T.N.G. SIGNS
OF THE TIMES - N.M. August 12,
2007
(#172)
Greetings
from Russell's Remnant: www.oocities.org/dkone_us
At
Death "Is That All There Is?"
One of Russell
Whitesell's disciples told the Tuesday Night Group a story that was very sad
from an esoteric point of view. It was
a story of the recent funeral rites for lady who was a friend of the disciple
as well as the best friend of the disciple's mother.
When the friend
passed away, her family was preparing the obituary notes for the local
newspaper. After including the usual dates, names of children, and other family
members, the family decided to add a quotation that the disciple's friend and
his mother used to say in life. The
friend and the disciple's mother were best friends for several decades. The mother loved the music of the 40's, 50's
and 60's. Included in this favorite music was a song by Peggy Lee entitled
"Is That All There Is?" It
became the mutual exclamation of both long time friends when they perceived
that life "sucks" or that it did not fulfill either woman's dreams.
The family sent their
notes to the newspaper to be included in the notice of death and funeral
arrangements. It brought a bit of humor
to the family and friends who read the newspaper article, which ended with the
friend's quote to those who remained.
The disciple was sure that many remembered his friend and mother singing
Lee's title at social events in the small town. He was sure that his friend was laughing when she saw her
survivors bemused at her question at death.
As members of the
community came to the funeral home for the service, an anonymous mourner had
sent a large flower arrangement that had a ribbon strung across the
wreath. It stated in big letters,
"Yes, Sue, that's all there is!"
This, too, made the attendants at the friend's funeral laugh realizing
the connection between the newspaper notice and the flower arrangement's
pronouncement.
When told this story,
the disciple laughed at his friend and his mother's connection to the event
(even though his mother had passed away many years ago). It was funny especially since he guessed who
sent the anonymous wreath with the quotation.
He knew it had to be his mother's surviving second husband. It turned out that is exactly who sent the
flowers. He had helped top off the
humor connecting the disciple's friend and his mother. The citizens who knew these people well had
to have a great laugh thanks to the notice placed in the paper by the friend's
family.
Now we get to the sad
part. The disciple explained, "My
mother grew up as the daughter of a doctor, prize-winning horse trainer and
blue ribbon winner for some the South's most beautiful camellias. My maternal grandfather was more than those
exoteric things - he was an esoteric teacher.
He was a 32nd degree Mason who had studied many esoteric subjects
including Hermetic Philosophy from a mystery school. He introduced me into the esoteric fields with my first lessons
from the Ancient Mystery Schools. One
of the first tenets he instructed me in was the primary requirement to be
accepted into one of the major mystery schools on the planet, which was belief
in "reincarnation." It turns
out that one cannot be accepted into one of these special mystery schools
unless one accepts reincarnation as a fact, for without that one cannot make
much progress in life.