From – God the Substance of All Form

By Joel Goldsmith

Chap 7

The Last Enemy  –   Part 1 of 5

Everyone is interested in the subject of immortality – immortality here and now, in this body, not merely an immortality to be attained after death. It is in this very body that immortality must be experienced – this very body which we are now using as our instrument. We shall not lose our body, but we will lose our false sense of body and come into the realization of the true nature of body.

By losing the sense of disease, accident, and old age, and coming into a higher realization of perfect body, there is no loss of body: There is just the loss of a false sense of body and the realization of the true nature of body. In the same way, experiencing immortality here and now involves no loss of body, but only the loss of a false sense of body. In our daily meditation, let us realize immortality here and now – the immortality of this body and this universe – in order that we may lose the false sense the world entertains of the body and of the universe.

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” That may seem very discouraging to many people. Of this we can be sure, however, whether or not it is the last enemy to be overcome, it will never be overcome until we begin the overcoming, until we begin to do something about it. Just going on from one year to another, aimlessly saying, “Oh, well, death will be the last thing to be overcome,” is not going to postpone it. If we want to postpone death and finally overcome it, we must begin now.

What is death? Death appears to be a momentary cessation of consciousness. But consciousness cannot be or remain unconscious. In fact, consciousness can never become totally unconscious. What we call death is but an apparent lapse into deep unconsciousness, from which we become conscious again, usually upon the same level as that upon which we fell asleep.

End Part 1