What happens after death

[Sena]

In Seth Speaks, Seth gives a detailed account of what we can expect after death.


THE "DEATH" EXPERIENCE
SESSION 535, JUNE 17,1970,

What happens at the point of death? The question is much more easily asked than
answered. Basically there is not any particular point of death in those terms, even in
the case of a sudden accident. I will attempt to give you a practical answer to what you
think of as this practical question, however. What the question really means to most
people is this: What will happen when I am not alive in physical terms any longer? What
will I feel? Will I still be myself? Will the emotions that propelled me in life continue to
do so? Is there a heaven or a hell? Will I be greeted by gods or demons, enemies, or
beloved ones? Most of all the question means: When I am dead, will I still be who I am
now, and will I remember those who are dear to me now?

A belief in hell fires can cause you to hallucinate Hades' conditions. A belief in a
stereotyped heaven can result in a hallucination of heavenly conditions. You always
form your own reality according to your ideas and expectations. This is the nature of
consciousness in whatever reality it finds itself. Such hallucinations, I assure you, are
temporary.

If you firmly believe that your consciousness is a product of your physical body, then
you may attempt to cling to it. There is an order of personalities, an honorary guard, so
to speak, who are ever ready to lend assistance and aid, however.

This is not, incidentally, necessarily any kind of somber endeavor, nor are the after-
death environments somber at all. To the contrary, they are generally far more intense
and joyful than the reality you now know.
You will simply be learning to operate in a new environment in which different laws
apply, and the laws are far less limiting than the physical ones with which you now
operate. In other words, you must learn to understand and use new freedoms.
For those of you who are lazy I can offer no hope: Death will not bring you an eternal
resting place. You may rest, if this is your wish, for a while. Not only must you use your
abilities after death, however, but you must face up to yourself for those that you did
not use during your previous existence.

Now, you may or may not be greeted by friends or relatives immediately following
death. This is a personal matter, as always. Overall, you may be far more interested in
people that you have known in past lives than those close to you in the present one, for
example.

There may or may not be disorientation on your part, according to your beliefs and
development. Now I do not necessarily mean intellectual development. The intellect
should go hand in hand with the emotions and intuitions, but if it pulls against these
too strongly, difficulties can arise when the newly freed consciousness seizes upon its
ideas about reality after death, rather than facing the particular reality in which it finds
itself. It can deny feeling, in other words, and even attempt to argue itself out of its
present independence from the body.

Again, as mentioned earlier, an individual can be so certain that death is the end of
all, that oblivion, though temporary, results. In many cases, immediately on leaving the
body there is, of course, amazement and a recognition of the situation. The body itself
may be viewed, for example, and many funerals have a guest of honor amidst the company-
- and no one gazes into the face of the corpse with as much curiosity and wonder.


From <https://archive.org/stream/pdfy-56rRUG-ov0xn05ih/Jane%20Roberts%20-%20Seth%20Speaks_djvu.txt>

[Sena]

This idea makes me wonder how free things really are after death. Could I start another honorary guard of helpers and guides? Is there any hierarchy in place after death that gives the thumbs up or down on particular ideas?

Interesting questions, Betty. My understanding is that telepathic communication is standard after death. This means that if I get any "silly" ideas I get instant negative feedback. Seth is, however, clear that individual existence is maintained, and this means that good original ideas would be encouraged. Rather than a hierarchy, peer pressure would seem to be important.

I have an interesting book, "Vistas" by Paul Giurlanda:

https://speakingofseth.com/index.php?topic=664.0

Giurlanda underwent past-life regression. Once he was regressed to a time in between lives. He was with his "team", and they were trying to decide what his next life would be. The discussion was about whether he would be willing or interested in incarnating as a gay person in middle 20th century Detroit, Michigan to a working class Sicilian immigrant family (where homosexuality would be frowned upon).

At this point in his regression, Giurlanda's body began to tremble and to feel cold and clammy, as if the temperature had dropped suddenly. The therapist put a blanket over him, but that didn't seem to help. It was a difficult process for him to get to understand the advantages of this incarnation.

[Deb]

The road warrior has returned! A very interesting trip for me, a situation arose that I didn't see coming. But while it made the trip longer than necessary, it was overall a positive experience and I learned some new things.

So, this is an interesting topic for me, because what I've gleaned from Seth's teachings is that we (or an animal facing certain death) can leave the body quickly to avoid pain and suffering when death is inevitable. Since I've not actually witnessed someone suffering a painful death (I've been privy to two hospice deaths where the consciousness seems to have left the body long before death came), it's a reassuring concept. And Seth has also said that the birth experience is a lot more traumatic than the death experience.

Once we vacate the flesh, as Seth indicates, what we experience depends on our beliefs. There's a transition period then before we catch onto the reality of... reality: we continue to be conscious, realize there is no heaven or hell or 66 virgins (or whatever).

and no one gazes into the face of the corpse with as much curiosity and wonder.

I remember when I read this for the first time, what a great quote. It brings to mind so many near death experiences I've read where people view their own body and feel little other than curiosity. It's been compared to giving up a much loved car: not that much emotional attachment, just an object that served its purpose at one time. Although I still miss my '69 Cougar (first car) very much.

Returning into the body for someone who has had near death and decides to come back seems to be like being snapped or jolted back into the body. Similar stories from people who have OBEs.

Just this morning I was reading a little of Jane's Afterdeath Journal where James talks about the feeling in the "afterlife" for him, the constant and reassuring feeling of the benevolence and unconditional love of ATI. It was really beautiful, I should probably update this post with a nice quote from the book.