I’ve always wondered about the phrase Rest In Peace. Now there are clever variations, Rest In Him or Heaven (I keep seeing RIH). Rest In Power is one I saw- pretty cool. But, where does the idea of resting when we’re dead come from? I suppose it’s from this Christian idea about the resurrection. Cobbling together some verses from the Old and New Testaments, people have come up with the idea that the dead know nothing, the dead sleep. The dead lie in their graves waiting for the resurrection where they will all be raised up and once and we will face Judgment. They’re in a state of unknowing now, sleeping, waiting for the cosmic alarm clock to ring.
This does not fit the afterlife evidence. While there have been reports of people who have had particularly difficult lives going through a healing or rest period, there is no reason to believe people “sleep” for what would amount to hundreds or thousands of years. Quite the contrary, it seems that most who cross over feel more alive and better than they ever did when they were here. They are active. There seems to be a synergy between the spirit world and ours they are often active in both. The dearly departed are not as departed as we’ve been led to believe. After having had this realization, I’ve removed Rest In Peace from my lexicon. They’re not resting. They’re having a blast. I say “Enjoy!”
