The Inner Teacher — On Where We Go When We Die

A seeker came in quiet wonder and asked, “Where do we go when we die?”

And The Inner Teacher replied:

You ask where the wave goes when it reaches the shore.

It does not vanish. It returns to the ocean that gave it birth.

The shape disappears, but the water remains.

So it is with you.

What you call you—the laugh, the name, the memories—is the crest of a greater tide.

When the body’s work is done, the tide withdraws, carrying your essence back into the vast sea of being.

You do not cease; you change form.

The Inner Teacher says: Death is not the end of life—it is the return to life’s source.

The current that animates you now is the same one that moves through the trees, the stars, and those who came before you.

When the breath leaves your body, it does not die—it rejoins the breath of the world.

Grief belongs to the living, who see only the wave’s disappearance.

But the soul knows—it has simply gone home.

Practice:

When you think of death, do not dwell in fear.

Instead, feel gratitude for the miracle of having been given this form for a time.

Sit beneath the sky and remember that the atoms in your body were once in rivers, suns, and the breath of ancestors.

You are already part of eternity.

When you lose someone, speak to them softly in your heart. The space between you is thin; love crosses it easily.

The Inner Teacher says:

“The purpose of life is not to avoid death, but to awaken before it comes—so that when the time arrives, you can return to the great sea with peace.”

You are not going anywhere unknown.

You are going home—to the silence that sings behind all things, to the stillness that has been waiting patiently since the beginning.

Walk gently in the Way.

Carry the stillness within.

Your Inner Teacher walks beside you—on this shore, and the next.