2. Death : Transition to a New Life
World Scripture
It is We who give life, and make to die, and to Us is the homecoming.
Qur’an 50.43
Now my breath and spirit goes to the Immortal, and this body ends in ashes; OM. O Mind! Remember. Remember the deeds. Remember the actions.
Isha Upanishad 17 (Hinduism)
Man’s real nature is primarily spiritual life, which weaves its threads of mind to build a cocoon of flesh, encloses its own soul in the cocoon, and, for the first time, the spirit becomes flesh. Understand this clearly: The cocoon is not the silkworm; in the same way, the physical body is not man but merely man’s cocoon. Just as the silkworm will break out of its cocoon and fly free, so, too, will man break out of his body-cocoon and ascend to the spirit world when his time is come. Never think that the death of the physical body is the death of man. Since man is life, he will never know death.6
Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines (Seicho-no-Ie)
One man believes he is the slayer, another believes he is the slain. Both are ignorant; there is neither slayer nor slain. You were never born; you will never die. You have never changed; you can never change. Unborn, eternal, immutable, immemorial, you do not die when the body dies. Realizing that which is indestructible, eternal, unborn, and unchanging, how can you slay or cause another to be slain? As a man abandons his worn-out clothes and acquires new ones, so when the body is worn out a new one is acquired by the Self, who lives within. The Self cannot be pierced with weapons or burned with fire; water cannot wet it, nor can the wind dry it. The Self cannot be pierced or burned, made wet or dry. It is everlasting and infinite, standing on the motionless foundation of eternity. The Self is unmanifest, beyond all thought, beyond all change. Knowing this, you should not grieve.7
Bhagavad-Gita 2.19-25 (Hinduism)
You prefer this life, although the life to come is better and more enduring. All this is written in earlier scriptures; the scriptures of Abraham and Moses.
Qur’an 87.16-19
Meet the Fathers, meet Yama, and meet with the fulfillment of wishes in the highest heaven; casting off imperfections, find anew thy dwelling, and be united with a lustrous body.
Rig Veda 10.14.8 (Hinduism)
Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.
2 Corinthians 4.16-5.10
The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.
Socrates, in Plato, Apology 42 (Hellenism)
I inquired of Africanus whether he himself, my father Paulus, and others whom we look upon as dead, were really living. “Yes, truly,” replied he, “they all enjoy life who have escaped from the chains of the body as from a prison. But as to what you call life on earth, that is no more than a form of death. But see, here comes your father Paulus towards you!”8
Cicero, On the Republic 6.14 (Hellenism)
The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Ecclesiastes 12.7
Onyame9 does not die; I will therefore not die.
Akan Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
In the Korean language, the word toraganda means, “to die,” but its literal meaning is, “to return.” To where do we return? Not to the soil of the cemetery. It means to return to the original place of departure, the place of origin. It is a place beyond the origin of history… even the dwelling-place of the Creator. Since we originated from God, we should return to Him. The universe has natural cycles. The snow covering the mountains melts, flows down through many small valleys into streams and rivers and on into the ocean. Then it evaporates and becomes vapor. Through this circulation, water thus returns to a higher state. Likewise, we want to return to a higher and better place.
(299:61, February 4, 1999)
Humans originate from God’s mind, grow up and mature in God’s bosom of love, and make a family on earth which can embrace the whole world with love. Through this process, they will return to God’s bosom of love as mature persons. This is the path of our life.
(135:267-68, December 15, 1985)
A human being’s essence is spiritual. When you go to the spirit world you will recognize more deeply that the essence of being human is to live for the sake of others. Then, why do people deal with everything so selfishly? It is because humans have a blood relationship with Satan, the angel who violated the law of heaven.
(2:138, March 17, 1957)
People are meant to live on earth in good families and, after perfecting their internal spirit self, go to the Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit world. The Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit world is our original homeland, where we live eternally as spirit beings in God’s love. Due to the Human Fall, human beings no longer have a properly functioning spirituality. They live in ignorance of their spirit self and the spirit world. Nevertheless, human beings, unlike any other animal, possess a spirit self and go to the spirit world. If only people understood this!
(343:196, January 29, 2001)
We were born as an eternal life, and therefore go to the spirit world after death. Life there will be on a totally different dimension. In this limited world we cannot move freely, but the other world is a higher dimensional place where we can do anything. You can jump beyond time. With true love, whatever you desire you will receive, anytime and anywhere. The spirit world is boundless. We are created as eternal beings. Each of us is that way because we are the object partners of the eternal God, participating in His true love. If we become such object partners of true love, then when we go to the spirit world we will be completely free. However, to realize this you must be trained in true love here on earth. You are not yet ready. Without fulfilling your responsibility to prepare yourselves well, you cannot go to the realm of freedom in the spirit world. But once you perfect true love on the earth, you can go there anytime.
(216:116, March 9, 1991)