After he died I immersed myself in every book I could find that talked about where we go when we die. Every free moment I found where my little girls would be asleep or playing I spent it reading about the afterlife.

You see I was looking for him, I wanted to see where he went.

I could not understand logically how we can be here one moment and be gone the next.

How I could be in love with someone who no longer physically exists.

I was so mad.

I was furious that life can be here in one moment and be gone the next.

Without any explanation.

So I turned page after page, read book after book and when I went through everything, I was still hungry for more. I was still searching to find him.

He died reading the book ‘Life after life’ by Raymond Moody.

He too was searching for his next home.

Over the course of the last 10 years I have experienced miracles. I heard of incredible stories. I read so much about what happens to all of us when we die and today I want to talk about some of the things that have helped me understand our mortality and immortality better.

You see we exist in both.

We are both mortal and immortal.

I am sure you have many beliefs around this and you have read so much about it. You even have your own experiences to share with others.

But my hope for this blog is that you will stumble upon a new frontier of knowledge when it comes to our life after life.

A more scientific version of the truth that is out there.

As time went by I was no longer satisfied with the generalizations books made or with how everything was so watered down.

There is so much more to what happens to us when we die.

In my opinion we have just scratched the surface.

I don’t think we die. I don’t think we stop existing. I don’t think there is a real end. (Click to Tweet!)

Here are some principles I discovered that give me hope that there is so much more to this existence than what we see right here. Most of all, our beloveds have found their new experience of life somewhere else. And that makes me very happy.

Here it goes…

 

Space and time are a true illusion

Space and time are tools that have been created by the human mind to live in some kind of order of this physical reality.

After the death of his friend, Albert Einstein said:

“Now Besso has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us…know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

Death does not exist outside of what the human mind has created to understand life.

It doesn’t exist in a world without time, without space without the creation of the past, present and future. Our thinking is very linear and very restrictive in the way we can think about our existence beyond our physical bodies.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that “the influences of the senses has in most men overpowered the mind to the degree that the walls of space and time have come to look solid, real and insurmountable; and to speak with levity of these limits in the world is the sign of insanity.”

What I want you to take from this principle is that the past is not the past, the present is not the present and the future is not the future. This is an illusion of our minds. Our beloveds and our future selves exist in another capacity that our minds cannot understand or comprehend because they rely on this linear way of thinking.

 

Consciousness beyond our physical body

According to Robert Lanza, the author of the books ‘Biocentrism’ and ‘Beyond Biocentrism”, death is an illusion that exists in our minds because we only identify ourselves with our bodies.

He believes that consciousness exists outside of our bodies and it is able to be anywhere in our bodies and outside of it. He also believes in a multiuniverse theory where in one universe we don’t exist but in another we do.

I know this is a little more complex than what we read in books about life after death, but to be honest with you, I need more than just a basic representation of what happens to us after we die. And these theories allow us to consider that consciousness is not as simple as how we feel inside our bodies in this life. It is much more than this. It is possible there is another world somewhere else where we go after we shed our bodies in this linear physical existence.

 

What happens to the soul

Professor Stuart Hameroff believes that our soul or consciousness can travel back into the universe after the death of the body. He talks about something called microtubules and they are the carriers of consciousness. When the body dies these carriers take over and move to a different place, possibly another universe according to Lanza and Hameroff.

Imagine that. Imagine another kind of existence after this one. With the same consciousness and soul.

There have been many studies that prove that after death we continue to be. There was a big study that took place a couple of years ago that truly gave us a glimpse of what happens after our heart stops beating. They studied over 2,000 people who suffered cardiac arrests at 15 hospitals in the UK, US and Austria. And they found that nearly 40 per cent of people who survived described some kind of ‘awareness’ during the time when they were clinically dead before their hearts were restarted. One man even recalled leaving his body entirely and watching his resuscitation from the corner of the room. Despite being unconscious and ‘dead’ for three minutes, the 57-year-old social worker from Southampton, recounted the actions of the nursing staff in detail and described the sound of the machines. There are many stories like this one when the body stops living but the soul keeps being aware of the world around us. I believe that we continue the journey but where do we go?

 

Where do we all go?

On April 16th of this year a huge study was completed that studied people who had been without a pulse for 20 minutes and they all described their experience as follows: Most common memories include a feeling of detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity, security, warmth, the experience of absolute dissolution, and the presence of an overwhelming light. At this point the evidence of life after life is truly here but what do we do with this now?

When we have proven not only spiritually that we do indeed go somewhere but scientifically too how does that help with the life we are living today.

Does that change how we experience the loss of our loved ones?

Does it change how we grieve?

Do we need to know what happens next to believe this completely?

I think it is possible that the only way to find out where we go after this body can no longer serve us is to go through death ourselves one day. Maybe there is another universe somewhere with the souls that are no longer in this one.

And if that is true then can grief be lessened?

Can grief be less painful?

Can we focus on living more fully after the loss of our beloveds because we now know with more certainty that they still exist in another realm, in another world that most likely connects with this one outside of time and space.

 

Why am I writing about this?

Because I have been on an a journey of my own trying to put all the pieces together as I cannot accept the fact that there is nothing after death.

And for those of you out there who right now are thinking about all of this from a religious point of view I want you to know that I do believe in a higher power too, but I am very interested in the scientific evidence of the existence of consciousness without the body. I want to know this with every part of me. As it helps me live my life better knowing that the people who I have lost in the past and the people who I will lose in the future are somewhere experiencing life in a new way.

I also want to give you hope that this life today, this life you still have in this body, is meant to be lived fully without grief stopping you from doing so. I personally believe that we have existed before this body and we will continue to exist after. And that makes me feel more free to live this life in the most adventurous way possible. I hope this letter today helped you to see how science and studies have opened the doors to a new understanding about death and what happens next.

With love,

Christina

PS. I am writing a new book that unravels all of this.

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Christina

Christina

Christina Rasmussen is an author, speaker and social entrepreneur who believes that grief is an evolutionary experience required for launching a life of adventure and creative accomplishment.

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21 Comments

  • Hi Christina, I totally agree with you and talk about my experiences and amazing photographs of my departed husband’s signs in my memoir, Dancing In Two Realms. You and I met at Camp Widow and I cited your blog and website in my memoir. I also started the Camp Widow roundtables on Signs and Synchronicity and do talks about Signs from the Beyond to local bereavement groups. It is so healing for others to share their experiences from loved ones and know Love Never Dies!

  • Tina says:

    NOW, you’re getting it, Christina ! As a pagan, we also believe what this post is all about.
    I sit here, looking longingly at my grilled cheese sandwich and my growing ever-colder cream of mushroom soup,and grinning ear to ear,knowing that you,too, “get it.”
    Welcome aboard, Christina. I hope you enjoy your stay with the enlightened .
    I love youir posts and I love you too. You have made a vast difference in not just my life, but so many more than you will ever know. For every person whose blog/MIAB or your posts have touched, there is probably two more that are too shy or in too much pain,sitting on the other side of the monitor,I-Phone, gadget,crying their eyes out over loss. And they,too, are in their broken heart, happy that someone else ” get is” and knows where they are.You have taken us by the hand,and walked this lonely journey with us,and that, my dear friend, is invaluable. It is priceless.YOU are priceless.This is your calling, your passion,and I do believe that this is why you are here on this planet.
    Thank you, and I speak not only for myself, but possibly many others, that we are happy you chose to take that step and leave the cubicle and take this journey with us. ( We are NOT happy that your hubby died. We wished that he were here with you, but you would not be the person you are today.
    So glad that this post was in my inbox. 🙂
    Warm regards, and once again : thank YOU !!!

  • Hi Christina,
    Thank you for this and all your thoughtful, kind and caring writings that you so graciously share with us. I learn something every time I read one of your articles.

    My wife of over 30 years passed away just over two years ago. I am a spiritual person and have faith that she is in heaven with family and friends who have passed before. I don’t follow any religion in particular and have my own beliefs in God. I do not know exactly how all this works, but I believe that it does. It is too difficult to imagine that our spirits simply disappear into nothingness when we die. Especially when I consider my beautiful Faye’s sweet spirit. I still feel her close by.

    Even when you have belief, there is still grief. We still wonder where our loved ones are, what they are doing and what will happen to us when we die. We have some answers, but not all.

    About one week after Faye died I was in our room in the early morning hours and couldn’t sleep. I was at the beginning of my journey into grief. I had been crying and missing her. The house was quiet, nobody around. Sometimes that is the hardest time of day. I turned on the TV since I wasn’t going to sleep anyway.

    I started flipping channels. The very first thing that came on as soon as the picture came to life was Dr. Wayne Dyer saying; “… our loved ones are in heaven, bathed in love.”

    He paused and then said; “Let me say that again, our loved ones who have passed, are in heaven, bathed in love.”

    These are some of the most profoundly comforting words I’ve ever heard in my life. Right when I needed to hear them. I was already a reader of Dr. Wayne’s books and have read more of them since.

    Surely some would explain this as merely a coincidence. Maybe. I can’t really scientifically explain how it happened, I believe it to be providence.

    It changed my life. I started thinking about what that really meant, to be bathed in love. In other words, the absence of anything that is not love. How wonderful that must be. If only we can come close to achieving a semblance of that on earth, even if it’s only briefly, for a moment at a time.

    I haven’t worried about where Faye is since. I still miss her and always will. Her sweet spirit is in my heart everywhere I go every day.

    “… our loved ones are in heaven, bathed in love.” Thank you Wayne. Thank you Christina.

    Chris

  • Maggie says:

    I must be the only person on earth who feels like I do. I lost my husband almost three years ago and I absolutely dread the thought of a life after death. My marriage was struggling a few years before his death from my husband’s difficulties in dealing with retirement and I took the verbal brunt of his frustrations and unhappiness. I love him still but don’t believe he really loved me any longer. I don’t want to have an afterlife where I remember all the hurt and the feelings that he no longer “had my back”. I deal with this more than the actual grief and I don’t want to feel those feelings for eternity. I just want oblivion.

    • Annmarie says:

      This is for Maggie…you are not the only person on earth who feels like you do. My husband became very angry before his death. I stood by his side but it was very very difficult. I realize today that may have been his way of pulling away from me so I could get used to being without him. I really don’t know the answers but I want to believe there is no anger in our after life and all the love we ever felt for each other is all we will feel. I have forgiven my husband and pray he forgives me too. Thanks for allowing me to share.

      • Earthdog says:

        My husband died of a rare cancer in 2008 and the last three months of his life both he and his family treated me and our children (teenaged sons) like absolute crap. I did not leave his side however and I do think it was his way of pulling away from us and preparing to die. His behavior and hurtful words come back to me in fits and starts even 8 years later but I have forgiven him for what he said and did. Dying of cancer is extremely painful and I’m sure he was not handling it well.
        The love remains.
        I’m not sure he’s anywhere really. Periodically I will hear or see something that leads me to believe he is with me or is aware of my struggles. I can’t hang on to that though…he’s still dead and staying that way.

    • JC says:

      Maggie, I understand where you’re coming from. My marriage was also struggling and six months before he got sick I was crunching numbers to see how badly I’d get clobbered if I left and whether I could afford 2 households because he was serially unemployed. Like you, I believed that my husband didn’t love me any longer, but after he died more than one person told me how much he loved me — and these were people who didn’t know our situation. One was the attorney who did his will (and who is very chatty so she probably drew stuff out of him); one was his medical social worker, and one was his best friend.

      I don’t know if it’s because my perceptions are ticked up a notch or two or if I am just open to such things, but I have had visitations from many who died, particularly those who have emotional work to do after they pass. What I can tell you is that I believe that there is a temporary place where you go to try to resolve the unresolved conflicts in your life. I’m not sure where this fits into my belief in reincarnation, but I can tell you that at least in the case of my mother, she was able to do this work and truly was at peace. I felt this peace from her. I don’t know if my husband is at peace but I do know that he has visited more than once — something he would not do if he did not care. I do not know what comes next but I do believe that there is at least some healing there. And maybe it’s those who resist that healing that have to come back and do it again.

  • Carolyn Izzo says:

    Comfort for those who mourn
    So many people imagine that death cruelly separates us from our loved ones. Even pious people are led to believe this great and sad mistake. When our loved ones die, they do not leave us. They remain. They do not go to some dark and distant place. They simply begin their eternity. We do not see them, because we are still in the darkness of this world. But their spiritual eyes, filled with the light of heaven, are always watching us as they wait for the day when we share their perfect joy. We are all born for heaven and one by one we end this life of tears to begin our life of love in endless happiness.
    I have often reflected upon this beautiful truth and found it the greatest and surest comfort in time of mourning. A firm faith in the real and continual presence of our loved ones has brought the conviction and consolation that death has not destroyed them, nor carried them away. Rather, it has given them life! A life of power to know fully and love perfectly. With this new life and new power our loved ones are always present to us, knowing and loving us more than ever before.
    The tears that dampen our eyes in time of mourning are tears of homesickness, tears of longing for our loved ones. But, it is we who are away from home, not they. Death has been for them a doorway to an eternal home. And only because this heavenly home is invisible to our worldly eyes, we cannot see them so near to us. Yet they are with us, lovingly and tenderly waiting for the day when we, too, will enter the doorway of our eternal home. No, death is not a separation. It is a preparation for eternal union with those we love, in the peace and joy of heaven.
    Cardinal John Newman

    • Tee says:

      That’s a nice thought… I don’t know what I need to believe or hear but I feel like I’m loosing my mind with fear and dread of death. The cyclical thoughts are making me physically sick. Thanx for your comment as it has calmed me down for 5 minutes while I’m at work reading this …..

  • Gabriela says:

    I have been on the same road and still am – searching for articles, reading books after books on what there might be after this – I found this article to be the most comforting one up to date. I lost my husband almost one year go, to cancer. He was 38 and I wonder every day if he sees me, his boys. I wonder every day if when I talk to him out loud, or in my mind, if it is myself, who knew him so well, who replies my own comments, or if it is him, through the other universe, where there is no time, no space. Thank you for this article – I am not sure if it will lessen my grieve, but it has definitely increased my hopes … for a better me in this life, for my kids, for myself, and in honor of the relationship and marriage I once had.

  • Peg Olson says:

    Hi Christina,
    Thank you for this post and your search for understanding what happens when we die. I did not have any experience until I held my husband and life partner while he took his last breath on earth. His spirit left in a whoosh – I felt it. I knew exactly what it was. I paused to see if he was still hanging around the hospital room, but no, he left quickly as he suffered terribly before he died. In the days and months afterwards I was so worried about him, where did he go? I had just “lost” my dear Stephen. “They” better be nice to him wherever he may be. I felt rather stupid to be so concerned about him when I was a widow with minor children still at home and had a whole host of problems to deal with. I have since gotten reassurances that he is O.K., and happy. He left this world far too early for my taste, age 53, but I am grateful for our time together and know our spirits will be reunited again when it’s my turn to die.

  • Jan says:

    There is no doubt in my mind that our spirits live after death. I am a spiritual person and believe in God and believe that much of this is a mystery. And, after my son died, I had several after death communications from him that were very clear evidence to me that he was still there.

  • Laura Warfel says:

    I am a follower of Jesus Christ. He promises eternal life to all who believe in him. So our journey with him continues after breath leaves our earthly bodies. I don’t know all the details, but I trust him to keep his promises. “Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.'” (John 11:25).

  • Ben says:

    Christina,

    A wonderful, inspiring post. I was an atheist until my wife died. I guess I’m a cliche, now, as they say, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” But neither do I identify myself as following a particular religion. I believe – especially after various things I witnessed during my wife’s death – that we cannot rule out the possibility that life continues after we die. The majority of scientists agree that there is no data that currently supports the existence of an afterlife. But science bases its answers on the observable universe. Most scientists will admit that there could be much outside of the known universe that we do not know. Physicists that theorize about extra-dimensions, or infinite universes, base their hypothesis on very logical premises. But, eventually, it all come down to faith, I suppose. Faith in the universe being well beyond our ability to completely quantify it. That makes me very happy. That means there is mystery out there. Mystery that dwarfs what we know about everything. How can I then profess that I “know” death is the absolute end? Lao Tzu wrote that the atheist and the believer are both equally ignorant. In the end, none of us know anything for certain. But it feels so much better to be open to possibilities, doesn’t it? Especially when there are so many reasons for it.

  • Rebecca says:

    I lost my 23 year old son in July 2012. I too spent every moment I could researching anything I could get my hands on trying desperately to find his I could connect with him. I spent two years in my room surrounded by biijs and my computer delving into the afterlife. For me, I believe its the only way I could still have a want to remain on thus earth without him here with me. While I’ve had some events happen where I believed he’s been to visit me, I’m frustrated that my mind still wonders “did that a really just happen? was that really him here”. I don’t know how to stop those skeptical, negative thoughts from creeping in. I wonder sometimes if its because I just want him back in this life with me and anything else just isn’t enough? I look forward to reading your webpage and your new book. Thank you.

  • RAnnie says:

    Yes! My husband and I believed this for years before his death. We came across this information in his search for life beyond death. He had lost his daughter (a year before we met) and was looking for affirmation of life after death. It did help him a little bit with his grief We both truly believed this and I still do. I know he is still there and now he is with his daughter and his mom. I wouldn’t say my grief is easier because of this belief but sometimes it does help to read everything we found when he was yearning for his daughter. It does provide some comfort. Thank you for this post. It really helps to see others write about it.

  • Sharon says:

    I did the same thing…. Read everything I could, watched every show and movie about the afterlife searching for my Chris. I even went to a medium. He’s all around me. He’s there. I just feel it. Great post. Love your book. It gave me the motivation to enroll in. CNA class.

  • Alisa S says:

    I am currently watching over my dear nana/grandma in hospice care after she took herself off dialysis. She entered hospice only a few days ago and has quickly advanced along her journey into the great beyond. I came to the Internet searching for clarity, peace, and answers. I found your blog. I want you to know that this has made me reflect, question, and currently have more peace. Thank you!

  • Gary says:

    All we are is our brain, when our heart stops our brain is not getting the blood it needs so at that point we start getting light headed then we faint and never wake up. Same thing happens to every living creature, if we had a soul then every living creature would have one too, whatever happens to a fly after death happens to us. Our conscious is located in the front part of our brain and that’s us! When our brain dies our consciousness fades away and we become nothing!

  • Robinson says:

    The body is only a vehicle And the dead are in a new dimension and if you have a strong connection with them then you can get a sign of them but differently. Want this connection of love will never die. And they want us to know that!
    And at night when we sleep we are more receptive to the spirit world.
    Want they are not really dead.

  • Lynn says:

    Christina, thank you. This is fascinating to me as I too came to place where I know that at the moment of death, it is not our bodies which die first. I believe our minds (in this illusory reality) stop projecting the film or story of our life! When the story ends, it takes the body with it as the idea of the body simply dissolves back into the Field (as Rumi called it). The truth of “us”,, being consciousness, continues on until …(or if a new story is created.)

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