When I was very young, my family attended St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Catholic Church (commonly known as St. Margaret Mary’s; or to us kids, “Saint Mag’s”).
It was a parish made up of mostly first and second-generation European immigrants who were, naturally in the mid 1950’s, extremely traditional in their religious traditions and customs.
Each parish then had several priests, who took turns saying Mass on Sunday – actually Mass was held every day, but they rotated so there was usually a different one every Sunday morning. One of the reverends was a dour, red-faced man known as Father Kaminski. My memories of him are rather vague, but I do know that when Father Kaminski was haunting the halls of the attached grade school, you minded your p’s and q’s. He was quite terrifying to a 7-year old; not at all like Father Kirchner, who was jolly most of the time.
Father Kaminski was old-school – even more so than most of the rest of the parish. In fact, he would have fit in very well with a Pentacostal tradition. When he was on duty for Sunday Mass, you were sure to get a sermon full of the proverbial fire and brimstone. To hear him preach, there was a very slim chance you were going to make it to heaven, especially right away. At the very least, you were going to suffer the pangs of Purgatory, which is sort of a Hell Light. You got yourself righteously cleansed by pure, unadulterated suffering, and you deserved it. He painted a vivid picture, and scared the bejesus out of all who listened.
Dad liked it when Father Kaminski preached – he thought the guy was the only one who had it right: if we didn’t behave, we were all going to Hell.
Most religions have used the concept of an afterlife full of pain and misery in an attempt to enforce whatever moral (and even social) codes they promulgate. In times past, this method was used by the Church to retain political power and gain wealth. Eventually the outright influence of the mainstream Catholic and Protestant power structures lost influence and along with it their ability to gather wealth; but, the practice of enforcing influence by intimidation remained, being firmly entrenched by then in the very structure of belief and tradition.
But, is it reasonable to believe that souls are created with the possibility of eventually, after only a paltry 100 years or less of experience, having to then undergo everlasting torment because they “broke the rules” a few too many times? I think not. This would be a wonderful excuse to not believe in a Divine Creator at all, and in fact is used as such by many who do not care to indulge in meaningful thought beyond what they can see with their eyes.
In my belief system (and I am far from alone), when we make mistakes we accumulate karma around those mistakes. When our bodies die, we are confronted with all the negativity we have inflicted upon others through our free will choices – our life does indeed flash before our eyes. We are made to feel what our victims felt…the humiliation, pain, and other forms of suffering they endured. As we experience these effects directly, we learn the impact of what we have done and the negative effects of our careless behavior. In this way, we learn and can make progress in our spiritual development.
Sometimes, for whatever reason, even after we have finally learned the lessons provided by this life review, we continue to attempt to drive home the particular lesson. Our souls carry this unecessary karma lifetime after lifetime, attracting physical experiences designed to put us into situations that will reproduce the karmic experience. For example, I might have in the distant past been cowardly in my resolve. During my life review, I realized the implications of such behavior and the effects it has had on me and those round me. But, not being a fully evolved soul, in the next incarnation I continue to attract situations which will intimidate me and continue to force me to face my fears, when in fact I have already learned that lesson. I’m brave now, and I know how to handle these experiences; but, because of the unwarranted continuing karmic attachment I continue to endure, time after time, situations that challenge my bravery. These experiences are unnecessary, bothersome, and distracting. They can get in the way of my working on other new lessons more necessary to my soul’s growth.
Through the process of Soul Realignment, we can banish this unwarranted karma forever, freeing ourselves to spiritually progress unimpeded. The negative experiences meant to reinforce the karma will cease, making for a much happier and productive life.
God, I’m glad I never cheated on my husband. Whew…
LOL…I love that scene…and for some people it might just be like that. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is interesting to research…they read instructions to the recently-departed on how to navigate the ether so they don’t get lost or trapped in a negative place. In my system there are indeed negative astrals (re nightmares) but we don’t go there except by mistake or on ill-fated rescue missions.
Another cool one is The Book of Arda Viraf, a Zoroastrian rendering of the Afterlife. Hell is mighty unfunny there – it makes Dante look like a picnic:
“CHAPTER 24
1. I also saw the soul of a woman (2) who was suspended, by the breasts, to hell; (3) and its noxious creatures (khrafstars) seized her whole body.
4. And I asked thus: ‘What sin was committed by this body, whose soul suffers such a punishment?’
5. Srosh the pious, and Adar the angel, said (6) thus: ‘This is the soul of that wicked woman who, in the world, left her own husband, (7) and gave herself to other men, and committed adultery.’ ”
There are worse ones. http://www.avesta.org/mp/viraf.html if you want to get sick…
One more thought then I’ll stop, I promise.
Did you ever see Beetlejuice with Michael Keaton? If so, the place where people went after they died, but before they arrived at their destination was a cheesy looking hospital waiting room type scene. I always think of that whenever someone mentions purgatory. 😉
I’m not debating your belief system. I would never do that with anyone. It’s a futile endeavor. Everything I post here imagine a “what if…” or “this doesn’t make sense to me because…” The how do you know is not a challenge for proof. There are are things that I also know because I know and that’s good enough for me, and I don’t have to persuade anyone to *get it.* You get it or you don’t get it, simple math.
Know what I mean? I also came by this world view the hard way. I generally don’t talk to anyone who doesnt know someone I trust. Especially in these parts.
The comment thing, I think I figured it out. I’m slow. You just have to hit reply instead of “add comment”. I’m so used to my own blog it takes me awhile to orient to another’s “home” on the Internets.t.
Anectodally, The first time I met our mutual friend, I was going on about how “f’ed up I was.” He gave me “the look” and said, “you are not f’ed up and I want you to stop saying that.”
I don’t say it anymore. And more importantly, I don’t believe it any more either.
Okay, I’m done terrorizing your blog for one day!
🙂
Hi there,
LOL..actually I got _so_ caught up in writing, and had to break up the writing over several days, that I really didn’t touch on what the title of the post is about! Silly me.
Yes…I truly believe you can resolve karma here in this life, as you say. That’s where the “Hell on Earth” theme comes in. That’a cool.. but guess what: not everybody is as smart or advanced as you are, and they _don’t_ get it in this life. That’s where the life review comes in.
Not only that…but once you have learned the lesson, in some cases you want to make sure it’s driven home and unfortunately you continue to attract experiences lifetime after lifetime that are needlessly bothersome and can hold you up in other areas where you still need to learn. In my practice this is called unresolved karma, and it is cleared in the realignment so those particular experiences are understood for what they are and they stop happening.
As for this belief system…a mutual friend of ours changed my life a few years ago by telling me this: “_You_ get to decide what you believe.” How simple, how powerful; how absolutely true.
When I put up this blog, one of my “rules” was to be that I won’t debate the reality of what I or anyone else believes. I went for many years not believing in anything because of what I came to see as bullshit I was force-fed and told to just believe. Not believing in anything leaves a hell of a hollow spot, for me.
So here I am. Speaking in genralities, not knowing everything (no one does, not even Jesus if you’re into that… :)) I won’t say that you sit on a rose-quartz stool in your purple toga and have a life review…but I do say that you go through a process like what I describe. A lot of it’s an analogy because we can’t wrap our minds around it. How do I know? I just do. We have access to information. The powers that be, and be they does, don’t want me to use intuition because it’ a direct line to Truth; therefore, they’ll tell me I’m crazy. The cool part for me is: I’m not listening to them anymore, nor to people who are programmed to represent them. I’m here to deliver a blueprint, and so are a lot of others like me. If it’s not listened to or understood, that’s cool; I’ll have done my job.
Michael
Hi Suzanne,
Not sure I understand…you did post a comment, no?
I’m logged in as admin – I see an edit thingie at the bottom of each comment. Help me out and let me know if you see it or not. If not I’ll check if there’s a setting.
Michael
Okay, now that I got all THAT out of my system.
I’m either slow (very possible) or it was not immediately clear how to post a comment. Also, does WordPress let you edit comments? If so, that would be cool to implement.
Like so many other spiritual or philosophical principles, I have difficulty with any absolute statement derived of the human, therefore finite, experience.
In other words, to the best of your abilities and intuition you believe thoroughly in the “life in review” process of death. But how can you be so sure? What events flash before our eyes? The ones that we have not atoned for (or made amends, said another way,) or ALL of the wrongdoing regardless of efforts toward reparation in this life.
For example, a year after my husband died, I became embroiled in a passionate and very strange relationship with his best friend. Our relationship was based on the common sense of huge loss we both felt. Long story short, we spent 3 years circling the drain and basically ravaging each other emotionally, in spite of the intense bond we still shared.
I said and did terrible things in that relationship. Things that came from the well spring of pain, rage and grief at losing my husband. He had his own way of bringing on the pain as well for me.
Recently I sent a message to him asking forgiveness for all the pain I caused him and acknowledged that he loved me through a period of my life when practically nobody else could (or I wouldn’t allow it, whichever.) I haven’t heard anything back from him, but I’m very okay with that. I made sincere amends, and the rest of it, forgiveness, understanding, or not, is out of my hands.
I do NOT expect this to be an *issue* when I die, whether this is the first time or last time I die. Just as I never could be “down” with the concept of Purgatory. As you related in your experience, I too was raised in the Catholic (Roman) faith. I too was mystified by this place called Purgatory (a weigh station on the way to Heaven? You got to be f’ing kidding me.) Especially as it concerned unbaptised babies.
I do not expect judgment from a deity of any kind when I die. And any life “review” I might or might not be subject too, will certainly not include things I have made amends for while still living. My idea of what will happen is my soul will leave my body, with my husband as my escort, and I will instantly be restored to total light. Completely void of all pain and suffering, my own or any that I may have brought to bear on someone else.
I guess that’s why I really struggle with the issues of karma, reincarnation, past life regression, etc. I’m not at all saying it’s a bunch of BS, but at the same time, I can not state, unequivocally, what will happen to me or anyone else when we leave our vessels. So far I have attended two deaths, one of someone I loved beyond reason and who never hurt me, and one who was a childhood abuser and who hurt me very much. They were both peaceful deaths in the physical sense. However, I believe that the one who hurt me is just as entitled to restoration to wholeness and light as the one who loved me crazy.
Both times I witnessed a process of what felt like to me reconciliation. They both seemed (and this is based strictly on my empathic response to the surroundings,) that they were settling scores, making amends, reconciling their lives here with where they were bound for. I watched that happen. I felt that happen. I think that the debts are paid, scores are settled, peri-mortem. And to us it may seem like a few days, or seconds, but to the dying, I think time takes on a different dimension. And during that time, the dying have options we do not. And I believe this to be true whether you die a long declining death as these two did, or whether a front-end loader falls on you on 83 as what happened to a friend of mine 2 or 3 years ago.
Did they both board at the same gate? I think not. It’s like Bradley and the other guy got to board first, fly first-class and be attended to by really hot stewardesses. My uncle on the other hand is waiting for a stand-by flight, 17 hours long, in coach.
Hi Steve,
Our natural state (if we are a positive soul) is happiness, joy, comfort and understanding. Once we do the life review and (hopefully) learn the lessons attached to that karma, we go on about the business of evolving our souls toward the Source.
“We are made to feel what our victims felt…the humiliation, pain, and other forms of suffering they endured.”
In your belief system, do we also get to experience the things we did that created happiness and joy, comfort and understanding for others, or is it only about the bad stuff…just wondering..:)