After-Death States

At whatever period of history we look, we find that man has never been without a friend. Even at the darkest moments of the world’s history, or of our own individual lives, help and comfort can always be derived if we know where to look for them.

Of real help and comfort to us is the understanding of the meaning of a circumstance and the way it should be faced. There are few philosophers as helpful in this respect for the ordinary person as Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor of the second century, and Epictetus, the slave philosopher. They are far better teachers on how to live than many of the present writers and psychiatrists.

If indeed we are a superior genus of animal, and to die is to cease to be, then let us "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." If we are immortal, divine beings in animal-human forms, having a goal of perfection which must be reached by our own efforts, then we can joyfully shoulder the burdens of life. Life invests itself with a purpose, not a purpose limited to "three-score years and ten," but a purpose which lasts from life to life. There is no death, i.e., cessation, but immortal living.

© "The Theosophical Movement" (March, 2002) published by Theosophy Co. (India) Pvt. Ltd., Theosophy Hall, 40, New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400 020. Reprinted with permission.

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