The Five People You Meet In Heaven

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Have you read books by Mitch Albom, his most famous one being “Tuesdays with Morrie” which was made into a movie? A couple of month’s back I read “The five people you meet in Heaven” by Albom also a movie. It is about an old man dying in an accident and the five people he meets in heaven when he awakens in the afterlife. Heaven is not at all what he imagines but a classroom of learning about the life that he has left behind. Each of these people teaches him about his earthly life. There are no accidents in life, everything is preordained, connected, and how an act by someone can cause ripples of reactions affecting your loved ones as well as strangers, changing their paths forever.

From a very young age I have pondered often about death, not with fear but more out of curiosity. How will death come, is it painful or is there a sense of freedom in dying? What happens after you die? I have read many books on it. Most tell us that once we leave this earthly body we are guided to another realm by the people we have loved in this life and who have passed away. It may be our parents, our spouses, friends, grandparents and mentors, anyone that we would love to meet again. It is very natural after we have lost loved ones to want to be with them or meet them after we die. I remember reading another book by Lobsang Rampa, a Tibetan mystic. It is about a janitor who suddenly dies and his soul is somehow trapped in this earthly plane because he never desired to meet a loved in the afterlife so there is no one to help him cross over. And I thought to myself that it is necessary that we have loved ones in the afterlife, souls that we desire to meet after we die so that the transition to the other realm is made easier.

As I lay in bed today a thought came to me…if I outlive everyone, who are the five people I would most love to meet? Have you ever thought of that? The most obvious will be our parents of course and then perhaps brothers and sisters. And then who? I am keeping out children because I hope and pray we don’t ever outlive them. But yes I am sure there will be mothers and fathers who have lost a child want to be reunited with them once they die. I have a cousin who lost his mother at a young age and I know that he has conversations with her even today. Every time he is in a dilemma he will reach out for her and he feels her presence and knows that she watches over him. When my father passed away, the first thing my cousin told my mother was “Now Mama (uncle) must be meeting Ma”. My father and his mother were brothers and sisters.

The first thought that came to my mind was that if I outlived everyone life would become pretty lonely. The prospect of crossing over would then be a welcoming one. As I mulled over the list of people I realized I had countless people that I would want to meet. I tried to shortlist that list but it wasn’t easy. I know I would want both my parents waiting to engulf me in their warmth. I would also love to meet someone very close to my heart whose life was taken away too soon. And yes perhaps even a stranger who changed my life and I his. What a reunion that would be! And if I outlive my other half then I would be anxious for him, my closest soul mate, whom I met too late in this lifetime. As I close my eyes imagining, I can almost feel the love that will radiate from all my loved ones as they guide me through this transition. A promise of a new beginning and of lifetimes of togetherness.

However on the other hand if I am one of the first to leave this realm, I wonder who would want to meet me? I think the people that we are most connected to in this life are the ones that we meet again and again in all our different lifetimes. But how many will be there to meet me half way? Who are the ones who will long to meet you in the afterlife? Have you ever thought about it, the ones that you touched so deeply in this lifetime that they will miss you till they are reunited with you?