My Prayers by Paul Martin

The Imperishable World Beyond

I saw a great light and I was being drawn into it. It emanated warmth and love and was peacefully

inviting as it billowed forth from a beckoning tunnel-like passageway, at the end of which stood

those I knew and loved. They were motioning to me to come toward them and I was torn between

two worlds. The feeling of wanting to go into the light was overwhelming. It was radiantly rainbow

hued and brilliantly glistening, yet it did not damage or blind, it accepted, embraced and loved. I felt overwhelmed and overflowing with love and bliss. Gradually my earthly environment faded away

and I saw a bright, new and beautiful world of azure skies, opalescent lakes, blossoming meadows, shimmering seas, rainbowed landscapes, perpetual springs, crimson hued sunsets, all beyond my

most creative imaginings. I stood in awe and wonder at what could only be described as the world

beyond, unimaginably buoyant and beautiful. My new body, which was weightless and made of light,

possessed an ease of movement that was fascinatingly mobile. Was I in the realm of eternal life?

I looked closely at my arm. It was luminously translucent and reminiscent of glowingly emblazoned

objects on a three dimensional movie screen. Everything was a thousand times more vivid and plastic

to my thoughts, unfathomably effervescent, lustrous, flowing and surreal, not subject to age or decay.

I felt as though I was in timeless eternity with friends and family from whom I had been temporarily separated. I realized the eternality of love as I reconnected with those loved ones who had arrived

before me. Our communications were nonverbal and we felt each other’s thoughts deep within our consciousness. Each thought exchanged played little notes within us similar to feelings produced

by the sounds and vibrations of softly resonating harp strings. Once again we were drawn together

by the bonds of love which had existed between us throughout eternity. All knowledge was instantly

and intuitively accessible. Travel was at the speed of thought for one had only to desire to be in new

surroundings and found oneself in the midst of them in an instant. The architectural grandeur was

beyond human imagination being as the materials were constructed and formed with thoughts and

therefore limitless in shape and design. Anything one could desire simply had to be conjured into

being for we were able to control our surroundings at will. Trees would appear instantly and bore

fruit upon request. Children grew to adulthood in a moment simply by willing it to be so. Aging

and death were non-existent and everyone was in the prime of their life; young, vibrant, strong,

radiant, peaceful, joyous and loving. There was no race, creed or color and we all understood we

were created equal and equally loved. I realized I was in familiar surroundings. Had I returned

to my true home, no longer a wayward traveler subject to the limiting confines of time and space?

There was an all-pervading awareness of a ubiquitous Supreme Being who was lovingly orchestrating

this unfathomable perfection while permeating our every thought and action with the purity that was mercifully flowing from His divine mind through us. We were able to demonstrate this perfection as a

result of our unwavering trust in His eternally sheltering love and guidance. This was the prerequisite

for our being able to partake of the ever-flowing fountain of truth and immortality which can be

so appropriately envisioned as eternal life amidst a harmonious paradise of peace and brotherly love.

Our fervent desire was for the blissful unfolding of our perpetually blossoming spiritual awareness.

Like a hand that gives life and movement to a glove, my consciousness had slipped out of my physical

body leaving it seemingly lifeless, inert and sensationless. Could I still return to my earthly habitation

if I wanted to? My desire was to stay here in my newly discovered home. How could I leave this world

of magnificent splendor which could be so properly described as being beyond human comprehension?

I remembered how I clung to the struggles of life on earth for fear of the unknown. If only I could have

been sure what it was like here I would have lived a totally different life, one dedicated to my spiritual

growth and the wellbeing of others. I looked down at my physical body through a gently swaying and

luminous silver chord which was inconspicuously attached to me by a caressing thought. It all seemed

light years away yet the distance presented no difficulty. My human counterpart was lying inertly on

my bed where I had left it and I sensed if I willed the silver chord to be broken it would mean the end

of life on earth as I knew it. The choice was mine to make. I envisioned loved ones gathered around

me grieving for what would seem to them to be the end of my life if I did not return soon. If only they

understood I was here and happy and they would see me again before long if I chose not to return.

I decided to go back as I realized I had much yet to learn and much reassuring news to return with.

Soon my consciousness was merging into my physical body much like a butterfly gently alighting on

a motionless blossom, with a neither “here nor there” feeling which was momentarily disconcerting.

I cannot help but wonder which of the two worlds is the real dream. My heavenly sojourn seemed

so immeasurably vibrant and real. By comparison, my earthly experience seems so very dull and uncompromising. I wondered if it were possible I had awakened from a dream of mortality for a

short time? Could it be our entire physical experience is nothing more than a delusive dream from

which we will awaken to find our true home has always been in the imperishable world beyond?

I was in awe and wonder of the indelibly impressed experience I had just undergone. Could it have

been a lucid dream or was it a preview of the world beyond? Did I have within me the creativity to

conjure up such unfathomably marvelous and mysterious grandeur? Or was I among the privileged

few who have been allowed a glimpse of the paradise which was promised by Christ to the repentant

criminal who was being crucified beside him on Calvary? “Remember me when you come into your

kingdom”, he humbly asked and Christ mercifully replied, “This day you shall be with me in paradise”.

by Paul Martin, 2011