May 31, 2025 /

Rest well

Not everyone believes in a life after death and for those that do, many don’t know what takes place on the other side of it.  Once we die and shuffle off the proverbial mortal coil, then what?  Do we rest in eternal slumber, do we return and live our lives over?  What happens when we get there?  What do we actually do?

While there are prolific accounts of life after death experiences which speak of a homecoming with previously deceased loved ones, beautiful landscapes and different societies (both heavenly and hellish), it is difficult to sift through notions of the afterlife put forth by psychics or channelers.  How do we judge the claims of those who say they have been there?

I’ve read many books about this throughout my life, including those written by near-death experiencers and mediums, and have even had my own near-death experience where I found myself unexpectedly thrust into the spiritual universe, and the most credible author I’ve found from all those I’ve read throughout the years, has been Swedish scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg.

Today’s churchman knows almost nothing about heaven, hell or his own life after death.  Many people born in the church deny these things and ask in their hearts, “Has anyone come back and told us so?”  To prevent so negative an attitude from infecting and corrupting people of simple heart and simple faith, it has been made possible for me to be right with angels and to talk with them person to person.  I have also been allowed to see what heaven is like and what hell is like: this has been going on for thirteen years.

The quote is taken from Swedenborg’s work entitled Heaven and Hell, in which he describes the world of spirits and both the heavenly and hellish realms of existence.  My attention has always been drawn to his accounts of heaven as a place where angelic beings live in houses, belong to communities, perform tasks and have governments.  This suggests to me that eternal existence is one of dynamic activity, order and harmony in which we all play a role.  Am I afraid of dying, of death? No, I never have been.

Michele T Knight Written by:

Dr Michele Knight is a Social Worker, Social Scientist, researcher and independent scholar. Her interest and research in the end-of-life has its origin in the lived experiences of her own bereavements, her near-death and shared-death events, the returning deceased and attitudinal responses to those experiences. Since 2006, she has been extensively involved in community development, support and advocacy in both a professional and community services/voluntary capacity in the areas of bereavement and grief, hospital pastoral care, and academic lecturing/tutoring. Her PhD, Ways of Being: The alchemy of bereavement and communique, explores the lived experience of bereavement, grief, spirituality and unsought encounters with the returning deceased.

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