An Orientation Session for the Newly Deceased

In case you prefer to watch/listen.

We can expect an orientation session soon after death. I think it will go something like this for basically good people. Let’s listen to their teacher. 

“I see and feel your curiosity. Some of you were taught that death led to a blissful rest. Rest is a wonderful thing, but only because it prepares you for the labor of the day. Much labor remains to be done here. You’ll find it challenging and gratifying.

 You’ll be asked to do it humbly, gratefully, even joyfully. Do you remember the Psalm describing ‘realms of light where saints with angels sing their songs before God day and night’? Dear friends, this is not our world. 

“Many of you were taught as children that salvation comes from believing in Jesus and that he died for our sins. You’ll soon learn that beliefs have nothing to do with true religion unless they inspire forgiveness and love. Many beliefs do, and we are right to treasure them. But others are less helpful, and you would do well to discard some of these. 

“You might have been taught that much of humanity is suffering in everlasting hell. Please understand: Hell is a very real condition, and great numbers suffer there. But it’s not a cosmic ghetto where sinners are herded against their will by an angry God. And it’s not everlasting, nor is it always that bad. Some of you will choose to work there. We call it the Shadowlands. Some of its inhabitants will break your heart. They broke mine over and over. But others you can reach; you can bring them out. Our business is to empty the place. That’s right. Our goal is to empty the place. But not by force. Never by force.” 

Many of you wonder: “Where is God in all this? Why don’t we see him? Is there really such a being as God? Is God behind the Big Bang? Did life evolve randomly or did God guide it? Does God really hear our prayers? Did God create the entire universe? How many worlds is God watching over besides Earth? Are aliens mixed in with us? What happened to Hitler? Are the Jews really God’s chosen people? Is reincarnation true? Did we all have a previous life? What causes homosexuality? Why are some of us born in horrible situations while others are blessed? Are devils at work on earth?” Wonderful questions. Some we can help you answer. But some even we are yet to discover.    

Your new world is filled with challenges. There is work to be done. Meaningful work, good work. Living among us are sick souls, forgotten souls, lonely souls, malformed souls, ignorant souls. Yes, we have problems. We have them because you send them to us.

Some of you were doctors or nurses, many of you teachers or full-time mothers. Three of you were priests. You come from many backgrounds. One of you was a senator, another a CEO, another a small-town tax lawyer. Among you are a groundskeeper, an electrician, and a bus driver. Much of what you did, you did in a spirit of service. You were in the habit of thinking about what was good for the people you worked for. Were you all saints? Far from it. Among you are adulterers, enviers, and gossips. Many of you suffered from an addiction of some kind: to money, to reputation, to alcohol. Many of you lived with resentment. Some of you were lazy and failed to improve yourselves as you might have. Some of you were atheists who hated all religion, even at its best. 

“But none of these failings dug so deeply into your soul as to contaminate your basic goodness, your willingness to be of service to the people who depended on you. You didn’t fail to love where others failed. And that is why you are here.

“So here is the question: how are you going to serve in this new world where the stakes are higher than on Earth? How are you going to practice the skill we call loving? How are you going to grow your soul?”     

“Every day we face new challenges, and there is much joy in helping ourselves and our clients face them well. But all is not work. You will be surrounded by like-minded friends, some old, some new. Many of you have already been welcomed to your new home by a spouse or grandparent or some other relative. Leisure abounds. It takes an army of souls to organize the games, parties, concerts, and sports we enjoy. Counselors have long lists of things to do and enjoy, thousands of them, and where to go to learn about them.  Most of us travel to faraway or exotic places: to other sectors in our world, downward to earth to check on conditions there, even to other inhabited planets. And rejoice: there are no dirty jobs to do here. You’ll find cities, villages, universities, landscapes, lakes, seas, beaches, mountains, forests, animals, and every kind of house to suit the tastes of our residents, but no factories, fire stations, sanitary landfills, or smokestacks. And no dentists!

It’s a world of intense activity interspersed with quiet sitting in solitude, meditation, and, for those who want it, worship. This sounds pretty good, right? But here is the hard part. You don’t get paid for your work. You’re unsalaried. If you don’t find joy in unpaid service, you won’t find happiness here. Many of you were used to getting ahead by getting rich, and you’ll have to adjust. If you don’t, our sector will not be a congenial place. We’ll have to make other arrangements.

“So now you see a little of the grand design. You see some of the ways our world differs from the one you just left behind. Our world can be viewed as a kind of university for souls in training to outgrow the selfish tendencies they cultivated on Earth. Getting ahead is not what we are about. Service is.”

My book The Afterlife Therapist goes into all this in much greater detail. 

Stafford Betty, Professor of Religious Studies, CSUB, (ret) is the author of When Did You Ever Become Less by Dying?, Heaven and Hell Unveiled and his novels which include,The Afterlife Therapist and Guardians of the Afterworld. His latest book, The Hell Dwellers: A Novel about the Dark Side of the Afterlife is coming in 2026. Stafford can be found at staffordbetty.com.