According to A Course in Miracles® "Death is the central dream from which all illusions stem" (TM 63). It is the common pervading fear of this world where nothing lasts forever. Even solid rocks erode away in time.
Charles Darwin correctly assessed this world continues through the survival of the fittest. We stay alive through the death of some other living thing. In an ego-based world dedicated to separation, the idea of decay, sickness, death and murder, are of pivotal importance. Kill or be killed is the catch cry. While many of us may deny the inevitability of death in our youth we live out our lives here with this constant threat hanging over us, worrying it can come without warning at any time. Those we love will be snatched away from us or we from them. We feel that in this brief existence we must grab what we can while we are able.

"Who could love a life so soon cut short and not esteem the worth of passing joys? What pleasures could there be that will endure? Are not the frail entitled to believe that every stolen scrap of pleasure is their righteous payment for their little lives? Their death will pay the price for all of them, if they enjoy their benefits or not. The end of life must come, whatever way that life be spent. And so take pleasure in the quickly passing and ephemeral." text 526/7

It makes no sense that a loving God could have had a hand in the making of this impermanent world of form so unlike Himself but the idea of death suits our ego's needs, giving us a valid reason to fear God, and confirm that the 'separation' is real.
"If this were the real world, God would be cruel. For no Father could subject his children to this as the price of salvation and be loving. Love does not kill to save. If it did, attack would be salvation, and this is the ego's interpretation, not God's." text 220.

We project our deep feelings of guilt on to our Father and blame Him for kicking us out of the Garden on Eden, cutting our little lives short, ignoring that death was our idea, not His! While most would strenuously deny it, the Course explains just how much the idea of death suits the needs of the ego. "The Attraction of Death" (text 388)
In our total insanity we can even use death to manipulate others by projecting our guilt on to them.
"Death seems an easy price to pay if they can say "Behold me brother, at your hand I die" text 526.
We have all had times when the prospect of death seems to be the only solution to the problems going on in our lives. We really don't mind the thought of dying providing we can be in another form in some spirit world or a body somewhere else on another planet or even returning here to start again. Many want fervently to believe they will be able to continue their special relationships on 'the other side' resulting in more of the same as on earth. The joy of being in harmony with all of God's Sons never enters their minds.

"When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is nothing. Everything is accomplished through life, and life is of the mind and in the mind. The body neither lives nor dies, because it cannot contain you who are life. If we share the same mind, you can overcome death because I did. Death is an attempt to resolve conflict by not deciding at all. Like any other impossible solution the ego attempts it will not work." text 96/7

"No one dies without his own consent."

Pam and I organized a series of weekend Miracle weekends at Vision Valley near Sydney over several years. One of the regular attendants was a doctor who several years earlier had given up his successful city practice moving to the country to lead a meditative life after which he discovered A Course in Miracles®. . We had become very friendly with him and he often talked about regularly communicating with Jesus and longing to be with him. On arrival at the conference he told Pam how Jesus had appeared before him a few days earlier asking "Are you ready to come with me now." Our friend admitted being taken aback at the request of Jesus and stuttered an answer that surprised even him. "Er....not yet" was all he could think to say. Not exactly the answer we expected from him, considering his professed love for Jesus. As it so happened, he had been billeted with a man from Tasmania who years ago underwent a near death experience so profound he was reluctant to return to his body. We don't know what transpired between them but after their time together, our country friend seemed happier and we concluded he had been helped with his fear of death. A week later we received a letter from his wife telling us that he had experienced a massive heart attack and passed away very suddenly on his way to a Miracle meeting. We may talk about wanting to return Home to God but when it comes to the 'moment of truth' we have to admit we are constantly deciding to remain attached to this ego world of pleasure and pain.
The Course states "No one dies without his own consent." WB p. 274. In our friend's case it was the voice of Jesus who informed him. Others not ready for such a direct approach might merely have an internal knowing that they had completed their work and that no longer were there any need to stay. Stories abound of people tidying up wardrobes and messy garages just days before passing on. It is not obligatory to leave when we know our work is done, as nothing can happen without our agreement as Sons of God with total free will, but once aware of the position, no one would mind discarding the body and moving on.

"God's Voice will tell him when he has fulfilled his role, just as It tells him what his function is. He does not suffer either in going or remaining." manual p. 31.

In a recent TV interview, Shirley MacLaine spoke of being with her father just before he passed on. He told her that his final realization was that there was only love and nothing else existed. At any instant, even at the point of death we all have the choice to choose love or fear. As the body isn't real, how can we die? We merely go from one experience to another until we are ready to wake up into "The happy dream" where our perception will be so changed we would never see the world as it was again.

"You are more afraid of God than the ego"

While superficially it seems that much of our thinking is devoted to delaying our death as long as possible, the pervading fear of death is only a smoke screen hiding our real fear: the frightening idea of giving up our egos and this world forever. No matter how much we talk of God and His ever-flowing Love, the prospect of losing our individuality and specialness by disappearing into what the ego tells us is some obscure ball of light, terrifies us. The Course tells us that we made a solemn vow with the ego never to look behind the fear of death where we have hidden our fear of God's all encompassing Love, the extent of which if experienced, would be so powerful we would willingly give up this world and leap into His Arms forever.

"Can you imagine what a state of mind without illusions is? How it would feel? Try to remember when there was a time, - perhaps a minute, maybe even less - when nothing came to interrupt your peace; when you were certain you were loved and safe. Then try to picture what it would be like to have that moment be extended to the end of time and to eternity. Then let the sense of quiet that you felt be multiplied a hundred times, and then be multiplied another hundred more.
And now you have a hint, not more than just the faintest intimation of the state your mind will rest in when the truth has come. Without illusions there could be no fear, no doubt and no attack. When truth has come all pain is over, for there is no room for transitory thoughts and dead ideas to linger in your mind. Truth occupies your mind completely, liberating you from all beliefs in the ephemeral. They have no place because the truth has come, and they are nowhere. They can not be found, for truth is everywhere forever, now." WB 189

The Course assures us that we will not awaken against our will. We are the ones in control of when we decide for God. None of us can do this alone but we do need to show a little willingness for Holy Spirit to help us along the way to the Happy Dream. It is not necessary to give up our body to learn this but when we are ready to give up all investment in this world and accept everything and everybody with love we will find ourselves in the 'Forgiven world'. Whether we have a body or not in that state would be of no consequence. There we will remain in peace and joy until the last brother joins us and we return back to God together, never to leave again.

Will the world self-destruct?
Will it finish in an enormous explosion, another big bang? According to A Course in Miracles® there will be no catastrophic end to the world. It was originally made to be a place of catastrophes where fear predominates, a home of madness where we thought we could hide from God's wrath. Fear can only promote even greater fear as love promotes more love. There is no indication that the great flood of Noah's day, if it did occur, left the world a better place than it was before. We still have a split mind choosing moment by moment to listen either to the ego or the Holy Spirit.
In a recent stay in hospital, I was trying to cheer up a man in the adjoining bed who had been feeling fearful although he had successfully undergone many operations in the past. I suggested to him that recovering from a life threatening experience could make you more appreciative of the loved ones in your life. He replied "Yes, but that only lasts for about 2 days after you get home!" He was right: External events can not change our attitudes unless we decide to first change our minds.

"Mistakes do not correct mistakes"
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The world could not end with more fear and separation as it began. It can end in only one way, by the reversal of the original purpose and its transformation to a place of love from which we can return to our Source.

"The world will end in joy, because it is a place of sorrow. When joy has come, the purpose of the world has gone. The world will end in peace, because it is a place of war. When peace has come, what is the purpose of the world? The world will end in laughter, because it is a place of tears. Where there is laughter, who can longer weep? And only complete forgiveness brings all this to bless the world." manual p. 36

In the meantime, how are we to live our lives in this seemingly mad and cruel place? Firstly we don't have to feel guilty about our reluctance to go Home as we have plenty of company. Let us be gentle on ourselves, by forgiving ourselves for preferring chaos to peace. We can move step by step towards love by living as much as we can in the now and by not taking life and ourselves so seriously. When the pain of our faulty choices becomes more than we can bear, we can choose once again and ask for help from Jesus and the Holy Spirit who will show us that whatever problems we seem to be experiencing, forgiveness will solve them all. If it takes some time for us to give up our attachment to separation and stay in pain a while longer, so be it, but when that time arrives and Jesus informs us our work here is done asking us if we are ready to come with him, we will happily answer "Yes!"

Bill McDonald