Why You Might Not Realize You Are Dead

      It is difficult to comprehend how a person, or soul, cannot know he or she is dead, but we need only ponder on how we  escape into movies and even print fiction to begin to understand it.

      Although I find very little on television that interests me these days, I admit to being hooked on the "24" action series.  I get so into the excitement at times that I find myself on the edge of my seat and "living" the action. When a segment of the series ends on its usual cliffhanger and a commercial comes on, I am to some extent reminded that it is just a TV program, not real life.  But my consciousness will not fully accept the fiction or unreality of it.  Some part of my consciousness still holds onto the emotion and action of it while anxiously awaiting the next segment to see what happens to Jack Bauer. 

       On the other hand, I don't lose myself in the movie as much as some people.  My wife refuses to watch bloody scenes and if one catches her by surprise she will let out a scream.  I have no difficulty watching such scenes, although I'm sure that if I were witnessing them in real life my reaction would be much different.  Thus, even though I am somewhat absorbed in the movie and not completely distinguishing between reality and unreality, my consciousness is straddling the "threshold of awareness" enough so that I do not react too emotionally to violent scenes.   

        When a trip prevented me from seeing a weekly segment of "24" last year, I felt conflicted.  I had to know what was going to happen.  My mind tried to reason with my consciousness by re-"minding" it that it isn't real and that I shouldn't care what happens, but my consciousness struggled to accept what the mind was telling it and I was determined to see the next segment.

          Having recently read "To Die For" by James E. Beichler, Ph.D., I now have a framework by which to better understand the struggles between mind and consciousness, including why some spirits don't realize they are dead.

      "Mind interprets our sensed world and environment using reason, the cumulative result of real experiences of the material four-dimensional world placed within a specific mental framework or worldview," Beichler, a semi-retired physics professor, explains, "while consciousness deals more with intuition, our innate feelings and subconscious understanding of the larger five-dimensional framework of physical reality."

       As Beichler sees it, when mind is much more evolved than consciousness those making the transition from this life to the larger life may be faced with a very big gap, thus not recognizing that they are dead.  If the person had achieved a higher level of consciousness while occupying the physical body, "then the mind would already have memories of five-dimensional experience and would then merge with less difficulty into its new state of being," he explains, adding that this mind remains stuck in its four-dimensional reality.    

         In other words, the mind (the soul) separates itself from the physical organ (the brain) and then attempts to orientate itself based upon the spiritual consciousness that it has achieved during the time it occupied a physical shell.   If the spiritual consciousness is well developed, the mind quickly awakens to its new and true reality.   But if that consciousness is not well developed - if it is still grounded in the material world - this  "handicapped" mind  does not quickly "awaken" and may not even realize that the physical body has been shed, i.e., the soul doesn't realize that it is "dead."

      "The mind/consciousness complex retains its identity (the person still remains) after a manner in the fifth dimension, in so far as self-identity is not a material but still a physical quantity or quality," Beichler further explains.  "However, the extent to which the complex is ‘conscious' or mindful of its own existence, its being, would depend upon the extent to which it was ;conscious' or aware of its five-dimensional connections before the death of the four-dimensional body and what is perceived by the mind as ‘self' while the body still lived and functioned."

         It is difficult to grasp, but it makes sense.  After all, do you know that you are "alive" when you are dreaming while asleep?  And while watching a movie, are we constantly reminding ourselves that it is not real?  There would be no pleasure or entertainment in watching movies if our level of awareness were so high that we were so reminding ourselves.   

       Indications are that there are many degrees of awakening and consciousness on the Other Side and that many souls go back and forth over the threshold of awareness, just as most of us do in watching a good movie.  That is, the conflict between mind and consciousness continues so that some souls realize at times that they have passed from the physical world but at other times they cling to the physical world and temporarily forget that they are "dead."   They are in a struggle with earth's magnetism.   I suspect that the majority of souls are in this in-between state, fluctuating back and forth over that threshold of awareness, "earthbound" at times and free from the "earthbound" condition at other times, however time is measured in that realm.   Only those who are totally self-centered and materialistic in earth life don't realize their new state at all, at least initially.   

      Another perspective on this is to view the earth life like a movie, an illusory life, being viewed by the real self - the soul.  When the earth life ends, the soul that is totally absorbed in it is still experiencing it, just as many of us are still affected by the movie after it ends.  

       Beichler's model explains many of the characteristics and properties of the near-death experience. For example, noting that not all experiencers undergo a past-life review, he concludes that those who have a highly-developed consciousness - one that has kept pace with the development of the mind - may not need a life review as they probably reviewed their lives when alive in the flesh.  At the other extreme, there are those not advanced enough in their conscious evolution to appreciate a life review, and still others who may not accept a life review because they deny their death and sense nothing at all.  "In other words, people's minds seize upon the most familiar surroundings when they enter the new environment of the five-dimensional universe," Beichler offers, "but can still reject the experience completely depending upon their mind set and mental priorities at the time of death."    

Dr. Beichler's book is available from Trafford Publishing (888-232-4444) or at Amazon.com