by Mark Pitstick, MA, DC

Note: If you already know the following information scroll down to the article title in maroon below the seven asterisks.  However, I strongly recommend reading this introduction until you really ‘own’ it.  In addition, post The Great News where you’ll see it every day.  

Over the last 15 years, and especially during 2019 – 2024, data from a series of experiments at the University of Arizona have definitively demonstrated scientifically that life continues after physical death.  This research was conducted by Gary E. Schwartz PhD, former professor at Harvard and Yale, and pioneer in the fields of behavioral medicine and energy healing.  

Dr. Schwartz is assisted in this work by a team of electrical engineers, software developers, research assistants, evidential mediums, and postmaterial luminaries at the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health.  (To learn more about the SoulPhone Project and lab, visit LACH.Arizona.edu.  To learn about postmaterial luminaries, see article #31 at SoulProof.com) 

The Demo SoulSwitch is a binary (Yes / No) SoulSwitch device that postmaterial persons (the so-called ‘deceased’) can use to answer questions, verify their identity, and begin providing information to help many people and our planet.  This device should be ready for beta testing by the summer of 2024.  After sessions with project volunteers and larger donors, we will share data that scientifically demonstrates life continues after bodily death.  However, this ‘reveal’ will initially occur as an ‘incremental trickle’ versus a ‘sudden splash’.   Over time and under optimal conditions, we will gradually amplify how widely this news is shared. 

Likewise, demonstrations of this technology will occur in a stepwise fashion.  We anticipate, but cannot guarantee, that full announcements and demonstrations will occur by spring 2025.  These decisions were made in April 2024 after many strategic planning discussions with core project team members.  The many factors involved are much more complex than you might imagine. 

See articles #1, 60, and 115 for an overview of the scientific, clinical, and experiential evidence that indicates – with 99.9% certainty – that consciousness survives bodily death.  This collective evidence also shows – with very high degrees of certainty – The Great News that you and everyone else:

  1. continue to live after your earthly body dies.
  2. can interact with ‘departed’ loved ones now and after you pass on.
  3. are integral, infinite, eternal, and beloved parts of Source Energy now and always.
  4. receive guidance and support from angels, guides, master teachers, etc.
  5. are sacredly interconnected with all people, animals, and nature.
  6. have special purposes for having this earthly experience now.
  7. may manifest in other simultaneous time / space realities now and after bodily death.
  8. have everything you need to enjoy an optimal earthly experience – no matter what your past or current circumstances.
  9. can find meaning, as well as opportunities for growth and service, amidst your toughest changes and challenges.
  10. co-create how heavenly your life feels – whether living on earth or elsewhere – by your predominant thoughts, words and actions.
  11. can likely use SoulPhone technology in the future to communicate with postmaterial loved ones and access wisdom from luminaries who can help us heal our world.  

Statements #1, 2, and 11 are based on definitive scientific research.  The other statements are based on: (a) clinical research: near-death experiences, past life memories and regressions, perinatal experiences, life between lives sessions, shared crossings, terminal lucidity cases, and deathbed visions; and (b) evidencefrom firsthand experiences: after-death communications, out-of-body experiences, spiritually transformative experiences, electronic voice projection / instrumental transcommunication, and other ways of knowing.

This is, obviously, a new and exciting era for humanity.  When understood and internalized – even just a bit – The Great News can help you make the shift:         

  • FROM thinking, believing, and acting as if your time on earth is unfair, meaningless, cruel, and ends with cessation of consciousness or the possibility of endless suffering.
  • TO thinking, believing, and acting as if this earthly experience is a totally meaningful, safe, and magnificent adventure amidst forever.

Conscious language can help you adopt a greater reality perspective and live based on the second bulleted worldview.  And that, in turn, can help you create the greatest life YOU have envisioned, fulfill your purposes for being on earth, serve others, and enjoy a magnificent journey.  In the pursuit of using more conscious / accurate terms, l:   

  1. Will use the term ‘YOU’ to describe the totality of your energy / being. Your real self may manifest in different spacetime ways simultaneously since only approximately 50% of your consciousness is needed to have an earthly experience. The term ‘YOU’ recognizes both of these possibilities.
  2. Won’t use the terms ‘die, departed, deceased, or dead’ without single quotation marks since those have strongly entrenched and erroneous meanings indicating an end of life.
  3. Will use the terms ‘bodily death’ and ‘death of the earthly form’ to remind you that only the earth-suit dies. The rest – all the intelligence, love, personality, memories, preferences, sense of humor, and much more – continues living in other parts of the field of all possibilities.
  4. Will use the terms changed worlds, passed on, transitioned and others that aptly describe a continuation of consciousness after bodily death.
  5. Will primarily refer to those who have passed on as postmaterial persons. That term recognizes the points in #3. I also will use soul, consciousness, essence, and awareness.
  6. Will primarily refer to ‘physical humans living on earth’ as material persons. Why? Because those terms within single quotation marks may apply to postmaterial persons.  That is, they can have physicality, visit earth, and are still human in meaningful ways.
  7. Will use the terms lower versus higher energies, emotions, and ways of being. These descriptors are not critical, judgmental, or subjective; rather, they are based on objective measures by, for example, David Hawkins PhD, MD author of Power Versus Force. He and other researchers found that higher-energy emotions of peace, joy, and love calibrate at 600, 540, and 500 respectively.  Conversely, lower-energy emotions of anger, fear, and guilt calibrate at 150, 100, and 30.  To be clear, energy / consciousness is who and what you really are, not just how you are feeling.  Your predominant energies create the quality of your life and the nature of your earthly or other time-space experience.
  8. Will use single quotations marks with words such as ‘lose and fail’.  The Great News and collective afterlife evidence can expand your worldview about what seem to be losses and failures.  We can’t accurately judge the big picture of life – what is lost or how we failed – with our limited human senses.   

Note: To recognize and respect different genders and sexual identifications, I will alternate using ‘he’ or ‘she’ and related pronouns.  Depending on a person’s orientation, one, both, or neither of those may apply.

The free articles and radio shows mentioned are available at SoulProof.com.  To learn more about the collective afterlife evidence and The Great News, read Soul Proof, The Afterlife Evidence, Greater Reality Living (co-authored with Dr. Schwartz) and The Big Picture of Life (for ages 10 – 16 written with Schwartz and Katta Mapes MA, MEd).  To experience expanded states of consciousness to optimally heal and transform your life, use audio sessions under Shop at SoulProof.com. 

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Do I HAVE To Live Forever?

This article addresses a curious question that I sometimes receive: “Do I have to live forever?”

I say ‘curious’ because, from my perspective, who wouldn’t want to live forever?  Life is so endlessly interesting, satisfying, rich, and wonderful.  I wish I could clone myself many times over and have zillions of lives to explore all the facets of life.  And, no doubt, that will be my reality.

But a relatively few people don’t want that.  My sense is that they have concerns that a person will have to live forever . . .

  1. with the same body.
  2. with the same personality.
  3. during mandatory returns to earth.

I’ll address each of these concerns and share my best current understandings.

Do I have to live forever with the same body?
What ‘I’ are you referring to?  Most people identify very strongly with their physical form even though that’s only a tiny fraction of who and what they actually are.  Who you really are is consciousness / energy / soul/ mind / awareness that can evolve over time.  Your real self can manifest in different ways now and after bodily death.

Your earthly shell will perish someday.  So ‘the same body’ part of the question addresses an energetic body that may reconstitute itself in the exact same human form.  A relatively few people may want the same look when visiting earth again.  But that would limit the range of their experience so I wouldn’t think that would be a common choice.

In addition, we learn as we go and make better choices.  For example, I love being outdoors in the sun and water.  However, my blonde hair and very fair skin prevents that.  If I take on a human form again, I will choose a darker complexion so I can enjoy sunshine more without damaging my skin.

So, no, you don’t have to live in the same body forever.  But you may want to take on that form for different reasons, for example, when you are postmaterial (‘deceased’) and greeting a loved one who recently transitioned from earth.  Visiting dear ones on earth during after-death communications is another example.

I wouldn’t want to go through forever in an older version of this one.  For example, my sixty-seven-year-old earth suit doesn’t have any hair on the head, has hair growing out of my ears, has skin spots, and is half deaf.  What’s up with all of that?!  Do I want to keep those traits for eternity?  Of course not.  But, after dropping this body someday, I will gladly resume that persona briefly so my loved ones on earth can recognize me.

Right now, you are observing Life from a limited earthly perspective due to a limited brain and sense organs.  As such, you can only detect a minute portion of all that exists.  Your understandings of life’s big picture suffer accordingly.  After your body dies, you will be free of those sensory constraints and can better apprehend the fullness of life.

Another reason some people abhor the thought of living forever is because their present state of health and happiness is so low.  That’s one reason I care for this temple of my soul so well.  I sometimes felt depression, fatigue, and brain fog when I ate wheat, sugar, and overly processed or cooked food.  I remember waxing philosophical when someone asked me if I was happy: “What is happiness, really?”  Now I smile at those days because I feel the happiest ever.

Other reasons I feel so much peace and joy now include: loving relationships, knowing who I am, fulfilling my highest callings, letting go of the past, and optimal self-care.  To learn more about how you can fine-tune yourself holistically, see Radiant Wellness.

Do I have to live forever with the same personality?
The short answer is no.  Life always presents exquisite opportunities for growth, learning, and evolving.

However, death of the human form is not a panacea, an instant conversion from a horrible to a wonderful personality.  Certain principles appear to apply whether you are wearing an earth suit or not.  It takes desire to change for the better, persistence in changing habits, and openness to learning better ways of living.  You can learn via gentle nudges or a two-by-four upside the head.  I’ve experienced both and highly recommend the former.

An old story comes to mind.  A very unaware man walked down a sidewalk and fell into a deep hole.  The next week, he took the same route without paying attention, fell into it again, and suffered more injuries.  The following week, he noticed the hole ahead and made a mental note to walk around it; but he forgot and fell into it again.  A week later, he saw the hole and remembered to avoid it.  The next day, he brought signs and orange cones to warn others.  Still later, he arranged a work party to fix the hole so others didn’t suffer.

And that, my friends, is the essence of evolving from an unaware, spiritually asleep, beginner soul to an aware, awakened, and advanced being.  You can change your personality.

That process can occur relatively quickly when you are ready and seek wise teachers to accelerate your learning curve. Which leads me to another story . . .

A student approached a wise teacher and said, “I want to know God.”  The teacher had the student walk into the river with him and suddenly forced the student’s head under the water.  The student thought he would surely drown, but the teacher let him up.  “Why did you do that?” the student demanded as he gasped for breath.  “When you want to know God as much as you wanted to breath,” the teacher shared, “you will see Her soon.”

For most people, the same is true for finding a better personality, the meaning of life, the path to happiness, loving relationships, and the formula for wellness.  I say ‘most’ because some people are in such a deep hole that it’s very difficult for them to reach higher levels of awareness and wellness.  It may require a ‘reset’ – a return to ‘the really real place’ for more intense healing, recharging, counseling, and practice – before returning to earth.

Do I have to return to earth?
We live in a free will universe so you are not forced power to return to earth.  Coming to a place like this planet may not be an optimal choice for certain people with very gentle and sensitive energies.

However, many people choose to come to earth repeatedly because it’s such a fertile ground for service, adventure, growth, learning, and enjoyment.  Consciousness / soul can achieve so much in this dense and sometimes difficult environment.

If you feel like you never want to return to earth, that’s fine.  However, forever is a very long time.  After 10,000 years of perceiving reality from a nonearthly vantage point, you may change your mind.

Some postmaterial persons may choose to remain at what is variously called Heaven / Home / Spirit World.  But they miss the many opportunities inherent in an earthly experience.

Do I retain my individuality after my body dies?
Perhaps the best way to address this very deep question is to share a question I received and my response.

Q: My beloved fiancé died last year.  Some people say that, after the physical body dies, we merge with Source – we no longer retain our individuality.  Doesn’t that view contradict the idea of free will and remove any hope I’ll see my fiancé again?  Also, if that view is true, who are mediums talking to when they say they are connecting with a ‘departed’ loved one? – Nicole

A: Perhaps it doesn’t have to be either / or, that is, merged versus separate.  Michael Newton PhD did a great job of describing how one’s energy may manifest in different ways and – at the same time – never leave Home.  Based on 50,000 Life Between Lives sessions by himself and other therapists, it appears that only 20% or so of a person’s consciousness is involved in an earthly experience.  The rest may perceive other parts of the field of all possibilities as a plant, animal, formed or formless being, or undifferentiated potential.  (The latter would most be like merging with the One.)

Hypothesized postmaterial collaborators (HPCs) have been described independently by ten different evidential mediums who assist the SoulPhone™ Project directed by Gary E. Schwartz PhD at the University of Arizona.  HPCs are reported to appear very much as they did while on earth.  This may occur for two reasons: (1) so earthly researchers can identify and feel comfortable with them, and (2) because HPCs enjoy appearing that way at least some of the time.

Based on systems theory and decades of research, Dr. Schwartz believes PMPs retain their memory, individuality, preferences, sense of humor, love, intelligence, and much more.  To learn more about this, read our book Greater Reality Living.

Some clinical evidence points to the possibility of retain individuality and, at the same time, being an interconnected part of the whole.  Some near-death experiencers report seeing that we are like a separate thread and, simultaneously, an integral part of a magnificent tapestry.  We can, they say, choose whether to experience life from a more individual or merged view – or both.  In my view, both are true whether a person realizes it or not.

As you say, if individuality is completely lost, what hope is there for reunions with loved ones who have changed worlds?  What kind of system / Universe does not provide choices to continue loving relationships and much more?  Lack of creativity and fixed options don’t fit with my experiences of All That Is.

The more you deeply know you are an integral part of Source Energy right now and always, the less important such concerns and questions become.  You know that – however life plays out through eternity – it surely will be fair, safe, meaningful, and magnificent.  My working assumption is that Creator’s design is all that and much more beyond our wildest dreams.

I hope this article helps you consider the following:

  1. You are much more than your body.
  2. Your consciousness / energy can likely be in more than one place at the same time.
  3. You can choose a different body, or no apparent physical form at all, depending on your situation, goals, and desires.
  4. You can always improve your personality. Whether on earth or elsewhere, change it if you don’t like the one you have because – as the old saying goes –  wherever you go, there you are.
  5. You are not forced to come to earth, but you may choose to do so for very important reasons.

                                                       *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    Your life, and that of others around you, will be more enriched when you:  

    1. read this article again within a few days so you really own it.
    2. discuss it with trusted family members and friends.
    3. take recommended action steps that seem right for you.
    4. share it with others who can use it.

    Let it shine,
    Mark

    Mark Pitstick MA, DC is an author, master’s level clinical psychologist, holistic chiropractic physician, frequent media guest, and webinar / workshop facilitator.  He has also helped others in pastoral counseling and suicide prevention / education settings.  Mark directs The Soul Phone Foundation, founded Greater Reality Living Groups, and assists research on the SoulPhone Project.  To learn more about how Dr. Pitstick might help you, visit SoulProof.com/About.

    Dr. Pitstick’s goal is to help you know and show– no matter what is happening to or around you – that this earthly experience is a totally safe, meaningful, and magnificent adventure amidst eternity.  Visit SoulProof.com for free articles, newsletters, and radio interviews with top consciousness experts.  Other resources include his very reasonably priced books, audio-products, and documentary film.

    Note: Because of his many outreaches, Dr. Pitstick can no longer answer complex and/or multiple questions.  However, he has created many resources to answer your biggest questions and provide holistic solutions for your toughest challenges . . .  

    FREE ARTICLES, RADIO SHOW, AND E-NEWSLETTERS

    – Articles for Transformation and Healing (top tab Articles at SoulProof.com) address the most common questions, concerns, and challenges about life, death, and afterlife.

    – Radio Shows (top tab Radio Shows at SoulProof.com) share his and top experts’ answers to life’s biggest questions: “Who am I? Why am I here?  What happens after I die?  Is there a God?  Why is there so much suffering?  Why do children die?” and others.

    – E-Newsletters (sign up on any page at SoulProof.com)

    AUDIO-PRODUCTS, BOOKS, AND DOCUMENTARY FILM

    – Transformational Audio Products  (see Shop at SoulProof.com) provide quality sessions at home for a fraction of the cost of an office visit.  These CDs and digital audios use deep relaxation, visualization, breathwork, and/or other techniques to: access your inner wisdom, visit with “departed” loved ones, release old wounds and lower energy emotions, evaluate your pre-birth planning, have past life regressions, and other goals.

    –     Books and Documentary (Shop at SoulProof.com) provide information and strategies to help you more deeply realize and demonstrate:

    • you are a forever being of energy / consciousness
    • the many wonderful benefits of realizing this
    • how to reflect this great news in every aspect of your life — even when confronted with big challenges and changes

    Webinars and Workshops: to learn about these, subscribe to newsletters at SoulProof.com and SoulPhone.org (Classes & Interviews at SoulProof.com)

    Greater Reality Living Groups: these local and online groups share information from Dr. Pitstick, Dr. Gary Schwartz, and other experts on consciousness and holistic wellness topics.  (Visit Greater Reality Living at SoulProof.com)

    Coaching / Counseling Session: meet with Dr. Pitstick by Zoom to gain answers to your toughest questions and holistic solutions to your biggest challenges.  (Shop at SoulProof.com)

    Disclaimer: This information is not designed to replace medical or psychological care.  Dr. Pitstick’s remarks are based on his personal and professional training and experience during forty-eight years of helping many thousands of people.  Collective clinical, scientific, and experiential evidence supports some, but not all, of what he shares.  Mark’s views may change over time, and he does not claim to have all the answers or the only answers. 

    Dr. Pitstick encourages you to consider this information and decide for yourself what makes the most sense.  Note: the articles and other resources at his SoulProof.com site are NOT purely based on scientific research as is the SoulPhone Project.