But why? Why do we need to know?           Creatures are fascinating, we like to move. Even plants move by growing upward. We like to move and we like to know where we are going. By knowing where we are going we can determine what we should do in the here and now. By knowing that we are on an evolutionary path from animals to humans to spirit, our present lives have more meaning and value. For many, it seems futile to live a life that culminates in nothingness, an extinguishing of our consciousness forever. We want the values we have experienced here to extend out further beyond this life, to continue on increasingly, and the idea of eternal life keeps this hope alive in our hearts and our love of living more meaningful.           We humans are also gregarious and treasure our relationships with families and friends. It is not so much our individual deaths that make people sad but the death of our loved ones. The thought of an afterlife where we can once again meet up with those we had such good times with is comforting and provides solace. Therein lies the value of the belief in a continuous life, whether real or not. But regardless, life is for the living, life is for the now. And if eternal life is a fact, the path to it is in leading lives manifested by eternal values. Now. The End of the Beginning           It is only when we come face to face with death that we start living. It is only when we realize that we will be getting off our initial vehicle, the mortal body, that we truly start to realize the significance and value of life. This could happen in a moment of terror, such as on a battlefield, or through an automobile accident, an illness or other similar incidents. Or it could happen gradually, with moments of clarity brought on by insight. Those moments change our lives and makes us more philosophical, but it is when we begin to have a deep inner realization of the life we have spent, the relationship with our loved ones, the fulfilling accomplishments, the appreciation of the good times, the lessons we learned from the bad times, and the totality of the shape that our lives took, that we begin to understand what life is truly about. When we start to live for the quality of time that we spend with each other, rather than the amount of material we can accrue, or how much better than others we can appear to be; when we start to live for the quality of time we spend with ourselves, in the moments of quietness, reflection and meditation; when we start to live for the quality of time we spend with our Creator in love, worship and oneness; this is when the fullness of eternity in our lives have begun to manifest in the now. And by spending this quality time more and more, we begin to think of death, not as an ending but a beginning. Death becomes not an association with the past, but an association with the future. When we begin to live lives in the now, in the fullness of every day's sunrise, there are no regrets, for we have squeezed every ounce of life in each second, in each minute, in each hour, in each day, in each week, in each month, in each year of life, so that there is no hesitation to move on. When such fullness becomes manifest, we are happy and joyful of the life we have led and are leading, glad that it happened and ready to venture forth onto the next ride. It is only when our lives are unfulfilled, when we have regrets, when we spend time doing things not of the essence, when our relationships are incomplete, that we are grief stricken on thinking about death, whether it is our own or of someone we love. And it is by completing our lives, following the leadings of the spirit, to have more quality of relationships rather than quantity of material, to appreciate each and every person and experience, that we truly start to live.           It is unfortunate many people do not start to appreciate life until they have a close encounter with death, or have been inflicted with pain and suffering. It seems in that regard, in that it confronts people with reality and the errors in their thinking, that pain and suffering is beneficial to spurring on spiritual growth. But once a person gets beyond the initial stage, it is not the only way to spiritual evolution.
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