“Dying is easy. Living is hard.”

In his book Ghosts Among Us, well-known medium James Van Praagh writes, “The spirits with whom I communicate are usually thrilled that they are in the light and would want it no other way. Their biggest regrets have to do with not realizing the truth about life when they were alive on earth. They often comment that, had they known, their lives would have been very different.”

Earthly Limitations

Earth is often described as a school where we come to learn. For spirits, incarnation on the earth plane––taking on the limitations of a physical body––is a huge “demotion” and often a burden. Time (which doesn’t exist in the spirit realm) is one of the challenges we face. On earth, our thoughts and intentions must go through many channels, often over a period of time, before they can manifest, and spirits may chafe at the ordeal. (Consider, for example, the years it often takes architects or authors to bring their ideas to material fruition.)

This limitation has been placed on us so we can learn to manage our thoughts constructively, for as the Law of Attraction teaches, we attract what we think about––our thoughts (eventually) create our reality. In the spirit world, however, this occurs immediately; all you need do is think about something and it happens.

Even having a physical body presents limitations and hardships. We must feed, clothe, shelter, and otherwise care for our physical forms––and that usually means working long hours to earn the money to provide those things. We’re also subject to many ailments and physical challenges that make human existence even more difficult. Much of the fear we experience comes from knowing our bodies can be hurt. But our spirits are eternal and indestructible. If we can reconnect with that truth, our fear will lessen.

Remembering Love and Peace

Earth life may seem harsh, fraught with unkindness, suffering, anger, and violence. However, people who come back from near-death experiences almost always describe visiting a place of profound love, peace, and joy. In one of the video modules in Dr. Piero Calvi-Parisetti’s course Love Knows No Death, individuals who’ve had NDEs describe the bliss of the world beyond. None of them wanted to return to earth, where, as one woman put it, “People are mean.” Often, NDEers say the experience changed their lives. They no longer see the world in the same way and they no longer fear death.

Differences may arise in the Afterlife, but the spirits there resolve problems without violence. That’s because spirits don’t have egos. They understand the interconnectedness of everything––no one is separate from the rest. We need to realize this is true here on earth too. As English poet John Donne put it, “No man is an island.”

I asked my partner, Ron Conroy, who left his physical body in 2013, what’s the most important thing we come to earth to do. He told me our main purpose is to bring some of the light, love, peace, and joy that abound in our true home down to earth and to express them here. Many spiritual teachers have said the same thing, in various ways. That’s our real work. That’s the biggest challenge we face as we go through the struggles of material existence. That’s what we need to remember during good times and bad.

“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” –– C.S. Lewis