“I am the God of Abraham; for God is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all are alive unto God.”
The first necessity to comfort is to realize that “death” is only the name to an event in life. No one really dies. Life cannot be lost. God does not see death at all because He knows only life.
We may liken life, or the spirit of man, to a dove as it is spoken of in the Bible. When the cage in which it is confined .is broken up, the dove is set free. It soars away into the sky and out of sight and we say, “I have lost the dove.” But we know that somewhere it is alive, somewhere it is free and happy. It has not lost itself and it flies in the sunlight of the same sun that shines on us. The dove is for a time lost to us, but it is not lost to itself. As God sees only life and all “are alive unto Him,” there was no change in the life of the dove when it flew away from the box. So the dove or “spirit” is not lost to itself or to God. It is lost only to our conscious mind. We are the only ones who feel the change as loss.
Moreover, the spirit has not lost us. Its first instinct as it leaves the body is doubtless to come to those dearest to it and bless them. As it is immaterial, and mind is immaterial, it can communicate its love to our mind. But thought and love are silent and not violent forces. Therefore, the soul must be still to receive the still small voice of love. If the waters of our life are troubled, spirit cannot make an impression on it with its gentle breeze of thought.
To agonize and trouble and “sorrow as those who have no hope” is to cut ourselves off from the comforting presence of God and from the love of the dear one flowing back to us.
It is not that we should desire to be told the mysteries of the beyond, “for if one return from the dead we will not believe him,” but rather that we should feel the comfort of the spirit’s “All’s well,” as it directs its loving thought to us. It may even cause it distress for it finds us so chaotic in thought and feeling that it can get no response from our deep inner mind — the mind in us that even now can rejoice in the mysteries of the soul.
Sleep and rest are therefore earnestly to be sought, and a peaceful mind; and it is wrong to lose one’s poise. Weep? Yes, if you wish, shed tears over the parting that takes place physically. Stoicism is not a vast virtue but your tears are not the violence of fear or regret. Nor would you hold back the onward pressing soul. It has gone on to other forms of unfoldment and experience. Bless it, and let it pass. Some day for you the silver chord shall break and you too shall pass into the newer and higher land. Meanwhile God keeps His watch-care over you both — the dear one there, you here, just as the same sun shines on your friend in the east while you are in the west, or north, or south.
(Compose the mind of your patient, and then take the following realization.)
You are now conscious of the Indwelling God and the God in whom you dwell. You feel that to know Him is life eternal. You know that He is never-ending life and you know that you and your dear one are children of the Father; therefore the life of both is eternal.
God knows no death and with Him there is no separation for “all are alive unto God,” as Jesus said. You feel peace and quiet and calm. You rest in divine peace and quiet.
Excerpt form “The Law of Mind in Action” (1919). Daily lessons and treatments in Mental and Spiritual Science by Fenwicke Holmes.