The Awakening.
In 1986 I experienced what you have termed a NDE. It was during a period of great stress and upheavel in my life that resulted in a heart attack and by-pass surgery. It was during the surgery that I found myself looking down at my body. At this time I could hear the conversations of the surgical crew. I was formless and unbound by any worldly physical constraint, yet my center was present and observing my body. It was the first time I have ever known peace....a feeling of such warmth and love with a completely objective observation of reality. I did not want to ever return to my former association with the body lying below. Somehow I knew that I had to return and I had a very sad feeling that I would be giving up this state. I had to return to face the world. My last feeling that I rememember was that of sadness.What this experience meant to me is that it took a long time of thinking about it before several truths began to emerge. First, when it's over, it ain't over. I existed, though technically I was dead, which means that I didn't die, my body did (I was on a heart lung bypass machine); thus I existed, that I was not the body, but something else altogether. I am that which is manifested through the body. I exist independent of the body and when this body dies, I will not. This proves to me the fact there is life beyond the grave. The grave holds that which dies, and that which I am does not die, but perists always. That which I ultimately am, and have always been is the essence of life itself, which only temporarily manifests through this piece of biological machinery called a body and which others refer to as me.
This has helped me sort out many conflicting feelings regarding matters having to do with spirituality. I was raised in a southern baptist church in Mississippi and have always had great difficulty with the teachings of the church, interpretations of the bible, etc. My experience did not solve these, by any means, but it did allow me to see that there are many pathways to knowing, and that whatever anyone wishes to believe, as long as they don't harm others or force such beliefs on others, it is ok by me, because I now know that death is an illusion created by failing to know who we are.
Since I have so fully opened myself to whomever, I would appreciate hearing from anyone who wishes further dialogue.
W.N.
(You summed it up nicely, near death experiences prove life continues after death to the experiencer.)
