Life afer Death & the Journey of the Soul

By the time I was 21, I knew over 2 dozen friends that had died from cancer. Most I met through the cancer camps and through the hospital. I became obsessed about life after death and where my friends were now that they had physically passed. Researching the Near Death Experiences, or NDE's, convinced me that there really is a soul and some kind of afterlife. To my surprise, the Baha'i perspective of life after death & the journey of the soul is identical to people reporting NDE's. (Some of the more mystical writings reminded me of the Tibetan Buddhist Book of the Dead.) The idea that this physical world is literally a school for us (to learn and grow spiritually), that all faiths and good people cross over into the heavens, even that our soul will review all of the deeds-good and bad-upon entering the next world. Heaven and Hell are not physical places, but ways of describing closeness or distance from God. Here are some quotes and lovely prayers for the departed from the Baha'i writings. When I have friends and relatives that die, I read these prayers and quotes and feel comforted.

>Know thou of a truth that the soul, after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of God, in a state and condition which neither the revolution of ages and centuries, nor the changes and chances of this world, can alter. It will endure as long as the Kingdom of God, His sovereignty, His dominion and power will endure. It will manifest the signs of God and His attributes, and will reveal His loving-kindness and bounty. The movement of My Pen is stilled when it attempteth to befittingly describe the loftiness and glory of so exalted a station.(Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Pages: 155-156)

With regard to the soul of man: According to the Baha’i teachings, the human soul starts with the formation of the human embryo, and continues to develop and pass through endless stages of existence after its separation from the body. Its progress is thus infinite. Shoghi Effendi: from a letter, December 1937 <

Know thou that every soul is fashioned after the nature of God, each being pure and holy at his birth. Afterwards, however, the individuals will vary according to what they acquire of virtues or vices in this world. Although all existent beings are in their very nature created in ranks or degrees, for capacities are various, nevertheless every individual is born holy and pure, and only thereafter may he become defiled. `Abdu'l Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l Baha, p. 190

“In that future life, God, through His Mercy, can help us to evolve characteristics which we neglected to develop while we were on this earthly plane.” (Lights of Guidance, p.538).

'Abdu'l Bahai: "In the beginning of his human life man was embryonic in the world of the matrix. There he received capacity and endowment for the reality of human existence. The forces and powers necessary for this world were bestowed upon him in that limited condition. In this world he needed eyes; he received them potentially in the other. He needed ears; he obtained them there in readiness and preparation for his new existence. The powers requisite in this world were conferred upon him in the world of the matrix... "Therefore, in this world he must prepare himself for the life beyond. That which he needs in the world of the Kingdom must be obtained here. Just as he prepared himself in the world of the matrix by acquiring forces necessary in this sphere of existence, so, likewise, the indispensable forces of the divine existence must be potentially attained in this world." It is even possible that the condition of those who have died in sin and unbelief may become changed - that is to say, they may become the object of pardon through the bounty of God, not through His justice - for bounty is giving without desert, and justice is giving what is deserved. As we have power to pray for these souls here, so likewise we shall possess the same power in the other world, which is the Kingdom of God. Are not all the people in that world the creatures of God? Therefore, in that world also they can make progress. As here they can receive light by their supplications, there also they can plead for forgiveness and receive light through entreaties and supplications. Thus as souls in this world, through the help of the supplications, the entreaties and the prayers of the holy ones, can acquire development, so is it the same after death. Through their own prayers and supplications they can also progress, more especially when they are the object of the intercession of the Holy Manifestations. (`Abdu'l-Baha: Some Answered Questions, p. 232)

"Be not grieved at the death of that infant child, for it is placed in trust for thee before thy Lord in His great Kingdom. Verily God will bestow upon thee that whereby thy heart shall be rejoiced and thy breast shall be dilated. Verily thy Lord is compassionate and merciful!" Abdu'l-Baha

Prayers: For Women- O Lord, O Thou Whose mercy hath encompassed all, Whose forgiveness is transcendent, Whose bounty is sublime, Whose pardon and generosity are all-embracing, and the lights of Whose forgiveness are diffused throughout the world! O Lord of Glory! I entreat Thee, fervently and tearfully, to cast upon Thy handmaiden who hath ascended unto Thee the glances of the eye of Thy mercy. Robe her in the mantle of Thy grace, bright with the ornaments of the celestial Paradise, and, sheltering her beneath the tree of Thy oneness, illumine her face with the lights of Thy mercy and compassion. Bestow upon Thy heavenly handmaiden, O God, the holy fragrances born of the spirit of Thy forgiveness. Cause her to dwell in a blissful abode, heal her griefs with the balm of Thy reunion, and, in accordance with Thy will, grant her admission to Thy holy Paradise. Let the angels of Thy loving-kindness descend successively upon her, and shelter her beneath Thy blessed Tree. Thou art, verily, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous, the All-Bountiful. - ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

General Prayer- O my God! O Thou forgiver of sins, bestower of gifts, dispeller of afflictions! Verily, I beseech Thee to forgive the sins of such as have abandoned the physical garment and have ascended to the spiritual world. O my Lord! Purify them from trepasses, dispel their sorrows, and change their darkness into light. Cause them to enter the garden of happiness, cleanse them with the most pure water, and grant them to behold Thy splendors on the loftiest mount. - `Abdu'l-Bahá

Healing Prayers for comfort

Prayer is many things. For me, it is a form of spiritual discipline. Prayer helps me focus and makes me feel grounded. That mystical feeling that connects one with God is often facilitated by prayer. I believe that healing (spiritual/psychological healing) happens when a person feels connected to God in this way. Here are some healing prayers from various religions that have helped me throughout the years. I hope they help you too. Please feel free to post/share other prayers that have helped you.


Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.... Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow....Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Judaism: The Old Testament, Psalm 51:1-10

Baha'i
O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life. O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord. (`Abdu’l-Bahá: Baha'i Prayers (US edition), page 152)

Thy name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. -Bahá’u’lláh

Sufi/Islam
O you who believe, seek help with patience and prayers, as God is with those who patiently persevere” (Quran, 2:153)

Native American - Lakota Prayer

Oh, Great Spirit,
whose voice I hear in the winds
and whose breath gives life to all the world,
hear me.
I am small and weak.
I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes
ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand
the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be superior to my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.
Make me always ready to come to you
with clean hands and straight eyes,
so when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit will come to you
without shame.

My favorite Christian Prayer and Song:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

Buddhist prayers:
http://www.shindharmanet.com/writings/healing.htm

http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/tibetan-art-of-healing.htm

Hinduism:
Still your mind in me, still yourself in me, and without a doubt you shall be united with me, Lord of Love, dwelling in your heart.
Bhagavad Gita

Falling in Love with the Buddha

“How can there be laughter, how can there be pleasure, when the whole world is burning? When you are in deep darkness, will you not ask for a lamp? Yellow leaves hang on your tree of life. The messengers of death are waiting. You are going to travel far away. Have you any provision for the journey?” –Buddha, Dhammapada, p146

If cancer teaches you anything, it is that nothing lasts forever. It is one thing to know this in your head, quite another to know it in your heart & experience it first hand. I remember my very first chemo treatment. All the energy in my body had disappeared. Gone. I tried to get out of bed but it was useless. I remember actually laughing because it was so absurd. My body was as good as dead. How does a person cope with the realization that life can be so fragile and that the things you love, and the greatest pleasures, do not last?

The Buddha searched for these answers and found them. I fell in love with the Buddha because of the balanced outlook ( at least to my understanding ) on reality. The bad news was the fact that life is full of suffering. If you are going to live, you are going to suffer. Pretty simple. Our suffering is linked to how we perceive ourselves and our need to have & identify with things like social roles, pleasures, material things. The real suffering was not physical, but existential in nature. The good news ( and thus the balanced outlook) was that there was a way to stop suffering. His advocacy of using meditation following his 8 fold spiritual path became a way to transcend suffering. The Buddha helped me cope with chemo and cancer by teaching me how to meditate and using his spirituality to be present in the "now".

There are many things that can hijack the mind and make you live in the past or future. Living in the past is no good- where the ghosts of shame or guilt often live. Living in the future is often fueled by fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of actually being successful or happy. The Buddhist meditation forces a person to live in the present and face the existential issues one needs to face. His 8 fold path provides a way to process those issues and helps you move on with your life.

There are a lot of people I know that are into "healing". They are always "healing". They seem stuck in "healing". "Healing" becomes their sole identity and they don't seem to be able to move on with life. One of the greatest things about the Buddha's path is that it rebuilds a person's life so they don't get stuck in the process of healing. There may be a part of us that is always healing, but the greater part has to at some point get on with life. And that often includes helping other people, our planet, and/or our four legged friends. If everything is impermanent, like the Buddha said, then so is the healing journey. Ironically, that can be a very scary thing. Starting chemo was frightening, but even more so was stopping it.

The Buddha also helped me appreciate people and have compassion for them. When I was a kid, I lost a lot of friends to cancer. I didn't want to make any more friends because loosing them was too painful. The Buddha helped me focus on the present and enjoy the friendships. Some people may cope with loss by going to either extreme- either never making friendships or attachments, to being so clingy that you suck the life out of people and will do anything to keep them from leaving. The Buddha's path is a middle road between extremes. It allows you to be existentially intimate with someone, while letting them live their own life and travel along their own journey ( even if it means they are not physically present in your life).

I have been very inspired by Noah Levine's work with Buddhism. Check out http://www.dharmapunx.com/index.asp or http://againstthestream.org/


Baha'u'llah had a very similar spiritual insight about our sufferings and why we suffer:

“So fierce is this fire of self burning within them, that at every moment they seem to be afflicted with fresh torments….the whole human race is encompassed with great, with incalculable afflictions. We see it languishing on its bed of sickness, sore tried and disillusioned.” –Baha’u’llah, Book of Certitude, p.49

“…to set their affections upon it would still be unseemly for such as have quaffed, from the hands of Thy mercy, the wine of Thy presence; how much more when they recognize its fleetingness and are persuaded of its transience. The chances that overtake it, and the changes to which all things pertaining unto it are continually subjected, attest to its impermanence.” Baha’u’llah, Prayers and Meditations, p. 116

“O My Servant! Free thyself from the fetters of this world and loose thy should from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more.” –Baha’ullah, Hidden Words, p40


I will always be eternally grateful to the Buddha for helping me face my cancer & the despair that came with it, and for also helping me move on with my life after treatment.

The Purpose of Religion & Spirituality

Religion and spirituality has always been important to me. I eventually found the Baha'i faith, or maybe it found me. I had studied both social work and religion in college, and never heard of the Baha'is. So, I was skeptical at first. How come I never heard of these people? What are they all about? If I go to one of their meetings, will I be asked to drink the punch?

The cliff note version: Religion is progressive and must be renewed. Every prophet, or messenger of God, is sent to humanity throughout the ages. Religions are like grade levels in a school, and as we grow and develop, we need new teachings, review old truths that are still important, and be challenged in new ways. Every major religion comes from God-Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism. Native American and other ancient faiths are important too. They had their own divine messengers, and many of their teachings still are relevant in today's world. Bahá’u’lláh is the major founder of the Baha'i faith, which started in Persia in the mid 1800's. He taught that religion should be about love, that science & religion are both important, that women and men are equal, advocated for interfaith and inter-racial marriages, and the most important message- that unity is the healing medicine and teaching for today's world. Humanity has progressed to such a point were the world is so small. Our society is now global, our economics are so interconnected and now global, and now humanity must finally recognize that we are part of one family. There is no room for prejudice, of any kind. We are all children of God, the same God of the Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, etc. Bahá’u’lláh gave humanity a concrete way to eradicate prejudice, heal our broken society, give hope to the poor, and to achieve things we have only dreamed of.

Quotes on the purpose of religion & spirituality: “A distinct individuality, a definitely prescribed mission, a predestined Revelation, and specially designated limitations. Each one of them is known by a different name, is characterized by a special attribute, fulfils a definite Mission, and is entrusted with a particular Revelation.” Baha’ullah, Book of Certitude, p113

“Leaders of religion, in every age, have hindered their people from attaining the shores of eternal salvation, inasmuch as they held the reins of authority in their mighty grasp. Some for the lust of leadership, others through want of knowledge and understanding, have been the cause of the deprivation of the people. By their sanction and authority, every Prophet of God hath drunk from the chalice of sacrifice, and winged His flight unto the heights of glory. What unspeakable cruelties they that have occupied the seats of authority and learning have inflicted upon the true Monarchs of the world, those Gems of divine virtue! Content with a transitory dominion, they have deprived themselves of an everlasting sovereignty….” (Kitab-i-Iqan, Bahá’u’lláh, p. 12-19)

“Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to vanish from the face of the earth, give birth to spirituality, and bring life and light to each heart. If religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division, it were better to be without it, and to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly religious act. For it is clear that the purpose of a remedy is to cure; but if the remedy should only aggravate the complaint it had better be left alone. Any religion which is not a cause of love and unity is no religion. All the holy prophets were as doctors to the soul; they gave prescriptions for the healing of mankind; thus any remedy that causes disease does not come from the great and supreme Physician. (‘Abdul Baha’, son of Baha’ullah in Paris Talks*, page 130)

“There can be no doubt whatever that the peoples of the world, of whatever race or religion, derive their inspiration from one heavenly Source, and are the subjects of one God. The difference between the ordinances under which they abide should be attributed to the varying requirements and exigencies of the age in which they were revealed. All of them, except a few which are the outcome of human perversity, were ordained of God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose.” (Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh, pages 112-114)

Searching for Answers after Cancer

Cancer makes a person ask questions and search for answers they may not have ever thought of before facing such a situation. I remember, when I was 6, wondering if the angels were watching me go through the radiation treatments. They were, I believe. Perhaps my radiologist was such an angel, or the nurses and doctors who were there for me when the cancer came back a few years later. Life takes on a different meaning, a door opens that can never be closed, the wind even feels different as it blows gently around you, ever so appreciating it when it playfully kisses you on the cheek. The cancer experience made me search for meaning, healing and for God. Sometimes that search made me feel very much alive, like I was on a spiritual adventure, discovering unexplored worlds like Indian Jones or Captain Kirk.

Other times the search was so lonely it was nearly unbearable, making me feel like I was left alone in the Sahara Desert, with the sun of uncertainty beating down upon me with it's nihilistic heat and no compassionate shade or rejuvenating oasis around for miles. Every religion promotes the idea that the search for what is good, beautiful and true in this world is what makes life ultimately meaningful. For me, the cancer was both a curse and a blessing. A curse, because of the treatments, losing friends I met at the hospital & cancer camps, and like a ghost-always haunting me and feeding on the fear of the cancer coming back. A blessing, because without it I would not appreciate life and never would have found meaning, goodness, beauty, and befriended so many angels along the way.

Quotes about Searching for Answers and Spirituality: “Only when the lamp of search, of earnest striving, of longing desire, of passionate devotion, of fervid love, of rapture and ecstasy, is kindled within the seeker’s heart, and the breeze of His loving-kindness is wafted upon his soul, will the darkness of error be dispelled, the mists of doubts and misgivings be dissipated, and the lights of knowledge and certitude envelop his being.” – Baha’u’llah, The Book Of Certitude

“Without patience the wayfarer on this journey will reach nowhere and attain no goal. Nor should he ever be downhearted; if he strive for a hundred thousand years and yet fail to behold the beauty of the Friend, he should not falter……The true seeker hunteth naught but the object of his quest, and the lover hath no desire save union with his beloved. . . Labour is needed, if we are to seek Him; ardour is needed, if we are to drink of the honey of reunion with Him; and if we taste of this cup, we shall cast away the world….. On this journey the traveller abideth in every land and dwelleth in every region. In every face, he seeketh the beauty of the Friend; in every country he looketh for the Beloved. He joineth every company, and seeketh fellowship with every soul, that haply in some mind he may uncover the secret of the Friend, or in some face he may behold the beauty of the Loved One”. –Baha’ullah, in the mystical 4 Valleys & 7 Valleys

“God has given man the eye of investigation by which he may see and recognize truth. He has endowed man with ears that he may hear the message of reality and conferred upon him the gift of reason by which he may discover things for himself. This is his endowment and equipment for the investigation of reality. Man is not intended to see through the eyes of another, hear though another’s ears nor comprehend with another’s brain. Each creature has individual endowment, power and responsibility in the creative plan of God. Therefore, depend upon your own reason and judgment and adhere to the outcome of your own investigation.” - Abdu’l-Baha’

Link to the Baha'i faith: http://www.bahai.us/