Category Archives: Eternal Life

Is It Okay To Want To Die? [Part 2]

Wonderful Things Are Happening - Don't Worry

Help Me To Die

When I answered the phone, a frazzled voice said, “I’m so tired of living. I wish the Lord would just come and take me away. Allen, would you pray for the Lord to come and get me?” As we talked, she explained that all of her friends had passed on. “My hearing is shot, and I can barely see. My balance is so bad, I’m afraid to go out. And now,” her voice whispered, “I’m totally dependent on others for my care. There’s no reason for me to live. I don’t know why the Lord is keeping me here.”

I shared this conversation with a friend who later asked, “Allen, in a case like this, is it okay to want to die?” I am going to answer this question, but the answer is skewed toward the readers of this blog who profess to believe that God Is All – the only Presence and Power.

What’s Driving The Urge To Die?

The woman on the phone seems to be living in a prison of loss – loss of sight, hearing, companionship and independence. Many have been there, and many seem to be there now. And they all want out by the only way they know: death.

What’s driving this death wish? An easy answer suggests unbearable losses. Is that the reason, or is it the belief that there is no living way out of their situation? I ask this because there seems to be a pattern. I’ve noticed that after the losses reach a certain threshold, people stop praying. Why? Because they think it won’t help.

Making Goulash? Add A Bit Of Spiritual Reasoning

Still, the question hangs in the air: “In a case like this, is it okay to want to die?” If you’ve imagined yourself in a similar situation, you probably think the answer is an easy “Yes.” And I bet you’ve cooked up some spiritual goulash to justify your answer. Hold your horses! First, take a moment to answer these questions:

  • Is it okay to believe that a loving God authorizes pain, suffering and loss?
  • If pain, suffering and loss are not authorized by God, are they real powers?
  • Is it okay to believe God, Who is the Substance of the Body, is prone to time or disease-based deterioration?
  • Is it okay to believe that so-called human problems are irreversible – that God’s Omnipresent Perfection cannot be discerned and experienced despite the nature of the difficulty?
  • Is it okay to believe that a hopeless situation exists in Omnipresent Perfection?
  • Is it okay to say I and God is One and believe that you are in a hopeless situation?

Did you answer “no” to the questions above? Good. Swing back (keeping your answers in mind) and answer the original question: Is it ever okay to want to die?

“But Allen,” you say, “I’m not talking about me. I know someone in a similar situation who wants to die. What about them?” Here is the short answer: THERE’S NONE BUT THE ONE.

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I Want To Die. Is That Okay?

Whose Life Is It?

A friend recently asked this question: “Is it ever okay to want to die?” I am going to answer that question in the next post. For now, let’s dig below the surface of this question and get to the real issue: LIFE.

Have you ever said or thought, “It’s my life, and I’ll do with it what I want?” This very statement gets to the root of life’s seeming problems. People think they have a personal life, and they spend a lifetime trying to steer this personal life toward a far-off shore of fulfillment. Along the journey, there are many ups and downs. Most unsettling is that the hoped-for shore is never reached.

The question to be asked and answered is: Whose life is it? Take this question into prayer and you will discover that God is Life. God does not give Life. God is Life. There is no Life but God. Troubles abound (or seem to) when God-Life is mis-perceived as a personal life. Once life is personalized it appears limited in every way.

Since God is Life, Life is as eternal as God. As there is no beginning to God, there is no beginning (birth) to Life. “What,” you ask, “is the life that is born?” It is a mistaken perception of Eternal Life. Here’s a question for you: Can you see a beginning or an end of God? How about Life? Don’t answer hastily. Your answer reveals whether you see Life and God as one or two.

Alive As The Life Of God

You know that your Body is alive. God being the only Life there is, with what Life is your Body alive? This is not a rhetorical question. Answer it. Will you acknowledge that God is the Life of your Body? This will do more for your health than green smoothies and hours on the treadmill.

God is Life, therefore Life is as Omnipresent as God. As God is All, Life is All. You, no doubt, have heard the saying, “There is no spot where God is not.” It’s true. But couldn’t you just as well say, “There is no spot where Life is not?” This statement is equally true. LIFE IS EVERYWHERE.

Life Depends On No Thing

As God is Infinite, Eternal, Indivisible and Omnipresent, so is Life. This post asks you many questions, and here is another: Upon what is God dependent in order to exist? Absolutely nothing! What, then, is Life dependent upon in order to be Life? I discovered the answer to this question when I seemed to be confronted with the appearance of a life-threatening situation.

Life is not dependent on a heart, brain, cell or fluid in order to be Life. Life is not dependent upon organ functions or chemical combinations in order to be Life. Don’t believe this statement because I wrote it. Take it into your silent prayer and ask your Self if this is true. The revealed answer will change your perception of Life.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are answers to some practical questions that are asked about Life:

How do I extend my life?

Life is Eternal; therefore it cannot and does not need to be extended. What you can do is realize that you have no Life other than God-Life. This must be an inner realization. Merely reading words about Life is not enough.

This is fine as theory, but how do I make it practical?

There’s only one way to move what you’ve read from fine-spun theory to a living reality. You must have a radical reboot of your concept of Life. That reboot must conform with God’s Allness. In other words, what you know about Life must match what you know about God being All.

Now it would be easy to tell you to stop doing certain things and replace them with other activities, but that’s putting the cart before the horse. Once your understanding of Life is rebooted, your actions will automatically conform.

There’s only one sure way to reboot your understanding of Life, and that’s the inner way. Be God taught. James 1:5 of the Holy Bible says, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” It’s simple. Ask God (the God that is your Being).

Allen, do you believe that someone will live forever, without seeming to die?

Yes. And I believe once someone is known to do this, it will be like Roger Bannister’s 4-minute mile. (You can google it.) Soon everyone will be doing it.

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Why Die?

This question is particularly addressed to you if you are associated with Christian Science, Unity, Infinite Way, or some of the other so-called Truth movement – even the Absolute: Why die? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Approaching the question from a different angle: Why consent to death?

Without much thought, you can jot down a quick list of science-backed reasons to die. But, are those reasons backed by the Truth you say you believe? Below are some of the commonly accepted reasons to die:

  • Disease
  • Accidents
  • Age
  • Crime
  • Natural causes

If you are associated with one of the Truth movements mentioned earlier, you probably have already connected some dots. A spark of realization flashed in “your” Consciousness, and you thought, “That’s right Allen, why should I die?” Or, you may be asking, “What dots should I have connected?” To answer that, let’s go through the five commonly accepted reasons to die and examine them in the Light of Truth.

DISEASE

“Sit down, Allen,” my employer said. “I understand that you are a Practitioner. Several years ago, I was healed of AIDS. I called a Christian Science Practitioner, and he worked with me until I had a complete healing.”

That was the first time I heard of someone healed of AIDS by spiritual means only. He then shared the Practitioner’s name which made me smile. He was the same Practitioner that “healed” my mother of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, says of disease what all other Truth movements imply: “To say there is no disease is all right, but to know there is none is what we require.” This, of course, is based on the Truth that God (Wholeness and Perfection) is all there is.

Reader, answer this question. Can you know there is no disease and simultaneously consent to death by disease?

ACCIDENTS

One of my favorite quotes from Mary Baker Eddy’s seminal work, Science and Health, is “Accidents are unknown to God….” Many Christian Scientists have been quickly healed of injuries from an apparent accident by turning to that Truth.

There is only One Presence – God. Accidents require two. Yes, there appear to be many, but there is just One. Knowing there is One Presence and One Activity is your immunity from accidents of every type. You, knowing this Truth, have ruled out death by accident.

Even injuries seemingly sustained from accidents have been completely “healed” by the realization that an accident never happened.

Right here we have eliminated accidents as a reason to die. Let’s move on.

CRIME

Every day a shot is fired and someone dies. In the United States, where guns can be bought as easily as a bag of chips, death by bullet is commonplace. What is your immunity from death by crime? Crime requires the presence of two. There is only One. As long as you keep your head above the clouds of dualism, knowing only One Presence, your immunity is guaranteed.

Take a look at how far you’ve come. You’ve ruled out death by accident and crime. Let’s continue.

AGE

Every time I think of age and death, I think of my cat Jeppetto. By midnight, it was obvious that she was suffering. I called a 24-hour animal hospital. The veterinarian asked me, “How old is your cat?” I answered, “Twenty-two.” I was stupefied when he said, “Don’t bother bringing her in. She should’ve been dead.”

Does the so-called passage of time mean debilitation and certain death? “According to your belief is it done unto you.” However, your belief may not be rooted in Truth.

Does time age the Body? Does it exist at all? There is no time in God, and no God in time. Although this is the simple Truth, it’s a cop-out. Let’s approach it from a different angle.

The question to be answered is this: Does it matter to the Body if time exists or not? The answer is No. Your Body is constituted of the Substance that is the Presence of God. This matters because God is Changeless. God, as the Substance of your Body, never lapses from Perfection to imperfection. God never lapses from Eternal Life to temporal life. The so-called “passage of time” does not change your Body one iota.

“But, Allen,” you say, “you cannot deny that the body changes from infancy to adolescence and matures to adulthood.” No, I cannot deny that it appears that way. But, is it that way? Who told you that it is? Appearances? The bottom line is this: THE ILLUSION OF AGE IS NO EXCUSE TO DIE.

NATURAL CAUSES

The other day I read the most bizarre story on the internet. Apparently, a twenty-three-year-old man died from “natural causes.” The article rambled on without detailing the specifics of this natural cause.

To die by natural causes implies that death was the effect of a natural cause. Cause and effect. How many is that? Two. As God is One Infinite, Indivisible Presence without an other, Life (God) is all there is. There is no cause and no effect. There is just God (Life).

CONCLUSION

This post is especially targeted to those who profess that God is indeed the ONLY Presence.

Consider everything that you’ve read so far and ask yourself this question: WHY SHOULD I CONSENT TO DEATH BY DISEASE, ACCIDENT, CRIME, OLD AGE, OR NATURAL CAUSES?

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Planning For Life

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In the previous post (Throw Yourself A Life Party), I mentioned a must-read book Immortality Brought To Light by Dorothy Rieke. Below is an excerpt.

What’s Your View Of Death

Have you been regarding death as a friend, as an enemy, or as absolute nothingness? There appeared in the Reader’s Digest of February, 1952, a condensation of the book The Will to Live by Dr. Arnold A Hutschnecker. I was greatly impressed that everything this enlightened physician had to say pointed to the fact that no one ever passes on unless he has planned it. What are you planning? Are you planning on living, or planning on dying? Be careful. Sometimes the planning can be very subtle. You stoutly declare, “I shall never die!” but have you bought your cemetery lot? Have you made a will? Do you carry life insurance? Do you have your house in order so that if you pass on you won’t be embarrassed with the condition in which others will find it?

A Case of Careless Planning

I know of a case where, in spite of the help given by a devoted, sincere, consecrated practitioner, the individual passed on. When friends called at the mortuary, the family proudly displayed a letter that the patient had written several months before passing on. It is true the latter was beautifully written, and some sweet sentiments were expressed. But this patient planned so surely on death that she had written a letter to that effect. Everyone else though it was a wonderful letter. I didn’t. I felt the patient could have made far better use of her time cooperating with the practitioner, and planning on living, rather than dying.

Plan To Live and Live Abundantly

Sometimes you hear the statement, “What’s the matter with practitioners? Why are so many metaphysicians passing on?” Here is the one answer. Too many are planning on dying. Let all of us right here and now start planning to live and live abundantly. Quit saving your money so you can leave it to your children. Isn’t that another subtle bit of planning? Live now. Use your resources now, and know that God will continue to provide for you abundantly and boundlessly and for all your children….

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Throw Yourself A Life Party

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Don’t Think About Your Mortality — There’s No Truth To It

Immediately following the funeral of a loved one – even during the funeral – most people start thinking about their own mortality. Has that happened to you? Did the service trigger thoughts like “One day that’ll be my body in a coffin? After all, everybody’s got to die someday.” Maybe you didn’t think you would live forever, but right after a funeral you can see “the end” like you’re looking at it through a telescope. It seems so close.

Have you noticed at funerals – usually during the repast, people make promises to spend more time with family, do the things they’ve always wanted to do, and take a deeper plunge into life? Sometimes these death-driven promises are kept. Most times they merely serve to cushion a hard and rocky moment.

What Are You Going To Do After The Funeral?

Has a loved one died? What are you going to do? If you start thinking about your own mortality, you’ll drag yourself into a casket before your heart stops beating. Don’t do it!

Reader, is it clear to you that GOD IS LIFE? Is it clear to you this GOD LIFE is YOUR LIFE – now? That this Life is birthless, deathless, ageless and timeless? If so, don’t go anywhere near the mortality model of life (the one that starts with birth and ends with death). It’s a false concept about your Immortal Life. I’m taking the liberty right now to offer you a joy and power-filled way to respond to funerals and memorial services, and it all boils down to one thing – a celebration of your Eternal, Immortal Life.

The Party Of Your Life And How To Have It

When you believed in birth (the mortal model of Life), you celebrated with birthdays. Now that you’ve matured in your understanding of Life, why not celebrate with an occasional Eternal Life Party. What I mean here is to make an occasion out of the seeming death of a loved one, or the surprising death of an acquaintance. Here’s how:

  • The only “friends” that will attend your Eternal Life Party are your favorite Absolute or spiritual authors such as Marie Watts, Lillian DeWaters, Joel Goldsmith, Mary Baker Eddy, Vivian May Williams, Alfred Aiken, Paul Gorman, Doris Henty and Dorothy Rieke*.
  • All parties require a little planning and your Eternal Life Party is no exception. Look through your books for all the chapters and/or citations on Eternal Life. Earmark them for easy reference.
  • Before I go on, your Eternal Life Party can be anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour. There’s no need to overdo it.
  • Start your “Party” by picking up one of your books and start reading the earmarked sections. Read until you come upon a phrase, sentence or paragraph that grabs your soul. Stop there!
  • These are the words you will take into the silence. You may want to read them a few times. In your silent prayer ask Consciousness to fully reveal the meaning of these words.
  • Listen! (for a minute or what is comfortable for you).

Once you are done listening, the party is over. Reader, this is a suggested way to respond to seeming death. It will get you out of the rut of mortality thinking and reward you with the true knowledge and joy of Eternal Life.

* One of the best books for an Eternal Life Party is Immortality Brought to Light by Dorothy Rieke.

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Can You Think Of A Better Reason To Live?

enjoy

One day a good friend asked, “Allen what gets you up in the morning? What’s your reason for living?” Hemming and hawing, I scrambled for an answer. After what seemed like an eternity of dead silence, I drawled, “You know I love my work, and I love my family and friends. You can see I love practicing and playing the piano, but none of these gets me up in the morning. They certainly aren’t my reason for living.”

My answer didn’t satisfy her, so she made a stab at rephrasing the question. It was too late. Before she could finish, I blurted out “Nothing gets me up in the morning. I live because I love life.” However, in my mind I thought “I live because I AM LIFE. I, being LIFE ITSELF, have no choice but to live.”

Reader, I don’t have a clue how you would’ve answered my friend. Maybe someone has asked you the same question. And it’s possible that you have asked yourself that question. Did you struggle for an answer? Whatever your answer is, here is the truth. You do not have to have a reason to live. YOU ARE LIFE. You are birthless, deathless, timeless, ageless LIFE. LIFE’S reason to live is because living is its nature.

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Is Death An Illusion?

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What is the answer to 3 + 3?
What happens after (so-called) death?
There’s a right answer to both questions.

Ask ten adults the first question and they will all give you the same answer: SIX! That is the right answer.

Let’s move to the second question. Ask ten people what happens after death and you may get ten different answers. And yet, like 3 + 3, there is one right answer.

How Would You Answer These Questions?

Reader, I have a few more questions for you:

  • Do we have to die?
  • Why do we have to die?
  • Is death real?
  • What happens when someone appears to die?

Did you answer “I don’t know” to one or more of these questions? Did you answer any question with a definite, unequivocal answer? How do you know your answer is correct?

Again, there is one right answer to each of the four (4) “death” questions. Aren’t you curious about them? I believe that you are. I believe that every time a loved one appears to die, there is a flicker of curiosity about the answer to these questions. That’s why I wrote this post.

How To Know That You Know

I urge you to satisfy your curiosity. Get the answers to these question. The subject of death does not have to continue to be a mystery for you. You can know everything you want to know about this fallacious appearance. Here’s how: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of Google (Oops! I meant God.)” James 1:5.

Go directly to God Consciousness and ask the above questions. Of course you will have to listen for the answers. You may have to repeatedly ask and listen, but know this – Consciousness will reveal the answer. Reader, you will KNOW, and know that you KNOW just as surely as you know 3 + 3 = 6. And, you will never be mesmerized or paralyzed by this appearance again.

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Rethinking Immortality

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This excerpt is by Joel Goldsmith. A collection of his writings on the Body is carried by Denice Jutras (Mystics Of The World). It is an excellent publication.

Have You Thought About Immortality As A Present Reality?

We are all interested in the subject of immortality, but not merely an immortality that is attained after death. Immortality means here, in the body. We will not lose our body, but we will lose our false sense of body and come into the realization of the true nature of body. By losing the false sense of body, we will not lose our body, the body which we have now.

I am not speaking in the abstract, but I am saying that in this very body we must experience immortality. Just as in this body, by losing the sense of disease and coming into a higher realization of perfect body, there is no loss of body, just the loss of a false sense of body. In the same way, to experience immortality here and now occasions no loss of body, but only the loss of a false sense of body.

In our meditation, let us realize this: Immortality here and now; the immortality of this body and this universe, and all that we must lose is the false sense the world entertains of the body and of the universe.

You Are Not A Mere Reflection, Image or Idea

In our old teaching we were effect – an idea, reflection, expression, image, or likeness. In this approach you will find that you are consciousness, the very consciousness that is the cause of body, business, and home.

We formerly believed that a discordant body, business, or home was do to a power outside of ourselves, acting upon us. As long as we accept the belief that there is a power outside of us, just that long will we be seeking to get in touch with a good power. If the belief is accepted that a law of time is acting upon our bodies and mentalities, our experience will be on that level.

The Power Operating In Your Experience

There is no power operating in our experience separate from our own consciousness, but as long as we believe there is and are trying to get in touch with it, we will never contact it. The only treatment worth calling a treatment is the realization that, “I am life eternal. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I and my Father are One, and that Oneness constitutes immortality, harmony, grace, joy, and abundance of my body and Soul.

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Lesson On Eternal Life From A Child

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes – A Request For Eternal Life

In a not-too-recent “Dear Amy” column, a five-year old asked her grandmother if she was going to get real old. The grandmother told the young girl, “We all get old … that’s why we have birthdays.” The little girl broke down crying saying to her grandmother, “I don’t want you to die. Please promise me you will have no more birthdays.”

This little girl wanted her granny to live forever. I believe we all have that wish for our loved ones (and ourselves). This little girl probably had no idea of the spiritual significance of her request. She probably didn’t realize that birthdays are handcuffed to deathdays.

Away With Birthdays And Deathdays

Get rid of birthdays and away go the deathdays. Get rid of birthdays and deathdays, and what are you left with? ETERNAL LIFE – real LIFE. You’re left with God. This is the secret to living forever – not as aging flesh, but as ageless Spirit.

Reader, you inherently know that God is Life, and you know that this Life is your Life right this very moment. Inherently, you know that this Life is birthless and deathless.

The Resurrection – A Lesson On Eternal Life

Easter, the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, is on the horizon. Christ Jesus’ resurrection was possible for one reason only: His realization of the birthless, therefore deathless, nature of the Life that comprised His Body. Read His words, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

Reader, answer these two questions:

  • Do you think that your Body is made of a different Substance than the Body of Christ Jesus?
  • Is there more than one Substance?

Here are the back-of-the-book answers to these questions:

  • Your Body is constituted of the exact same Substance as the Body of Christ.
  • There is only one Substance: “For of him, to him, and through him are all things …”

Because Christ knew the eternal nature of His Body, He did not resist the cross. Life has no beginning and no ending. When the full realization of the eternal nature of your Body is realized, you will know that its Life cannot be crossed out by any seeming threat.

The Practical Application

If it appears that your Body, or the Body of a loved one, is in the terrifying grips of some life-threatening disease, don’t believe it. If it appears as though your Body is sliding toward the grave or the urn, put the brakes on NOW.

First, accept that Life – all Life (even that of your Body) – is birthless, deathless, timeless and ageless. This is easier when you remind yourself that Life and God are one and the same.

Next, soak your Body in a warm contemplation of its Eternal nature. Bring every aspect of your Body into this contemplation: hair, teeth, bones, organs, etc. After all, those are just material names for spiritual forms.

Take this soak every day for a week or two. Believe me, there’s nothing like a good soak in Eternal Life.

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I Had To Kill My Mother — I Really Did

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