15 - More Than Meets The Eye

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

My father’s experience in the last days of this life were proof that life will surprise even the toughest skeptic.  Not one for metaphysical or spiritual beliefs, my dad was intrigued by science.  While he believed their was a power greater than himself, he didn’t wrap this notion up in myths or stories.  He was a hard working, practical man.  It was in fact, his journey into agnosticism during my early teens, along with his exploration and abandonment of religious philosophy that laid the groundwork for my own fascination with exploring the nature of spirituality.  I also watched him struggle and overcome a family history fraught with alcoholism.  So with more than thirty-five years of sobriety at his passing, it was also his reaching out for help that inspired my career in counseling.  

15- More Than Meets The Eye

My studies and my own personal growth work led me deeper and deeper into questions about consciousness and the meaning of life.  As my spiritual journey filled with multi-dimensional awareness and mystical experiences, I explored energy work and became a reiki master. My sister followed a similar path and we, along with my mom often spoke of our metaphysical experiences despite my dad’s scoffing.  Even though he was highly intuitive and very grounded in nature, he thought our take on things mystical was foolish.  However, from his deathbed in the last days before his transition, he began to have experiences that would change this.

As my dad neared the end of his life he was in hospice care in his home.  From his bed he began to see pets and loved ones long crossed over. I gratefully managed to get away from my dying husband’s bedside for a few hours in time to be with him before his passing.  I was able to tell him what his life had meant to me and all he had taught me through witnessing his journey.  This meant a lot to me but what has meant even more is what I experienced at the close of my dad’s life.  As I sat close by his side, terribly weak and only able to whisper he asked, “What are all these people doing in my house?”.  Since only a few immediate family members were there, I said, “Dad, you are seeing things that we can’t see.”  He looked straight into my eyes and with wonder in his, he exclaimed, “I think I know that!”  It was a statement that not only acknowledged what he was experiencing, but that he now knew for himself that there was more to life than meets the eye. A mostly unseen world that eludes us unless we are open to it surrounds us all.  It was wonderful to watch him accept this awareness.  In his last days he knew death was not an end.  His life would continue in other dimensions and he would indeed reach out to us from there, as my mother now experiences continually.

I was so grateful for these hours with him; for witnessing such a profound transition at the closing of his incarnation.  Once again, watching another of my father’s life experiences, shaped and strengthened my own journey.  We all have an opportunity to come to such realizations at the close of our lives. Some of us, those who desire to awaken before death, will experience our multi-dimensional nature at will.  This is the way of true self-realization, stepping not onto a path, but directly and experientially into our true essence.  I have had and so many personal experiences of this expanded state that I have no fear of death what-so-ever.  I know it simply as a transition from one state of being to another. I am grateful that in his last days my Dad began to experience this awareness as well.  My brother was with him as he departed this realm and the story he shared with me about his transition was quite fantastic and other-worldly. My mom is visited by him often and she has told me of seeing him and also waking to him cradling her in his arms. My mom’s sister also had a vision of her husband following his passing and my grandmother was connected to many of her relatives after their passing.  I share this to emphasize that life does not end and death is a fallacy.  We move from physical expressions, yes but this is not death.  The more we embrace this truth the more we can remain in contact with one another following these transitions. I have heard and experienced countless stories from people who have done just that.  Hopefully we are moving into a time when this will be the norm and we can let go of our conditioned ideas about death.