There has been a lot of death surrounding me of late. Just this last year, more people who I know closely have made their transition, most of them suddenly. I feel that there have been even more deaths in the public eye – young and old. Then there are the suicides that I seem to hear about weekly. What is going on?

First of all, what is death? Well, in my philosophy it is the shedding of the physical body as we move from this plane to another plane of consciousness. According to what our philosophy teaches, there is always an upward spiral of consciousness. In other words, we cannot go backwards in what we know. We will take whatever consciousness we leave here with and expand from this point of knowing.

For myself, I wonder if there is a healing place for some of us who have emotionally suffered while here. I am talking about those who suffer from either mental illness or even just strong emotional troubles. I believe it makes sense that there is a healing place where we get to review our challenges and look at them in a different light without our bodies and physical attachments. Perhaps (just like here) there are teachers and mentors.

The truth is that I do not know the answer to any of this from the realm of experience. I can only trust my own intuition, and also I can learn from the common experiences of those who have traveled beyond and come back.

However, it doesn’t answer my question of why it seems that so many in my atmosphere right now are passing from this earth plane. It’s a question that doesn’t seem to be mine to answer right now.  One gift that I receive from it all is to live my life more fully, more authentically, more passionately than ever before. Life is to be fully experienced, not to be conquered, but to be embraced in its many facets. There is joy and there is extreme sorrow. There is peace and there are moments of chaos. There are moments of complete contentment and then other moments where we are itching for our next step.

I think all in all that the best way to live is to listen to the heart. My heart has never led me in the wrong direction. My head has caused me lots of stumbling along the path. I still arrived at the same place, but the heady journey was far more uncomfortable. Heart journeys still have bittersweet moments, but they land within my soul in a far gentler way.

Today, I bless all the people in my realm of consciousness that have transitioned. I am knowing their perfectly unfolding journey. I trust and have faith that we will all meet again. We will know each other just as well as we have known each other here, and our journey will continue. I have no way of proving if this is true, but I know it makes sense to me. There is something called spiritual logic and that is what I rely on. It speaks to my intuition and that is enough for me.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita