I’m very pleased to announce that my 18th book, Death – A Process of Transformation is now published and available for purchase from the Lulu.com online bookstore. It will take approximately another six weeks before it becomes available for international distribution. To be amazed and see it in all its glory click the link below…
Death – A Process of Transformation
Photo by Timisu of Pixabay
Well, I’m nearly there with the latest book project. I’m just putting the finishing touches to the interior file, and once uploaded I can commence work on the cover. If all goes well, I should be ordering a proof copy before the end of this month. Here, for your perusal is the synopsis. Also, I’ve posted some pics below that I’m considering for use when I create the cover.
“Generally speaking, an individual’s views surrounding death are shaped by the culture they are born into. Someone born into a religious culture would have views on death that reflect the outlook of that particular religion. Over time, the chances of such a person changing their views would probably depend on the level of fundamentalism within that particular doctrine. Religions that have a God quite often preach the possibility of punishment after death, making it very difficult for followers to change their opinion through fear of retribution.
Equally, people of no religious persuasion, atheists for example, have their own, often staunch views on the subject e.g. “when you’re dead, you’re dead.”
What makes this work compelling is the book’s navigation of a topic that remains largely taboo today. Death – A Process of Transformation looks at death from a completely different angle, specifically, as an important part of life that enables the individual soul to transition to the next stage of its evolution. It is a beautiful and eloquently written work consisting of poems, short stories and the author’s musings. What is particularly refreshing about this book is that Holmes does not try to persuade the reader to adopt his way of thinking, rather, he encourages the reader to have their own opinion on the subject, as opposed to having their views shaped by dogma, which is often fear-based.
Science has proven that everything that exists is comprised of energy that can neither be created nor destroyed. We also know that we humans are comprised of the same “stuff” as nature. We know too, that nature moves in cycles, so why not our species?
Sleep is intermediate between two waking states, so also death is between two successive births. Both are transient – Ramana Maharshi
Death – A Process of Transformation will take the reader, not so much on a journey, but on a life-changing adventure. It is an exquisitely beautiful book that would grace any library, anywhere.”
Image by FalcoZen at Pixabay
Image by FalcoZen at Pixabay
Image by Timisu from Pixabay
Our true nature (consciousness) can be likened to our wonderful sun that serves our planet and species so admirably with its generous supply of warmth and light. Like the sun when it is obscured by clouds, our essence, our being is also obscured when we incarnate into flesh. Also, as the sun spins from West to East it creates the illusion of rising and setting (appearing and disappearing), when in reality all that has happened is that it has simply moved in and out of the earth’s shadow. Equally, as the earth rotates on its axis we experience night and day, as the part of the planet that we occupy spins away from the sun and then back again. This is just one of many examples of the cyclic nature of life.
Regardless of whether the sun is obscured by clouds, whether it is night or day on earth or whether it is glowing red, orange or yellow, it always remains as “the sun.” In the same way that regardless of which body, if any, we are occupying at any given time and what status that body may have in society and what its life experiences are, it is still subject to the same laws of physics as everything else in our world of matter and will eventually break down.
During all of this drama; of birth, death and the bits in the middle, our true nature remains constant and forever shining…exactly like the sun.
I stand here and watch
As you sleep in your bed
Your favourite pillow
Cradling your head
You look so peaceful
Exploring your dreams
Funny how life
Is never as it seems
You cried in pain
The day I left
If only you could see
That you were never bereft
When your time comes to join me
I will greet you with my smile
And take your hand, as together
We walk the golden mile
In the meantime
I stand here and watch
As you sleep in your bed
Your favourite pillow
Cradling your head
Photo by Iren Fedo: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-posing-in-sunshine-17937240/
Life and death; the movement of atoms and elements through an eternal cycle of change. The process through which our species evolves. Life and death are commonly judged as being good and bad respectively. But, what use is such a judgement? Will the world stop turning if you are unhappy about one day having to give up the body? Of course not, everything is fleeting, nobody owns anything; indeed, every single breath we take is returned to Mother Nature.
If you meditate on Life and death, you will find that like all other opposites in the world of matter, they are in fact One. They do not differ in kind but by degree. That is, they are fundamentally the same thing, but they are opposite poles within the eternal cycle of change.
I woke up feeling rather different but I just couldn’t put my finger on the reason why. “Oh well” I thought, “not to worry” and I set about performing my first task of the day; the same task I’d performed as my “first task of the day” for as long as I could remember. That task was to swing my legs around and out of bed and place my feet into the pair of ever faithful house shoes that waited patiently at the side of my bed for me every morning. I hated slippers and refused to wear them, “only old people wear slippers.” To my amazement, the shoes were not there. I sat there on the edge of the bed feeling slightly baffled, but at the same time surprisingly contented and relaxed. I looked up, and at the end of the bed there was a familiar face smiling at me. “Now, where do I know you from,” I thought, not even thinking for one minute how odd it was for me to wake up and find someone in my bedroom; someone who was vaguely familiar but who, nonetheless, had no place there.
“Best get on with the day,” and I rose up feeling unusually light and with an incredible sense of freedom. All the while, my uninvited visitor is still smiling at me. I suddenly thought to myself, “where am I?” As I got up, I realised that I didn’t recognise any of the decor in the room. I didn’t know where I was, but I certainly wasn’t at home. I also realised, somewhat surprisingly, that I wasn’t troubled by any of this, in fact, I felt incredibly happy. I thought I would ask the character with the familiar face where I am and how I got here.
As if he’d read my mind and before I could get my words out, he said, “all is well dear soul, you are going home, but you will have to stay here for a while in order to undergo a period of adjustment.” I realised also at this point, that I had heard those words loud and clear in my head, but my companion’s lips had not moved. “Oh…and you were right, I did read your mind…well, sort of. We communicate telepathically here, so I heard your thoughts and replied accordingly.”
“What do you mean, HERE,” I said. “Where am I and what do you mean by a period of adjustment?”
“Well, my friend, where you have just come from people would say that you have died. But actually, as you are now experiencing, there is no such thing as death. You have simply left your physical body behind in the world of matter. You need a period of adjustment because you have to get used to functioning once again in what some souls in the physical world would call the etheric, or astral body. Everything here is much lighter and the rate of vibration is much faster; what you would have described as the speed at which atoms move around. It’s the same laws of physics here, the only difference is that everything happens much faster. The greatest example of this is that our thoughts manifest instantaneously.”
“Wow, this has all knocked me for six, it’s so much to take in.”
“That’s understandable my dear friend, but don’t worry, I’m here to help you with the adjustment process, and just to satisfy your curiosity, the reason I look familiar to you is because I am. You and I have known each other forever; indeed, I have never left your side, but you have had a sojourn on the earth plane and it will take a little while for you to readjust to the vibration here.”
“But I don’t even know your name.”
“We don’t bother with names here as we have no need for them. We just automatically know everything that we need to know. There is no time here either, but I’ll go into all of that in due course.”
My companion’s warm and kind persona made me feel very much at ease, and I realised too that he was right; I’d been talking to him, but my mouth had not moved; our communication had taken place purely by thought. “Get some rest now,” he said, “and I’ll be back to see you shortly.”
To be continued…
Photo by Michael Manulevich: https://www.pexels.com/photo/majestic-eagle-perched-in-aviary-at-sunset-33166976/
I’ve always been very cynical regarding the amount of influence religion has on society, I should add that I can only speak about the UK, and specifically the Christian Church. What particularly bothers me is the way that vast numbers of people have bought into the concept of being judged at death. The judge in question is an all-loving God, however, there’s a catch. The all-loving God is also angry, jealous and vengeful, and “He” loves you so much that if “He” deems that you haven’t loved “Him” back in accordance with the conditions that “He” imposed on “His” love, then you are for the high jump. Or, to be more precise, an eternity of hell-fire and brimstone. Of course, this is absolute nonsense, but it’s actually good nonsense because it has given me the inspiration for another book.
I have tentatively called it, Death – A New Beginning, and it will consist of a series of poems and (very) short stories that deal with death as a process. The process that enables us to transition to our next reality. In other words it will look at death from a spiritual perspective, but minus the angry God. So, this is the way my writing will be going for the next few months. The following piece, entitled “An Eagle Caged” is one such piece that may end up in the book.
Encased in a body of flesh
I was as an eagle caged
I existed to fly
But with clipped wings?
I was but a dreamer
Spending my days pondering
On what might have been
And what might yet be
If Only I could free myself
From the living death
But, is this not life’s greatest conundrum?
To seek freedom
Only to find that one was never caged
Merely a slave to the ego
Yes, a slave to the ego was I
A believer of life’s dramas
As they played out in my mind
I was the star of the show
Stumbling around the stage
Like a drunken actor
Struggling to remember his lines
Now, as the deluded await judgement
From their angry God,
My latest adventure concluded
I dissolve into the nectarine sweetness of Divinity
Maybe, this is the start of something new?
But, is there really any such thing as “something new?”
Maybe, the 1,000 petaled lotus beckons?
Or maybe, I’ll just continue to seek what I already have?
My mind, like a crazed dervish, frantically darts back and forth between the dualistic and the esoteric.
Why am I disturbed by trivia?
Why do I give credence to the mundane duality?
When there is a lamp in the heart of the Divine, lighting my way home…
The same light informs me that my many lives are but One
Each death, merely a setting of the sun
To rise again in the land of opposites
Where, in the blink of an eye
The blaggard ego comes creeping
Like a thief in the night
To smuggle away life’s sweetness
Leaving only bitterness in its wake
And so, I rise again
To writhe and squirm
To bleed and heal
To be guided by the light of love
To welcome death with open arms
To bask in a Love of indescribable purity
To melt in the bosom of Divinity
Maybe, this is the start of something new?
Photo by Klub Boks: https://www.pexels.com/photo/lotus-flower-in-bloom-8797577/
Photo by Tushar at Pexels
Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay
So, which is which? When we are born, we are born into a very restrictive physical body and those who do not ultimately realise that they are something much greater than the body quite often live lives of “death.” In other words, they quite often live lives of pain and suffering. Paradoxically, when we go through the process of physical death, the soul experiences an incredible sense of freedom; the spirit literally flies when the body is shed.
Also, people with little or no spiritual awareness are usually very afraid to “die.” Given that death is a very important part of life, are they actually afraid to live? In contrast, people who have a certain level of spiritual awareness quite often do not fear death because they know that death is merely a process (not an end) by which we are able to transition to our next reality.
Of course, in consciousness there is neither birth nor death, only “That Which Is.”
Hi, I’m Death
I’m in the position to help you transition
To ease your mind, and
Show you a reality of a different kind
You’ve all been sold a pup
The religionists are wrong
I’m not at all bad
More like a sweet song
There is no demon to judge you
No hell to burn you
Only loved ones to greet you, and
Lead you to a new life of wonder
I’m death
I’ve come to soothe you
To cradle you in my arms
Just let go
Just let go
Just let go…
Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay
Author - Richard F Holmes 