The more I read about near death experiences, the more I realize they are as different as they are alike. That probably sounds strange but think of it this way: as many consistencies as there are with the tunnel effect or the white light, meeting family members, going through a life review, etc., it also appears that much of the afterlife is custom tailored to the individual. In other words, everyone has a different perception of “heaven” or “hell” and the universe seems very aware of it. But is the bliss experienced in the afterlife created by an outside universal force or is it constructed by the power of our own consciousnesses?

I’m thinking in circles again.

Sometimes I do wonder what my afterlife will be like, and I don’t mean that in a morbid “I want to die” kind of way. I just mean that I deal with spirits and helping people with spiritual matters every day, so it’s not a far stretch of the imagination to think I might be curious about what will happen to me when I die. I’m not afraid of my own death either. My faith teaches me that dying is just another phase of the soul’s life and should be met with as much preparedness as any other change of life. It’s that preparation and that need to “leave my body on my own terms” as George Harrison put it, that makes me think about what awaits me on the other side of the veil.

I would like to design my own afterlife.

In my estimation, the meaning of the afterlife is to be a place and a state of the soul in which the individual is at perfect peace, joy, and love. I think of the place and time in which I feel the most at home and at peace. That place was southern Maine and the time was the 19th century. This is not to say my life was a romantic vision of perfection at the time. Far from it. But whenever I visit Maine now, I feel so much at peace and so restored that I don’t even need as many painkillers or anxiety drugs as I normally do. The restorative affect Maine has on me is my idea of heaven.

So when I pass into the afterlife, as I have said in an earlier blog, I want to meet my loved ones along a representation of the Androscoggin River (pictured above) for reasons that I already described in the earlier blog. I would like a typical home for Brunswick like the ones pictured at the very top. That’s actually Federal Street in 1906. My home would be filled with things from the 19th century and I would have as many books as the universe would allow me to read. There would be plenty of places in the home where I could play music and paint. Every pet I ever had in my life would be with me at that home and all of my loved ones would come and go with ease. I would have flower gardens. The sea would be close enough that I could spend time there whenever I wanted. I wouldn’t have any physical restrictions like wheelchairs as I do here in the physical life.

Perhaps I’m honestly thinking of keeping my afterlife home as a representation of the Chamberlain house. It is to my taste and I feel more at home there than I do in my own home now. I did live there for nearly 50
years and part of me will always be there in some way.

I’ve read many mediums say that they get told from those in the afterlife that it is indeed much of their own design. More than one has indicated that spirits often group together based on types of interests and common likes in lifestyle. In other words, there may be other spirits out there who feel most at home in 19th century villages, so these like minded spirits would find each other in the afterlife. I do believe the afterlife is just another way of living although it is without the pain and suffering of this world. The likes and dislikes inherent to your soul would naturally carry into the afterlife. The way I love art and creating things has been inherent in multiple lifetimes, so it’s logical to think that I would still have these passions in the spirit world. The relationships we have exist there as well, with the difference of being entirely aware of all facets of those relationships throughout past life history. The work continues in spirit to perfect those relationships and plan future lives.

As above, so below.