May 19, 2025 • 25 mins
Death is not the end, but merely a transition back to where we came from. Drawing from four decades of metaphysical exploration and his own near-death experience, Dr. Douglas James Cottrell reveals the fascinating journey our consciousness takes after we shed our physical form.
What happens in those first moments after death? Dr. Douglas explains that initially, you remain right where you were—in the same room, fully aware—but suddenly freed from physical limitations. Your consciousness can now move anywhere at the speed of thought. Think of the moon, and you're there. Consider a loved one, and you're instantly by their side. This "post-existence," as he calls it, mirrors the pre-existence from which we originally came.
The doctor shares compelling evidence of continued consciousness beyond death, from his personal childhood experience during anesthesia to accounts of those clinically dead who later revived with detailed observations of what happened while their bodies were non-functional. These stories paint a picture of souls moving through what appears as a tunnel (possibly exiting through the third eye or heart chakra) into an expansive reality where thought becomes the primary mode of transportation.
Most touching are the ways departed souls try to communicate with those still living—through flickering lights, moved objects, or most commonly, dream visitations where they appear vibrant and healthy, typically looking about forty years old regardless of their age at death. Dr. Douglas recounts how his grandfather visited him after passing, confirming his presence by manipulating the bedroom lights.
Perhaps most thought-provoking is the revelation about the "celestial planning room" where souls apparently choose their upcoming life experiences, including difficult challenges that will facilitate growth. This controversial perspective suggests that all human experiences, even painful ones, serve a higher purpose in our spiritual evolution as we move through successive lifetimes gathering the full spectrum of human experience.
Ready to expand your understanding of what lies beyond this physical existence? Join us for this mind-opening exploration that challenges conventional thinking about life, death, and the eternal nature of consciousness itself.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:00):
Welcome to Wake Up with Dr Douglas James Cottrell,
your source for helpfulinformation, advice and tips to
live your life in a mindful wayin this increasingly chaotic
world.
For over four decades, DrDouglas has been teaching people
how to develop their intuitionand live their lives in a
conscious way.
His news and views of the worldtomorrow, today, are always
(00:21):
informative and revealing.
And now here's your host, DrDouglas James Cottrell.
Douglas James Cottrell (00:30):
Welcome to the Wake Up, the broadcast
where curiosity leads to deeperunderstanding.
I'm your host, Douglas JamesCottrell, and my good friend and
co-host Les Hubert is here withme, along with editor Jack
Bialik, as we delve into thefascinating realms of life,
metaphysics, spirituality andthe pressing questions that
shape our world.
Good morning Les.
Les Hubert (00:52):
Hey, Doug, we've got an interesting question here
for you.
Assuming there is life afterlife, what happens when we leave
this dimension?
Where do you go and what do yousee?
Douglas James Cottrell (01:08):
The short answer is, you go back to
where you came from.
The experience of passing thephysical body, casting it off,
passing away and coming to theend of your life, and then the
soul leaves the body, whichwe'll talk a little bit about in
a moment and you go into theethers, into space.
Well, you're actually in thesame room, you haven't gone
(01:34):
anywhere, and then, at the speedof thought, you move around and
you go and you see differentpeople.
You're panicked, you're lost,you're without mass, and so
you're floating around, butwhatever you think about, you're
(01:54):
there.
And so where are you?
You're in the Earth plane,right where you were in a
physical form, a few moments ago.
But now you're in thepost-existence.
The post-existence is the greatbeyond, and as you rise up,
(02:14):
it's like being on the Earth.
You're fully aware of the Earth.
You look up, you see the clouds, and as you look up in the
clouds, you're in the clouds.
And then, as you look into thespace, you see the moon, you're
at the moon.
And then you look beyond andyou see the nebulas and the and
the dimensions beyond, andyou're there.
(02:36):
And so, to answer the question,where you are, then, is where
you came from.
The post- existence is exactlythe same as the pre-existence.
Now, in my experience, I haven'tsaid this too many times, but I
was there and I can rememberthat.
Because when I was a youngster,it was very popular for
(03:00):
children to have their tonsilsremoved, for no reason, other
than you had a sore throat,apparently.
It was a make-work project forsurgeons.
So I can remember going there,mask on my face, and I can even
remember saying to the nurses: okay, here I go, and I was gone. (03:17):
undefined
I went into some place likebehind me there, into.
.
.
I'm going to call it a void.
Space.
But everything in thatdimension, as I recall, was like
a slow, moving spiral downwardtowards the Earth.
(03:45):
And I was up at the top and Iremember hearing a sound like
this (whooshing noise).
That's not exactly what itsounded, that's my best
imitation, some 75 years later.
Well, not 75, but close to 70.
And so I remember that sound.
And then I woke up.
(04:10):
Having talked to other people,over the years, who have had
similar experiences, we come tothat conclusion that that spiral
downward was -- I'm going tocall it a nickname, I'm going to
say that's the spiritual slidethat you jump on.
And once you do that, youspiral down to another living
(04:32):
body.
So it's kind of like okay, soyou have to jump on this slide,
you know.
Do you know when to get on, orwhen not to get on, how fast do
you go and where does it go,down to the bottom?
Well, that doesn't matter.
The fact is that that's somememory experience that I had,
(04:55):
because, as I was a child, youknow, when they put that gas on
you, they take you to a pointof near death.
Oh, wow.
Any surgeon, or more exactlythe anesthesiologist, will tell
you that, that they take theperson to near point of death
and they keep them there andthen they bring them back after
the operation.
Well, sometimes people rememberthat.
(05:16):
Wow.
And sometimes people talk tothe doctor and say you shouldn't
have said that I had big uglytoes.
I heard you say that.
They go oh, I'm sorry, but theysay I was watching you.
They're watching the operationgoing on.
So that consciousness, that selfthat's watching, is it a
physical body?
(05:36):
No, it's not, because yourphysical body is now on the
table, on the operating table.
But that consciousness, thatmindfulness, that soul is
outside the body.
So in real life terms we haveawareness of the soul existing
outside of the physical body.
In near-death experiences,people-- and I've done them on
(06:00):
my shows here before in the paston a radio show and other --w
e've We've had people recalltheir continued existence after
they were clinically dead, onlyto be revived later, and then
they were able to relate andtell stories.
One we had was a doctor who wasin an ambulance, an air air
(06:22):
ambulance.
The plane crashed, the patientpassed away, as did one of the
other attendants, and theyalmost passed away.
But they technically were deadand they came back and they told
everybody what was going on,what happened.
Everybody was surprised thatthey came .
, Gratefully gratefullysurprised that the person came ,
.
the The doctor came back to life.
So what is this life after lifeconsciousness?
(06:44):
Where do we go?
Well, we go everywhere at thespeed of thought.
And so if you wanted to go tothe other side of the galaxy,
you could be there in a moment.
If you wanted to go to a planet, you could be there.
If you wanted to go to yourrelatives' houses and scream at
(07:05):
them, you would be doing that.
I know when a man's wife passedaway he could feel her laying on
top of him at the night thatshe passed away.
He could feel the coldness, thecoolness of it.
And so that soul still, kindof, you know, halfway between
(07:27):
physical-- let's say a physicalexistence or memory of the
existence-- and whatever theirsoul becomes, which is kind of
like an orb, a light orsomething like ectoplasm, which
is a milky substance thatappears and can take shape and
can turn into the shape of aperson, so you can recognize
them.
You know, I call them ghostpeople.
(07:49):
When we become a ghost people,we show our friends our favorite
outfits, clothes, hats,whatever, so they remember who
we are.
There's no such thing as ghostclothes, they're just the
appearance.
So the person who is still herecan observe that person who's
passed away and know it's them.
So that consciousness takes ona whole new I, I, I, existence,
(08:16):
and you become aware of yourself.
, but you're trying to go to everybody.
There's reports about peoplewaving your hands in front of
people you know, knocking ontables, pictures tilting, bells
ringing.
And what are these things?
These are the spiritual beingstrying to get our attention.
When my grandfather visited meafter he passed away, the lights
(08:40):
in my bedroom flicked on andoff and I said in half awake,
half asleep, said Hi, grandpa, Iknow it's you, I hope you're
okay.
The lights stopped flicking.
ut the evidence of life afterlife and visitations from those
people who are now discarnate isthat they try to communicate
(09:03):
back with us.
The best is when they appear inour dreams.
That's a visitation.
And that's where you can seethem and they're usually
standing there at the foot ofthe bed, big smile on their face
, looking like they're 40 yearsold.
If they passed away whenthey're 60 or 70, look like
they're 40 and mid-aged.
They're looking good, justsmiling and nodding.
Mom or dad or grandma, grandpa,coming back to sort of let you
(09:26):
know, I'm okay, but they can'tand don't talk for some reason,
because it's in the world ofthought.
So where do we go?
Well, when we pass away,there's all that tunnel effect,
you know.
P eople say they went through atunnel.
They could see themselvesmoving.
There was like a light at theend of the tunnel.
(09:47):
What if that end of the tunnelis right here on your forehead?
Oh, wow, wow.
The soul is coming up throughthe body, leaving the heart and
coming out through that psychicgland.
It's referred to as the thirdeye.
Wow, that's it.
That's the orifice that youexit the body.
Ah, okay, maybe it's not theforehead, maybe it's the chest.
(10:11):
The sum total of yourconsciousness comes.
Okay, maybe it's not theforehead, maybe it's the chest.
Some total of yourconsciousness comes.
It goes through the passagewayin the body until there's that
exit point and that's light, andit jumps through that and makes
the transition into thepost-existence.
I think that's really what it is.
Heart is apparently where thesoul resides.
(10:33):
So maybe it's coming out of theheart, but maybe it goes up and
out through this important areain the forehead where the
pineal and pituitary exist.
The pineal is supposed to bethe psychic center.
As the pineal opens up, yourconsciousness opens up and you
can perceive with your intuitivethird eye, if you will, like
(10:54):
real life.
It's a vision, it's a point.
So if you're blind, you can see, as if you had eyesight.
That's how specific it can be.
So let's assume that's what itis for this program that that
tunnel you're going throughisn't really a tunnel.
It's your way out of the bodyand the orifice at the end that
(11:16):
we perceive as the light.
As people report, that's justyou exiting the body.
You're unsealed.
Now I've had people tell methat they remember when they
were up there in heaven on twooccasions.
This was reported to me thatthe person was up there as a
soul and four beings angels cameand said okay, you've been up
(11:39):
here too long, you have to goback.
And they said no.
I don't want to go Kicking andscreaming.
They went down and they heldthe soul in a body, a baby's
body and this is the persontelling me the story.
They held me there until Icouldn't get out.
Wow, they sealed me in.
(12:00):
I've heard two people tell mesimilar stories to that.
I remember talking to this man.
He was middle-aged and he saidI didn't want to come here.
I still don't want to be here.
I don't like this place.
And I said, yeah, but you got awife and a family.
He says I never wanted to comehere.
It was always on his mind.
He wasn't depressed or had anymental or emotional illness, he
(12:23):
just didn't want to be here.
He didn't like it.
Again, four and this happened byanother person telling me four
beings came along and saidyou've been up here too long.
How long is too long?
A thousand years, a millionyears?
It didn't go there, but theycame and they put them down.
So that means that we havebeings out there that are
(12:43):
watching over us and lookingafter us in the ethers or in
that great consciousness.
So keep that in mind, myfriends, when you're thinking
about this, that when you say Ididn't ask to be born, well,
apparently you might not haveasked, but you're here.
Whether you were escorted intothis life or you reluctantly
(13:05):
chose it, or you became awarethat this was a really good
lifetime and someplace we wantto be, you're here.
Lifetime, and someplace we wantto be, you're here.
Edgar Cayce, the great seer ofthe 1940s, once was doing some
research about previousexistences which he sort of came
upon by accident.
Once did an investigation, apast life recall if you will, in
(13:27):
which he saw himself as agambler on a Mississippi river
boat, back in the days whencowboys and things you know,
guns and pistols.
He saw himself having thiswonderful life as a riverboat
gambler.
Okay, fine, got it.
And then he said that he likedit so much he decided to come
(13:49):
back and do it again.
So he had an encore second lifeas a riverboat gambler, back on
the days when the riverboatswent up and down the Mississippi
.
So what does that say?
Well, we have a consciousness,we have a choice, that we can
choose where we want to go.
Of course we are lethargic andwe don't want to come back.
(14:12):
And then the universe says no,no, you haven't been up here too
long.
Keep that in mind, my friends,because that was a very
startling point to me to hearnot one, but two people tell me
similar stories.
They did not know each otherand they told me this story more
than a year apart.
So where do we go?
Well, out there in the universe, and or across the universe at
(14:33):
the speed of thought.
Now, when we're there, we'rethe ones that judge ourselves.
You know, or do we go to hellor do we go to heaven?
Is judgment day out there?
Well, we're the ones that judgeourself.
We say, okay, you're a reallybad person.
Well, you had destructiveventures in that lifetime.
(14:54):
You were a marauder, you were a, let's say, a viking, and
causing raids and whatever,raping and pillaging.
So the next life you becomesomebody living in scotland or
england and the viking raiderscome down and they raid your
family, your family's village,whatever.
(15:15):
And so you get to see, hey, onetime I was a pillager, next time
I'm a pilgrim, and one time Iwas the victor and now I'm prey.
So this choice is what goes onin the post-existence.
While we're going through allthese aspects of deciding where
we want to go, people remembersitting at a big table and
(15:39):
choosing what they were going todo and what they were going to
become.
I remember two twins.
These ladies were twins.
They were six feet tall and 200pounders.
They were really not fat butreally muscular people and they
were abused as children terriblyby their father.
So at one point, when it got sobad, the one of the two sisters
(16:05):
remembers a lady showing up andsaying come with me, I'll show
you.
And as a little girl they wentand they were sitting there and
there was a table of many peoplesitting around like a board
table and they were deciding whowas going to be whatever.
And the father said I want toknow what it's like to abuse
(16:26):
someone.
Oh, wow.
And the little girl said, okay,I'll volunteer, as did her
sister.
And the little girl said, okay,I'll volunteer, as did her
sister.
And then she knew that she hadchosen to be the victim so that
her father could be the abuserand go through the shame and the
guilt and the punishment andall those painful things that an
(16:48):
abuser does.
For what?
For the experience of thefather to go through that, to
understand how terribly bad thatwas.
But when the little girl wokeup in the morning from this
visitation of the angel, shetold her sister and she said
this is why it's happening to us.
And then the angel said by theway, you're going to be okay,
(17:12):
this is going to stop soon.
And sure enough, the father wasarrested and the story goes on.
When I heard that story, likeeverybody hearing my words now
are saying how could that be?
How could somebody volunteer tobe in a situation like that?
People choose the body, theexperience, the family, because
(17:33):
up there in that celestialplanning room they make out
their life path.
All the experiences in theworld have to be experienced by
each and every one of us at sometime.
It's kind of like you go touniversity or you know you go
through primary school, highschool, university.
You have all the courses andyou have to graduate.
(17:55):
And when you graduate atuniversity you've done
everything.
Sure, you're graduated.
You've made it Well in aparallel.
That's what we do as we gothrough life Lives one after the
other.
Now, I'm not a proponent thatreincarnation is a belief system
.
I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about a soulchoosing to come into the world
(18:18):
at a specific time to carry on aspecific chore or gain specific
knowledge that it chooses.
And, as I said at some otherprevious podcast, the soul has
no emotional attachment.
It is conscious, it's aware andit is soaking up the experience
(18:40):
.
It's the knowledge it wishes togain, without emotion, without
values.
And so, if we understand that,lass, it's kind of like okay,
now it makes sense.
We're going back to thepost-existence and we're going
to go there, to what I wouldcall the different dimensions of
going to a soul hospital, ahospices, where you're nurtured
(19:02):
and they say there, there, thatwas terrible, but come here,
we're going to wrap arms aroundyou, we're going to love you,
it's okay.
And you're going to go now toanother dimension where you have
earned the right to be, andearning the right means the
consciousness, and as the higheryour consciousness goes, the
higher up you go to the higherrealms.
But over there there's placesof comfort, there's people
(19:25):
welcoming you their family wholoves you.
They show up because they're inspirit themselves.
So they come by and they saycome on.
I've had older people tell mewho were nearing their point of
death.
They said I had the strangestdream last night.
There was my brothers andsisters, my husband, and they
were all there saying come on,come on.
(19:45):
What does that mean?
You tell me there was awelcoming committee.
Now, on the other side of that,if you're a real bad person and
you're hateful and you're meanand you're nasty, guess who's
waiting on the other side foryou too.
Well, you're mean and you'renasty, guess who's waiting, you
on the other side, for you too.
Well, you're mean and nasty too.
Oh, yikes.
(20:07):
And then you might go, you know, take a trip to the basement to
find a way in that deep, dark,bad place.
So there is this continuation,there's a memory, there is a
time of reconciliation, ahospital time, a treatment time,
(20:27):
a therapy time, so that you getrid of the emotional pain that
you're still attached to for awhile after death.
And then you become morespiritual, more enlightened, and
you lose the value.
You lose all the emotionsexcept one, that's love.
(20:48):
All the rest belong down herein the classroom, the love you
have.
This is what you get to thehigher levels.
You shed all the hatred and thefear and all that.
That's all left down here.
This is the only place in theuniverse I've been led to
believe that has experiences inemotion, no place else.
(21:08):
Maybe that's why thoseoff-world beings, when they show
up, don't seem to be so loving.
They just are creatures ofthought.
I don't know Something to thinkof, for a future show.
Les Hubert (21:19):
I've seen things where loved ones have appeared
to me and I'm a little confusedhere, and I'm sure people
listening to the audience mighthave this question as well when
we leave this body, do we haveanother body?
I've heard of an astral body ora spiritual body, and why would
we even need that on the otherside or in the spirit realm?
Douglas James Cottrell (21:40):
Well, we're a soul, and a soul has a
consciousness and a soul has a,because we need to explain it to
ourselves.
We have a light body.
How many times have you seen anorb or a little dot?
See those little things righthere, that little spot there?
(22:02):
I've seen that floating acrossthe ceiling of them, and I asked
my teacher, ross peterson,about that and he said well,
just remember when you go to bed.
You got company you're pickingup and you're seeing these
consciousness.
But also I've seen these thingslike, like, uh, parentheses
going across.
They're blue in nature and theylook parentheses.
(22:22):
Yeah, that is a uh, let's say aspecial being, uh, instead of a
little star-like being.
This one's really close.
And then I have seen orbs andI've taken pictures of them.
One time orbs were in the inthe news all the time we're
taking pictures with our camerasto show where they go.
Where'd they go?
Now?
I don't see one.
Les Hubert (22:43):
I remember that yeah .
Douglas James Cottrell (22:45):
They were visiting us while we were
probably going through space.
You know, I was one of thefirst people to say our solar
system doesn't go horizontal,it's vertical and it progresses
through space.
Years ago I said that and Ifind it not to take any you know
, I said it first credit.
But I now see that scientistsare saying by the way, that's
how we go, as our solar systemprogresses this way, the planets
(23:09):
are going in circles, whichmeans they're spiraling through
space.
They're not just going like a,you know, straight road, they're
spiraling.
So we have these tails, if youwill, of the spiral of the nine
planets or more that we have.
So as we move forward in space,we're leaving behind the
pattern.
(23:29):
So the answer to the question iswhy do we have a soul body or a
mind body or something?
Because we have consciousness,and I like to say that souls
were all created at once in theGodhead of the Christos, and at
that moment we call it the BigBang, if you will.
We spread out across theuniverse because we were given
(23:50):
at that moment free will andfree choice.
And so we said okay, thanks forthe keys, dad, I'm taking the
car and I'm out of here.
And we took off.
Have you ever done that?
You've been somewhere and youdrove away.
And then you think I'm lost,how do I get back here?
We are lost, trying to find ourway back.
(24:10):
So we have a mind body, athought body, an essence of
light, and that's what we are,are, and you can see it around
you.
And by observing these otherorbs, lights and indicators that
, hey, if I can see them, thatis what I must be.
Les Hubert (24:32):
Well, thank you for tuning in for another great
podcast with myself and DouglasJames Cottrell.
If you like what you hear,please consider subscribing.
You can support us with eithera donation of $3 to $20 per
month.
Go to douglasjamescottrellcomand you can click on that big
blue banner and a shout out toMalutin, larry and Jack for your
help with the podcast.
Thank you very much for yourefforts.
(24:53):
We deeply appreciate it and weshall see you soon.
Douglas James Cottrell (24:57):
More exciting things to come.
Les Take care, my friends.
Announcer (25:01):
Thank you very much for listening to Wake Up.
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For more about Dr Douglas'sself-development classes, books
(25:22):
and other related products,please visit his website
douglasjamescottrell.
com.
Until next time, we wish youall of God's blessings health,
wealth and peace of mind.
Welcome to Wake Up with Dr Douglas James Cottrell,
your source for helpfulinformation, advice and tips to
live your life in a mindful wayin this increasingly chaotic
world.
For over four decades, DrDouglas has been teaching people
how to develop their intuitionand live their lives in a
conscious way.
His news and views of the worldtomorrow, today, are always
(00:21):
informative and revealing.
And now here's your host, DrDouglas James Cottrell.
Douglas James Cottrell (00:30):
Welcome to the Wake Up, the broadcast
where curiosity leads to deeperunderstanding.
I'm your host, Douglas JamesCottrell, and my good friend and
co-host Les Hubert is here withme, along with editor Jack
Bialik, as we delve into thefascinating realms of life,
metaphysics, spirituality andthe pressing questions that
shape our world.
Good morning Les.
Les Hubert (00:52):
Hey, Doug, we've got an interesting question here
for you.
Assuming there is life afterlife, what happens when we leave
this dimension?
Where do you go and what do yousee?
Douglas James Cottrell (01:08):
The short answer is, you go back to
where you came from.
The experience of passing thephysical body, casting it off,
passing away and coming to theend of your life, and then the
soul leaves the body, whichwe'll talk a little bit about in
a moment and you go into theethers, into space.
Well, you're actually in thesame room, you haven't gone
(01:34):
anywhere, and then, at the speedof thought, you move around and
you go and you see differentpeople.
You're panicked, you're lost,you're without mass, and so
you're floating around, butwhatever you think about, you're
(01:54):
there.
And so where are you?
You're in the Earth plane,right where you were in a
physical form, a few moments ago.
But now you're in thepost-existence.
The post-existence is the greatbeyond, and as you rise up,
(02:14):
it's like being on the Earth.
You're fully aware of the Earth.
You look up, you see the clouds, and as you look up in the
clouds, you're in the clouds.
And then, as you look into thespace, you see the moon, you're
at the moon.
And then you look beyond andyou see the nebulas and the and
the dimensions beyond, andyou're there.
(02:36):
And so, to answer the question,where you are, then, is where
you came from.
The post- existence is exactlythe same as the pre-existence.
Now, in my experience, I haven'tsaid this too many times, but I
was there and I can rememberthat.
Because when I was a youngster,it was very popular for
(03:00):
children to have their tonsilsremoved, for no reason, other
than you had a sore throat,apparently.
It was a make-work project forsurgeons.
So I can remember going there,mask on my face, and I can even
remember saying to the nurses: okay, here I go, and I was gone. (03:17):
undefined
I went into some place likebehind me there, into.
.
.
I'm going to call it a void.
Space.
But everything in thatdimension, as I recall, was like
a slow, moving spiral downwardtowards the Earth.
(03:45):
And I was up at the top and Iremember hearing a sound like
this (whooshing noise).
That's not exactly what itsounded, that's my best
imitation, some 75 years later.
Well, not 75, but close to 70.
And so I remember that sound.
And then I woke up.
(04:10):
Having talked to other people,over the years, who have had
similar experiences, we come tothat conclusion that that spiral
downward was -- I'm going tocall it a nickname, I'm going to
say that's the spiritual slidethat you jump on.
And once you do that, youspiral down to another living
(04:32):
body.
So it's kind of like okay, soyou have to jump on this slide,
you know.
Do you know when to get on, orwhen not to get on, how fast do
you go and where does it go,down to the bottom?
Well, that doesn't matter.
The fact is that that's somememory experience that I had,
(04:55):
because, as I was a child, youknow, when they put that gas on
you, they take you to a pointof near death.
Oh, wow.
Any surgeon, or more exactlythe anesthesiologist, will tell
you that, that they take theperson to near point of death
and they keep them there andthen they bring them back after
the operation.
Well, sometimes people rememberthat.
(05:16):
Wow.
And sometimes people talk tothe doctor and say you shouldn't
have said that I had big uglytoes.
I heard you say that.
They go oh, I'm sorry, but theysay I was watching you.
They're watching the operationgoing on.
So that consciousness, that selfthat's watching, is it a
physical body?
(05:36):
No, it's not, because yourphysical body is now on the
table, on the operating table.
But that consciousness, thatmindfulness, that soul is
outside the body.
So in real life terms we haveawareness of the soul existing
outside of the physical body.
In near-death experiences,people-- and I've done them on
(06:00):
my shows here before in the paston a radio show and other --w
e've We've had people recalltheir continued existence after
they were clinically dead, onlyto be revived later, and then
they were able to relate andtell stories.
One we had was a doctor who wasin an ambulance, an air air
(06:22):
ambulance.
The plane crashed, the patientpassed away, as did one of the
other attendants, and theyalmost passed away.
But they technically were deadand they came back and they told
everybody what was going on,what happened.
Everybody was surprised thatthey came .
, Gratefully gratefullysurprised that the person came ,
.
the The doctor came back to life.
So what is this life after lifeconsciousness?
(06:44):
Where do we go?
Well, we go everywhere at thespeed of thought.
And so if you wanted to go tothe other side of the galaxy,
you could be there in a moment.
If you wanted to go to a planet, you could be there.
If you wanted to go to yourrelatives' houses and scream at
(07:05):
them, you would be doing that.
I know when a man's wife passedaway he could feel her laying on
top of him at the night thatshe passed away.
He could feel the coldness, thecoolness of it.
And so that soul still, kindof, you know, halfway between
(07:27):
physical-- let's say a physicalexistence or memory of the
existence-- and whatever theirsoul becomes, which is kind of
like an orb, a light orsomething like ectoplasm, which
is a milky substance thatappears and can take shape and
can turn into the shape of aperson, so you can recognize
them.
You know, I call them ghostpeople.
(07:49):
When we become a ghost people,we show our friends our favorite
outfits, clothes, hats,whatever, so they remember who
we are.
There's no such thing as ghostclothes, they're just the
appearance.
So the person who is still herecan observe that person who's
passed away and know it's them.
So that consciousness takes ona whole new I, I, I, existence,
(08:16):
and you become aware of yourself.
, but you're trying to go to everybody.
There's reports about peoplewaving your hands in front of
people you know, knocking ontables, pictures tilting, bells
ringing.
And what are these things?
These are the spiritual beingstrying to get our attention.
When my grandfather visited meafter he passed away, the lights
(08:40):
in my bedroom flicked on andoff and I said in half awake,
half asleep, said Hi, grandpa, Iknow it's you, I hope you're
okay.
The lights stopped flicking.
ut the evidence of life afterlife and visitations from those
people who are now discarnate isthat they try to communicate
(09:03):
back with us.
The best is when they appear inour dreams.
That's a visitation.
And that's where you can seethem and they're usually
standing there at the foot ofthe bed, big smile on their face
, looking like they're 40 yearsold.
If they passed away whenthey're 60 or 70, look like
they're 40 and mid-aged.
They're looking good, justsmiling and nodding.
Mom or dad or grandma, grandpa,coming back to sort of let you
(09:26):
know, I'm okay, but they can'tand don't talk for some reason,
because it's in the world ofthought.
So where do we go?
Well, when we pass away,there's all that tunnel effect,
you know.
P eople say they went through atunnel.
They could see themselvesmoving.
There was like a light at theend of the tunnel.
(09:47):
What if that end of the tunnelis right here on your forehead?
Oh, wow, wow.
The soul is coming up throughthe body, leaving the heart and
coming out through that psychicgland.
It's referred to as the thirdeye.
Wow, that's it.
That's the orifice that youexit the body.
Ah, okay, maybe it's not theforehead, maybe it's the chest.
(10:11):
The sum total of yourconsciousness comes.
Okay, maybe it's not theforehead, maybe it's the chest.
Some total of yourconsciousness comes.
It goes through the passagewayin the body until there's that
exit point and that's light, andit jumps through that and makes
the transition into thepost-existence.
I think that's really what it is.
Heart is apparently where thesoul resides.
(10:33):
So maybe it's coming out of theheart, but maybe it goes up and
out through this important areain the forehead where the
pineal and pituitary exist.
The pineal is supposed to bethe psychic center.
As the pineal opens up, yourconsciousness opens up and you
can perceive with your intuitivethird eye, if you will, like
(10:54):
real life.
It's a vision, it's a point.
So if you're blind, you can see, as if you had eyesight.
That's how specific it can be.
So let's assume that's what itis for this program that that
tunnel you're going throughisn't really a tunnel.
It's your way out of the bodyand the orifice at the end that
(11:16):
we perceive as the light.
As people report, that's justyou exiting the body.
You're unsealed.
Now I've had people tell methat they remember when they
were up there in heaven on twooccasions.
This was reported to me thatthe person was up there as a
soul and four beings angels cameand said okay, you've been up
(11:39):
here too long, you have to goback.
And they said no.
I don't want to go Kicking andscreaming.
They went down and they heldthe soul in a body, a baby's
body and this is the persontelling me the story.
They held me there until Icouldn't get out.
Wow, they sealed me in.
(12:00):
I've heard two people tell mesimilar stories to that.
I remember talking to this man.
He was middle-aged and he saidI didn't want to come here.
I still don't want to be here.
I don't like this place.
And I said, yeah, but you got awife and a family.
He says I never wanted to comehere.
It was always on his mind.
He wasn't depressed or had anymental or emotional illness, he
(12:23):
just didn't want to be here.
He didn't like it.
Again, four and this happened byanother person telling me four
beings came along and saidyou've been up here too long.
How long is too long?
A thousand years, a millionyears?
It didn't go there, but theycame and they put them down.
So that means that we havebeings out there that are
(12:43):
watching over us and lookingafter us in the ethers or in
that great consciousness.
So keep that in mind, myfriends, when you're thinking
about this, that when you say Ididn't ask to be born, well,
apparently you might not haveasked, but you're here.
Whether you were escorted intothis life or you reluctantly
(13:05):
chose it, or you became awarethat this was a really good
lifetime and someplace we wantto be, you're here.
Lifetime, and someplace we wantto be, you're here.
Edgar Cayce, the great seer ofthe 1940s, once was doing some
research about previousexistences which he sort of came
upon by accident.
Once did an investigation, apast life recall if you will, in
(13:27):
which he saw himself as agambler on a Mississippi river
boat, back in the days whencowboys and things you know,
guns and pistols.
He saw himself having thiswonderful life as a riverboat
gambler.
Okay, fine, got it.
And then he said that he likedit so much he decided to come
(13:49):
back and do it again.
So he had an encore second lifeas a riverboat gambler, back on
the days when the riverboatswent up and down the Mississippi
.
So what does that say?
Well, we have a consciousness,we have a choice, that we can
choose where we want to go.
Of course we are lethargic andwe don't want to come back.
(14:12):
And then the universe says no,no, you haven't been up here too
long.
Keep that in mind, my friends,because that was a very
startling point to me to hearnot one, but two people tell me
similar stories.
They did not know each otherand they told me this story more
than a year apart.
So where do we go?
Well, out there in the universe, and or across the universe at
(14:33):
the speed of thought.
Now, when we're there, we'rethe ones that judge ourselves.
You know, or do we go to hellor do we go to heaven?
Is judgment day out there?
Well, we're the ones that judgeourself.
We say, okay, you're a reallybad person.
Well, you had destructiveventures in that lifetime.
(14:54):
You were a marauder, you were a, let's say, a viking, and
causing raids and whatever,raping and pillaging.
So the next life you becomesomebody living in scotland or
england and the viking raiderscome down and they raid your
family, your family's village,whatever.
(15:15):
And so you get to see, hey, onetime I was a pillager, next time
I'm a pilgrim, and one time Iwas the victor and now I'm prey.
So this choice is what goes onin the post-existence.
While we're going through allthese aspects of deciding where
we want to go, people remembersitting at a big table and
(15:39):
choosing what they were going todo and what they were going to
become.
I remember two twins.
These ladies were twins.
They were six feet tall and 200pounders.
They were really not fat butreally muscular people and they
were abused as children terriblyby their father.
So at one point, when it got sobad, the one of the two sisters
(16:05):
remembers a lady showing up andsaying come with me, I'll show
you.
And as a little girl they wentand they were sitting there and
there was a table of many peoplesitting around like a board
table and they were deciding whowas going to be whatever.
And the father said I want toknow what it's like to abuse
(16:26):
someone.
Oh, wow.
And the little girl said, okay,I'll volunteer, as did her
sister.
And the little girl said, okay,I'll volunteer, as did her
sister.
And then she knew that she hadchosen to be the victim so that
her father could be the abuserand go through the shame and the
guilt and the punishment andall those painful things that an
(16:48):
abuser does.
For what?
For the experience of thefather to go through that, to
understand how terribly bad thatwas.
But when the little girl wokeup in the morning from this
visitation of the angel, shetold her sister and she said
this is why it's happening to us.
And then the angel said by theway, you're going to be okay,
(17:12):
this is going to stop soon.
And sure enough, the father wasarrested and the story goes on.
When I heard that story, likeeverybody hearing my words now
are saying how could that be?
How could somebody volunteer tobe in a situation like that?
People choose the body, theexperience, the family, because
(17:33):
up there in that celestialplanning room they make out
their life path.
All the experiences in theworld have to be experienced by
each and every one of us at sometime.
It's kind of like you go touniversity or you know you go
through primary school, highschool, university.
You have all the courses andyou have to graduate.
(17:55):
And when you graduate atuniversity you've done
everything.
Sure, you're graduated.
You've made it Well in aparallel.
That's what we do as we gothrough life Lives one after the
other.
Now, I'm not a proponent thatreincarnation is a belief system
.
I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about a soulchoosing to come into the world
(18:18):
at a specific time to carry on aspecific chore or gain specific
knowledge that it chooses.
And, as I said at some otherprevious podcast, the soul has
no emotional attachment.
It is conscious, it's aware andit is soaking up the experience
(18:40):
.
It's the knowledge it wishes togain, without emotion, without
values.
And so, if we understand that,lass, it's kind of like okay,
now it makes sense.
We're going back to thepost-existence and we're going
to go there, to what I wouldcall the different dimensions of
going to a soul hospital, ahospices, where you're nurtured
(19:02):
and they say there, there, thatwas terrible, but come here,
we're going to wrap arms aroundyou, we're going to love you,
it's okay.
And you're going to go now toanother dimension where you have
earned the right to be, andearning the right means the
consciousness, and as the higheryour consciousness goes, the
higher up you go to the higherrealms.
But over there there's placesof comfort, there's people
(19:25):
welcoming you their family wholoves you.
They show up because they're inspirit themselves.
So they come by and they saycome on.
I've had older people tell mewho were nearing their point of
death.
They said I had the strangestdream last night.
There was my brothers andsisters, my husband, and they
were all there saying come on,come on.
(19:45):
What does that mean?
You tell me there was awelcoming committee.
Now, on the other side of that,if you're a real bad person and
you're hateful and you're meanand you're nasty, guess who's
waiting on the other side foryou too.
Well, you're mean and you'renasty, guess who's waiting, you
on the other side, for you too.
Well, you're mean and nasty too.
Oh, yikes.
(20:07):
And then you might go, you know, take a trip to the basement to
find a way in that deep, dark,bad place.
So there is this continuation,there's a memory, there is a
time of reconciliation, ahospital time, a treatment time,
(20:27):
a therapy time, so that you getrid of the emotional pain that
you're still attached to for awhile after death.
And then you become morespiritual, more enlightened, and
you lose the value.
You lose all the emotionsexcept one, that's love.
(20:48):
All the rest belong down herein the classroom, the love you
have.
This is what you get to thehigher levels.
You shed all the hatred and thefear and all that.
That's all left down here.
This is the only place in theuniverse I've been led to
believe that has experiences inemotion, no place else.
(21:08):
Maybe that's why thoseoff-world beings, when they show
up, don't seem to be so loving.
They just are creatures ofthought.
I don't know Something to thinkof, for a future show.
Les Hubert (21:19):
I've seen things where loved ones have appeared
to me and I'm a little confusedhere, and I'm sure people
listening to the audience mighthave this question as well when
we leave this body, do we haveanother body?
I've heard of an astral body ora spiritual body, and why would
we even need that on the otherside or in the spirit realm?
Douglas James Cottrell (21:40):
Well, we're a soul, and a soul has a
consciousness and a soul has a,because we need to explain it to
ourselves.
We have a light body.
How many times have you seen anorb or a little dot?
See those little things righthere, that little spot there?
(22:02):
I've seen that floating acrossthe ceiling of them, and I asked
my teacher, ross peterson,about that and he said well,
just remember when you go to bed.
You got company you're pickingup and you're seeing these
consciousness.
But also I've seen these thingslike, like, uh, parentheses
going across.
They're blue in nature and theylook parentheses.
(22:22):
Yeah, that is a uh, let's say aspecial being, uh, instead of a
little star-like being.
This one's really close.
And then I have seen orbs andI've taken pictures of them.
One time orbs were in the inthe news all the time we're
taking pictures with our camerasto show where they go.
Where'd they go?
Now?
I don't see one.
Les Hubert (22:43):
I remember that yeah .
Douglas James Cottrell (22:45):
They were visiting us while we were
probably going through space.
You know, I was one of thefirst people to say our solar
system doesn't go horizontal,it's vertical and it progresses
through space.
Years ago I said that and Ifind it not to take any you know
, I said it first credit.
But I now see that scientistsare saying by the way, that's
how we go, as our solar systemprogresses this way, the planets
(23:09):
are going in circles, whichmeans they're spiraling through
space.
They're not just going like a,you know, straight road, they're
spiraling.
So we have these tails, if youwill, of the spiral of the nine
planets or more that we have.
So as we move forward in space,we're leaving behind the
pattern.
(23:29):
So the answer to the question iswhy do we have a soul body or a
mind body or something?
Because we have consciousness,and I like to say that souls
were all created at once in theGodhead of the Christos, and at
that moment we call it the BigBang, if you will.
We spread out across theuniverse because we were given
(23:50):
at that moment free will andfree choice.
And so we said okay, thanks forthe keys, dad, I'm taking the
car and I'm out of here.
And we took off.
Have you ever done that?
You've been somewhere and youdrove away.
And then you think I'm lost,how do I get back here?
We are lost, trying to find ourway back.
(24:10):
So we have a mind body, athought body, an essence of
light, and that's what we are,are, and you can see it around
you.
And by observing these otherorbs, lights and indicators that
, hey, if I can see them, thatis what I must be.
Les Hubert (24:32):
Well, thank you for tuning in for another great
podcast with myself and DouglasJames Cottrell.
If you like what you hear,please consider subscribing.
You can support us with eithera donation of $3 to $20 per
month.
Go to douglasjamescottrellcomand you can click on that big
blue banner and a shout out toMalutin, larry and Jack for your
help with the podcast.
Thank you very much for yourefforts.
(24:53):
We deeply appreciate it and weshall see you soon.
Douglas James Cottrell (24:57):
More exciting things to come.
Les Take care, my friends.
Announcer (25:01):
Thank you very much for listening to Wake Up.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe so you'll be
notified when a new episode isposted, and we'd greatly
appreciate your review of ourshow on iTunes or wherever you
get your podcasts to let othersknow about the great content
we're producing.
For more about Dr Douglas'sself-development classes, books
(25:22):
and other related products,please visit his website
douglasjamescottrell.
com.
Until next time, we wish youall of God's blessings health,
wealth and peace of mind.
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