'My own sense after reading this anthology is that it will serve to open hearts and minds.' Photo: Book cover for The Life That Never Ends by Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studies
The Life That Never Ends by Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studies
Authors: Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studies. Review by Patsy Freeman
This is a delightful anthology of Friends’ experiences. For ease of reading, it is arranged under different headings: ‘As Death Approaches’, ‘After Death Communications’, ‘Near Death Experiences’, ‘Animals and Afterlife’, and there are also some miscellaneous experiences.
In ‘As Death Approaches’, Doreen Varley tells us about her husband Joe, who was coming towards the end of his life. Adopting a state of mindfulness, Doreen began tuning into him, and found she could tell whether or not Joe needed her. She sensed a glowing presence around his feet. This glow continued until his entire body was a ‘Being of Light’. He died very peacefully.
There are also a number of interesting after-death communications. Sylvia Izzard tells us about the occasion after the death of her husband Jim, when a friend of his visited. As they were talking about Jim, all the lights fused. Problems with the lighting continued. One evening in desperation, Sylvia and a friend lit a candle and spoke to Jim, asking him not to worry and to please solve the lighting problems. From then on there were no issues.
John Philps recounts an occasion after his wife died. He was driving to Kent when he felt himself lifting up, surrounded and embraced by love. He knew it was his wife. At the end of the lane was a crossroads – the exact place he and his wife had visited on their last day out. He describes it as ‘mind-blowing’; it showed him that love is never lost.
In the section on near-death experiences, Rosalind Smith gives an interesting account of a lady who, whenever she hears an ambulance, sends up a mental prayer, or thought, for the person involved. It goes something like: ‘If this person is not going to recover, then please let their passing be pain-free, gentle and peaceful – and if they are going to recover then let their recovery be full and complete, and may they have no debilitating after effects.’ One day she was passing a road accident and she sent up her usual prayer. Sometime later, at a gathering, a stranger came up to her and said that she had been looking for her. ‘I almost died in a road accident, but what saved me was you being there, and receiving the thoughts you sent up for me.’
Four months after she died, my daughter Jasmine began communicating with me telepathically. She made her presence felt in any number of different ways; one occasion was when a heavy brass lamp that hangs from the ceiling, began to swing backwards and forwards. My grandson, Harry, was staying at the time. They were both very close. I’m sure she did this to show him that Auntie Jasmine’s presence was with us. The signs she sent enabled me to return to life with renewed enthusiasm.
My own sense after reading this anthology is that it will serve to open hearts and minds – enough to at least remain open to the great mystery that surrounds death; and the possibilities of there being a Spirit form after the body dies. May this anthology also instil new confidence in those wanting to share their own insights, but who may have felt reluctant because of their fears of ridicule or rejection.
Patsy is the author of In Search of You: Letters to a daughter.
