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1 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW '11 Days of Peace' fosters compassion ... First thing: Take care of the audience ... It's no con: 'Dirty Rotten' is hysterically funny ... '11 Days of Peace' fosters compassion ... First thing: Take care of the audience ... It's no con: 'Dirty Rotten' is hysterically funny ... INNER PEACE Inner Peace: Eternal life exists in pure consiousness Comment By Jim Hatton DailyTidings.com By Jim Hatton Posted Jul. 30, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Jim Hatton Posted Jul. 30, 2016 at 12:01 AM » RELATED CONTENT • Inner Peace: It's not easy to keep peaceful in a political season... • Christians and Muslims join in peace making • Inner Peace: Peace beckons from beyond the grave » Social News The prospect of eternal life is a very attractive one. Especially when it is combined with the idea of living in a peaceful, blissful state with endless beauty and all the material items one could want. As Morgan Freeman pointed out in the recent television series, "The Story of God," on National Geographic, many of the great traditions have used the offer of eternal life as a tool to draw people into the tradition that a heavenly state will be achieved if one acts in certain ways and professes certain beliefs. Mr. Freeman also demonstrates that the idea of someone or something keeping track of the actions and deeds in our lives helps to control the masses into conforming to a prescribed group of ideas and beliefs. I call this the “Great Scoreboard in the Sky.” It is a common belief both in and out of religion, especially in western society. In doing spiritual counseling, I find that the greatest fear that many have is the fear of death. That fear of death is not so much the fear of eternal punishment as it is the fear of non-existence. In other words, many have the fear that after this physical life is over, we “go blank” or ‘wink out.” There is nothing left of us, we go unconscious forever. I recently attended a Celebration of Life service. During the service the following passage was read: "And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have not hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died." (Christian Testament: Thessalonians 4:13-14 NLT) As I listened to these words being read, I had the thought that in order to have the prospect of eternal life, we must assume that we are not eternal already. The common fear I spoke of earlier of “winking out” must weigh heavily and consistently on many people’s consciousness. But what if we didn’t have to worry about doing the right things and believing the right way to obtain eternal life? What if we already knew that, after we are done with this “space suit” body, our awareness, soul, consciousness or whatever we want to call it is in fact eternal? In the tradition of the Kabbalah, we humans are all Emanations of the Divine. The qualities, likeness, presence of the Divine are part of our inherent nature. Earnest Holmes writes: "Man is born of eternal day, not because he wills or wishes it, not because he labors or strives toward it, not because he earns it as a reward, but simply because the Spirit has breathed life into him. And the Spirit which has breathed this life into him has breathed Its own Life and cannot unbreathe It or take It away." ("You Will Live Forever," Holmes Star Publishing 2012) The idea of eternal life is not one that we live in our current physical bodies forever, although ancient texts allude to living 800 years or more. Our current body is a specially designed “space suit,” which enables us to experience the physical world. Although closely tied and connected, our bodies are not “Us.” We will eventually discard this magnificent vehicle to move on to greater and greater expression, much like a lizard outgrows and sheds its skin as it grows in stature. If we can accept and embody that what we are, which is pure consciousness, does not have to do anything to obtain immortality, but that we are already immortal, we can set aside all fears and live with a deeper inner peace. Jim Hatton, is the author (under the name James Apollonius Alan) of “A Spiritual Master’s Guide to Life,” available on Amazon or at SpiritualMaster.co . By Jim Hatton DailyTidings.com By Jim Hatton Posted Jul. 30, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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