Evidence of Spirit (Part 5)
Immortality

By Evette Gardner
February 2010


You (as Spirit) were here long before the thought you’re now thinking was born in your mind or the emotion you’re experiencing welled up within you; and You (as Spirit) will be here long after the thought you’re thinking in this moment no longer has your attention in the next; and the emotion you feel in this moment, has in the next moment dissipated. These truths are not difficult to accept because the proof of there legitimacy becomes obvious with just a little reflection. Can’t you imagine yourself being the same You even though you may be thinking a different thought or feeling a different emotion than you may think or feel in this moment? You can, can’t you? When it comes to realizing, however, that You (as Spirit) were also here long before you were born into this physical body, and that You (as Spirit) will exist long after this physical body dies – this is where many people experience difficulty. Where’s the proof of this, you may ask. How can I be certain that the essence of who I am is not somehow wrapped up in my physical body and that when my physical body dies that I won’t go with it and dissolve into nothing? The answer to this question can be summed up in one word - faith. Life is so very much more than your physical perceptions. There is an inner knowing that you can awaken to if you make the choice to think differently about your physical perceptions.

The reason so many experience doubt or disbelief about their Spirit’s immortality is because they do not even recognize the existence of their Spirit. Recognizing the existence of your Spirit and appreciating its ceaselessness go hand-and-hand. When this appreciation has not yet developed in a person, they’re apt to falsely conclude that “seeing is believing.” They witness how active, vital and alive the physical body appears when it is animated by a soulful expression of Spirit. However, since Spirit is not something that they can physically sense (the only aspect of life falling within the range of their physical perception being the physical body itself) they mistakenly conclude that life is a quality intrinsic to the physical body. And as further proof of this, they witness how dead and lifeless the physical body appears after the soulful expression of Spirit has vacated it.

When a loved one passes on it seems as if the person you once knew is no longer available to laugh with, talk, and interact with. The only thing remaining of your loved one that you can see is the “lifeless” vehicle they used to inhabit. From all physical appearances, life ends when the body dies. Since this is what is physically observed, this is the thought that is practiced by someone who is unaware of the Spirit which lies within. But it’s foolish to argue that just because you can’t see, hear, smell, taste, or physically touch something that this offers proof that it doesn’t exist. You don’t experience microwaves with your five basic senses, but no one in this day and age would argue that microwaves don’t exist. There’s a whole lot more that falls outside the detectable range of your physical senses than what falls within it. Allow this understanding to play a role in your reasoning about life and death.

You know that chair sitting in the corner of your room? Would you say the only reason you know that chair is there is because you’re looking at it right now? Of course not, right? If it were night time, during a blackout when there is no source of light and you could no longer see the chair sitting in the corner of the room, would you then come to the conclusion that the chair no longer exists? No, that’s absurd because you do have the ability to go over and feel the chair. The same, in a way, could be said for loved ones that have passed on. Though you no longer have the ability to sense their presence with your physical senses, you do retain the ability to feel their presence with your inner senses. How is this possible? Different personalities have distinct energies about them. If your child, or your mother, or someone else you have a deep relationship with were to quietly walk up and stand behind you – even if you didn’t see them coming, hear them, touch them, or detect any kind of unique scent special t o them – would you still know that it was them? Most people will likely answer yes. So the question becomes how do you know? You know because you can feel and recognize their energy. When a loved one dies this sense is not lost. You still have the capacity to connect with them in this way – if you’re open to it; if you choose not to dismiss the experiences where the presence of a loved one is felt as flights of fancy or wishful thinking. This is not blind faith at all, this is an indescribable awareness. This is proof that love and life never truly die, they just evolve.

Always remember - Spirit is the witness. When you recognize and honor that constant presence behind all of the changes going on around you, that silent witnesser within, you recognize and honor your Spirit. Think about this for a moment, has this presence (this witnesser within) ever, even for a millisecond, ceased to be? Has this presence ever waned or fluctuated? Has it ever flickered or been anything other then fixed, even and steady – even for a moment? Even when your body is sick, even when your life experience is turbulent, even when your thoughts are troubled, even when your emotions are distressing, even when you are asleep, this presence within is awake and unaffected by it all. In good times and bad, it is the same. Through joy and strife, it is the same. This is the reason why every single one of us can honestly say about our development from childhood to adulthood that, though we’ve changed we are still nevertheless the same as we always were. It is because this witness within us has not changed. Our personalities may have matured. Our bodies have grown. Our way of looking at life may be different from what it used to be. But this thing within us that has been witnessing it all happen has remained utterly unmoved. Such steadiness and stability should be proof, in and of itself, that this presence within (your Spirit) has the power to endure all storms, all variations and all manner of changes. It is unmoved by even the most severe instabilities and fiercest unrest. Reflect on this for a moment.

This Raja yoga contemplation exercise might also be beneficial. Stop and try it: “…endeavor to ‘imagine’ yourself as “dead” – that is, try to form a mental conception of yourself as dead. This, at first thought, appears a very easy thing to imagine, but as a matter of fact it is impossible to do so, for the Ego refuses to entertain the proposition, and finds it impossible to imagine it. Try it…You will find that you may be able to imagine your body as lying still and lifeless, but the same thought finds that in so doing You are standing and looking at the body. So you see You are not dead at all, even in imagination, even though the body may be. Or, if you refuse to disentangle yourself from your body, in imagination, you may think of your body as dead but You who refuses to leave it are still alive and recognizes the dead body as a thing apart from your Real Self. No matter how you may twist it you cannot imagine yourself as dead. The Ego insists upon being alive in any of these thoughts, and thus finds that it has within itself the sense and assurance of Immortality… The wonderful fact that the soul carries within itself the evidence of its own immortality is a glorious thing…”

You are an eternal being. You will never cease to be – ever! Immortality is intrinsic to your Real nature.

Evette Gardner can be reached at Comments@YourDivineInheritance.com
© 2010 Evette Gardner