Summary

The author reflects on the possibility of communication with the deceased, suggesting a thin veil between life and the afterlife through personal experiences and anecdotes.

Abstract

The article delves into the author's evolving perspective on the afterlife and the potential for ongoing relationships with deceased loved ones. Initially grounded in academic and theological training that dismissed such experiences, the author has come to consider the validity of encounters with the departed. Citing a personal experience with a praying mantis as a sign from ancestors and a similar story involving mythologist Joseph Campbell, the author questions the likelihood of coincidence. The piece also references the work of photographer and poet Anne Berry, emphasizing the importance of feeling over reason in understanding these encounters. The author concludes with a personal account of communicating with their deceased mother, challenging the notions of luck or mere brain activity, and expresses excitement about future spiritual growth through such interactions.

Opinions

The author initially viewed experiences such as dreams or visions as products of the brain or the collective unconscious.
Theological training suggested that consulting mediums was frowned upon by religious doctrine.
A personal experience with a praying mantis, perceived as a sign from ancestors, challenged the author's previous beliefs.
The author finds resonance in Joseph Campbell's encounter with a praying mantis, considering it more than a mere coincidence.
There is a skepticism towards reductionist science that explains such experiences as purely physical phenomena.
The author now embraces the possibility of interactions with the deceased, viewing them as meaningful and not just imaginings.
The author equates speaking with departed loved ones to the Catholic practice of speaking with saints, advocating for openness to such communication.
The author is open to further exploration and learning about spiritual contact with the departed.

Dead People Appearing

I am starting to sense a thin veil between this life and the next.

Too many experiences have come my way in recent years to hint that loved ones may die but our relationship with them can continue.

In the past, my academic training taught me that everything I experience comes from within the walls of my brain. Any impressions or dreams or visions come from many physical directions including the collective unconscious.

But reductionist science tells me that the appearances are nothing but physical

My theological training taught me that anyone who consults a medium is damned by the big Kahuna in the sky.

But what was that experience with the praying mantis that came in response to a request to ancestors “Show me a sign”?

“The Day I met an Ancestor” https://readmedium.com/3c80b5977941

How about the following for a parallel experience?

Recently I read how Mythologist Joseph Campbell was in his fourteenth-floor apartment in Manhattan. He was reading how the praying mantis was a hero symbol in Bushman mythology.

Campbell suddenly had a rare urge to go over to the window and open it. When he stuck his head out the window and peered to his right, he noticed a praying mantis staring at him.

Later he wrote, “Its face looked like the face of a Bushman’s face. It gave me the creeps!”

A posting on The Mystical Underground captured my thinking about both our and Campbell’s experience

“Think about it. How many praying mantises hang out on the 14th-floor windowsills of Manhattan apartments?”

Describing the appearance of this magical creature as a coincidence takes the poetry out of the experience.

It was one of those awe-inspiring goosebumps revelations where the veil between this world and the next can, at times, seem to be very thin. Photographer and poet Anne Berry gives another lens through which to view such visits,

Fragments of stories collected with light,

In a world enchanted, often unreal,

And what’s essential is hidden from sight.

So trust not reason but what you can feel.

Each piece of this tale is part of a whole,

An epic, a play, a poem for the soul.

My expanding faith now embraces the strong possibility of dead folks appearing.

Are my ancestors just a heartbeat away beyond the veil?

Today I find myself communing with my mother, who, in her words, has gone home to her reward. I ask what she thinks about this or that in my life. I get the message, “keep walking in the light!”

Is this message luck, coincidence, or something that just rattles around in my brain? I’m divided and at the experimental stage regarding meetings with departed ones.

What the heck? Why not talk to my departed mother? After all, if Roman Catholics can speak to their saints, why can’t I speak with mine, my mother?

Such contact experiences are my growing edge spiritually. I’m excited to sign up for many other similar classes in the future.

What about your visitations from the great beyond?