is the appropriation of someone else's property, this includes: theft, fraud, fraud, etc.;
- stinginess is not only greed, but also thoughtless acquisition of everything, i.e. hoarding. This category includes bribery, refusal of alms, as well as extortion and extortion;
- envy - visual theft and greed for someone else's;
- pride and anger - they destroy the soul;
- murder - both verbal and material, incitement to suicide and abortion;
- fortune telling - turning to grandmothers or psychics is a sin, it is written there in Scripture;
- fornication is any lustful actions: viewing pornography, masturbation, erotic fantasies, etc.;
- adultery and the sins of Sodom.
Important! For the Lord there is no concept of death; the spirit only passes from the material world to the immaterial. But how she will appear before the Creator depends only on her actions and decisions in the world.
What happens to the soul after death?
All stages and stages are described in great detail in the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thedol)
By the way, this Tibetan treatise once made a very strong impression on the famous psychologist Carl Gustav Jung and influenced his worldview.
In addition, I would like to draw analogies of this book with the testimonies of people who experienced clinical death, who were able to briefly find themselves in the place where we all have to go.
After the death of the body, the human soul finds itself in a new state.
What is important to know?
Everything that will happen concerns only your soul , with you. No one will do anything there for you. Appearances of the dead and images of the living now are possible. This is your personal path, and you will walk it yourself.
Path of the soul
Besides yourself, only God, only Higher powers can help.
- Where to find God in life
- What is true faith in God?
- Why don't we believe in God?
And important information that runs like a red thread through Bardo Thedol.
Most of what you will meet is you. And if you can recognize yourself in this, you will be free.
The world outside the Earth’s plane, I think it’s clear, is different. Completely different. And it’s unlikely that anything from here can be transferred for a better understanding of processes in the spiritual world . And the images that the Book of the Dead describes can be absolutely individual and not similar at all.
Bardo Thodol was created in order to free the soul from countless births and, as a result, suffering. You could say that this is a practical guide that shows how to do it.
The main thing is to know yourself or to know yourself in the light of God.
But. The absolute, overwhelming number of souls of deceased people, according to Bardo Thodol, cannot do this, because the most important stages take place in a state of sleep, fear, or, conversely, pleasure. They are unconsciously carried by the karmic wind straight towards their future birth.
The soul after death in the first moments of leaving the physical body.
An endless expanse will open before the human soul, without waves and worries. Perhaps it's more of a sense of spaciousness. Lightness, calmness, even joy somewhere. Pain and suffering go away along with the body.
Where does the soul go after death?
A deceased person, recently in the body, finds himself light as a feather, floating in infinite space.
The soul is in a very unusual state for itself, it is stunned and confused. A lot of feelings.
These are the first moments after death.
Here Bardo Thodol talks about the need to be clear and collected. It is important not to give in to feelings, not to think that you are dead, not to be afraid, not to be upset, and maybe not to be happy like anyone else. All this needs to be discarded and observed.
It is the moment of death that is considered the best chance to free oneself from a series of rebirths.
In these moments the Light will appear. If the soul can see it and realize what kind of Light this is, that this is the Eternal Consciousness, the Creator, God, then in one moment the soul is liberated.
It is written like this: “you will become who you really are.”
But to see this light right now and generally in a clear consciousness is available to few souls. This is the direct and shortest way to the top, but it is extremely rare. Basically, the human soul skips this stage and flies further to lower levels.
If the soul could not see the light, it disappears. After this, the soul leaves the body and appears above it.
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Where does the soul go in the first 3 days after death?
What happens to the soul after death?
The soul missed the First Light. Next comes the time of secondary Light.
- How to feel your soul?
What happens to the soul after death - evidence.
Everything described above is based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
People who have experienced clinical death can describe this particular period, because, as a rule, they do not have time to go further, or they simply do not need to go there yet.
Also, researcher Michael Newton conducted hypnosis sessions for his patients, where we can look a little behind the scenes of previous lives and record just the period of transition from one life to another. I highly recommend reading books by this author.
The first moments of the soul without a body. Tunnel and light.
Tunnel to another world
As far as I understand, the tunnel can very likely be the direct exit of the soul from the body. Almost all witnesses saw the tunnel.
This is a dark space, at the end of which there is a gradually increasing circle of light. Coming out of the tunnel, the human soul leaves the body and finds itself in the spiritual world.
Some people see a lot of light at once, others see it far away in a dark space through which they are pulled by invisible forces.
Many people talk about the constant presence of an invisible force along the entire path. From the very beginning stages to the very latest. She is not visible, but there is always a clear feeling of her presence.
Evidence of the first steps of the soul after death. Feelings and observations.
The first thing that happens to the soul of a deceased person after death, when it leaves the tunnel, is the realization that you are alive.
Very strange sensations appear, because the person clearly sees that the body is unconscious or dead, but consciousness is still present. There are thoughts, there are emotions.
The next thing that almost everyone talks about is peace.
A state of absolute calm. At the same time, you feel incredible lightness, the feeling that you are an airy speck of dust, a fluff.
Peace and tranquility
A person notices his transparency, his lack of form. And, what is very interesting, lack of time. It was as if it froze in one place.
- About the human energy structure
- And about subtle bodies
There are a lot of sensations that are quite understandable and logical for our down-to-earth mind. We find ourselves in new, unfamiliar conditions (although there are exceptions - there have been cases when souls already subconsciously knew what to do, who they were and what to do next). Everything is unusual, there is no body, there is no three-dimensional world. There are no problems, no worries, but at the same time, here in front of my eyes is a picture of the life I just lived, here they are, friends, relatives.
There is a feeling of some loneliness, detachment from what the soul sees. Most souls are no longer very interested in what is happening there in the earthly world. Interest is already aroused by the spiritual world and being in it.
Especially the souls of dead seriously ill people. They experience great relief and joy - they want to quickly escape into the light, warm and bright spiritual world.
But there were also those who wanted to stay for a while. Often before the funeral.
But at the same time, Michael Newton has evidence of people who died abruptly and unexpectedly when the soul was instantly thrown out of the body.
Very often such a soul could not tear itself away from the body and was very worried about death. So much so that it created a serious obstacle to her further movement - too strong an attachment. Such souls can get stuck on the earthly plane for a long time.
Therefore, it is so important that those who remain do not cry, but show in every possible way that everything is fine with them and life goes on.
So that such souls do not feel their need and emotional attachment and can continue on their way.
In addition to the events described above, some people (a minority, but still) who experienced clinical death spoke about terrible, nightmarish visions, about overwhelming horror.
Where does fear and horror come from after leaving the body?
This was not recorded with Michael Newton.
Maybe this is just the case when a deceased person is very attached to this world and really does not want to leave, and the situation itself plunges him into horror.
What does the human soul look like during life?
In esotericism, it is believed that the soul combines several subtle non-material bodies that were developed by it in the process of life (this and previous ones). The soul (otherwise called the essence) can have one, two, three, four or more bodies. Together they form the substance known as the soul.
When a person is alive (that is, in full health in the material world), there is an inextricable connection between his physical body and soul.
Important! Esotericists believe that with a higher level of spiritual and moral development, an individual has a greater number of subtle shells.
The minimum number of soul bodies is one (we are talking about the ethereal body, inherent in the most primitive creatures). And the maximum number of these bodies is 6 (together with the physical 7):
- ethereal;
- astral;
- mental;
- causal;
- buddhic;
- atmic.
The listed bodies or energy shells of the soul leave the physical body in the process of dying.
Having left the physical shell, the soul retains the ability to think, feel and some other properties familiar to us. It is believed that all 6 subtle bodies, forming one integral system (complex), simultaneously leave the mortal body. They are not separated from one another, regardless of their total number.
So what does the human soul look like during life? Based on the above theory, the subtle spiritual substance has the appearance of a shining ball or halo surrounding the physical body, formed by interconnected layers.
The size of the aura varies and depends on individual characteristics, in particular, on the level of development of the soul. But on average for healthy people it is 1.5-2 meters in diameter. Spiritually developed masters and energy donors have large biofield sizes.
What happens to the soul after death after 3 days.
Further along the Book of the Dead comes a stage called the Honyid Bardo, which can last up to 14 days. This is the state where we meet ourselves.
Every day we see light of different colors. One of them will always be the Light of God, the one light of darkness that will drag us down.
But we will most likely be drawn to the dark side, which will seem closer, warmer, better. Our perception will be wrong. You will see scary creatures, mirages, images.
The main message is that all these are reflections of ourselves. This is our anger in the form of an image, these are our grievances in the form of demons. And we must reach out to them. To the thing that scares you the most.
What happens next to the soul?
The Honyid Bardo ends and the deceased person awakens. But he wakes up not in a new life, but in a new state of Bardo, which is called Sidpa Bardo.
The Book of the Dead describes this transition as emerging from troubled waters and suddenly you are there. That is, it is as if you actually wake up and begin to become very clearly aware of yourself, but at the same time being in the spiritual world.
It is described that a person emerges from a terrible dream of the Khonyid Bardo, never recognizing himself.
The body of the deceased becomes similar to what it was before, we begin to see and feel our future birth, we see other inhabitants of this layer of the world, we see those who will be with us in the future life.
It seems to me. It is this condition that is described in great detail by Michael Newton. There are a lot of dialogues with other souls, about new birth, about karma, about the future and the past.
But at the same time, nothing about anything similar to the Chonyides Bardo. It is likely that this stage really flies by like a dream, that souls simply do not remember this, or these memories are inaccessible. Hard to tell.
Sidpa Bardo is a clear state, very tempting and seductive. They say that souls like it there and they can play, and some can stay for a very long time.
Imagine that you are thinking very clearly, you perceive everything, and your thought instantly materializes. You can go anywhere you want. Just think about it. Everything is possible.
The warning here is to stay clear-headed and not give in to these temptations that will lead you nowhere.
All that matters is to think about the future birth.
This stage is described in its own way from different sides and in different ways in both “Journeys of the Soul” and in the Book of the Dead. The descriptions are sometimes completely different.
But there is still an understanding that we are talking about the same period in the life of the soul after death until the new birth.