| Sequence of Events at Death I feel that the
best that I can do, in order to clarify this subject more completely, is to describe the
sequence of events which happens at a death bed, reminding you that the points of final
abstraction are three in number: [473]
- the head for
disciples and initiates and also for advanced mental types;
- the heart
for aspirants, for men of goodwill, and for all those who have achieved a measure of
personality integrity and are attempting to fulfil, as far as in them lies, the law of
love;
- and the
solar plexus for the undeveloped and emotionally polarized persons.
All I can
do is to tabulate the stages of the process, leaving you to accept them as an interesting
and possible hypothesis awaiting verification; to believe them unquestioningly because you
have confidence in my knowledge, or to reject them as fantastic, unverifiable and of no
moment anyway. I recommend the first of the three, for it will enable you to preserve your
mental integrity, it will indicate an open mind, and at the same time it will protect you
from gullibility and from narrow-mindedness. These stages, therefore, are:
1. The
soul sounds forth a "word of withdrawal" from its own plane, and
immediately an interior processing and reaction is evoked within the man upon the physical
plane.
- Certain physiological events take place at the seat of the disease, in
connection with the heart, and affecting also the three great systems which so potently
condition the physical man: the blood stream, the nervous system in its various
expressions, and the endocrine system. With these effects I shall not deal. The pathology
of death is well known and has received much study exoterically; much still remains to be
discovered and will later be discovered. I am concerned, first of all, with the subjective
reactions which (in the last analysis) bring about the pathological predisposition to
death.
- A vibration runs along the nadis. The nadis are, as you well know, the etheric
counterpart of the [474] entire nervous system, and they underlie every single nerve in
the entire physical body. They are the agents par excellence of the directing impulses of
the soul, reacting to the vibratory activity which emanates from the etheric counterpart
of the brain. They respond to the directing Word, react to the "pull" of the
soul, and then organize themselves for abstraction.
- The blood stream becomes affected in a peculiarly occult manner. The "blood
is the life," we are told; it is interiorly changed as a result of the two previous
stages, but primarily as the result of an activity hitherto undiscovered by modern
science, for which the glandular system is responsible. The glands, in response to the
call of death, inject into the blood stream a substance which in turn affects the heart.
There the life thread is anchored, and this substance in the blood is regarded as
"death-dealing" and is one of the basic causes of coma and of loss of
consciousness. It evokes a reflex action in the brain. This substance and its effect will
be questioned as yet by orthodox medicine, but its presence will later be recognized.
- A psychic tremor is established which has the effect of loosening or
breaking the connection between the nadis and the nervous system; the etheric body is
thereby detached from its dense sheath, though still interpenetrating every part of it.
2. There is frequently a pause at this point of a shorter or longer period of
time. This is allowed in order to carry forward the loosening process as smoothly and as
painlessly as possible. This loosening of the nadis starts in the eyes. This process of
detachment often shows itself in the relaxation and lack of fear which [475] dying persons
so often show; they evidence a condition of peace, and a willingness to go, plus an
inability to make a mental effort. It is as if the dying person, still preserving his
consciousness, gathers his resources together for the final abstraction. This is the stage
in which - the fear of death once and for all removed from the racial mind - the friends
and relatives of the departing person will "make a festival" for him and will
rejoice with him because he is relinquishing the body. At present this is not possible.
Distress rules, and the stage passes unrecognized and is not utilized, as it will some day
be. |
