Is There Life After Delivery?

Who has a plan?

Here’s an insightful parable about two babies talking with each other in the womb:

The first baby asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?”

The second baby replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

“Nonsense,” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What would that life be?”

“I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths.”

The doubting baby laughed. “This is absurd! Walking is impossible. And eat with our mouths? Ridiculous. The umbilical cord supplies nutrition. Life after delivery is to be excluded. The umbilical cord is too short.”

The second baby held his ground. “I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here.”

The first baby replied, “No one has ever come back from there. Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery it is nothing but darkness and anxiety and it takes us nowhere.”

“Well, I don’t know,” said the twin, “but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us.”

“Mother?” The first baby guffawed. “You believe in mother? Where is she now?”

The second baby calmly and patiently tried to explain. “She is all around us. It is in her that we live. Without her there would not be this world.”

“Ha. I don’t see her, so it’s only logical that she doesn’t exist.”

To which the other replied, “Sometimes when you’re in silence you can hear her, you can perceive her. I believe there is a reality after delivery and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality when it comes….”

This sure illuminates the life after death controversy. And here’s a further wrinkle on that: What if all of us have an entirely unique experience post death? And, what if preparing for the Big Moment sets us up for an enhanced post-delivery experience?

BTW, since “death” is such a fear laden word, I’m calling it graduation.

The famous Harvard Goals Study followed three groups of students: those who wrote down their life goals, those who had goals but didn’t write them down, and those who didn’t have goals. Years later, those with written goals had achieved much more success.

I’ve referenced this Study and championed writing out goals for years. But there’s just one problem: no such study ever occurred. I discovered that this is a totally invented urban myth. But, there was an actual study, conducted by Gail Matthews in 2007 through Dominican University, and Professor Matthews proved the same thing.

Ten years later, those who had written goals had dramatically outperformed those without, even those who had goals but didn’t write them down. So, how about applying this habit to improving the end of our lives and whatever follows?

If the principle holds true and this contributed to increased success on “the other side,” what might that look like?

I wonder if there is no standard “next world” for us all. What if we craft our own unique post grad experience? Creating goals, writing them down, and moving towards graduation with anticipation could be one of the best investments we could make in this lifetime.

I dreamt I was dying a few nights ago. I felt the moment coming and reached for it, as if I was climbing a mountain. My momentum slowed as I neared the top and I found myself straining… until I couldn’t go any further. So, I let go and fell, tumbling down until I felt myself being caught and held. And then came a moment of stirring, a subtle tug on my being and I began to climb again but this time I wasn’t pushing, something was pulling me.

It was effortless.

Without struggle or delay, I crested the top with a euphoric sigh and … I woke up!

I wonder, will the real event be like that?

I think I’ll make that my goal and write it down!