Format Gallery

What happens to our sense of ‘me’ after death? Does our consciousness reincarnate in another form to live another life? How should we prepare for our death – and what does that even mean? Insights of the type shared by these six teachers in this video gallery helped me discover a new perspective from which to grapple with such questions about the transformation that is death.

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Alan Watts
"A Happy Death"
In this 8-min excerpt from one of his many lectures, Alan invites us to embrace the other half of the natural rhythm that is death.

"You can only die well if you understand this system of waves… that you are just as much the dark space beyond death as you are the light interval called life. These are just two sides of you because 'you' is the total wave. See, you can't have half a wave. Nobody ever saw waves which just had crests and no troughs. So you can't have half a human being who is born but doesn't die; half a thing. That would only be half a thing."

Shakti Maggi
"Nothing Dies, The Endless Kaleidoscope"
Though the video quality is less than ideal, Shakti Maggi's concepts on death and 'reincarnation' (my term, not hers) come through with the loving clarity that is her hallmark in this short 4-min. video.

"The body, it is simply a movement of energy arising from the stillness of your being …[during death, this movement] will be simply receding back into stillness."
Adyashanti
"Death: The Essential Teachings"
In this 5-min. video, Adyashanti describes how the process of aging can lead to the wisdom and freedom of letting go.

"But certainly, enlightenment is absolutely intrinsically linked with death. There is no deep lasting liberation without death, without dying before you die, without the psychological self giving way. They're intimately linked; you don't get one without the other. They're absolutely linked together."
Rupert Spira
"What Happens to Awareness After Death"
Rupert explains why we experience different states of awareness and offers a description of 'reincarnation' (my term, not his).

"Remember, the body is an appearance in the mind. So when the body dies, just a particular localization of consciousness disperses… Consciousness doesn’t dissolve."

Terence McKenna
"Life And Death"

A 6-min lecture snippet in which Terence comments on the origins of the body and exploring the after-death space with psychedelics.

"So I think what biology is, is the intrusion into 3-dimensional space and time of hyper-dimensional objects. And the other clue to that, that seems an argument for it, is that we do have this thing called 'the mind' but we can't find it anywhere. It doesn't seem to be anywhere… [at death] I think probably these objects retract back into hyperspace - higher space ... we clothe ourselves in matter but we are not matter and so to actually complete a human cycle of existence, you have to go into death. It's where you came from..."
Eckhart Tolle
"What Happens At The Time Of Death?"
In this short excerpt from an audience Q&A session, Eckhart talks about the transformation consciousness will face after the body's end.

"Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal ultimately exists….. Beyond the appearance on the level of form, which is the only level where death exists, it is a transition from one form into another form or from one form into formlessness. That is what death is, no more than that. Nothing real dies…. It's a transmutation of form."

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Shakti Caterina Maggi

Website, YouTube, Facebook

After studying with Bodhi Avasa, Shakti Caterina Maggi began helping others awaken to their true nature as One Consciousness in 2003 and currently offers retreats and meetings in Italy, Europe, and online. “The opportunity to meet what we are, and to embody it in everyday life, is the very meaning of life itself – not as human beings who seek God, but as the Divine itself experiencing itself through the human experience.” Shakti began to hold true satsang in 2011 and more recently, partnered with therapist Giusi Carrera to create seminars exploring non-duality in the world of therapy. Though based in Italy, Caterina also offers a number of teachings for English speaking audiences, which are found on her YouTube channel.
"When you firstly see what you are, Silence or Nothingness, this revelation appears as a window opening to the Reality of Being. When the window opens up you see to be this Silence in which everything appears. All is suddenly shown in its clarity: you see that you yourself are the background of Life itself and all that appears is an experience that is manifesting from and as your Being. When you firstly see what you are, Silence or Nothingness, this revelation appears as a window opening to the Reality of Being.When the window opens up you see to be this Silence in which everything appears. All is suddenly shown in its clarity: you see that you yourself are the background of Life itself and all that appears is an experience that is manifesting from and as your Being." --Shakti Caterina Maggi from her post Integrating Awakening and the Mind's Pendulum
What's been helpful: About all I know so far of Caterina's teaching is what I've seen in the few videos appearing recently on the SAND website after their 2017 conference in Italy - but that's been enough to make me a fan. She has such an open and loving way about her as she teaches, especially when taking questions from her audience. Though she's based in Italy, it looks like she's started offering more retreats stateside and I highly recommend all the videos (and articles) posted on SAND (and her website) to anyone in need of a little Italian-accented balm for the psyche. A few more of my favorites: The Crisis of Waking Up, Embodied Awakening and The Disappointment of Love and Love

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