Reviews: A Beginner’s Guide to Life After Death

Life is full of little ironies. For instance, perhaps the biggest mystery about life is death, which most of us perceive as being the opposite of life. But is death really the end, or merely the gateway to a new beginning and a new life? Nobody knows for sure what happens to us after we’re planted in the ground or incinerated atop a funeral pyre. In the west, most of us try not to think about it too much.

In the New Age movement, reincarnation is universally accepted as fact. Everyone from the Wiccans and Ceremonial Magicians to the old fashioned Spiritualists believes that not only is there life after death, but that there is also life before life, known as “past lives.” So prevalent is this belief, that the “New Age” sections of bookstores are full of volumes on reincarnation. Most of them require that you already believe in reincarnation or that you’ve already bought-in to an esoteric brand of spirituality like Buddhism. Other books are so advanced that they require a degree in theology to be understood. There has been little available for the average person with a passing interest in the subject of reincarnation.

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Recently a small publisher in England published a book which would seem to be specifically for the person who would like to learn the basics on the theory of reincarnation without devoting a lifetime to its study. Aptly titled A Beginner’s Guide to Life After Death, the book tells the story of author Peter Shires awakening into the world of spirit.

At the story’s beginning, Shires is very much an everyman. Agnostic in his beliefs, he’s never given the spiritual side of his nature much thought. He doesn’t go to church with any regularity and he’s never stopped to seriously consider what happens to a person after their body expires. When he does get involved in the spiritual side of life, it’s at the urging of his wife who’s discovered that an acquaintance has the ability to heal people with the touch of her hands.

From this first exposure to the possibility of “faith healing,” he moved-on to some rather harmless experimentation with the Ouija Board, which eventually led to a “conversation” with a spirit guide named Wilhelm, who spoke to him through another spirit named John. This would lead to a series of meditations using the technique of “automatic writing,” where Shires “channeled” the words spoken by Wilhelm and John onto paper, this book being the result of those writings.

The book, written like a diary, reads like a primer on the theory of reincarnation. Wilhelm explains that life on the “Earth plane” is like a school. Here, we are given the chance to make choices that either serve the divine or to be selfish and serve only our own self-interests. Between lives, we are given the opportunity to contemplate our actions on earth and how they either hurt or helped others. Through a process of numerous incarnations, the individual slowly evolves into a being who learns to serve God instead of self.

Central to this learning process is the ancient idea of karma, the belief that we “reap what we sow” or that there are consequences to our actions. When we live our lives selfishly, we usually receive little help or support from others and are unable to grow spiritually. But when we live our lives in service to others, we find that there are others who are willing to help and support us through our trials and tribulations.

“Bad thoughts and deeds are terrible for karma and for advancement,” his guides explain. “Love is white, advancement, light, heat, healing, goodness. Evil is darkness, illness, sorrow. Light attracts light. Love people and they love you, even though this is not immediately apparent. Help and you are helped. Give and all is given. Hurt people and you receive like kind. Think black and evil and such will come to you. Trouble and bad thoughts cause illness of spirit and can actually cause illness of the physical body. The spirit reacts on the body. Love cleanses the mind and the mind cleanses the body.”

Although this may seem very simplistic, experts on reincarnation, like the Tibetan Buddhists, would find nothing here with which to argue. They would say that none of the great spiritual leaders from history, from the Buddha to Mother Theresa, were born that way. It was only through the process of “learning from their mistakes” that they came to such a high spiritual state.

A Beginner’s Guide to Life After Death will offer little new to those who have already studied the process of reincarnation. However, the book is an excellent source for those who are just getting interested in the subject. Although not yet available in American bookstores, the book can be ordered by mail. The price is $20 US (7 Pounds UK), which includes postage. Checks, PO or credit card details should be sent to Fortune Books Ltd; c/o G. L. Publications, PO Box 168, Leeds LS159TJ.  

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