Me: Now, if you have to experience a painful death, and some people, I guess, sign up for that, because they’ve never experienced a painful death and they want to see what it’s like. Do you remember it?
Jamie laughs. She seems hesitant to divulge what he said.
Jamie (blushing): He’s kind of harping on your question.
Me: Oh boy. There you go. Cut me some slack, too, Erik!
Jamie (still laughing and blushing): Cuz he said that when you said some people sign up it because maybe they haven’t experienced it he goes, “Yeah, or they were just a total dick in their life and that’s how they needed to end that life—with an exclamation mark. You know, hit it hard.”
I laugh.
Erik (hands out, palms forward): But, again, I’m not talking about anyone specific. I’m just talking in general.
Jamie: Sometimes he can put on a kind of dorky voice where he drops his tone and he pulls out his words long.
Me: I can see that. I remember when he used to do that.
Erik: But yes. Some people can absolutely remember all of the pain associated with their death one hundred percent. They sign up for it. They want to. They need to. That’s like some women can actually remember the pain of childbirth.
Jamie: He’s meaning the woman is giving birth and that woman can opt to remember everything about it, or it’s just a process and when people talk about it, and they say, “Oh, I remember it being uncomfortable but, you know, I survived.”
Erik: In general, that’s a lot of what we get on this side—
Jamie: Where he is.
Erik: –that when they’ve had a painful death—a physically painful death—most of the time it’s, “Yeah, I remember it being awful, but, you know, I survived.”
The irony of this statement doesn’t escape me.
Erik: So, they don’t linger on it. But there are a handful of cases where they remember every detail of the suffering of not being able to breathe, feeling the pain inside of their body, and it’s keeping a lesson alive, and they do recall. It was part of the act of them learning or remembering.
Me: Well, why was that a lesson? What are they trying to learn?
Erik: Well it could be physical boundaries. It could be strictly the concept of pain because we don’t have that here in this other dimension that we reside in. It’s almost sick enough to say that it’s a novelty.
Me: Is there no emotional connection with the memories of the painful death like, “God that was awful!”
Erik: Yeah, it’s crazy. You recall it; you remember how it felt. You can connect to that pain, but it doesn’t carry on inside of you—not in the higher dimensions. It’s more like a book that you’ve read. You can really connect to the character, remember the story and put yourself in their shoes, but you’re not constantly in that character’s shoes because you’re you.
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Dear Reader,
The journey on which you’re about to embark will take you through stories that are deeply personal and involves a relationship between a mother and her son.
As a physician raised by two atheists, I had no personal belief system about life after death. In a word, I was a confirmed skeptic. As my journey progressed, my mind opened. It is my sincerest hope that yours will open as well and that you will have a greater understanding of your own life and what’s to come ahead.
Although Erik sometimes paints a rosy picture of the afterlife, time and time again he stresses that suicide is not the answer to one’s problems. If you struggle, please understand that the information in my blog and my book is no substitute for professional help. Please click here for a list of resources for help when you find yourself considering taking your own life. Know that they are readily available when you feel that hopelessness and despair that many of us feel from time to time in our lives.
I refuse all donations and ad revenue on the blog. It is my dream to one day establish a nonprofit organization that delivers a variety of spiritual services for those who have lost loved ones to suicide and cannot afford that assistance on their own. It’s a mission of love, sacrifice, and dedication.
Love and light,
Elisa
