By Michael Tymn

There are very extreme views as to what should happen to suicide bombers in the afterlife. At one extreme, they are seen as heroic martyrs in the service of God and should be richly rewarded. At the other extreme, they are nothing but savage murderers who should ‘burn in hell’ for eternity. Emotionally, at least, there seems to be no middle ground.

As discussed in the last blog post here, suicide is one subject on which spirit communicators all seem to agree. They condemn it. At least, that is so with traditional suicide. However, there is very little in the many communications that have come to us from the spirit world in recent centuries relative to non-traditional suicide, more specifically to what we call suicide bombers. Of course, we are talking murder as well as suicide, which further complicates the matter.

Leaving emotion aside, the rational person can struggle in attempting to reconcile the act with the motive. If the suicide bomber truly believes that he (or she) is sacrificing himself and taking the lives of those he kills for a greater good and is doing God’s will, it is difficult to believe that he will be judged harshly by a benevolent God. If we judge ourselves, as many modern spirit messages seem to suggest, rather than standing before a tribunal of judges or before God, why should we think that the suicide bomber will suddenly realize the error of his ways and judge himself harshly?

In their 2006 book, Suicide: What really happens in the afterlife? Pamela Rae Heath, MD, PsyD, and Jon Klimo, PhD, recognize the dilemma and the lack of material on the subject. ‘What ultimately lies behind the terminal behavior of a suicide bomber does not lend itself to simple analysis,’ they point out.

Indeed, underneath their supposedly idealistic objectives, some suicide bombers may be driven by hatred, anger, envy, pride, fear, frustration, even lust in the case of those who expect to be greeted by 72 virgins. If they see their afterlife as being better than their current squalor, it would seem that their reasons are more self-serving than altruistic.

At the same time, there may be some altruistic motives mixed in with the egoistic motives. There may be some suicide bombers whose motives are predominately altruistic while the egoistic motives control to a much lesser extent. In effect, it is not a black and white situation. There are various shades of gray that must be sifted through in analyzing the mindset of the suicide bomber and we should not expect them to be all of the same mindset. Further, there is the issue of whether the seemingly altruistic motives are spiritual or material. If the objective is to make one’s relatives and friends better off materially rather than spiritually, then it may be misguided altruism.

It is difficult to believe that the Japanese kamikaze pilots of World War II were driven by hatred, anger, and rewards in the afterlife. At least history has been kind to them in that respect, suggesting that they were driven, to the extent they had any choice, by a sense of honor and loyalty to their emperor and country. If the kamikaze pilots and the modern suicide bombers were all victims of ‘brainwashing,’ should they be punished severely in the afterlife for having been ‘simpleminded’ and for not having been stronger in resisting more powerful minds?

Because of the various shades of gray running through the minds of the suicide bomber, it seems reasonable to assume that they do not meet with equal ‘justice’ in the afterlife. Of course, the orthodox religionist who believes in only a dichotomous afterlife, i.e., the traditional humdrum heaven and horrific hell, may struggle to grasp that idea or totally reject it because it is not consistent with established dogma and doctrine. Those not so fettered have come to see an afterlife with as many states as there are degrees of goodness and evil in this life. As Christ said, ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions.’

Heath and Klimo attempted to get an afterlife perspective on the situation by having several reputable channelers contact some of the suicide bombers or their guides in the afterlife. While recognizing that channeled messages can be distorted, misinterpreted, or otherwise may not be what they are said to be, Heath and Klimo presented their findings for whatever they are worth.

‘In one channeling session, the guides that came through insisted that all terrorist souls are met by an entity, if only to make sure that their emotion does not contaminate the astral realm,’ Heath and Klimo write, going on to point out that one of the guides communicated that they are dealing in terms that do not exist in our realm and therefore it is difficult to describe. But, generally, most of them seem to be bewildered and slow to recognize they are dead.

All terrorists spirits appear to undergo a life-review, as do all other spirits who pass over. However, as with many other spirits, this life-review is not so much about judgment as it is about learning. ‘This may be a long and difficult period, as the spirits have to review not only their own life, but that of those they had harmed, along with the impact their actions had on others,’ Heath and Klimo point out. ‘Their progress appears to be slowed down by the strength which terrorists hold on to their own belief patterns (and may not be helped by their argumentative nature). Only one terrorist spirit claimed to have finished his life review (which could not be confirmed through other mediums); some appeared to be in the midst of it, while many did not appear to have started the process.’

In effect, most of the terrorists contacted by the channelers still seemed to be floundering in the ‘ethers,’ what one guide referred to as the ‘gray area.’ Another guide communicated that they appeared to be in a drugged state and slow to adjust to their new environment. In some cases, the terrorists seem to be placed in something of a ‘holding pattern’ until the guides feel they are capable of learning and advancing. One guide pointed out that they can be in this state from a month to a thousand years in linear time.
The channeled messages also suggested that relatively few suicide bombers express regrets compared to traditional suicides.

The bottom line seems to be that the suicide bombers do not realize the rewards they are told to expect, but neither do they experience the fiery hell of orthodoxy. They may experience a ‘fire of the mind,’ especially if their motives were more self-serving than altruistic, but all are given the opportunity to learn from the experience and eventually advance.