FREEDOM

 It's natural to be sad as we say our 'goodbye' to a loved one who has died. But letting such sadness direct our subsequent life is to deny that death, rather than an end, is the beginning of a new phase of existence.

Vera Lynn, back in the war years, used to sing "We'll meet again - don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day."

The singer was referring to the expectation of sweethearts being reunited when the war ended, but surely she also meant a reunion in heaven in the event of death - death being an ever-present threat during those turbulent years.

Sadness after a death is natural for a while, but if we can focus on the freedom being experienced by our loved one - who has perhaps been released from a pain wracked body - we can, I'm sure, before too long feel glad in the knowledge that our shared love lives on.

CAN WE LOOK THROUGH HEAVEN'S DOOR BEFORE DEATH?

Can we look through heaven's door before death? This is a question answered by Patricia Pearson's book 'Opening Heaven's Door', currently being serialized in the Daily Mail.

It's clearly a fascinating book, giving all kinds of insights into death-related experiences that defy logical interpretation. One story that especially struck me concerned a woman who, having just given birth,  looked across to the far side of the room and smiled radiantly, saying "Oh, lovely, lovely!"

When her obstetrician asked her what was lovely, she answered intensely: "What I see: lovely brightness - wonderful beings." Then, focusing her attention on a particular place, she exclaimed: "Why, it's my father! Oh, he's so glad I'm coming, he is so glad."

It seemed to the obstetrician that her patient had a momentary hesitation, wondering whether she should stay for the baby's sake. But she suddenly said: "I can't - I can't stay; if you could see what I do, you'd know I can't stay."

She then seemed confused, saying: "Father has my sister with him." (Her sister had actually died three weeks previously but the death had been kept from her because of her advanced pregnancy.)

After the patient's death (her vision having been witnessed by her mother, a nurse, the matron and the resident medical officer as well as by her obstetrician) Sir William Barrett, a physicist at the Royal College of Science in Dublin, launched a formal investigation and his published account - in 1926 - became the first corroborated report of a deathbed vision. There have been literally 1000s more in the interim.

So what do you think? Can we look through heaven's door before death?