S E R A P H I M

IN CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE

OF OUR BELOVED ANIMAL-FRIEND

Seraphim - Seraph - Phim - Phimsky

(1993 - April 12, 2006)

There are a few defining moments in a person's life. One of ours was an encounter eleven years ago with a little cat, which had just been abandoned by its owners several days before. (It was the cat that actually approached us and "asked" if we would take him home.)

It was clear from day one that there was an extraordinary being locked away within that furry, little body. He had been severely mistreated by his previous owners and had a hard time coping with people in general. He spent a lot of time by himself but slowly warmed up. The damage to his psyche was profound, and it took him half of his short time on earth to overcome his innate mistrust of humans.

During the first year we had him tragedy struck. He developed a lethal cancerous sarcoma due to the negligence of a veterinarian, who thought he could save time and money by giving animals three-in-one vaccinations. (We never gave Seraphim another vaccination.) We rebuffed surgery and sought instead alternative therapies. We discovered an incredible book by Dr. Pitcairn called "Natural Health for Dogs and Cats". This book literally saved Seraphim's life!

For the next month Seraph bravely endured massive amounts of Goldenseal powder, along with homeopathic and vitamin support. He started having a toxic reaction every time we administered it. But after a week or so we could already see the lump on his back beginning to retreat. We got him off commercial cat food and onto a diet of raw ground turkey meat. At the end of a month he was completely cured of a basically incurable disease, and we were given ten more years with our beautiful friend. This experience also marked the beginning of our work with natural medicines and therapies, which has proven to be endlessly rewarding.

The discovery of a miraculous book of the Knowledge of Creation came soon thereafter: through The Grail Message we learned about the existence of the elemental beings. They are nature-beings, who work tirelessly everywhere in nature, making trees and flowers grow, helping the animals find food and guiding them along their migratory routes and much, much more besides. They stand firmly and directly in the Power of God and work in His Laws, the Laws of Nature. They are very different from human beings in that they possess no free will, but only and always carry out the Will of God in all their activities. That's why nature is always beautiful - where man has not interfered with it - and why the Laws of Nature are always perfect: the Will of God is expressed in Them. For this reason, the natural medicines, derived from plants, herbs, mushrooms, flowers, trees etc., have perfection built into them. They possess what we would call "miraculous" curative qualities. Unfortunately, the knowledge of the proper extraction process for herbs has been lost, but even those extracts available today can produce amazing results. To gain some insight into the varied activities of the nature-beings, read "THE INSTINCT OF ANIMALS" and listen to "THE GODS, OLYMPUS AND VALHALLA" in MP3 audio - 34 min.

After winning his battle with cancer with the help of the nature-beings, Seraphim had to overcome another daunting challenge: his aggressive habit of biting and nipping. We helped him along with Dr. Bach's Flower remedies, classical music and lots of love, but he had to do the work himself. Eventually, he succeeded. And it was at that point that his beautiful animal soul blossomed forth like a radiant rose, and he became the most wondrous helper, whose selfless service and devotion to his masters has left a deeply inspirational and everlasting impression on our spirits.

In the middle of our busy lives we would often pause and thank Seraphim for being such a great friend to us and for putting up with all our shortcomings. He understood and was touched by our gratitude. It wasn't much compared to what he gave us -

And the experience is ongoing, even though he has left behind his aged, diseased body. We continue to experience him daily on an intuitive level, and he continues to offer us a great affirmation of our life's purpose.

THE PROCESS OF DEATH

"The process of dying in itself is nothing but birth into the Ethereal World, similar to the process of birth into the Gross Material World"

(Abd-ru-shin)

Since all of us will unavoidably have to go through the experience of crossing over into the "next world" (Ethereal World), the death of a beloved pet, with whom one has shared a sizable stretch of a lifetime, provides a glimpse into this process. It can serve as a kind of "dress rehearsal" for us, because the actual process of detachment from the physical body is essentially the same for both humans and animals. Death does not occur with "clinical death", but is a gradual process of separation (or detachment) of the real self from the physical body.

"After the separation the ethereal body remains attached to the physical body for a time as if with a navel cord. The higher the soul now born into the Ethereal World has already developed itself towards this Ethereal World during its life on earth, the looser this cord will become.

The more a man's volition has chained him to this earth, i. e., to gross matter, indicating thereby a refusal to acknowledge any continuation of life in the Ethereal World, the more firmly will this volition bind him with this cord to his physical body and consequently also bind the ethereal body, which he needs as a garment for his spirit in the Ethereal World.

The denser his ethereal body is the heavier it becomes according to the prevailing laws, and the darker it must appear. Such great resemblance and close relation to matter makes it very hard for the ethereal body to detach itself from the physical body, so that it happens in such cases that it must still undergo and feel the last physical pains as well as the whole process of decay. Neither does it remain insensible with cremation.

After the final severance of this connecting cord, the ethereal body sinks to that level in the Ethereal World where its surroundings are of corresponding density and weight. There, in this environment of equal weight, it will find only those of similar tendencies. It is understandable that conditions there are worse than when on earth in the physical body, because in the Ethereal World all intuitive feelings express themselves in full force and without restraint.

It is different with those people who during their life on earth have begun to strive for all that is noble. Because they bear within themselves a living conviction about the step into the Ethereal World, the severance is much easier. The ethereal body of such a person and its connecting cord are not dense. Their texture is alien to that of the physical body, and this permits the severance to be very quickly effected. Thus during the entire so-called death struggle or the last muscular twitchings of the physical body, the ethereal body is already standing beside the latter, if indeed one can speak of a death struggle at the normal death of such a person. The loose and slender condition of the connecting cord prevents the ethereal being standing beside the body from feeling any pain because, being so frail and light in substance, this cord cannot transmit pain from the physical body to the ethereal body.

Owing to its finer nature such a strand severs the connection more quickly, setting the ethereal body completely free in a shorter space of time to soar to the region consisting of this finer and lighter substance. There it can only find kindred souls and gain peace and happiness through the increasingly high quality of the intuitive life. Such a light and less dense ethereal body naturally appears brighter and more luminous, until finally it becomes so transparent that the inner spiritual core begins to break through radiantly before it enters the spiritual sphere as a completely luminous radiant spirit.

Those, however, who are present at a death bed should take warning not to break out into loud lamentations! When the grief at parting is too strongly expressed, the person in the process of detaching himself, or who is perhaps already standing beside his body in ethereal form, may hear or feel it and be emotionally disturbed by it. If then pity awakens in him, together with the wish to say a few words of consolation, this again binds him more strongly to his physical body through the desire to make himself understood by the grief-stricken mourners.

He can only make himself understood on earth by the use of his brain. This effort, however, makes for a closer connection with the physical body, and indeed this is a necessary condition. The result is that not only does an ethereal body still in the process of detaching itself re-unite itself more closely to the physical body but, if it is already standing detached beside the physical body, it will be drawn back into it once more. The final result is that he will once again feel all the pains from which he had already been delivered.

When the process of detachment is renewed it is much more difficult, and may even last for some days. This brings about the so-called prolonged death struggle, which becomes really painful and difficult for the soul wanting to depart. The blame lies with those who, through their selfish grief, have called it back from its natural course of development.

Through this interruption of the normal course, be it only the weak attempt at concentrating on making itself understood, a new and forced connection has taken place. To dissolve this unnatural connection again is not so easy for one who is completely inexperienced in this matter. And, because it desired this reconnection itself, no help can be afforded.

Such a connection can easily be effected as long as the physical body is not yet completely cold and the connecting strand, which often does not tear till after many weeks, is still in existence. It is unnecessary suffering for the dying man, a rudeness and want of consideration on the part of the bystanders.

Therefore absolute quiet should reign in the chamber of death, a dignity and seriousness corresponding to the importance of the hour! People who cannot control themselves should be forcibly removed, even if they be the nearest relatives."(Abd-ru-shin, "IN THE LIGHT OF TRUTH: THE GRAIL MESSAGE", chapter "Death" - Read the entire chapter.)

As we can see, those who are present can greatly help or greatly hinder the departing soul (whether human or animal) by their behavior and their attitude. Their degree of enlightenment about the actual process of dying creates either more or less favorable conditions for the departing one. It goes without saying that the attitude that "at death all is over, and it's time to beat one's chest and wail" is the most immature and the most unhelpful to the departing soul. It is for this reason that all such people should be escorted away - be it away from the death bed or from the coffin or away from the grave site.

It is only natural, of course, to be sad at the departure of the loved ones and to miss them greatly. But shedding silent tears is very different from breaking out into hysterics.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER DEATH

"Clairvoyants are able to observe the process of dying. In Shaw Desmond's book "How you Live when you Die" (Rider & Co., London), he says on pages 20/21:

'To come more nearly to the consideration of what happens immediately after death, it should be stated that death does not ensue instantly upon the heart ceasing to beat. From what we have been told by the astral physicians and, indeed, to a certain extent by actual observations in the sick room on this side of death, the silver cord is not severed for a day to four or five days after apparent death.

'The actual separation takes only a few seconds. In that instant of severance, the 'dead' person finds himself or herself looking down upon his or her own body! It is an extraordinary moment. It is so if only because for the first time the man or woman has found out that the body was not himself or herself. That it was no more than a suit of clothes or a dress with which one had finished and so was thrown aside.'

The severing of the silver cord is not always easy.

Only man himself is responsible for its condition, thus for its density and detachability. The more he chains himself to earthly things the denser and heavier it becomes, and with it also the ethereal body; hence in certain cases such a man must feel not only the last earthly-physical pains, but also the disintegration of his physical cloak.

But in such a state also cremation will not pass by the soul without leaving some trace. The English poet H. Dennis Bradley asked a deceased person through a medium about this, and received the following answer, which he published in his book "Towards the Stars" (T. Werner Laurie, London), pages 264/265:

'In a sense you are wrong about the burning of bodies ... On the other 'In a sense you are wrong about the burning of bodies ... On the other hand, you are not quite right in believing that this sudden and complete destruction does not wound. In a sense it does. Because, as you know, there is a fragile envelope which surrounds the soul as a tissue might, which fades away shortly after death. It is a membrane, as it were, and this is very sensitive immediately after death, for what you would call a few days or a week. If the body is entirely destroyed, this membrane, which in a sense is still attached to the body, is severely hurt. It suffers, and this is imparted also to the discarnate part. So you must not smile completely at those whom you call fools, who believe that the body is entirely severed from the other parts at death. It is so after a very short time, but not immediately. Before the soul and spirit leave the darkness in which they are brought after they sever from the body, this membrane has withered away from them, but not at once.'

The 'membrane' which is still attached to the body, and which only later withers away, is the so-called astral body, which after severance of the soul from the physical body disintegrates with the physical body. The astral body, which is dependent on the soul, is a mediator to the physical body. The so-called "phantom-pains" point to the existence of the astral body. People who have had a limb removed still suffer pains from time to time in the same place where the limb used to be. This is because the corresponding limb of the astral body cannot be removed along with it; the astral body remains as it is.

It should be mentioned here that there are people who even in their earth-lives can leave their physical body temporarily with their ethereal body. This may occur for instance during sleep. Also in such cases a connection between the two bodies always remains through the silver cord, which according to earthly concepts has an inconceivable capacity to stretch.

The Bible describes the awakening of the dead through Jesus, which He did as long as the silver cord was not yet severed. Only in this way could the souls already severing from their physical bodies return to them.

From these explanations it appears that the process of dying is not yet ended with 'clinical' death. There is also an astral body which in certain circumstances dies only much later than the physical body. As long as this astral body is still connected with the physical body and the ethereal body, that is, as long as the connecting cord is not yet broken, any interference with the dead physical body can be painfully felt by the soul.....

Surely there can be no doubt that in order to obtain a clear picture, physical death must be regarded not only from this world but also from the beyond.

But contemplation of this other, invisible side cannot be done with the intellect, which itself is transient, thus of this world, because it is produced by the frontal brain that perishes at death.

As little as it is possible to drive in a nail with a goose-feather, so is no one in a position to recognise or to grasp what is in the beyond, that is, ethereal matter, with the gross-material brain, because the two are of an entirely different species.

Hence the only course open is to use the intuitive perception of the spirit, which has a higher origin than have the Worlds of Matter, and which can therefore view and understand all the visible and invisible connections in the entire World of Matter.

And only from this point of view must the increasing transplantations of physical organs from the just deceased into living persons be regarded. This is really a question of interference in man's personal sphere, to which he is defencelessly relinquished, because he can no longer attract attention physically to himself. But respect for one's neighbour, which also includes his physical body, and the commandment to do no harm to him whatsoever, applies not only to the earthly phase of life but also beyond death.

What use then is the consent given in ignorance of conditions in the beyond. The reality of the Ethereal World, into which a small glimpse was given here, will soon and painfully enlighten the departed soul.

Therefore such experiments on the human being must cease, simply because hardly anyone, not even the doctor concerned, can answer for the consequences of his interference in the beyond; for he is ignorant of them and thus cannot assess them. Moreover, Nature itself usually sets a limit through the diversity and incompatibility of the tissue-groups, although attempts are made even to break through this natural barrier.

Interference with the dead physical body, which also includes dissection and cremation, should, in the temperate zones, definitely not be undertaken within the well-known three days, for it is to be assumed that in normal cases the soul will only have severed itself from its physical body by the end of that period. This would then in any case rule out the removal of parts of the body for the purpose of transplantation, because such removal would have to be carried out immediately after clinical death in order to be at all clinically possible.

Nevertheless, not only the doctors concerned but also those persons who wish to give physical organs after their death, and equally the relatives of suddenly deceased persons who must consent in their place, and last but not least the recipients of such organs, must also consider what takes place in the beyond, and base their decisions on that.

It is a different matter, of course, when considering the widespread view of which the basic idea is that after death it is "all over". With this kind of thinking there can be no room for the reflection that at physical death something that is living and not visible also severs from the physical body, which through intervention in the physical body just laid aside might be injured. Here the physical body is simply material from which individual replacement parts are taken when needed.

Yet also with this opinion the responsibility of those who think in this way is not annulled before the Laws of Creation, either here or "there". For ignorance of the Laws of Creation is no protection from its consequences.

But for those who bear within them the conviction of survival after death, physical death is birth into the Ethereal Realm. Just as at birth into the gross-material, the earthly, the navel cord is severed, so the silver cord is severed at birth into the ethereal, the beyond. Death need not be feared by anyone who bears within him the living firm volition for good, even if the resolution for it has arisen only just before his physical death. It will help him safely over the threshold, and on the other side helping hands will carefully guide him on to that recognition which is still needed in order to ascend towards the Light." (Herbert Vollmann, chapter "The Silver Cord" from "A Gate Opens")

SERAPHIM'S DEPARTURE

In Seraph's case, the actual severance of the cord occurred just hours after his heart stopped beating. Such quick and easy detachment is possible today almost exclusively for the animals alone, because, unlike humans, they do not bind themselves to their physical bodies through the wrongly held views on death. The animals simply live through the natural process of detaching themselves without opposing it with their "opinions" and are thus able to be helped along the way by the numerous helpers on the other side. But human beings, even those with the correct knowledge of the death process, often chain themselves to the world of matter through some earthly predilection, be it only a particularly strong attachment to one family member, the separation from whom they especially fear and dread.

No animal fears death; neither do they feel an unnatural euphoria at the thought of it - only man is prone to such unnatural extremes: either he thinks he will stop existing altogether after death or else that he will be immediately transported into Heaven, without having to learn anything about the structure and the operational Laws of this Creation and without having to atone for anything in a natural way, unrelated to the established earthly rituals.

Speaking of naturalness, it is just from our animal-friends (as well as from Nature in general) that we can learn so much about what it really means to be "natural". But here, as elsewhere, we have drawn many of our conclusions from merely superficial observations.

"To be natural...does not mean to go about half-naked or to disport himself barefoot in eccentric clothing! To be natural means to listen attentively to one's inner voice and not forcibly to disregard its warnings!

Unfortunately more than half of all the people today have fallen so far and become so dull that they can no longer understand these natural intuitions. Through their own actions they have become much too narrow-minded to do so! A great cry of horror and dismay will be the end!" (Abd-ru-shin, "IN THE LIGHT OF TRUTH: THE GRAIL MESSAGE", chapter "The Significance of Man's Generative Power For His Spiritual Ascent" - Listen to the entire chapter in MP3, 36 min )

"To be natural...means to ascend, to strive upwards, following the attraction of the Living Power! For where there is naturalness everything strives upwards only, just like every blade of grass, every flower and every tree. Thus what man's volition brought about unfortunately bears only an external resemblance to that which he was supposed to accomplish!" (Abd-ru-shin, "IN THE LIGHT OF TRUTH: THE GRAIL MESSAGE", chapter "Life").

It goes without saying that, like other pet owners who had a special relationship with their pets, we would like to see our Phimsky again. Whether or not this will happen depends entirely on the amount of spiritual progress we are able to make in this lifetime.

In order to orient ourselves in the geography of Creation, it is necessary to know Its fundamental divisions or Spheres, which every creature will have to traverse on the way upwards to his particular Sphere of origin.

"To make clear the difference in origin of man and animal it is necessary to go more deeply into the various spheres of Creation than has been done hitherto.

Such conventional catch-words as the 'group soul' of the animal as distinct from the personal 'ego' of man no longer suffice for this purpose, although as such they are quite correct. For these give only a general outline and deal with what lies nearest the earth, but do not indicate the essential difference!

It is necessary to know about the development of Creation as explained in the lecture: 'The Development of Creation'!

For the sake of a more comprehensive view, the main spheres from above downwards are reproduced here: -

1. The Divine:

    Divinity Unsubstantiate = God

    Divine Substantiality

2. Spiritual Substantiality:

    Conscious Spiritual Substantiality

    Unconscious Spiritual Substantiality

3. Animistic Substantiality:

    Conscious Animistic Substantiality

    Unconscious Animistic Substantiality

4. The Spheres of Matter:

    Ethereal Substance

    Gross Matter

Man has his spiritual origin in Unconscious Spiritual Substantiality, whereas the animal has its animistic origin in Unconscious Animistic Substantiality. There is a huge difference between these two spheres. The animating core of man is spirit. The animating core of the animal, however, is animistic substantiality.

In this case a spirit stands above animistic substantiality; the origin of the inner man is consequently higher than that of the animal, while both have only the origin of their physical bodies in common. The spirit of man, however, has over the ages developed his original purely animal body to a higher state of perfection than was possible for the animistic substantiality of the animal."

"The essential difference between man and animal lies solely within. An animal can only return to animistic substantiality after casting aside its physical body, whereas man returns to spiritual substantiality, which is far higher." (Abd-ru-shin, "IN THE LIGHT OF TRUTH: THE GRAIL MESSAGE", chapter "The Difference in Origin of Man and Animal" - Read the entire chapter.)

It is necessary to mention that both humans and animals have to reincarnate on earth a number of times before reaching sufficient inward maturity for their climb/ascent upwards. Having acquired this maturity, the way is then clear for a return Home. For the animals this Home is the Animistic Sphere, while for humans it is the Spiritual Sphere. If we succeed in acquiring sufficient spiritual maturity for ourselves here on earth, then, after laying aside our physical bodies and traversing the Sphere of Ethereal Matter, we will inevitably pass through the Animistic Sphere on our way Home - and that's when we will experience the joy of seeing our little Phim again!

SELECTIONS FROM

"IN THE LIGHT OF TRUTH: THE GRAIL MESSAGE":

"DEATH"

"DEPARTED THIS LIFE!"

"IN THE LAND OF TWILIGHT"

"THE DIFFERENCE IN ORIGIN BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMAL"

"THE INSTINCT OF ANIMALS"

"WARFARE IN NATURE"

"THE GODS, OLYMPUS AND VALHALLA" (in MP3 audio - 34 min.)

FURTHER READING

CINEMASEEKERS.COM

collage by Maria Wagner