Huu Dost! This was a beautiful meditation. Thank you

Great Post! It gave me reason for pause. I remember there were a few times recently at the khaniqah when I was in meditation and suddenly remember coming too. I had not even been aware that I was unaware or for how long. Though I was absent, I was still somewhere.

Experiences like this and a few others, have on the one hand plunged me into the mystery of what exactly is this “I” and on the other left me without a doubt that life continues long after the body goes.

Lately I have come to be overwhelmed when I think of a human life and how seemingly in so many planes we are on and operate from throughout the course of the day. I remember a joke someone told that death is like puberty, a puberty of the soul perhaps. Since everyone saints, prophets and sinners go through it, it can’t be that bad.

Anyways I am rambling a lot. I read this from al-Muqaddasi recently:

Although I left you bodily, is not my spirit always close to you! Think of it and you will see that my presence and absence are the same. How right was he who said to me one can compare you to the rose that fades but leaves behind its essence.

Thank you all for your kind comments :) And Rizal, thank you for the links. I know I have barely touched on the subject, and I am familiar with Deepak Chorpra’s work, and well as the quantum mechanics of consciousness theory, as well as past life regression.

But then the essay would have become a book, and wiser writers than I have already added much to the topic.

And my dear Sister Achelois, a special note of gratitude for you unfailing support and kindness :) I actually only thought to organize my thoughts about the experiences I had, and how they fit into the what I have learned on the Sufi path. But I am happy that it had some meaning for you :)

So the questions remain, and cannot really be answered in life, though I promise not to rush off, beloved :) It is not up to me, anyway.

Ya Haqq!

I feel glad that a Sufi like you are open to so vast probabilities for life after death… instead of merely believing Heaven and Hell; end of story.

As to your musing–it is exactly the question that brought me to this Path. I read a book by Dr. Michael Newton “Journeys of The Soul” and was completely blown away; apparently psychology, particularly hypnosis, has proven reincarnation and life between lives are true. You may google “past-life regression” and find so many entries (though none provides what Newton’s book outlined; consistent stories about what happened in life between lives from 28 regressed subjects).

And since you bring first law of thermodynamics, I think I need to suggest you to check quantum mechanics as well. Deepak Chopra is one among few writers who can explain life after death, and the existence of soul, scientifically through quantum mechanics. He has written many books, but special for this case I’d recommend you reading:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/deepak_chopra/2010/04/is_consciousness_connected_to_the_fine_structure_of_the_universe.html
though it’s quite long and quite difficult to grasp ;)

I hope it helps. Your experience itself is amazing. You reached what Hindus call “deep sleep state”. Not to mention about the out-of-body-experience that brought you to the Path. It seems, Death is a very powerful subject of contemplation to spark our awareness (though in my case, I got it secondhand).

Salaam… :)

Brilliant! Beautiful! Marvelous!

Of all the posts on this most remarkable blog, brother Irving, this is the icing. It is just superb. I have no words to explain how much I enjoyed it.

Thank you so much. There are absolutely no answers in this essay, yet it has silently answered so many of the questions I recently had in my mind.

How you weave your thoughts into words! It leaves me speechless.

Thank you!