Counselors & Caregivers Information
What Can We Tell People about What Happens During the Transition to the Next Life?
We have abundant descriptions of what happens during the transition from this life given to us by people living in the next life who have made the transition. As a result, we can tell people who are about to make the transition, and also their loved ones and people grieving for someone who has made the transition what will happen with great confidence.
Those living in the next life who have made the transition all remark about how easy the transition is. The transition is always painless. For those who experience a catastrophic death, there may be a brief coma or period of unconsciousness during which the event takes place, or the person may suddenly be standing next to the lifeless body with no experience or recollection of the separation itself. There are accounts of people being taken away from an impending disaster and watching it happen from the safety of a lofty position. For those who have made the transition after a period of declining health, the individual is greeted by people in spirit as the transition occurs. All fear or anxiety dissolves, and a profound peace comes over the person.
People near the body often describe phenomena in the room: a sudden light, at times blinding; a white, grey, or blue-white “soul mist” coming up from the body; a vaporous body shape with the features of the transitioning person; a silver or grey cord or many threads from the body connecting to the vaporous body shape that then dissolve or snap; the vaporous body rising and disappearing into a corner of the room; and the vision of loved ones who have come to escort the person from the earth realm. Some report seeing a transfer of energy from the physical body to the new, separate body, called an etheric body, life-body, subtle body, vital body, astral body, or spirit body that is a duplicate of the physical body. The spirit seems to move toward the head and exit from the top of the head, although some have described witnessing some vaporous form exiting from the solar plexus.
Transitioning people who have been bedridden often talk of going on a trip at the moment of their transition. Then, as they are in the transition experience, they say they see long-dead loved ones who have come to take them away. They may hold conversations with them or reach for them.
All speakers from the life after this life say there is no pain during the transition. People who transition because of illness have no experience of the body’s pain at the end, even though the people gathered around the deathbed see struggles or signs of pain.
People who transition because of a horrendous accident are spared the pain of the trauma that results in their transition, although they may experience the fear and trauma leading up to the accident. But they describe being taken out just before the actual trauma.
A man communicating through South African trance medium Nina Merrington explained that he was spared the pain of a fatal auto accident, and actually observed the event from outside of it.
Mike Swain, who died in an auto accident, told his father Jasper Swain, a Pietermaritzburg, South Africa lawyer, that he left his body an instant before the cars actually impacted. Heather, his fiancée’s young sister, was also killed in the accident. Mike told of being blinded by the glare of the sun reflecting off of the windscreen of the oncoming car. “All of a sudden, the radiance changes from silver to gold. I am being lifted up in the air, out through the top of the car. I grabbed little Heather’s hand. She too is being lifted up out of the car.” When they were about 30 feet above the car, they witnessed the collision below them and heard a noise like the snapping of steel banjo strings. They had suffered no pain.
Tymn, The Afterlife Revealed (Guildford, UK: White Crow Books, 2011), 68.
The talented medium Suzanne Giesemann tells of receiving messages from the Soul of a man named Jim who was currently in hospice dying of cancer. He explained that although his body was in hospice apparently struggling and in pain, his Soul was already at peace. He said to Suzanne, “The body may appear to be suffering, but my soul is fine.” When the transition is inevitable and the person seems to not be present, the Soul has gone on and is being spared the pain. You can hear Suzanne telling the story at www.earthschoolanswers.com/suzanne/.
We have no accounts from people living in the next life of suffering the pain of a sudden, accidental transition. The person goes on to the next life before the body dies.
It is very common for people making the transition to describe seeing wonderful scenes that are enthralling and uplifting for them just before they make the transition.
People making the transition often describe having glimpses of beautiful landscapes and hearing music and choruses singing, as though a curtain were gradually opening. In her eulogy for Steve Jobs, his sister described his last words:
Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them. Steve’s final words were:
OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.
Mona Simpson, “A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs,” The New York Times, October 30, 2011.
Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor and businessman famous for his work on electricity, sound recording, and motion pictures, opened his eyes shortly before his transition and said “It is very beautiful over there.”
