Death. Passing. Transition. It goes by many names and most people don't really understand it. Many people live in fear of it. But with understanding the process, the fear can evaporate. So just what is it and what happens when someone "dies"?

In order to understand this, we have to understand just what a human really is. I think that it was a Native American chief that said it best, "We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a physical experience." We are in reality, spirits that are temporally inhabiting a physical body in order to learn certain lessons and perform certain tasks or jobs. And this physical body is nothing more that a temporary suit of clothing for our spirits or souls to inhabit while we are in the physical.

Just as a pair of trousers, or a tee-shirt or a pair of shoes will wear out and be discarded in favor of new ones, so will the physical body wear out, or be damaged beyond repair. When this happens, we cast it aside in favor of a finer body, our real one, the spirit body. Although the physical body is no longer living and repairing itself, the real us continues on with a great deal more freedom than we had before death. And a big freedom that many experience is freedom from the pain of a body that is no longer functioning properly.

What happens when someone does make that transition to the spirit realm that we term death? Apart from the obvious that humanity in general is familiar with, that is the body stops to function and begins to decay, what happens next varies from individual to individual. If an individual dies suddenly and unexpectedly, such as in an accident or murder, they may not even realize that they are "dead". These individuals may try to continue with their normal life and be greatly confused because people no longer respond to them and they suddenly can no longer interact with physical objects.

But lets examine the more "normal" situation, that is when someone is expecting to die either because of old age or illness. First of all, the real person, the spirit or soul, stops powering or animating the body. The heart stops beating, breath stops and the soul leaves the body. Often the soul or spirit will remain in the area for a time, to make certain that those left behind are going to be all right. Others may remain in the area because of some perceived "unfinished business." Still others may be confused, and expecting to find one set of circumstances and not finding what they thought to find, may wander about the earth plane for years or even centuries. These last two classes normally account for what we term "hauntings".

But if the individual does as they are supposed to do, they will normally see a light, often at the end of a long tunnel, and will feel themselves drawn toward that light. Sometimes, even before they see that light, they will be greeted by old friends and relatives. Others will simply move on into the light where they will be greeted by those old friends and relatives.

After a period of welcoming home, the spirit will then go into a period of introspection, examining the life that they have just left behind. Depending on the relative "age" degree of advancement of the soul, they may or may not have help in this by an "older" soul. They will be looking for lessons learned, and lessons that they had intended to learn but had failed to learn. If they had accepted a job or task to perform while in the human incarnation, they will also examine that task to see how well they had performed it or failed to perform it. They will also look for any mistakes that they made in that lifetime. There is no judgment, other than the judgment that they give themselves.

After they have finished examining their past life, they will then rejoin the group of souls that they had been working with over a period of many lifetimes, and be welcomed back home. After a suitable length of time has passed, they may start to feel the need to reincarnate to the physical again. This is done so that they may learn more lessons and grow. It is not a requirement that a soul reincarnate, or that it ever goes through a physical life, but it is much easier to learn and grow when they do, so the vast majority of souls do choose to reincarnate, over and over again until they have learned all that physical life can teach them. When physical life can no longer teach them anything, then they have mastered life, and the only reason that they would have to reincarnate ever again would be to work in the physical plane to help others to master life.

When a soul does decide that it is time to reincarnate again, they will go through a process of planning out the next lifetime with the aid of an older soul that has been helping them to grow over a period of a great many lives. They will decide what lessons that they need to work on in the next lifetime and if they have a job or task that they need to perform. They will also look for a suitable pair of parents in order to get the body that will be most conducive to whatever they may need, and also the circumstance in which they will be raised in order to help them with their life tasks. Then they will make an agreement with the parents to be to furnish them with a body for their next life.