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Should people should come into this world at least knowing that there is an afterlife and that they will be accountable for their actions?

Would this make make people act in a more spiritual way?

Below is a selection from the huge number of emails we received on this most interesting topic.

Patrick from Sweden:

I think we don't know about the afterlife because we've been manipulated not to believe in it by the powers that control society. I also believe that its a plan we all agreed upon before coming to earth so we could learn about what we aren't (eternal souls), but I also believe its time for this 'experiment' to end. We need to wake the world up to the fact that life after death exists so everyone will start living in more humane ways.


Carl:

I was wondering if perhaps it was that this 95% of people think that the afterlife might be a possibility or a nice to have, but that since it hasn’t been proved and since the general scientific culture (which has such influence) is one of disbelief or case not proven, then they tend to sit on the fence a bit.
There may be the consideration of what to do about it. With many mainstream religions, let’s take Christianity as an example, professing exclusivity (ours is the only way) and professing ‘belief is more important than actions’ it may seem that even if there is an after-life we can’t actually do anything about it. Or they may think that hidden within the structure of the religion for those that care to look, lie theological paradoxes. The result being that the religion remains incomplete and unsatisfactory. People may then think that if there is a God and that religion was His best shot then because of it’s inadequacy it can’t actually be true. So doubt persists.


Sean (Veterinary Surgeon in England):

I believe some people do not have the ability to comprehend spirit in the same way as I do not have the ability to channel spirit. It is almost as if we are on a sliding scale, possibly due to our previous life existences that we have the ability to comprehend rather than categorically do not believe. Maybe 'forgive them for they know not what they do' should read 'forgive them for they cannot know what they do'. Those that we consider to be closed-minded sceptics are at the lower end of this scale and psychic mediums are at the upper end of the scale of comprehension, or spirituality.


John:

The reasons we are not pre-informed about the Afterlife and have difficulty in finding provable evidence is because we are not meant to know…..Remember, when you were a child in school; when you knew teacher was there you behaved yourself, yet when you knew teacher wasn't there....??? How could teacher know what sort of child you really were? The Afterlife reveals the real you, only then can you truly judge yourself and make the improvements you need to progress further.


Robin:

Sadly, even those many so -called religious folk who purport to "believe" in an afterlife of accountability, are capable of egregious behavior. Knowing and believing are very different, yet as you have seen, even amongst many mediums, or those who have experienced mediumship, people continue to act from their egos rather than from their higher selves. This can also be seen by those who have near death experiences, although, as a group, they seem to be the most favorably affected in terms of becoming more enduringly spiritual and acting from that perspective.

Ultimately, it is not even certain knowledge of the afterlife that creates change in human behavior, rather it is the absolute commitment to work on the "small self", in order that the persona becomes healed and serves the "higher self"- the alchemy of ego into spirit, while still inhabiting the dense body.

Bob:

I think the answer is that belief in the “real” “physical” world affords a radical sense of freedom to the ego. It permits the ego to deny the reality of God, and avoid the unconscious sense of guilt that we all carry. Believe in the afterlife starts one on a slippery slope toward the belief in a higher power from which we disconnect ourselves. In short, the root cause is the unconscious fear of an awesome God who will punish us for our sins and dominate our egos, eliminating our freedom to be individuals. Like other human shortcomings, its roots are in fear and a failure to accept the love that God offers due to a deep sense of unworthiness.

One book that I found helpful is the Disappearing Universe. Kierkegaard also was in touch with this deep anxiety about God. In short, all of us believe at some level that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and we deserve to be punished for this betrayal of love. The afterlife brings us that much closer to the “day of reckoning”, and it just much simpler to deny that this will happen than it is to face our unconscious guilt and fear.


Kathy:

It seems to me that the Greater Intelligence and our own Higher Intelligence conspire to ensure that we all come into the experience of Time with sufficient veils to allow for an actual physical/educational experience. It takes a significant amount of heat and pressure to create a diamond and, likewise, to evolve a Soul. Ralph Waldo Emerson said something to the effect that if people knew the Truth, suicide would unpeople the planet. Without the veil, who would struggle? Who would suffer? Who would endure? Who would overcome? Who would evolve?

I don't recall who it was that said "good is a good teacher but evil is the better." I, personally, can vouch for the potential of evil to be an excellent tutor as I have learned my most valuable lessons and experienced my greatest growth at its hand. It is not until we actually experience and have to wrestle with the physical, psychological or spiritual obstacle/threat/challenge do we truly learn who we are, what defines us and what we are capable of. What I have learned is that every moment, every circumstance, every event, and even every opinion I hold and the nature of every question I ponder, introduces me to myself. I understand the mythology of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden as being analogous to our being expelled from the Garden into Time for the adventure in learning and growth and so that we might be introduced to our Self.

With regard to doubt and disbelief, for me, doubt has been a necessary teacher and guide. Without doubt we would not be compelled to evaluate, to search, to weigh and measure. Doubt is a wise teacher, it leads us on a path of higher and more substantial knowing. Every great accomplishment is the long shadow of a single doubt. Is the world flat? Someone doubted that. I think the atheist argument exists to allow us to more deeply explore and deepen our knowing, understanding and our own personal argument.

And finally, belief in an afterlife does not create good citizens. We need only look to the terrorists who were securing their place in the afterlife through their acts of murder and terrorism, then and now, or the crusades or violent religious fervor/fanaticism of any ilk. On another note, I functioned in the role of officer, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, chief of security, swat commander, prison administrator and division administrator and in all of those years and roles I don't recall ever encountering a single atheist inmate or a single document listing atheist preference. While this does not necessarily equate to belief in an afterlife it suggests a religious indoctrination into one and at the opportunity to list their preference opted for a religion (typically Christian) which presupposes a God and an afterlife.

Realizing that I have always become better for the worst of it, I tend to trust this Mystery and Wonder that we find ourselves in. I trust the process. I trust the Divine/Creative Intelligence and am secure in my knowing that nothing can happen against ITs will, even those things that we perceive as evil.


Bill:

I firmly believe in reincarnation. I also believe in conscious or a “knowing” passing into the Afterlife is highly desirable. So why don’t we come in with all our past lives/afterlife memories intact? Knowing we have experienced many lives and why we are here again.

I can only surmise that there is a law or a compassion the reverse of karma that we are born “innocent” So we have to evolve each time; at first to grow to maturity and then to grow in spirituality,

Perhaps this is a kindness because remembering heaven would make living in the physical very hard (too hard?)

It would be glorious if we were all more spiritually advanced because things like war would be a thing of the past.


Lucy:

I thank you so much for your weekly e mails they have helped me so much. And YES I agree with you and how different it would be if we all came into this world with some built-in knowledge of the afterlife…, on the other hand, maybe, we all come with it…, but at some time as we grow, we get contaminated some more than others and because of our “free will” we choose some to keep on believing and others not to believe, what do you think?

Craig:

I also am an attorney and I am also retired (mostly) from practicing law. I too have been investigating the afterlife for many years (although not on a full-time basis), and I also have come to the conclusion that the evidence for continued conscious existence after death is overwhelming.

Basically, I have come to the conclusion that it is not part of the Divine Plan for people who are on earth are supposed to have significant knowledge of the afterlife and even of questions such as the meaning of life, although this is something that can be acquired, to some extent, to those who are willing to put in the time and effort to search for it. I remember reading once that Victor Hugo, the famed novelist, was interested in spiritualist phenomena, and he once asked the spirit that he was communicating with through some medium why the spirits did not provide evidence for the existence of the afterlife that was so impressive, so indisputable and definitive, that all would be forced to believe, even die-hard atheists.

The spirit replied that such evidence had not been provided, and would not be provided, because if people on earth actually knew without any doubt about the afterlife, many areas of which are infinitely preferable to conditions typically found on earth, that it would not be possible to keep them on earth and focused on their earthly lives. The spirit went on to say, if my recollection is correct, that there was a spiritual benefit that the people on earth derive from their existence here, even though they suffer hardships, and the only way to keep the people here is to ensure that they do not know with absolute certainty about the existence of the afterlife.

One final point I would like to make is that my ideas have been partially inspired by my one indisputable contact with the spirit world. When I was in law school, a personal crisis led me to experience a strange, undulating motion along my spine, as though some giant caterpillar had somehow found its way under my skin and was climbing up my spinal cord. When the undulating energy reached the base of my skull, I heard a snap, and suddenly found myself transformed. I had limitless energy for several weeks, sleep was unnecessary, and I also developed some strange abilities (such as being able to empathically link with animals and people, and even influence their conduct to some extent). The apex of the experience was when some disembodied being spoke to me inside my head and told me that I would never be able to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation unless I accepted that I was intended by God’s plan to be a separate, distinct individual, and that I should cease trying to run from this inevitable and inescapable part of my destiny, as I had been doing, since there was no escaping God’s Plan. The being, whoever it was, clearly was much more evolved than I was—I still remember the sense of wisdom and authority that it conveyed—and its message to me was that we are intended to develop as individuals as part of God’s plan.

Ricardo:

The forces behind the church of materialism in our societies are hell bent on crushing & denying the overwhelming evidence for the existence of the Human Spirit, never mind the Afterlife, just the evidence of telepathy alone threatens their power structures here on Earth, and they want to remain in their positions of dictatorship NO MATTER WHAT THE COST is to us ALL may be! ...this is NO conspiracy...just old fashioned human greed & lust...nothing new. And we, the general public (Not you or me) are all responsible for buying into that Dogma. We buy it cause it's a simple theory to follow, we like to put things in neat little boxes, we don't want complexity.."the more I have, the happier I will be"...a very empty & lonely theology to live by.

Jane:
Firstly, in my experience with people I have come in contact with, there are those who want complete power and control over other human beings, whether it be in a family or organisational invironment. These 'controllers' are afraid, and absolutely will not allow the concept of of love and all the wonderful things and feelings that it encompases into thier lives or existence because it would cause them to loose thier control and manipulation of other human being. These people thrive on the concept of causing fear and misery to others by thier sheer manipulation, and see themselves as having every right to live life 'thier' way. Creating Fear keeps them in them control!
Secondly, there are those who are genuinly afraid of what the admission of 'the existance of the afterlife' would mean, and what it would do to thier world, the one they have lived comfortably in all thier lives. They choose to continue to live the 'simple' life rather than explore other possiblilities that may 'turn thier world (as they have lived and believed it for so long ) - upside down. Fear holds them in their comfort ! Me - I say bring it on, I want to know and experience everything of this world and the next.