I was recently asked to explore the idea of when a person's soul leaves their body and how we can know that they have moved on.
Fred's been watching a good friend, who we'll call Joe, for weeks move through one health crisis after another, the most recent of which was a debilitating stroke which has rendered him functionless. Joe's family is going to great lengths and expense to keep him on life support in the hopes of recovery. Joe however is no longer in control of any of his faculties with no sign of interaction or response. So, is Joe still with us, since he is breathing and his heart is beating, albeit on command of a machine, or has he passed and is just his shell left lying in the hospital bed?
There isn't yet a science to the transition of a soul from the body although there is research that implies a change in physical state when a person's spirit crosses over. And there are plenty of us who have seen an energetic presence above or around a body at the time of physical death. Yet how do we explain and understand the transition when there is brain death and the heart continues to beat? Loved ones cling to the concept of recovery and healing through life support, yet the body has almost always given over to death. Sometimes we are so close to believing in recovery, we are unable to see that life (the spirit) has abandoned the fight and is ready to move on.
Because of the closeness of the human bond and the entanglement of grief, the newly freed spirit will hang around the body until the body too is freed from the bond of artificial life. They stay close because they feel the pull of loved ones. They want to ease the pain of separation. They want to transition completely when life fully leaves their body.
Our souls have a life beyond the time they spend in the body. And they have connections to the other souls with whom they have shared their physical life. Because of this, they remain bound to the grieving until there is enough acceptance to allow the body to die. Turning off life support is the first step in the acceptance of death.
So, brain death begins the departure of the soul. It creates a path out of the body and on to the hereafter. However, the soul is not free to leave the human dimension until their body is fully released to death. Our departing loved ones understand our grief, our struggle to let go and our hope for recovery. They are not on a timeline to the hereafter and will remain patient until we are able to take a step in separation.
They only wish us love and peace and acceptance of the continuity of life. They are always with us and will always love us.
