đ Last updated: March 26, 2025
Three weeks after he died, my brother Billy woke me at sunrise and began describing what was happening to him in the afterlife. At first I thought that grief was causing me to imagine his voice. But as my brother began sharing cosmic secrets with me, secrets I couldnât ignore, I became his student.
Billy taught me that when youâre born, that big pop gives you a kind of amnesia. One of the main things weâre doing on planet earth is trying to remember the things we forgot. But after you die, you realize a bunch of things you didnât know when you were alive, like:
1. Life on earth isnât a punishment for your past transgressions. Â You arenât acting out some type of I-did-something-wrong-to-you-in-another-life-and-Iâm-paying-for-it-now kind of thing. It doesnât really work like that. That concept of an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth karmic equalizing of the score isnât the real deal.
2. You chose your life circumstances before you were born for soul-type reasons that are almost impossible to understand while youâre on earth. If you understood these reasons, life would lose some of its punch, and that losing of punch is a little bit of what enlightenment is all about.
3. Everything changes. When you die, you realize how much. You also realize there are immortal things, things you take with you, and they change too. The Eastern concept of Maya, or illusion, what does that really mean? It means temporary.
4. Life is great, even the hard parts. And we all do things that we call mistakes. But so-called mistakes are ok. Theyâre just part of the earth deal.
5. Youâre meant to engage in all kinds of things on earth, things that may not make sense from a human point of view. So, take a moment before you judge yourself or your fellow man too harshly. Being completely non-judgmental while youâre alive is very advanced, though. Youâd have to be a Buddha to be that advanced.
6. There isnât only one right way for things to turn out. Some endings are happier, some not so happy, but itâs not just the happiness percentage that matters. Itâs the music of it.
7. Society teaches limitation. No matter what youâve been taught, everything you ever need is already inside you. And who you really are is far beyond your comprehension. Thatâs why living squeezed into the human experience can be painful at times.
8. At the center of everything is an energy, an immaterial material called LOVE. Wow, and how good it feels, this LOVE. You canât imagine it. You really canât. There is no way for you to experience the full power of LOVE while youâre on this plane. .
9. Death isnât as serious as you think it is. Itâs actually very enjoyable. Couldnât be better really. And saying goodbye to the people you love isnât as serious as it seems either, because you will meet again.
By Annie Kagan on Omtimes