The Last Journey - Going Home - Expanded Edition

By L. P. Daigneault and R. S. Daigneault

The Last Journey - Going Home - Expanded Edition addresses the fascinating subject of life after death, where it is and what happens when we cross over into the other side.

Do you believe in angels, ghosts, spirits? How about reincarnation? The answers to these questions and more are contained in different chapters of The Last Journey - Going Home, along with personal accounts of Near Death Experience, reincarnation, and interactions with residents who live on in another dimension.

We have included a little humour and endeavoured to make the book interesting and not just a dry rehash of what's already been said. You may like what we've written or you may disagree. We just ask that you read with an open mind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483577692

Book preview

one.

Come with us now as we lift the veil to the great beyond.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow.

Learn as if you were to live forever.

-Mahatma Gandhi

Paul -

It is quite possible we’ve all felt like the title of this chapter at some time or other! After all, when you are young, you feel indestructible.

What other reason would explain the reckless driving by so many young people? They can’t help it, they are influenced by all the TV ads for cars, trucks, and motorcycles and what they are selling speed.

Tackling a task such as climbing to thirdfloor windows to paint them might be considered risky by someone who is 50 or more, but to those in their twenties or thirties, it’s only a job. I do believe the statistics show higher rates of accidents by younger people and for a good and valid reason; they take more chances because they feel invincible. To young people the idea of being 50, 60 or 75 years old seems like something light years away.

I was not immune to the recklessness of youth. I had just turned 14 when I spent almost two weeks of my summer holidays at my uncle’s bush camp on the edge of as lake in Northern Ontario. My aunt was the cook for six men and plus her son and myself.

My cousin and I fastened together a few logs into a makeshift raft with the intention of sailing off on a Tom Sawyerlike adventure. One day, while my cousin went into town with his dad to get some supplies, I decided to give our raft a maiden voyage.

Using a sturdy piece of wood as an oar, I knelt down and shoved off, sans life jacket (which, to my knowledge at the time, was neither legally required nor in vogue in the forties). The only thing that convinced me to turn back, after going a hundred feet or so, was the frantic pleas from my aunt, standing on the shore, waving her arms. She gave a stern speech on the foolishness of my act. Obviously, she didn’t want me to drown on her watch. I imagine most readers can recall a similar ‘misadventure’.

Many people, approaching retirement, look back on their years and marvel how quickly those years flew by. Time did not go any faster, but, when you are raising a family, putting in long hours at work and taking frequent trips to country retreats (cottages or bush camps) if the finances were available it certainly felt that way. They were too busy to notice the years slipping by, hair getting thinner, sparser (in the men at least) greyer. We must not forget about the pounds accumulating in the mid section because physical activities were shoved aside in favor of more leisure.

Ask anyone over sixty where time went? Quite likely the response would be a shrug of the shoulders and a simple I haven’t a clue! Another possible answer might be, I lived, enjoyed life, and now I can slow down and relax.

The amazing thing about the statement of living forever is, in fact, we do live forever. Not in this lifetime of course, but somewhere, someplace, in a realm far more beautiful and wonderful than we can imagine.

This book is all about our real home. The place where we were created and the place to which we shall return.

For me, the journey to that home began with very basic religious education, starting in the first grade of the Catholic school system. Naturally, how much information can they cram into the head of a six or seven year old?

At age eight, my father changed employer and the family moved to another small mining town, Virginiatown, in the eastern fringes of Ontario, close to the border of Quebec. My new school, a Public School, did not offer any religious education. As far as the public school authorities were concerned, it was more essential to prepare students for a society geared to science and higher academics than cram religion into their heads.

Emphasis was more on topics such as English, Math, Geography, etc. However, religion was not completely ignored; the school day always opened and closed with the reciting of The Lord’s Prayer.

Some nonChristian parents were offended when their little Jack or Jill was forced to recite any form of prayer. Legal action was undertaken in some centers against that practice. Before long, the matter was taken right up to the Supreme Court. In 1988, the high court put a stop to the practice.

However, in the smaller communities where the only school was public, the practice of reciting The Lord’s Prayer continued.

Bible studies were the domain of the churches and religious subjects (i.e. Catechism) were taught in the Catholic schools.

The church sermons did not give much information about the life which will follow this one. You would think the subject of the ‘soul’ would be as important as the history of the relative religion, after all the establishment of religions were the past while the soul was forever. Our souls have been with us for centuries and will continue for centuries to come. What a tale our soul would recount if it could write a book. A best seller for sure!

In the early days of civilization, 85% or more of the population was illiterate, they relied only on what was told to them by their elders and the occasional traveler.

As mentioned earlier, the lack of proper education to a bulk of the population made it difficult to spread the ‘good word’. Jesus and his disciples carried his teachings to the people through public gatherings, both small and quite large. Those in attendance would pass on what was said to their friends and relatives who, quite likely, didn’t get it all correct.

Word of mouth is always subject to the speakers interpretation, inflection and delivery, and the listener’s memory which may not be 100% reliable. It’s somewhat like gossip; by the time it’s been spread to a score of people the information has changed and may not resemble anything like the original.

Distortion of information also applies to the scriptures, which were written by forty or more different authors and translated into many different languages. With each translation, it is more than likely several errors occurred where words were misread and copied incorrectly. The Greeks, Romans, and the Catholic Church made deliberate alterations to suit their own purpose. Some scriptures were omitted entirely, while others had some passages left out or inserted, depending on how it would fit in with their agenda.

In all Christian faiths, entrance to Heaven is the reward for living a good life, but, not necessarily the life of a saint. God is well aware humans are not without some faults and He does make allowances. Some believe, since Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we must simply accept Jesus as our saviour and He will automatically absorb the guilt of our sins.

Followers of Christian Universalism took it to the extreme by believing that because of Divine love and mercy, every soul will be accepted with open arms in Heaven.

At least as young people the idea of something being 50, 60, or 75 years away seemed like forever; we were too young to ever get there. It is amazing how quickly those years fly by. Ask anyone over sixty.

The truly amazing thing about the statement of living forever is, in fact, we do live forever, not on this planet certainly, but somewhere, someplace, in a realm far more beautiful and wonderful than we can imagine. That is what this book is all about. Our real home. The place where we were created, and the place to which we shall