May President Ford NOT rest in peace!

Just before Christmas, a very colorful picture of Arlington Cemetery with all the Christmas wreaths on the graves was making its way around the Internet. Accompanying the photo was a prayer that said, "Sleep well, my friends," and other words suggesting that those who have passed on are "sleeping" in their graves. 

A week later, the media announced that Saddam Hussein and former President Gerald Ford had been "laid to rest."   

May President Ford "rest in peace," was often heard.  Exactly how Hussein was supposed to "rest" was not made clear.  

Let's hope that President Ford doesn't rest too long.  We need good men like him to be active in the hierarchy of spirits (or Communion of Saints, if you prefer) and help us out down here.

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When is orthodox religion going to wake up to the messages of spiraling revelation?  When is it going to realize that we don't sleep until some far off day of judgment?  When is it going to realize that we can be active in the spirit life, not simply "resting" or "sleeping" in our graves? 

"If completely ignorant of the fact that life continues after earthly death, or if so indoctrinated with false ideas that understanding will take a long time, then there is the  process of rest equivalent to sleep," explained Silver Birch, a high spirit communicating through the trance medium, Maurice Barbanell during the early part and middle of the last century.  "That continues until the time of realization has come.  This can be short or long, as measured by your duration of time. It depends on the individual.  Those with knowledge have no such problem.  They step out of the world of matter into the world of spirit and adjustment is speedy. When the awakening comes, it is a moment of supreme joy, because it brings recognition of all the loved ones who have been waiting for it to occur." 

That same message has been communicated through numerous other credible and sincere mediums over the past 150 or more years.

Rarely does the nation celebrate death as much as it did during the stately services for President Ronald Reagan a few years ago.  The fact that the former president was 93 and had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease made the two services - one in Washington, D.C. and the other at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. - somewhat less somber than the public services for Princess Diana and President John Kennedy, both of whom met seemingly premature and more immediately tragic deaths. 

Grief and mourning were apparent in the Reagan services, but there were a number of spiritually uplifting comments and observations to provide some balance for the occasion. While Reagan was not a frequent churchgoer, we were reminded a number of times that he had great faith and a belief in the hereafter.   "He is home now.  He is free," his son, Ron Reagan, offered.

Patti Davis, Reagan's daughter, reported that, before taking his final breath, her father opened his eyes - eyes which had been closed for many days and looked at his wife with intense love.  He showed us, Davis said, "that neither disease nor death can conquer love."

 The Reverend Michael Wenning gave a very eloquent and heart-warming eulogy while personally addressing Mrs. Reagan in the sunset ceremony in Simi Valley.  However, when Wenning turned away from the grieving widow and addressed Ronald Reagan by looking at the casket and talking to the corpse, it seemed as if he were acknowledging that the corpse was all that was left of the former president or that his spirit body was still clinging to the physical shell, as we are told might be the case with unenlightened souls.

If the good reverend had had the benefit of recent revelation, he might have approached it this way:  "No, Nancy, the Ronald you love is not in that box.  He lives now in an ethereal body, one of higher vibration, a body of higher attainment and attunement.  I am not clairvoyant, but I suspect that he is standing right behind you with his hands on your shoulders, with that same cheerful smile we all came to know.  I am going to assume that he is behind you and will direct my words to him there."

Wouldn't that have been much more uplifting and meaningful than talking to a corpse in a casket?  

As I pondered on the spiritual or religious aspects of the ceremonies, I wondered how the materialistic cynics - the "debunkers" calling themselves skeptics - were reacting, if they were watching at all.  Were they silently smirking, snickering, or scoffing at the "ridiculously religious" remarks? Were they concerned that people less "enlightened" than they would be influenced by such folly, such foolishness?  Did they see it as a temporary setback in their efforts to sway the world to their philosophy of reductionism?

I wondered what kind of ceremony the debunkers would have prescribed for the occasion, what they would have said if in charge.  "President Reagan is no more. He is now extinct.  He has been obliterated, as we will all be sooner or later.  Face it folks, there is no meaning in life, so live like Hugh Heffner if you can, while you can."

No, they wouldn't have said that.  It would have been more humanistic, like, "He will live on in our hearts."

What the heck does "living on in our hearts" mean?  I hear it all the time. Not long ago, I was watching a television program in which a young girl lost her parents in an automobile accident.  The child's aunt explained to her that her parents are "living on" in her heart.  I wondered how such a comment is interpreted by a child and whether it offers any solace. I wondered how adults of normal consciousness interpret it.

While the comment is no doubt well-meaning and intended to soothe troubled minds, I interpret it as a rejection of survival.  It seems to suggest that the deceased's consciousness has indeed been obliterated but that his or her memory will always be with us and be a positive influence.

At the other extreme, the aunt may have told her niece that her parents are "now in heaven with the Lord."  That may be a little more comforting, but it still challenges the imagination, even the fertile imagination of a child.

Based upon my metaphysical studies, I would have told the child that her parents still exist but in a form that she cannot see, that they are still guiding her by silently communicating with her and that she should listen for their guidance.  She should take time out to talk to them now and then and listen for their responses.  If they are busy adjusting to and learning about their new environment and unable to talk to her, she will likely hear from guides who are able to communicate with her parents.  Oh, no, the modern grief counselor or psychologist would say.  They must forget them and get on with their lives.

If the masses were more open to the lessons of psychical research and spiraling spirit communication, we might have more meaningful and joyous celebrations of death, more meaningful and uplifting messages for those grieving.