Posted on 10 June 2019, 8:53

As I recently dealt with the possibility of a terminal condition, a friend asked if my conviction that we live on in a greater reality helped me overcome the fear of death. I’d be lying if I were to say that I don’t fear death, although it’s really more the dying process,  not death, per se, that I fear.  I’m referring to the infirmities, the feebleness, the limitations, the confinement, the pain, the sickness, the boredom, as well as the stresses placed on loved ones who live with the dying person.  The thought of being bedridden and helpless, possibly even requiring assistance in using the bathroom, scares me. 

With two preliminary laboratory tests pointing to the possibility of colon cancer, I did experience such fears not long ago, although it is difficult to separate the fear of dying from the fear of death and just as difficult to measure and compare the degree of the fear of death of the believer with that of the nihilist.  From what I have observed and heard, the nihilist does not have nearly the same peace of mind in the death experience that the true believer has, but it is a very subjective and gray area involving differing mindsets.  Moreover, ego enters the picture in any attempt to get truthful responses to one’s fears. 

Recently reissued by White Crow Books, From Life to Life, by Charles Drayton Thomas, (below) deals with such fears. It involves an aristocratic English family living through the later Victorian period and into the Edwardian years.  The happiness surrounding the family was dealt a serious blow when young Edgar was killed in fighting around Vimy Ridge in 1917.  “The very brightness of their previous outlook made the future appear more desolate by its sharp contrast,” Thomas wrote. “For William (Edgar’s father), there were ruined hopes buried in that grave on foreign soil; for the aunts (Agnes and Helen) came a [void] which nothing they could picture would ever fill. To all three of them, the future years must bring limitations of body and possibly of mind; but the arm on which they had expected to lean and the keen young brain which would have thought and planned for them, and which might have enlivened those later years…Edgar…was dead….The home took on a changed atmosphere.  Depression and resignation reigned unchallenged in each.  Edgar was gone.”

Some joy was restored, however, when Agnes and Helen began communicating with Edgar through the trance mediumship of Gladys Osborne Leonard. As William held the Christian belief in heaven, he was shocked when his sisters reported that they had talked with Edgar through Mrs. Leonard.  However, some evidential communication eventually brought conviction to him before he, too, transitioned and began communicating with his sisters through Mrs. Leonard.  In one communication he told Agnes how much hearing from Edgar through Leonard had helped him get through his final years.  “One cannot overestimate the value of knowing before one passes,” he communicated. “Why even the most ignorant and stupid person, who intended taking a journey to some strange land, would go out of his way to glean information about the geography, climate and conditions of that land. But the majority of those whom I and Edgar now help have been very badly equipped for this life.”

Edgar explained to Agnes that many do not accept the world beyond death because they will have to face the results of willfulness and selfishness during their earth life and that  
a person’s body (aura?) shows the degree of spiritual development.  “The more one lives in harmony with the Divine Mind, the more fully and perfectly does one live here.” 

Agnes told William that even though she had heard many good things about life on Other Side from both him and Edgar, she still dreaded the idea of death.  “Yes, I know there seems a strangeness about it,” Edgar replied.  “I felt that, too. I was tired of earth, tired of my body and tired of difficulties. I longed to go to Edgar, and yet something in me shrank from it. But when it came [to the time to leave the body] all fear departed. The door opened and I passed through.” 

My recent “scare” began with an annual “wellness exam,” part of my health insurance program.  It included an assortment of laboratory tests, one of which suggested possible colon cancer.  That resulted in my doctor recommending a test called Colordark, now regularly advertised on television.  I pointed out to the doctor that even if this more extensive test indicated colon cancer that I was not prepared to undergo treatment, such as radiation or chemotherapy.  At age 82, I am more inclined to let nature take its course.  I asked what would be gained by taking the test other than some peace of mind that would come with a negative test.  However, both the doctor and my wife convinced me that it is the right thing to do.  I submitted, and the test came back positive for colon cancer with a small asterisk indicating that there is only a 15 percent chance that it is colon cancer.  I was prepared to live with the 85 percent chance that I don’t have it, but I was further persuaded to take the next step, a colongraphy, which involves much more extensive testing.  Fortunately, that test came back negative for cancer. 

All three tests took a total of six weeks and I had more or less come to the conclusion during that time that death was on the horizon. While watching a baseball game on television, I felt great elation when the pitcher on my favorite team, the Oakland Athletics, threw a no-hitter.  As the last out was made, I jumped for joy, before quickly returning to reality and asking myself, “So what?  You might be dead by the end of the season. It’s just a game, not reality. Who cares?”  I found myself doing that quite often during those six weeks, constantly reminding myself that what little I do in this world really doesn’t matter much at this point.  Contemplating death results in a melancholic outlook on life, at least for me and for the many friends and relatives I have observed deal with it. 

Many doctors subscribe to a policy of no such tests after around age 75, concluding that the risks involved in treating the condition outweigh the risks of doing nothing, or to put it another way, the time remaining while doing nothing is greater than the time gained by doing something.  However, many doctors don’t seem to buy into that policy and in these days when so many of them are reluctant to treat patients on Medicare I worry that they will drop me as a patient and not be there if I need them for some non-terminal condition if I don’t take their advice.

The “dying” part aside, my recent experience allowed me to further test my conviction that consciousness survives death.  There were many times during those six weeks of anxiety that I examined my views on the subject while mulling over the best evidence in support of survival.  My conviction remained strong at the 98.8 percent certainty level.  I frequently went to bed at night thinking it would be best if I transitioned during my sleep and avoided the weeks or months of decay and deterioration.  I reasoned that if I were a bachelor that would be the preferred exit, but I worried about my wife finding my lifeless body upon awakening in the morning.

There were many times over those six weeks that I wondered how I would be dealing with the anxiety if I were a typical nihilist, expecting complete “lights out” when the heart stops pumping. I concluded that contemplating total extinction would be immeasurably more difficult and probably result in difficulty falling asleep each night.  I know that some nihilists claim they are not bothered by the idea of extinction, but, as I have said many times in prior blogs, I tend to sense that such “courage” is mere bravado, or as pioneering psychologist William James suggested, just so much “bosh” and “humbug.” 

To again quote Professor James: “The [moral nihilist] must hold his breath and keep his muscles tense; and so long as this athletic attitude is possible all goes well – morality suffices.  But the athletic attitude tends ever to break down and it inevitably does break down even in the most stalwart when the organism begins to decay, or when morbid fears invade the mind.”

Back to Agnes and William, in spite of all the good news from William and Edgar, Agnes still expressed her dread of death, to which William said she was passing through a test of endurance.  “All are tested in one way or another,” William explained, “for earth is the testing place for the soul.  It is not meant to be a pleasure-ground, as so many seem to suppose.  God’s purpose is that character should be tested up to the hilt while we are on earth.  Those who escape it on earth get it here, and it is far better to be tested on earth than over here; for when one comes here the soul should have finished its schooling and be ready for wider opportunities and adventures of real life.”

Next blog post:  June 24 

Michael Tymn is the author of The Afterlife Revealed: What Happens After We Die, Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife, and Dead Men Talking: Afterlife Communication from World War I.

I think I found a better link… see new pdf ...this has the extra ending to it.
Or, 
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/04/29/100531698.pdf

When one researches the Titanic from Cora’s and Snead’s concerns against dark side (Snead was in agreement with John Jacob Astor IV—not having a central bank in America—-they were both going to vote against it—being the reason for their Titanic trip)—-  it seems a lot of psi intuition and premonition from spirit was connected years before the sinking of the Titanic…  That is why looking into Snead’s writings could be important…I was wondering if Spirit was giving a warning to several people prior to stop these other bankers hatching this terrible plot to kill the opposition wealthy elites to stop them voting on arriving in America.  From the Spirit world and else where and through a medium in Ireland Snead kind of alluded to this material wealth as a negative.  Titanic was lovingly built in Ireland and Ireland insisted on many more life boats but the owners—mainly JP Morgan—owner- declined and there’s quite a lot to show his dirty hands and why ...........  Taft v Roosevelt for a first Central US Bank. 
I am doing much research at the moment while we are in strange times—-

I had to add this article I saw today: How To Face Your Inevitable Death Without Fear from Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/think-act-be/201906/how-face-your-inevitable-death-without-fear?fbclid=IwAR19ffSjvkNT_heUGXmymVkbE1cCkfcCx-YU0tylbCktDxaNAEq1wf9C1fs

As further support for my 98.8% conviction rather than 100% absolute certainty, here is what Swedenborg is said to have communicated through the mediumship of Dr. George Dexter:

“What would be the benefit conferred on man by opening to his comprehension to all the mysteries of spirit life and all the beauties of the spheres – revealing the truths belonging to his material and spiritual nature, if we were not able to teach him how that life on earth should be directed; how to govern his passions, how to progress, how to live that his death may be productive of life everlasting in happiness?”          – Swedenborg

Michael

For you, I totally agree when you wrote your estimated acceptance….:
“I think the 98.8% reaches the “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.”

Also, it’s important that we know we are NOT given 100% true information in readings from Spirit communication. The mystery also keeps the seeking ever alive. Otherwise we would never bother to question or seek for truth.

I.e One is not taught in most Universities today how to question or test, especially now that we have to be careful of ones speech being limiting by rules of how to even question openly with out upsetting someone.  Playwright, George Bernard Shaw suggested universities should teach Homeopathically.  The result being the Student would have to question everything as they would know before hand they were being given wrong facts on purpose.

Btw, GBS whose mother was a gifted Medium in London must have impressed much on GBS to cause him to so often discuss the LIFE FORCE in so many of his plays and famous prefaces.

So, the Spirit world wants you to question and test them.  They do NOT want you to only accept and have ‘faith” or ‘belief’ in them; that’s religion.  Spiritualists on the other hand ask for proof beyond belief and therefore it is scientifically tested by the individual seeker of true light and love. No longer faith or belief but something much more important, the un-questioning Knowing and perception that there IS LIFE AFTER the DEATH OF THE PHYSICAL EARTH BODY.

It was due to three death in 1998 in Toronto I suffered that led me to see three afterlife amazing revelations. First, my trembling, fearful soul was making all effort to pull my dead body away. It was futile. next, saw my dead mom now alive in a beautiful realm. Thirdly, saw several dead friends souls as if they were waiting for Jesus Christ. I survived that deadly brain damage. And in 2005, I saw Jesus in a dream. While folks with no facial features were grabbing bullion of gold, Jesus asked me what I seek in life.’ My lord, I desire to see all you see.’ That was all . But my answer was profound. I meant to do what pleased him. And to entirely focus on what he expects me to do.

“When the Time Comes” - Recently Michael Tymn received news of a possible terminal condition.  We are all grateful that further lab tests proved negative.  However, his experience presents us with an important question.

    When the time definitely comes for us to leave Earth - either through old age or a terminal illness - how will we react to our approaching physical death?  And those of us who have faith, believe in the teachings of Spiritualism and are familiar with the true descriptions of the afterlife - well, does this knowledge ease our fear of death?

    And furthermore, have we done everything we could, practically and spiritually, to make this transition easier for us as well as our loved ones still on Earth?

    Mrs. Joy Snell was a nurse in England in the early 20th century.  She was also clairvoyant and clairaudient.  Her work placed her both in hospitals and in private care.  And in these situations, her psychic gifts enabled her to actually see ministering angels help the sick recover and escort the dying into the afterlife.  (Her 1918 book, “The Ministry of Angels,” is, in my opinion, a classic and should be more widely read.)

    Two excerpts.  1) The Transcendent Spiritual Body - “But whether the deaths I witnessed were peaceful or painful, preceded or not preceded by the recognition of someone from the other world, always, immediately after the physical life had ceased, I saw the spirit form take shape above the dead body, in appearance a glorified replica of it.  However painful might have been the last hours, however protracted and wasting the illness, no trace of suffering or disease appeared upon the radiant face.”

    2) We Never Die Alone - “No patient died in my care that I did not see an angel, or two angels, waiting by the bedside to conduct the deathless soul to its new sphere of existence when its corruptible body had been exchanged for a spirit body…the faces of these angels, whether indicative of youth or old age, bespoke love, tenderness, goodness, that they were all beautiful to look upon.”

    “Always, or nearly always, when the waiting angels were seen by the dying just before death, or by their spirits just afterwards, it seemed to me that they were recognized…This indicated that these angels…had been when on earth relations or friends of those who recognized them.  This was obviously so when, as in some of the scenes I have described, the dying called them by name…so, it is natural that the first to meet us and greet us when we cross the threshold of the other world, should be some of those who were dear to us and who have preceded us there.”

    A century ago, Mrs. Snell made the following astute observation, one that equally applies to us a century later.

    “The recognition, while the mind is still clear, of the near approach of death causes men and women, I believe, more than anything else, to disclose their real characters.  Then, it seems to me, the soul throws aside all that has served to conceal its true nature and show itself as it really is, beautiful or hideous.  And to the nurse, more clearly even than to the doctor or the minister, does the soul, under these circumstances, reveal itself….”

    “Then is shown the great difference between those who have found a satisfactory answer to this question and those who have found none.  Death, no less than life, long ago taught me the transcendent importance of religion; of a faith which is awake seven days a week and is not assumed only on Sundays as a concession to conventional respectability.  That pretended faith, it has been proved to me again and again, affords no support whatever to the soul in the real crises of life.”

    To Mrs. Snell’s importance of religious faith, we must also add the importance of the teachings and knowledge contained in Spiritualism. 

    In my comment, I offered the first two excerpts as a comfort to all of us when death approaches.  Still, the question remains.  Are we prepared?      Bob Landro

Patrice,

I think the 98.8% reaches the “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” threshold and does it for me. As long as “superpsi” can’t be 100% discounted, I don’t see how one can be 100%, or “absolutely” certain.  Even the soul phone would have a “superpsi” aspect to it.  As Victor Hugo was told by a spirit claiming to be Martin Luther, a little doubt is necessary for us to meet our challenges.  If absolute certainty were possible, it would change our way of living, overcoming adversity, and meeting challenges. We need at least a little doubt in there.

Patrice you asked if Soulphone would be a way to lift away these 1.2 % ?

Consider your question regarding the SoulPhone and
consider the source of SPhone. This becomes a big subject requiring spiritual education that DOES NOT come from earth bound scientists, Drs etc. or most psychics as they are not true mediums. We are all psychic even if we are not aware.

We old timer Spiritualists have constantly warned neophytes to the Spirit world knowledge to have NOTHING TO DO WITH OUIJA BOARDS. Why then would you think about using a possibly weaponized tool that would be used on a computer and maybe over the internet?  INTERNET-REALLY? Even if you think you are NOT connected?  And tracking software and GPS on smart phones? The un-security of social media and credit cards? The need for Firewalls?

Do not entertain Ouija Boards or the so called SoulPhone.

Also your connection to the spirit world if possible, could have the danger just like Ouija boards by opening yourself up to the lower, darker spirits and possible other trickery.

Instead, I would kindly like to suggest that you develop your own spiritually given gifts by sitting in regular meditation for 15 -20 mins, every day and each time asking for protection from the highest you can perceive of—The Infinite of all that ‘IS.’

Do NOT try to force your love ones to come through just when you want to have them come. But just allow them when they ready to do so.  NEVER dictate to them—Be only loving.  They know much more than you do about your condition/s.

Other people not yet open will be ready when they are ready to receive.  Those that won’t be -don’t interfere.  What is important is that each one of us can be a good spiritual example to others and understand what that means; using right thoughts towards a CORRECT PURPOSE.  This way we help the world to heal. 

Do not give energy to darkness.  If you are not sure of anything being in RIGHT PURPOSE speak to /ask the INFINITE OF ALL THAT IS. KNOW you will be answered. 

Stop talking of reincarnation. Study. stay away from New Age Thought. There is no “RE.”  Incarnations / embodiments- yes. But on the other side of life /quantum mechanics which in understanding SOUL there is no PAST PRESENT OR FUTURE. Soul is perfect-it is not physical. You are only aware of your spirit at this time. Learn to live life Fully in this moment.  Our Mind can move in the PAST PRESENT and FUTURE = quantum. Prepare your mind to be ready for your real life into the spirit world—NOT reincarnation which is a hoax by Theosophist Madam Blavatsky and a political plot played on the lower caste Indians to keep them controlled and kept down by keeping them in their place, happily on the wheel mentally. Evil.  Do you want to stay in kindergarten all your Soul’s lives by repeatedly coming back here?

Also what many think is reincarnation can be many other things. Think of Possession, Obsession, walk-ins Multiple Personalities.  This is why real spiritualist mediums know to protect themselves.  Do Scientist do this? No! So, on the dangers of believing in reincarnation—Read the book THIRTY YEARS AMONG THE DEAD by WICKLAND. Shown on this blog before.

This is NOT the real life here on earth. But it’s our important training ground to really know how one must use this time wisely and gain experience and learn and to create.  Knowing how to use the mind to create is very important when arriving on the otherside.

The use of SOUL as in SOULPHONE is an impossibility.  Spirit-phone perhaps.  But Stay away—could be worse than OUIJA BOARDS

Hello, Michael:
You said 98.8 %.
It seems to me that the issue is not to deal and conjecture about the 1.2 %.
How would it be possible to change that 98.8 % into a solid 100 % ?
Do you think that the Soulphone would be a way to lift away these 1.2 % ?

Best Regards:      Patrice

Yes, the good news is that your scare proved unfounded, Michael.

As far as future scares go, you might want to consider physician assisted euthanasia in the case of serious end-of-life issues. Sparing yourself and family from the “downturn” can help both financially and psychologically. For me, just knowing that I have control over my life and death on my own terms is a tremendous relief right now until the very end. The horrible death process is the enemy. Immediate death is better. The horrible death process can be avoided using right-to-die principles including helping loved ones understand why it is best to avoid the horrible death process altogether and embrace immediate death before the death process gets out-of-hand.

Kevin Williams

Maybe one way to minimise fear is to remember the title of Robert Crookall’s book published in 1987 and regard it as true: ‘The Supreme Adventure’.

Many thanks to all for the comments as well as the interesting links provided by John Douglas and Maryam. 

While looking for something else, I happened to come upon an interesting communication said to have come from the discarnate William T. Stead to Lillian Hamilton, the widow of Dr. T. Glen Hamilton, Canada’s foremost psychical researcher,during March 1944.  One never knows how much the message has been distorted by the medium’s subconscious, but this one seems worth pondering on and discerning.

“Much has been written about the terror which prospective death inspires in the poor human being—people in love with life, skeptical and frivolous, forgetting God and what is required of them while on the earth plane.  It often happens that they doubt the reality of their own decease, especially if they belong to the strong-minded class of individual.  On the other hand, it can be verified that the terror to which so many unhappy dying persons are prey—horrors which follow them a long time after their decease—prevent them from freeing themselves from the tortures which they believe are imposed upon them.

“You who understand these things will be held responsible if you do not let them know the truth.”—W.T.S.

Jon Beecher has just edited and published an anthology titled “In Times of War: Messages of Wisdom from Soldiers in the Afterlife.”  The back cover states that the book is the first of a series of “White Crow Anthologies” and this one “documents conversations with soldiers who purport to have been near death or killed as a result of war.  The communicators aren’t mystics, sages or saints—-just ordinary people who having passed on claim they haven’t died at all and feel more alive than ever in their post-physical state.”  Those who have read Michael Tymn’s book, “Dead Men Talking: Afterlife Communication from World War I” will find this anthology familiar. - AOD

Mike,

Aside from the autobiography, which I of course enjoyed, especially the positive outcome, I want to thank you for promoting Drayton Thomas’s book. When I was researching mediumship preparatory to writing my own books, I especially enjoyed Thomas’s books, which at the time were out of print. I cannot recommend From Life to Life enough. It’s one more gem published by our treasured friend Jon Beecher, editor of White Crow. Where would we, and all the commentators above, be without him? Thanks for this blog.

I’ve recently discovered the work of Helen Wambach the psychologist that carried out many past life regressions under hypnosis.  She had an unusually rigorous approach for hypnotherapists and gleaned a lot of information from her subjects.  Her work in my opinion is more rigorous than Weiss or Newton.  In this talk - I recommend listening to all three parts - she covers the experience of dying which she has gleaned from 100s of cases.  Almost all subjects when regressed to the stage of dying in a past life felt peace and sometimes elation.  A lot of other people including some researchers have had similar findings.  However, what I found even more interesting was that the birth experience is less enjoyable by far.  That’s the one I’m not looking forward to .
See minute 35:30.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3szZeo030M

Mike,

The superior spirits have expressed the same thing, that we suffer only what is deserved, and therefore, we should have faith in the Divine Laws. This includes the circumstances surrounding of our death.

That said, if one is to suffer much towards the end of life, it also has been stated many times
by the spirits that these last days, hours, minutes, if undergone with humility and resignation, can erase many years and possible centuries of suffering in future lives.

Also, many times a person goes through much inner reflection (feelings of remorse, forgiveness of others, the asking of forgiveness, saying things that had been left unsaid, etc.) at the end of their lives… which would have NOT have come about about except under particular dying circumstances. It is an important opportunity for the soul to make amends and morally progress.

We must remember we have freewill, and prior to being reborn, we chose for our own moral and spiritual progress the many trials and tests of our lives…as well as the manner of our physical death and the duration of the dying process.

We have chosen…in consultation with our superior spirit guides and permission of the Creator, in accordance with the Divine Laws.

Most Respectfully,
Yvonne Crespo Limoges

Hello Mike, great news that all is well! We need you here for at least 20 years more. Don’t leave us without your knowledge and wisdom!

Aloha! Anabela

One of my favorite lines from the poetry of Patience Worth is from a poem given the title “The Day’s Work”.  It is a comparatively short poem about the pageantry of man, ” .  .  sweeping out in gentle lines upon the pathways of the earth.”

After pointing to men who make things, write scripts, plow the soil and dream dreams she writes:

“Men who live!  Live to the last bitter dreg within the cup, quaffing with delight the potion of death—-in defiance lifting the goblet”  and then she contrasts that with “Men who sit within the shadow of their doubt, beholding the cup of death in fearing, waiting for tomorrow who already hath laid her hand upon the cup’s brim—-“

Wow!  What other poet can write lines like that?  (Well, maybe Shakespeare of course!) - AOD

Well Michael I suspect that you have faced your mortality several times in your long life and here you are, you are still here.  At your age my grandfather had another 19 years to live and my mother was one month shy of 20 years.  Both of them were in pretty good shape almost until the end but they did need some assistance at times.  You could as well have many more years ahead of you.  As long as you are not a burden to yourself or others, why not take advantage of new medical treatments that may extend your life.  The Bluebells chime as sweet whether you are 19 or 90 and my mother would have given anything to be 80 again.  - AOD

Hi Mike:

An informative but especially courageous article; I could see myself thinking and behaving similarly. William’s quote in your final paragraph is the “wake-up call” for me and should be for everyone else (nihilists included):

“All are tested in one way or another, ... for earth is the testing place for the soul.  It is not meant to be a pleasure-ground, as so many seem to suppose.  God’s purpose is that character should be tested up to the hilt while we are on earth.  Those who escape it on earth get it here, and it is far better to be tested on earth than over here; for when one comes here the soul should have finished its schooling and be ready for wider opportunities and adventures of real life.”

From the horse’s mouth, so to speak; all else is conjecture, speculation or theory.

All any of us have is now; to hell with the future and good riddance to the past. I know such bravado will have to navigate the physical pain and mental anguish of our remaining years. Hopefully, God will not test us beyond the hilt while we try to complete our schooling and graduate (as in commencement) and become “ready for wider opportunities and adventures of real life.”

Aloha,
Norm Jenulis

Dear Mike - Very happy to know that your last tests came back negative.  Great news!  Your work on earth is not finished.  I’ll echo what Wendy and Victor said above: looking forward to reading more exciting articles.  Aloha!  And God Bless!  Bob

Dear Michael, thank you for this link, I did not expect that. I have been involved in my working years in care of the elderly as well as younger MS patients. Many a time I witnessed the spirit leave the body, I could tell you many a tale! It is a privilege to have been with them. I have had a journey of learning that I am spirit and have no fear. Of course, no one wants a drastic and violent death, but we are greeted by love as we vacate the physical, this heals any fear. Sincerely, with Blessings, Margaret.

Thanks for sharing Michael….
I am only a few years younger than you but I am without family but healthier than many young people—just a few aches etc.

I find that no one seems to talk about the correct way to deal with the body after the last breath.  There’s much talk about the after-life and the process of dying.  Yes it is best to prepare by knowing about the other side—the real life that follows this womb like life for testing and experience gaining.  My training from a wonderful Medium in London 50 years ago who helped me understand this period said: the body must remain in rest for 3 days 72 hours at least.  This needs a little thinking through. Sometimes the etheric body needs time to separate correctly /peacefully. I don’t want to be bungled off to a morgue the day I drop my body. It would be nice if like the Inuit Eskimos I could call a ‘going away’ party and pass my last breath knowing the time to leave my body surrounded by earth friends and heavenly friends. I am seriously thinking one can learn how to let go and know the time to drop the body just like some other spiritual indigenous peoples know how to do. Know that fear can make one hang on longer than needed.

An interesting and frank tale of your feelings about the infirmities of old age. I have recently posted my own tale which is from a slightly different perspective but may be of interest -
http://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.com/2019/06/old-age-and-beyond-by-jd.html

I am younger than you but not by much and have managed to avoid any serious medical issues so far. However that day might arrive and I have decided to reject any treatment which extends my life just for the sake of extending it. There is no point in that when the transition and the next life are better and welcome options.

Yes, EXCELLENT writing and discussion. How Often I too have said it is the “process” of dying that I fear!  RLV

nuclear 12

My mother seemed to have a healthy, humorous even, attitude to dying. The physician told her ‘Gwen, you’re dying’, so she took to her bed straight away. I went round to her place, sat by the bed, held her hand and was just ‘there’ for the evening. Before she went to sleep she turned to me: “Isn’t it boring, waiting to die !” She had to wait several weeks before she departed.

Mike,
I agree - another great article. Again there is the flip side to this topic; grief for someone you love who is no longer here can make death ‘seem’ a very viable option. A spiritual education and contact with those loved ones however, makes remaining here through your grief possible and meaningful. I was a materialist.  I am no longer.

Mike I too am over 75 and when a doctor recently suggested a test to me I said “I thought once one is over 75 you don’t have to do those tests anymore?”  and he said “Oh that’s what the government says but they want you dead so are we really going to listen to them.” 
Thanks for your story per usual Blessings Karen

Hi MIke, thanks for another great article. Glad to hear that you’ve been given the all clear and will be writing many more. Aloha Wendy and Victor