All the great Revelations have taught humanity to come to terms with death and live their lives in anticipation of it.  For all these great religions, death is not the end but is a transition of our abstract souls into a more abstract existence. We are taught that it is only “abstract” in relation to this world, but is still a real existence. Jesus consoled His disciples about His own death by saying that His “father’s house” had “many rooms” and that if they followed His teachings, they would find Him there.  The Prophet Muhammad reminds us in the Quran that “every soul shall taste of death“, and that when we die, we should die in a “state of submission” unto God.

Baha’u’llah’s Revelation is more expansive on this theme and we will share several quotes tonight that reflect that.  He describes “worlds of God” that exist beyond this one, and that we are part of as vast a spiritual universe as we are a physical universe.  The purpose of life is to develop the spiritual aspect of ourselves to prepare for the world beyond, which has none of the physical features with which we often define ourselves.  He tells us that “a true believer lives in this world and the world to come“, indicating that our spiritual lives and our life in the next world are intimately connected.  Baha’u’llah also taught that we should not fear death, nor excessively grieve about it.  In a Tablet provisionally translated as the Tablet of Consolation, Baha’u’llah comforts a man who has lost his father-

This is no day of woe and weeping. Ye who believe in God should rejoice in the days of your Lord, the All-Forgiving, the Munificent. He(God) it is who suffices you and He is more loving than a thousand fathers. 

Indeed, we should meditate about death, because seeing our lives in that broader context helps us to live life with purpose and meaning.

This is most succinctly expressed in the following Hidden Word, in which God speaks directly to each of us with a message about death. It has been beautifully set to music by Paul Parrish.