Yes. We wish to welcome you. We are Li Chen. We will speak now on dying, death and afterlife, as so many of you have asked us about this mysterious and powerful experience that is hidden from your conscious memory.

The death of the body is as dramatic and sometimes traumatic as the transition of birth. Both are transitions into a very different life expression, creating tremendous shifts in consciousness. The individual experience will be largely a result of the belief system of the individual and the conscious desire and readiness to engage in the process.

Understand, please, that in almost all cases this process is one which is taken on, rather than given to. We mean here that the experience is one that has been agreed upon by the higher soul of the person involved. We say “almost all cases” for we do allow that there are sometimes accidents occurring which have not been planned for or foreseen, though these are rare indeed.

We will begin with looking at the process of dying, as this is prolonging death through one of two forms — illness or injury. This choice, and the slower dying process, is often causing a great suffering, but is ultimately achieving the kindness of giving time for the individual to come to conscious acceptance and ultimate embrace of death, and also to give the family and loved ones time to accept this most inevitable transition. Great gift here to be given the time to say all things and honor the being who is preparing to enter a new phase of life without body. Time to come to resolution and completion with loose ends. Yes. Very great gift indeed.

When a being is nearing completion of present corporeal experience, there are a number of reasons why one might choose illness and gradual decline over immediate departure. Often the reason is simple fear of unknown, of what is awaiting afterwards. However painful, the present condition may be preferred choice over moving quickly into mystery. This is very natural response when one is contained and confined by human experience, for your understanding is limited by the nature of corporeal condition. It is also indication of the free will working in partnership with the greater plan.

Sometimes, too, the individual awaiting the death transition feels responsibility for those dear ones being left behind in body. This can create a tremendous struggle within the being to resist death. They feel as though they are abandoning their loved ones and feel shame or concern that they are somehow shirking a responsibility to remain with their family.

Because they do not understand the perfect process that God has designed, because they do not yet understand that their loved ones can be watched over and contacted after death, they resist going forward. This can be eased tremendously if the family members are able to verbally give their dear one permission to proceed with their journey. When they can understand that family supports their experience and is willing to let them go to their next phase of life, they will have much easier time of letting go.

When there is great fear of unknown, you have the ability to slow down the process you are in, to pace yourself to more gently come to greater acceptance or understanding of what may be occurring. This is so with all aspects of your life — no different with dying process. Oftentimes, it is through the gradual dying process that a readiness develops to embrace the final journey of present life. The being comes to accept with grace what awaits. It is also through this more gradual process that many are coming to know on conscious level who their spiritual family is, who is awaiting them on other side. As the being is unfolding to this reality, the fear can be replaced with an excitement, an eager readiness for this next adventure.

Author, Jocelyn Graef Each one of you, without exception, is attended by spirit as you move through your transition. Even in those rare times when a death is not foreseen or scheduled, the spiritual group is, in the moment of transition, holding and welcoming the spirit. Much as in the birth process, which cannot be experienced alone, transition from body is always accompanied. Though not necessarily always perceived. We will speak more on this in a moment, when we address the experience of afterlife.

While dying can take very long time to bring the being to the point of death, the death itself is effortless and rapid. Like stepping through doorway from one room to another. Preparing to step is taking much more time and work than the stepping itself.

At the moment of death, the consciousness is shifted to perceive most clearly, if there is readiness to accept it, the wonders of a more divers and intricate dimension. If the belief system of the individual can accept the experience, there will be awareness of many others in spirit assisting the process and welcoming the being back home.

There are those who have indeed experienced dying and death who have returned to speak about this magnificent procedure. Most of them speak of a tunnel of light and the presence of one or more “angels” assisting them. Some speak of being in a profound brightness and hearing or seeing others who are so familiar to them without remembering exactly who they are or where they are knowing them from.

Then there are some who have had the death experience and returned to talk about the darkness and fear. Who is correct here” Is one experiencing ‘heaven” and the other “hell”? Each one is correct, as the experience is a direct reflection of the belief system and attitude the individual is holding at the time of the experience.

This is different from having the experience simply because, with the attitude of openness, one is able to experience what truly IS. Through fear and apprehension, the experience is often skewed by the projected fear being experienced as the truth.

The true reality is one of bliss. God is never punishing, never judging. God’s system is ever one of endless and joyous love, with support and community being in place at all times. Those who have experienced bliss are truly knowing what is awaiting them. And as a result are often feeling a great sadness when finding themselves returned to their body. Yet, they are also knowing profoundly that they have returned to complete the mission they have promised to fulfill when originally taking on body.

Rocky Mountains, CO Sunrise photograph by Dena Ventrudo

Now let us look at the afterlife, at what is awaiting you when you are leaving your body behind. Dying is over, death has been achieved, where are you? Ahhh. This is most wondrous mystery. Most of you will have the experience of being welcomed into the embrace of the spiritual family group you have been a part of since the original individuation apart from source.

You will have the experience of joyous reunion with those dear ones you have largely forgotten during the corporeal journey. You will remember that you have never been forgotten and have been served faithfully through your life journey from the background, being assisted in many unseen ways to fulfill your mission during your life in the body.

You are keeping your individual identity, as this is most necessary for your functioning. You do not, as some believe, blend with all that is. The final blending occurs many steps later, after you have climbed the rungs of life spheres, each one bringing you closer to home.

After the initial joy of reunion and the glorious homecoming of being without body once again — enjoying the freedom from the restrictions of the physical realm — you will begin a course of study with your group.

The first stage is to review the achievements and failures of the immediate past life in the context of the bigger picture of where you have been and what awaits you on your journey. How many lifetimes you have been choosing to avoid certain lessons, which lessons have been successfully completed, etc.

This review is done with the help of the master teacher or guides who are working with your immediate group. So many of you are realizing when you come back, “Oh! I have forgotten this most important aspect of what I was to do! Please, I must go back immediately and fulfill this task!” In most cases, you do not immediately return. This will depend on the immediacy of the lesson involved in terms of what planet is doing and if the lesson is related to the times on planet.

Time does not exist where we are, and the return to body is scheduled based on inner readiness and preparation for next adventure in body. You are not in complete control of this decision, as it is made with the agreement of your master teachers who are working with and preparing you for further corporeal experience. Your willingness to achieve is critical factor in designing the next life in terms of essential experiences you will be given. So, while you are enrolled in this school of experience, your curriculum is followed according to your desires and readiness to learn and grow.

Because in bigger picture there is no time, there is no pressure to hurry, hurry. All will occur when there is the readiness within you to achieve. Through each step, we say to you again and again, you are not alone, will never be alone. You are served and assisted through each step you take.

It is only after a period of assimilation, and the deepening of your understanding of the lessons you have learned and of what still awaits you, that you are returning to physical life in a new body.

Photograph by Dena Ventrudo For most, this is the basis of experience in life between lives. Beyond the time spent with teachers in assessing life and designing structure for next one, there is tremendous freedom to explore and grow in many other ways, as well as simply enjoying the freedom of being without body.

There are those, however, who do not have this marvelous conscious interaction with their spiritual group, because they do not have a belief system which will allow them to experience this reality. For these beings, there is simply a blankness, where they are waking up only when in a new body. It is like they are in coma after body is left behind.

They are attended, as all are, but are not receiving the same type of interaction, because they are not able to accept it. On all levels the free will is respected and honored, bounds set forth by the individual are not overstepped by spirit. There is no need for concern here, as all will awaken in their own hour. There is no hurry, for all will arrive home in the end. There can be no failure to achieve this goal.

We have sometimes been asked what is happening in the case of “ghosts.” Are they lost souls, or “evil” spirits? We will say first that it is not possible to be lost, for God is within you. Not possible to be other than you are — aspect of God. Only possible to forget this comforting truth. As for evil, we do not agree with this connotation and therefore do not use this terminology. “Evil” is simply denial of the light each is holding within, a turning away from that which connects you with your joy and greater truth. A condition to have compassion for, not to fear. It is not contagious.

The ghost phenomenon is one that is generally the result of fear of moving forward into what has not yet been perceived — loving embrace of spiritual family. Often the entity is having passionate reason for keeping the focus in the world even after the spirit has separated from the body. We will give you some stories here to illustrate.

Here is man who has been drinking very much alcohol and is quite drunk. He is crossing the road to his house and is struck by car and killed. At the instant of death, he is feeling no pain and not understanding what is occurring, because of his very drunken state. He continues on across the road to his home in his astral body, his physical body being dead. As some time passes, he is very confused and angry that no one is perceiving him. His house is sold and a new family is moving in.

While at this point, he has figured out that he is dead, he is still very confused about the reality he is in. It is not like anything he has learned about in his church, and he does not know how to proceed. His focus is attached to his past physical reality and he does not know how to look beyond and perceive his spiritual group. He is then simply staying in the house he has lived in, trying to banish the new people who have moved in. Much rage here about his invisibility.

He does not know that he has choice about his experience. His presence in the house is causing much discomfort to present occupants because of his behavior — slamming doors and pounding walls and making rooms very cold when he is entering them. While he is very unhappy, he stays because he does not know where or how to move beyond where he is.

There is also a degree of shame and guilt about his past life, for he is not perceiving that he was “good” man. His religion has taught him about hell, and he believes that is what awaits him. He fears moving on for this reason. When we have been called in to assist his reunion with his spiritual family, we have been able to explain to him that all that awaits him is a greater joy and the peace he longs for. His relief was profound and deeply moving. He was immediately able then to turn and perceive his spiritual group and return home with them.

As in most cases of “ghosts” it was only his fears and his beliefs that were holding him to the earth plane. Often, it is the belief that punishment awaits that is keeping soul trapped in their earthly environment. Sometimes it is something else as we illustrate in the next story.

Here is a woman who has lived in very remote place with only a few people around her. She has no family other than the man she has been given to in marriage. This is no love match, but a marriage of practicality. The other women in this little community are not friendly to her. Finally, she becomes pregnant and has a child. This child is bringing her the only joy she is knowing in her life. One day, child is fishing by river with the father who is not watching carefully, and child is falling into river and drowning. The small body is carried away in the rushing waters and never found.

Photograph by Merlian News Woman is bereft. The rest of her life is spent grieving for her lost child. When she is dying, she stays in the place she has lived because she does not want to desert her lost child, but remains to seek his body after all these years. Her powerful belief was that her child cannot rest until the body has been buried. She will not give herself permission to rest herself until her child has been cared for. Tragically, what she has never understood, because of her beliefs, is that her child has long been with spiritual family and is awaiting her return. In fact, her child has taken new body and is continuing with life path.

Because this woman is single-minded in her passionate quest, she is not able to perceive or accept the greater truth and move onwards. All her spiritual group can do is await her opening, her seeking of truth, rather than a small body washed away so long ago. She is still to be found roaming the halls and grounds of her home, which still stands.

Please understand, these beings who are perceived as “ghosts” are quite different phenomenon than those in spirit who are sometimes felt or seen around you. Very different thing to “trapped” n the earthly experience yet without body, and to be in spirit but coming in to check up on or be near loved ones.

So very often, those who are dear are with you in spirit after they have moved out of body. They are merely spending time with you, surrounding or guiding you with their love from their home in spirit. They are becoming part of your group of spirit guides, often. They have not left you, they have merely removed their physical presence. When the body is becoming old, is very difficult to move around and do all that is desired to. Such a delight to be without the confines of the body! Makes it easier to be with you and more often, too.

We would like to include here the reality that is experienced by per friends when they are leaving the body. It is much the same as for all the rest of you in human bodies.

With animals, there has been a deep bond that has been established with master. The gifts of loyalty and service and devotion these wonderful creatures are bringing are a great blessing. Once this bond has been established, it remains unbroken throughout the reincarnational cycle. These animals are continuing to come to you, for serving you in their way has become their purpose, their mission. They are understanding very well how you are benefiting from their love, and desire only to continue to serve.

That they are needed is their greatest reward. That they are loved and appreciated in return is the glue that binds them to you. Because animals are having a shorter life cycle than humans, the possibility of meeting them again in the same life is very high. While animals are never taking on human form, dogs and cats are frequently experiencing the bodies of each other. The dear friend who was cat in last life, may very well be dog in the next one, you see? They will take on the form that will be the easiest for you to choose them when you next meet.

Lunar Moth Photograph by Dena Ventrudo If you are properly attentive, you will recognize the dear friend you once knew when you are looking into the eyes of their newest body. You will recognize their personality, their feel. Most joyful reunion awaits you.

The process of death is purely transformation. Those you have known and loved will remain without always, cat, dog, bird or human. These dear ones are part of your spiritual family and this connection will never be broken. Whether the loved one is in body or out, they are never far from you. Often, it is the one out of body who is able to be with you more frequently and more directly.

When you are praying, when you are calling to your dear ones in your mind and heart, they are hearing you and are with you in that instant. You are not deserted or separated by death. We are with you always.

Jocelyn Graef can be contacted through email at jegraef@comcast.net

Great Awakening: Part 1 by Jocelyn Graef

Great Awakening: Part 2 by Jocelyn Graef

Reincarnation & Karma by Jocelyn Graef (Part 3)

Purpose of Life by Jocelyn Graef: Part 4 of Great Awakening

Relationship by Jocelyn Graef: Part 5 in Great Awakening

Spirit Guides by Jocelyn Graef: Part 6 in Great Awakening

Developing Christ Consciousness by Jocelyn Graef: Part 7 in Great Awakening