What do the Dead know?

What do the dead know? Do they know some things we the living have no access to?

Questions rattle inside most of us. Why do we struggle? What is the purpose of life? Isn’t there more to life than paying the bills?  Why do babies die? What happens when we die?

The world-famous medium, James Van Praagh, brings us many of the answers in Unfinished Business: What the Dead can Teach Us About Life. With twenty-five years of spirit communication and thousand professional readings under his belt, Van Praagh writes, “When people shed their physical bodies at death, their spiritual selves see life from a whole new perspective. It’s as if they had Lasik surgery. They can finally take off their glasses and see everything more clearly.”

Filled with emotion-rich true-life stories, Unfinished Business is about loved ones on the other side who send messages of hope, love and healing to their beloveds on earth. Those who have crossed over in spirit form now understand why certain things had to happen in their lives. They recognize the lessons buried in their life experiences. Even better, they see in the afterlife how they could have avoided certain mistakes by simply choosing not to let their egos rule. Eager to share their new insights, they reach out to loved ones and communicate messages related to the unfinished business of their lives: forgiveness, guilt, regret and fear.

The issue of guilt is addressed in the story of Theresa, a caller on Van Praagh’s radio show, whose 22-year-old brother Mark dies of a drug overdose. Theresa is carrying a heavy emotional burden. She did not pick up his call the night before he died. “I knew he was probably high and I just couldn’t deal with it again,” she confesses tearfully. Left with the guilt that had she picked up the phone she could have saved Mark’s life, Theresa receives a message from her brother. He explains to his sister that he knows now why he died the way he did. Beating the addictive personality was a lesson his soul had taken on in this lifetime. That he failed is something his soul will deal with. The learning is that Theresa was not responsible for his addiction and ought to harbor no guilt on that account.

In another story, Van Praagh addresses fear, the number one emotion that keeps us stuck. Stephanie’s father, Martin, who has passed over communicates with her through Van Praagh. The daughter insists that her father did not believe in life after death and was in fact, afraid of dying. Martin’s message to Stephanie is clear: death is natural and painless. He now feels stupid for being scared but it was only when he crossed over that he experienced real freedom from fear. Furthermore, Martin who traded his dream of being a lawyer to be a shirt salesman because he didn’t believe he was “smart enough” encourages Stephanie who is faced with a similar situation and is playing small due to her fears to go for it.

“If you are happy and fulfilled, you are living in a loving space. However, if you feel unfulfilled, anxious or insecure, you have let fear run your life…If you make a decision and then worry about the outcome, you are coming from a place of fear, but if you do something that makes you happy, you are coming from love.”

Other sections in the book include blame, forgiveness, regrets and karma. Chapters on overcoming obstacles, taking the high road and living your life are replete with more real-life stories that illumine the importance of embracing a spiritual outlook to the problems of the physical plane.

Have you read a book on the afterlife that touched you? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts. Someone is waiting for your message.