Written by Matthew McKay, Ph.D.  Narrated by Marie T. Russell.

The deepest truth of the universe is that love is eternal; our relationships to each other and the whole go on forever. We are always together (even though on Earth we forget), always united in love, always and irrevocably connected to all of consciousness.

Reuniting is a myth born of our physical lives. Reunion is merely a ceremony where incarnated soul energy returns to spirit, and our soul group and friends bang the drum to welcome us home. But in truth we never left them. Our collective love has always held us as if we were one breath.

We feel so alone on this planet, and the love of incarnates is so tenuous and conditional that isolation seems normal. The emptiness of having our deepest selves unseen (hidden within a body and a personality) is the root of human sadness, and it is why the hope for union animates all our relationships—with both the living and the dead. We cannot know in this place that our aloneness is an illusion created for our own growth.

As we approach death, the thought of reunion often seems more sweet. We have lost loved ones, and even in our most intimate relationships we may continue to feel a distance—as if we have always lived a little apart—beyond being held, beyond being known. And because merging in love is so difficult here, we yearn all the more for it as life reaches its end. Instinctively...

Matthew McKay, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, professor of psychology at the Wright Institute, cofounder of Haight Ashbury Psychological Services, founder of the Berkeley CBT Clinic, and cofounder of the Bay Area Trauma Recovery Clinic, which serves low-income clients. He has authored and coauthored more than 40 books, including The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook and Seeking Jordan. Matthew is the publisher of New Harbinger Publications.