This blog is more than an account of Near Death Experiences. It ponders in detail the tough questions of life. Who are you, and why are you here in this physical world? What happens when you die, and is there a judgment? However, most anything could appear here. This is not a news blog, archived posts are just as relevant as new posts. Check the boxes at the top of the page for the Contents, Contact, Forum and other links.
“Death” is the most searched word on this blog. A lot of people are very interested in death. Maybe very afraid of death, or at least the uncertainty of it.
Near death experiences show us death doesn’t exist. We don’t die, we go on living in spirit/energy form. We are eternal.
The knowledge of living after death can actually cause us more fear and uncertainty about what happens after death. So the main question is: “What happens after death.”
What happens after death is directly connected to our thoughts, beliefs, and expectations. This is true in the physical also. We create our own reality in the physical as well as the spiritual.
The spiritual world is much like the physical world, yet different. There are libraries, museums, schools, houses, and great buildings made of crystal. There are parks, lakes, forests, and meadows of flowers. Some activities include painting, music, learning, teaching, creating, and building among many others. There are levels based on spiritual growth. Those with little or no spiritual growth inhabit the lower levels, while those with great spiritual growth are on the upper levels.
You achieve growth by learning to love. Love increases your consciousness which will increase your power of creation. Love is the building force of all things. The more you love the more powerful you become. This is true in both the spiritual and physical. Consider the most powerful men in history and note their great love for others. Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, and others moved billions of people to love.
There is no need of the judicial in the spirit world. No policemen, lawyers, politicians, judges, or such. Order is kept by the rule of “whatever you do to others will be returned to you.” Unlike the physical, everyone in the spiritual world understands the truth of this precept.
Since there are no physical bodies, there are no sexes, marriage, or babies. Creation of “spiritual babies” or “sparks” is done on the highest level of the spiritual world with much thought and great care.
In the physical world you have many judges in parents, teachers, peers, the law, and government. The only judgments in the spiritual world are you judging yourself. However this will be a true judgment with no facade, no rationalizations, or justifications. This not punishment, it is for teaching, so you can see your mistakes and correct them. The goal being to love one another.
You can never be anyone but yourself, you can not escape your problems and troubles by suicide or hurting yourself. Only you can solve your problems, and learn to love yourself with or without the help of others.
And what is it like beyond this world?
It is very different.
It is much the same
for you take yourself with you.
Those who find the thought
of traveling through eternity with themselves
distasteful
have important work to do.
It is the work of self-love.
You are your best companion
and you accompany yourself always.
That is the only structure I can give you
for the entire universe
is predicated on love
creating itself.
Emmanuel
What about Heaven and Hell, constructs of thought spawned by the dualism of the physical world. The places do exist, but not as places of eternal punishment or eternal worshiping of God.
Believe it or not, there are some people who feel they are so bad they must go to Hell, and so they shall, but not for an eternity. Hell comes equipped with teachers who work with those so down on themselves they feel they belong in Hell. In time those who go there will be taught how to love themselves, which will remove them from hell. There is no eternal torment, fire, or punishment anywhere in the spiritual world.
Those who wish to go to heaven may do so. They find all that they expected to find. Streets of gold, grand churches beyond beautiful. They worship until they become bored then leave. There is no requirement to worship. God is our father not our Ruler. He is our example of a loving, caring, compassionate Being, the whole of it all. We strive to be like Him.
When one enters the spirit world through a near death experience He enters the light and immediately feels loved, cared for, and accepted. That is the real nature of God.
There is no downside to the spirit world, but there are rules and measurements. The rule is whatever you do to others you will receive back. No exceptions. The measurement is love and you are the measurer. You are the one responsible for your spiritual growth, and the one who judges it.
The greater your spiritual growth the more powerful, and bright, you become. You create with your thoughts, both here and there, so be careful what you ask for and mindful of your thoughts.
St. Jude Tadeo is considered the patron saint of hopeless causes. Many pray to him for comfort and help. But there is no such thing as hopelessness. We may believe in hopelessness because our vision is blurred, our knowledge limited, and our faith weak.
We forget we are eternal children of the Father, and will live on after the death of our bodies. All those opportunities we thought we missed, the tests we failed, all the things we didn’t do will still be waiting for us to try again.
Friends and loved ones we thought were gone forever will reappear in the eternal moment of life after death. Our Father loves us more than we can ever know here on earth; He holds us safe and secure at all times; He never harms us in anyway. Don’t dispair, the mistake you made, the loved one you lost is only temporary. Hope is eternal, because we are eternal.
“Desire and hope will push us on toward the future.”
Michel de Montaigne
French writer and philosopher 1533-1592
Question:Can NDEs be duplicated by Scientists under controlled laboratory conditions?
Answer: Yes and No. As of this writing I know of no studies or experiments that have produced a full-blown Near Death Experience. By that, I mean an experience that contains a discussion between the Experiencer and a “Spirit Being” as to whether or not the Experiencer will continue living their physical life. Usually this consists of a statement from the Spirit Being telling the Experiencer “you must go back and finish your life.” Absence of this “life” discussion excludes the experience from being labeled a near death experience, in my opinion. However, it does not exclude it from being a real spiritual event. When Dr. Raymond Moody coined the phrase “near death experience” it was appropriate for his time, but now the phrase is being applied to sports teams and companies when they come close to losing either the game or a lot of money. This phrase no longer serves its intended purpose. Some researchers are now using the phrase “Clinical Death Experience” which more aptly fits the real event.
Near (Clinical) Death Experiences are only a small part of the very large field of spiritual experiences. But a very important part, since they show evidence life continues after death. Other spiritual experiences include Out-of-Body experiences, Pre-Birth experiences, Lucid Dream experiences, Death Bed Visions, Psychic experiences, After Death Communications, Spiritual Healings, experiencing the Oneness of all things, feeling surrounded by the Creator’s unconditional Love, and experiencing spiritual justice and morality through insights into life. If one studies spiritual experiences, it soon becomes apparent these experiences all thread into the fabric of the Greater Spiritual Reality that is our real beginnings, our real home.
Keeping in mind that Near (Clinical) Death Experiences happen when the body ceases to function (dies), we can examine scientific claims of duplication. There are three basic types of these claims to duplicate NDEs that I am aware of:
The use of mind/body altering drugs.
Stressing the body to the point of collapse, as in the Navy Airmen gravity testing by centrifuge.
Stimulation of the brain by electical, laser, chemical or other means.
The first method is discussed fully in a previous “frequently asked questions” concerning Ketamine and can be applied to any other drug as well.
The second method invokes stress, disorientation, interference with normal body functions, and even trauma in some cases. Too much stress, or too many G-forces will cause the subject to die clinically and thus have a death experience or some elements of one.
The third method, brain stimulation, begs the question that consciousness is biological and a product of the brain. However, there is no biological proof that memory or consciousness exists in the brain, or, is a product of the brain, see the Brain Thing for further explanation.
So, while some of these “drug and body stress” experiments have produced certain “elements” found in the NDE, and it is understandable that they would. There is no biological argument for science just because they can give drugs, or apply gravitation forces to the body that stop the blood flow to the brain, which then causes a person to experience some “elements” of the NDE. Heart attacks do the same thing. It is just a difference of method, fortunately the centrifuge or drugs can be stopped quickly, a heart attack usually can not. None of these G-Force stresses or drugs have actually duplicated a full-blown NDE.
The only way science could (might) produce a real NDE is to take the subject into clinical death. I saw an account of this on television (A&E). A patient’s body temperature was lowered to 60 degrees and the heart stopped so surgery could be done on a brain aneurism. All the blood was drained from the patient’s body effectively bringing her body into clinical death. At which point she left her body, looked down upon it, and observed the instruments being used in the operation. When she was revived, more than an hour later, she described the instruments used, and the surgery in detail. The surgeon was amazed, he believed her due to the accurate account she gave. She was certain the experience was real and spiritual. She had the experience independent of her clinically dead body. Her brain showed no activity on the EEG, nor any brain stem activity. She had been clinically dead for almost two hours.
The paragraph below is a quote of the same event from an anonymous writer in the NDE newsgroup. It has more detail than mine, so I thought it would interest readers.
“Such is the case of Pam Reynolds who is quite well known in the NDE community. She was having surgery performed to remove an aneurism from her brain. Her body was cooled to below 60 degrees F. and all of the blood was drained from her brain. Her EEG and brain stem response showed no activity, the definition of brain death in many states. During all of this, she reported rising from her body and seeing the operation performed below her. She also reported contact with “The Light” and many of her deceased relatives. Remember, she had no brain activity whatsoever. Even hallucinations register brain activity. It is interesting that upon recovering she recounted accurately many details of her operation, including conversations heard and a description of the surgical instruments. It has been postulated by a NDE skeptic, that Pam overheard the sounds in the room and generated a “mental map” of things around her. What the skeptic failed to acknowledge though is that instruments were inserted into Pam’s ears that generated clicks to measure brain stem response. Her brain stem response throughout the surgery was inactive. If conversations were heard, her brain stem response should have registered them.”
So, yes and no: Yes, science could (might) produce a NDE if the conditions (clinical death) for having one were met. But, no, these scientific experiments have not shown NDEs are biological in nature. There is no research showing memory and/or consciousness is biological. Think about it. Memory of all the events in our life would have to be huge. Yet, brain cells are all alike, if biological memory were there it should be easy to see some changes or coloration differences in the memory held cells.
According to Pam, she was present, above her body, viewing the whole surgical operation, her consciousness, memory, personality; her whole individuality intact. She proved this with an accurate, detailed description of the instruments, conversation, and procedures used during the surgery. At the same time science, using scientific monitoring instruments, was proving that her body was dead. No brain response, no heart response, no response of any kind. Obviously, the brain nor any other organ of the body was needed to sustain her life, and this account is just one example of the hundreds that exist in the NDE literature.
I believe this is as conclusive as proof gets. Clear, solid proof that man is a spiritual “being” inhabiting a physical body. I hope that in the future, scientists and others concerned with NDEs will consider this preponderance of evidence before telling the general public, or experiencers that NDEs are just biological events. In that manner humankind can benefit from this “knowledge of self” in many ways, and get on with its spiritual growth.
P.S.: Skeptics need to show proof of two things. First, they need to show proof, tangible, physical evidence of consciousness, and memory existing within the physical brain, and that this evidence can be collaborated by their peers. Second, they need to prove how this physical consciousness can remain alive and capable of gathering information of the body’s surroundings while the body is in a state of clinical death, showing no brain or heart or respiratory response of any kind, in order to promote their belief that humankind is wholly biological with no future beyond death.
Finally: In the interest of truth, let the skeptics present their biological proof, or forever cease calling Near (Clinical) Death Experiences some sort of biological misfire. I personally don’t expect this proof to ever be forthcoming. Ironically, it is science that has proved man will live beyond physical death. Science has finally validated the spiritual nature of man.
Eternally: All people hold within themselves the perfect light of their Creator. Skeptics, believers, and experiencers alike share the common bond of their Creator’s Love. There are no cracks to slip through, the program is perfect, individual souls struggling to affirm their identity, to extend the love they feel within while trying to balance the contradictions of physical dualism. Near Death Experiences remind us that we are safe, secure, and eternal in our Creator’s Love. We are One.
This is a beautiful post about the aftereffects of a near death experience. It is true to what I experienced in my NDE. I especially like the reference to the whole as hologram, which is my experience also. There has been a lot of research into a hologram brain and universe lately, use a search engine to find some of it if you are interested.
