The Afterlife, the Oversoul, and the Nonlocal You
The more I work in the field of afterlife studies and the more people I meet from the “other side,” the more I have to question current concepts of the afterlife. Most people assume that the afterlife is local, meaning it has a definite place or location, spatially as well as temporally. Of course, this is not true. If it were true, the dead would never know when to meet you, let alone where, because they too would be bound by place and time. But they are not. Hence they know when and where to find us with uncanny precision. They know exactly where we lie on our deathbeds and when it’s time to come get us. The abundant evidence of deceased friends and relatives warning the living of impending danger is perhaps the simplest demonstration of the dead’s nonlocality. They can roam into our futures and peer into any physical location or event, whether it has happened yet or not.
Time is not totally meaningless to them though. It is something that they can return to when they want, something that is bendable to their needs. A moment to us can be experienced as an eternity to them or as time standing still. Conversely, those stretch of years before we reunite with our departed loved ones usually have no time significance whatsoever to the dead. They never have to wait! Since the dead seem to be able to project themselves into any time and place, including their own past and future reincarnations, why then do we call “when” and “where” they are in the afterlife?
To complicate matters further, in my work I frequently see those who are not yet born alongside those who have already died. Is the afterlife, then, also the “beforelife?” The answer seems to be yes, although existential experiences may differ. Still, the preborn speak with the same mature, rational clarity as the dead. It is clear that the non-physical state of being, whether after death or before birth, cannot be described in terms of sequential time. There are, however, decisive indications that even in nonlocal realities borders exist, presumably psychological borders, a subject that I hope to tackle in the future. Perhaps we should attempt to abandon the convenient idea that the life we are in now is somehow sandwiched in between birth and the afterlife. But then, where should we situate our lives?
This is what I am playing with now, the notion that we, like the dead, are projections into a plane where we create with the illusions of time, place, and matter. This leaves open the all-important question of what part of us might be doing the projecting. If we look at the dead and the preborn for models, 
we see that they project into our world not just from a nonlocal reality but also from a standpoint of impossibly heightened awareness, meaning, from their immortal selves. Is that true of us as well? Are we projecting from that greater portion of our identities not focused in physical reality? Is our existence nothing more than a toe in the water? But surely like any toe, this toe, our lives, our projection, is sentient and sends its experiences back to the whole self. And like any toe, it would be in constant communication with the whole, receiving impulses, impressions, and drives from many portions of the self, including the transcendent self.
But would knowing this actually help us? Would we live better, more purposefully, more joyfully, if we knew deep down that we are merely projections? That the far greater portion of ourselves lives outside physical reality?
I believe we would. I believe it would relieve us of the colossal burden to live and die in socially approved ways. We would be more original in our creativity, more playful. We would act more from our authenticity and take more risks. I also believe we would take advantage of this awareness to willingly project into other zones, physical or not. Projection would open up many aspects of the self, from incarnations, past and future, from the transcendent self, and potentially, from the mighty entity that spawned us. Instead of being sandwiched in, we would know that what we are at this present moment is a point in our greater existence on which we are now focused.
What if that toe became aware of all the other toes, each one in their own pond, each one an independent life but profoundly connected to the other, even acting in unison. And then, suddenly the whole form opens up, the entire body, and the mind that creates that body and maintains its parts?
While I was writing this, I thought to myself, why not try it? I tapped into my greater self, that massive entity often called the oversoul. This identity that gave birth to me and to all the incarnations connected with me, alive and dead. That gave me the gift of independence and free will. As soon as I felt the connection, a huge spurt of energy poured into my body. I became instantly relaxed, inwardly calm and joyful. Finally, for a moment at least, I felt fully integrated.
This isn’t the end of it though. That night I caught myself in a dream. I was sending a new script out to all portions of myself, in all the dimensions that are of concern to me now. A new script! My mind trying to grapple with the immensity and instantaneity of such an act turned the new script into an email blast of zip-locked folders! Could it be that this tiny spurt of awareness led to an action on the scale of an entity, affecting every aspect of my greater identity, regardless of what pond or ocean or cosmic sea it’s in? I can’t wait to find out!
Dennis Chandler
2013-10-18 @ 3:40 PM
Julia,
I am reading The Last Frontier and exploring death and the afterlife. Thank you for this gift. You have opened a spacious portal into another realm previously thought of as the final exit, a doorway marked “The End”.
When one’s purpose is realized, our gifts to the world around us benefits countless others immeasurably. I am one of the unnumbered benefactors of your gift. While there is no possibility of a final truth on anything, you have shone a light into a dark corner that will incite riot on this most sacred journey. Thank You!
Julia
2013-10-19 @ 10:33 AM
Dennis, I am floored by your beautiful comments. You make it all more than worth it! Thank you.
Laurie Presler
2013-11-19 @ 5:48 PM
You have just opened my mind up to a whole new thought process, this is wonderful to me and I will be looking into this further. Thank you so much for this gift you have given.
Julia
2013-11-20 @ 10:48 AM
I’m so glad!
JW
2013-12-10 @ 9:02 PM
Julia, I just discovered your work via Michael Preston’s plug on his website for your book, which I plan on ordering. I wondered, as a scientist and in terms of replicability, if you have examined the late Robert Monroe’s work with OBE’s and his interaction with the Oversoul in Focus 21?
I like, in any event, your analogies and your treatment of space-time as non-limiting aspects of a higher reality for the deceased. I tend to subscribe to the schema of our tachyonic (supra-luminal) immortal existence where time (and therefore space) does not exist for beings traveling at or exceeding the speed of light. Just a guess but this is what my special theory of relativity/quantum mechanics professor said in college – that time is non-existent for photons, i.e., a trip across the Universe takes the same amount of time as a trip across the street.
Julia
2013-12-11 @ 8:53 PM
JW, what an interesting comment. Thank you. I would agree with you on most accounts. However, when I am in contact with the dead, which as a professional is a daily event, their emotions are very present…meaning they are not in the least abstract. The notion that they “travel” at any speed is, as you write, a false assumption in a nonlocal reality. Rather like photons they move in a virtual reality. Here one nanosecond and there the next, while always staying in the same nonspace! Having said that, they certainly experience sheer motion and mobility, which are nearly always prized experiences.
Mark
2013-12-16 @ 7:14 AM
Hi Julia, thought I might relay some information gained from a recent lucid dream that may add something to the discussion on our relationship to the Over-soul. In this lucid dream I was drawn up out of a scene from my current life and felt myself rapidly merging into my higher soul self. As I approached my higher soul self (mid-air, so to speak) I noticed a continuous stream of powerful energy waves radiating out from within the being’s heart center. The energy was radiating so powerfully that it looked like the flurry of rapidly beating semi-visible wings, or perhaps the waves of heat that can be seen rising from a stretch of desert highway baked by the blazing midday sun. This heart energy was being directed by my soul self to create and mold the creation scene below, which I recognized as symbolizing certain aspects of my current human life. As I merged into the higher soul self I came to experience myself as existing within that soul. I was now both fully myself and fully the soul at the same time. My consciousness greatly expanded whilst at the same time my focus intensified. I was now the soul and I was singing in full voice to my own creation as I swooped back and forth across it. Each wave of creative energy expended was infused with a dynamic musicality that poured forth from my heart center. I was singing as if I was the finest operatic tenor. Each note was powerful and crystal clear. My register was no longer restricted in any way. When the dream faded I was left in no doubt at all that whilst I am truly myself experiencing this current life I am also so much more. I am my soul. For me, the mystery of how we can be part of an over-soul without losing the individual sense of self has, to a large degree, been addressed. I hope this information proves helpful to others who may fear the loss of the ‘self’ as they pursue their own spiritual evolution. My message is that neither dying, nor the prospect of re-integration with the over-soul are to be feared in any way.
Blessings,
Mark.
Julia
2013-12-16 @ 10:01 AM
Mark, what a spectacular dream! I have never heard an account of merging with the oversoul as clear as yours. And I love how creativity comes to the fore in your experience. I do believe that creativity is why we exist, to create, as you wrote, the human dramas, the flesh and blood, of our reincarnations, but to be aware, at the same time, that we are transcendent. Bravo. And a million thanks for posting this. Julia
gordon phinn
2013-12-27 @ 4:06 AM
Hi Julia, just encountered your work through the references in Ian Lawton’s book “Supersoul”, in which I am also quoted, and felt the presence of a kindred spirit. Just read this blog and certainly feel an affinity for all that you say in it. As you are focusing on your Oversoul, which I assume is the same entity I relate to as Higher Self or Monad, let me mention that I have had many encounters with this being, dialogues and what I call “merges”, most of which are contained in my book “More Adventures In Eternity”, and some quoted by Ian.
I have not read your book yet or done more than make a cursory examination of this site. But I will !
cheers, gordon phinn