“What happens to the souls of those who die alone, since mass gathering is prohibited under the enhanced community quarantine?” asked broadcast executive Ces Drilon of ABS-CBN. “It must be painful to die in isolation and not be able to say goodbye to loved ones.”

Apparently this is not true. No one really dies alone, even those who die a sudden death, as I will explain later.

We have heard stories of the dying person being visited by their dead relatives, or by some kind spirit. Doctors and skeptics have always considered such visions mere hallucinations. But are they?

Many serious studies have been conducted on what happens at the time of a person’s death. They reveal that so-called “parting visions” are real. The dying person is not merely imagining things. There is always somebody in the spirit world who will meet and console him or her.

One American researcher and hypnotherapist, Dr. Michael Newton, sought to answer the question of what happens to the soul between incarnations in his enlightening and pioneering book, “Journey of Souls, Case Studies of Life Between Lives,” published in 1995.

“Where does the soul go after death? What is it like there? How long does it stay there?” Newton asked, along with many other questions.

He asked these questions of his subjects while they are under hypnosis or trance. He was surprised at the consistency of the answers he got from so diverse a population, no matter what their education, profession or religion.

For one, the spirit world appears to be a very busy place. It is unlike any found on earth. It is in general a very happy and joyous state. Nobody described hell, which consumes the soul with fire. Maybe because, in truth, the soul or spirit cannot be consumed nor hurt by fire, contrary to what the Christian religion teaches.

Old souls

Newton says that the first person his hypnotized subjects see in the spirit world is his spirit guide. If a close friend or relative appears to the incoming soul, his regular guide will be absent from the scene. Guides are usually advanced or old souls with whom the dying had close contact in previous lives.

What are the functions of spirit guides or helpers? According to Pamela Heath Rae and Jon Klimo in their well-researched book, “Handbook to the Afterlife” (published in 2010), “Their main function appears to be to help souls complete their transition to the afterlife. They are sometimes specialists in helping with certain types of death, specially if there might be a particular reason why the transition could be problematical.”

Even those who die a sudden or unexpected death are met or consoled by their dead relatives. I remember the case of Ruth Gallemit, a cosmetologist working for Dr. Vicki Belo. On her 30th birthday in 1989, Ruth had her picture taken with one of her guests. When the film was developed, a man in a barong appeared in front of what looked like a tomb. She did not recognize the man at first. Two days after her birthday, Ruth had a fatal accident. She was struck by a speeding car along Guadalupe Bridge on Edsa at 1 a.m. The man who appeared in the picture was Ruth’s brother, Abraham, who died in Zamboanga and whom Ruth had not seen for many years.

No one really dies alone. Death is often more painful to the living than to the dead. INQ

Email [email protected].