Near-Death Experiences
Image via Pixabay
I have been fascinated by the story of near-death experiences for quite awhile. I myself have never had an NDE, but I believe I have learned what to expect after death from the stories from people who say they have experienced one. One of my childhood friends had an NDE and she wrote a book about it. I find her to be a very grounded and loving being who looks at life with positive eyes. In the book, she states “If human life is really 'Love in physical forms, love in motion and action, plus love expressing itself,' then there is nothing that is not love. Whatever seemed to be un-love is recognized as a fiction that was devised on purpose, for some reason related to some kind of valuable development.” That particularly resonates with me. Read more about her story on my review of the book Tales of Love and Dying.
As I have no experience of my own to draw from, I discovered that many researchers state that just reading about or hearing stories from these people can have the same affect on our lives as those who have experienced an NDE themselves, such as less fear of death, more compassion, less interest in material possessions, accepting others, and an increased interest in spirituality. Here are a few of their stories. The highlighted areas are links to their books or articles that relate their stories.
“During my NDE, the realization that we are all connected was so strong that even if I had thought about someone who was a murderer or child abuser—someone whom I hated and felt utter contempt for in physical life—I would have felt nothing but total understanding and compassion for them in that expanded state. In fact, I would have felt empathy for the pain that caused them to choose that path in the first place, and I would have felt complete, unconditional love for both the perpetrator and their victims. My NDE enabled me to understand that people hurt others either out of ignorance or because they are in pain, or because they are so disconnected from their true essence that they don’t have the ability to feel emotions (whether that is due to having been abused in some way or because of mental illness).”
Anita Moorjani, What If This Is Heaven?: How Our Cultural Myths Prevent Us from Experiencing Heaven on Earth (ad)
As I have no experience of my own to draw from, I discovered that many researchers state that just reading about or hearing stories from these people can have the same affect on our lives as those who have experienced an NDE themselves, such as less fear of death, more compassion, less interest in material possessions, accepting others, and an increased interest in spirituality. Here are a few of their stories. The highlighted areas are links to their books or articles that relate their stories.
“During my NDE, the realization that we are all connected was so strong that even if I had thought about someone who was a murderer or child abuser—someone whom I hated and felt utter contempt for in physical life—I would have felt nothing but total understanding and compassion for them in that expanded state. In fact, I would have felt empathy for the pain that caused them to choose that path in the first place, and I would have felt complete, unconditional love for both the perpetrator and their victims. My NDE enabled me to understand that people hurt others either out of ignorance or because they are in pain, or because they are so disconnected from their true essence that they don’t have the ability to feel emotions (whether that is due to having been abused in some way or because of mental illness).”
Anita Moorjani, What If This Is Heaven?: How Our Cultural Myths Prevent Us from Experiencing Heaven on Earth (ad)
“When I had my near-death experience I went and I arrived with a being of light. And I wrote it down as soon as I came back. The being of light did not identify he or she or itself as being male, female or otherwise. It was definitely a personal being. It did not identify itself as Krishna, Buddha, Christ, Jesus, Allah or whatever…none of that. It did not identify itself as being any of that. And a very interesting discussion I had with a gentleman, Sam is his name. That’s the name he’s chosen to have. He tortured himself using the Lakota Sioux vision quest of hanging himself by his muscles from a tree, and spikes in his chest. He did all of those things because that made sense to him. And he passed over to the other side. He literally had a near-death experience by scaring himself out of his body through too much pain. And he met up with the Light. And he said, ‘Who are you?’ And the Light said, ‘Who do you want me to be?’ And that was his experience. And so taking his experience and my experience where the Light doesn’t identify itself, what Sam’s really saying there is if you think it’s Jesus, it’s Jesus. If you think it’s Buddha, it’s Buddha…whatever you think, that’s what the Light is. But the truth is, the Light is just a being of light.” Dr. Alan Hugenot
Dr Raymond Moody coined the term near-death experience in 1975. As an MD with a PhD in philosophy, he was initially an atheist and a skeptic. He has had over 50 years of investigating near-death experiences and has written numerous books, the first one being Life After Life. (ad)
”Based on what I have heard from thousands of people, we enter into a realm of joy, light, peace, and love in which we discover that the process of knowledge does not stop when we die. Instead, the process of learning and development goes on for eternity.”
”Based on what I have heard from thousands of people, we enter into a realm of joy, light, peace, and love in which we discover that the process of knowledge does not stop when we die. Instead, the process of learning and development goes on for eternity.”
“Whether we have hurt others in small ways… or in horrific ways… our actions do have consequences, and at some point we will be asked to face whatever pain we have caused. Yet, accounts of NDEs consistently indicate that this has nothing to do with judgment or punishment. The life review takes place in an environment of infinite, unconditional love. The NDEr can ask that the life review stop temporarily if it becomes overwhelming, and she or he can rest for a while in unconditional love before going on. The reason for facing the harm we have done to others is so that we learn from our mistakes and grow in love and compassion, including compassion for ourselves.
“The life review encourages us to realize that everything we do affects all other creatures.”
The Gifts of Near-Death Experiences: You Don’t Have to Die to Experience Your True Home, by Sheila Fabricant Linn, Dennis Linn, Matthew Linn (ad)
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross was a Swiss psychiatrist who became famous for her landmark work on death and dying and the development of the model of the stages of grief. In one of her talks she stated, “Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding its cocoon. It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow.” Listen to Oprah's interview close to the end of her life. She died in 2004.
The next and final chapter, Chapter 6, is simply one click away. It is called Our Soul's Plan