METAREALITY
What’s Going on Here?
By Richard House, MD
Most of us are so distracted by the
worries of daily life that larger issues
are easily shunted aside. Unless, that
is, some troubling event intrudes –
like the death of someone close to
us, or a beloved dog needs to be put
down. Do dogs go to heaven?
P
ope Francis reports that they do
– all creatures large and small,
he says. One supposes that humans who live well get their shot
at heaven too, but is hell then
a possibility for those who fall
short? Let’s hope not, for no one
toes the mark all the time.
Besides the pressing question of what occurs when
we die, there are others:
• Why do we die at all?
• Is there really a loving God, and, if so, why all
the suffering?
• Are we really the same soul viewing life
differently, as some spiritual traditions
declare?
• Do we only live once, or is reincarnation the
deal?
These questions dangle before us just beyond
reach. That is unless one adopts the answers given by various religions and spiritual traditions. The
Buddhists say that we come back to Earth time and
time again until, until, we get it right. Christians
are here only once, which adds incentive to live life
well, judgment day ever looming. And then there
are the atheists who declare that what you see is
what you get – no God, no heaven, no hell, just a
void, a cold, silent nothing after death.
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With such panoply of thought, some of us are
prompted to seek out answers for ourselves. We
are the seekers of Truth, pilgrims that want to know
more than what Wikipedia has to offer.
God, heaven, angels. Are there really angels? Well,
Hollywood and the supermarket tabloids suggest
that there are. Moreover, some very thoughtful
people have collected quite a body of evidence
that there are indeed angelic spirits that want to
help us poor humans struggling on Earth. Into the
Light, by John Lerma, MD, is a fascinating account
of angels that frequently appear to hospice patients just before death. Not only do these spirits
lend a helping hand, as Joe Black patiently waits
his turn, they also straighten out earthly affairs beforehand.