The world is a magical place.
Full of great mysteries and many keys. There are astonishing things to learn. If we listen carefully, we can hear things. If we are patient and aware, we can also see them.

Millions and millions of people from every part of the world since the beginning of time, have experienced a "reunion" with a loved one that has died. Why then, are these visitations with our departed loved ones usually kept secret?

Why are they told to only the very few, or to no one at all? In ancient times, mystical experiences were revered. These experiences were shared within the community and thought to hold keys to the past and the future.

Today, though the stories of afterdeath communications are still told, even studied in serious forums by well educated, highly intelligent people, there still remains a great deal of skepticism. In some societies, accusations of mental instability are still leveled at those who do relate such stories.

However, as more and more people in recent years have come forward (people in good public standing, those who hold high office, even those from the entertainment, sports, and academic professions), thoughts are slowly changing.

Perhaps, the fear of The Mystical in modern times, was ingrained in us from recent centuries where witch burnings, hangings of accused 'lunatics" and "heretics" were commonplace. So stories of visitations with the deceased were passed down secretly. Told from parent to child, from trusted friend to trusted friend.

Today we don't worry about such terrifying things, but there is sometimes a stigma attached, no person wishes to be an outcast. No person wishes to be thought mad.

It is commonplace for someone to relate a story of a visitation from their loved one only to be told it was a product of their grief. That they wished and longed for their loved one so terribly, that their mind created what they wished to see. That in their state of overwrought anxiety, they were only 'seeing' things.

Well, this is what they are trying to tell them. That they see things. Those who have awakened into spirituality, from the process of grief and bereavement, can attest to many things they are now more aware of. And the thousands who have awakened and speak about their experiences tell us the same thing; that they have discovered that Love is the only thing that matters. Nothing else. Absolutely nothing else.

It will never be possible for the "living" to understand the mystery of death until we have passed through our own death. But we coexist with death, and with the dead, every moment. It is only that we do not utilize that inherent part of ourselves that connects us the to Universe, to Heaven, and to the realms of all Life, that keeps us in the dark place of Unknowing.

We have, beginning centuries ago, disconnected from who and what we truly are. Which is: we are spirits, having a human experience.

The entirety of existence is but a cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Nature, our animal kingdom, our planet. All existing under the same laws. And so, all things are connected. The web of existence. Each of us must go within ourselves and find our own way to be at peace with the mysteries, with the questions of existence and death.

It is said at funerals after death, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust". And that is true. For our physical body, is nothing but dust. Destructible, fleeting. But is that all? Was the incredible fact of our living, breathing, feeling, moving and thinking, now nothing but a pile of particles that will be soaked into the rock formations of the landscape? That's it? All of what we were just ends?

The true intricate design of man was one brilliant, utterly fascinating, and incomprehensible creation. Medicine, Science, and even Religion as an entity, have yet to explain to us: who are we?

"One of the easiest errors of human nature is to too quickly press for 'final answers to infinite questions. In doing so we root ourselves only in the ego's narrow Archimedian limited ability, one in which we cannot stand far away enough from the phenomenon, in order to gain the largest picture needed to interpret it."

It is common for us to feel that we when we have found the truth to something, we can stop searching. But that is when we can we lose the truth. It is no greater a mystery to live, think and feel, than it is to speak with, see, smell, hear, touch and be with, our departed loved ones in dreams and even waking moments.

The real and ultimate truth we seek is something we cannot possibly grasp with our "thinking" brains perhaps, but it is available to us through our conscious awareness.

There have been numerous studies seeking to link life to an organ in our body. To definitively say this is where life resides. Science and Medicine have declared that 'Life is the brain'.

Medically speaking, when the brain is dead, thus ends life. Therefore life must emanate and reside in the brain. This has allowed the medical community and the family of loved ones to comprehend that their loved one will never return to them as they once were (In cases of coma or life support) and it gives us a declaration of finality. So that we may begin our grief and bereavement process.

It also gives the scientific community an easier out and also validates their stance on life after death. As dead as we will be in this world when our body dies, are we then completely and infinitely dead? Surely, something remains? Love, memories, feelings, thoughts, who we were?

We question what love is. Why does loving someone in life really matter if, when they die, love ends? Why do we feel sadness or pain? Why are there immense connections between people, and between people and places, people and animals?

If we simply cease to exist, returning to some ash or dust when our body dies, why then do we even exist at all? For what purpose? These are ancient questions that do have answers. They have answers, just as we have the possibility of realizing those answers.

The truth of who we are, resides within each one of us. It is either alseep or awake. Lazy or active. And we will either search for truth, or treat it as an enemy and kill it. It resides with the young and the old, the ugly and the beautiful, in nature and the animal kingdom. It resides in the sky and under the sea. It is in every place, within every race, and in all faces.

When you listen to the stories of Afterdeath Communication between parents and children, siblings, spouses, grandparents, friends, lovers; and even between people and their pets, there is one thing you will notice that you can not help but wonder about, and that is their deep abiding conviction and belief that their experiences are not only real, but that they have changed the way they view and live in the world.

Having had many of my own experiences of afterdeath communications with my child, I can attest to the fact that the millions of people who still communicate with their loved ones not only feel that it is the truest thing in the world, but that it may be the only true thing in the world.

There is a vast resource available on the web for further study, as well as a multitude of books on this subject. I have read so many good ones, but there were some that stood out as either more in depth, or ones which gave better information for what I was seeking at the time. My recommendations are not exhaustive, but a few that I think are unique.

I also would recommend any read of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Deepak Chopra has a good book out now, the various papers of Carl G.Jung are must reads ( Although I lean toward Jungian theory, I have no real bias; Jung himself describes his own experiences and has studied the matter for most, if not all of his life).

I also recommend any reading of Quantum Physics. Quantum Physics can explain more things about the continuation of life after bodily death, than it would readily admit to itself. QP can at times be a tedious read, but I would recommend any books by Amit Goswami.

Also the "What The Bleep Do We Know" series. Below are a just a few of those recommendations.

No matter what you believe about Afterlife or Afterdeath Communication, I think it is safe to say that everyone who was ever born, has spent many hours, days or years, contemplating their existence and fearing their death.

Our evolution has given us not only the ability to question these things, but to comprehend them. Each of us is on our own journey as well as the collective journey. So each, has to decide for himself.

But I think: every man woman and child has had an afterdeath communication with someone, whether they have realized it or not. Everyone has had a coincidence (synchronicity), everyone has felt their instinct, whether they have listened to it or not, and most people have had instances of deja vu.

They have had dreams that have stayed with them for years because they seemed so real. Everyone will die. Everyone will go... somewhere, and whether you believe it is to another world, or to some eternal sleep, just where is that? Surely this is a question that we would want to have even a few answers to.

If you have had afterdeath communication experiences, share them. If you are the listener to a story, ask questions. Ask questions of yourself. Research, study, find some keys to the locks in your world. Then teach others what you have learned.

Not everyone will accept your stories or lessons, but there will be those who will share their own, appreciate yours, or be ready and open to learn.