Near-death experiences: What really happens?

and you know this how?

Get a clue. When multiple "dead people" report specific detail of activity performed by people in the room or scene of death that are confirmed to be specific and accurately true, this is no hallucination or trick of the brain.

The brain cannot create objective reality for one and all at the scene..

I totally agree, when you are dead you are dead.
No bright lights, no next life, No God.
I died on the table having stents put in after a heart attack,This is first hand knowledge.
I faded out , later heard a loud bang like a shotgun ( from being shocked with paddles )
then slowly came back not knowing what happened or that I died.
The bright light , life flash before my eyes people are suffering from lack of oxegen to
the brain and seeing things much like when you get stoned on drugs.
It's a nice thought , the afterlife and all, but when you die for good - Games over

After reading through much of these comments , most of the people with the life flash and other such types of experiences are all "near death "meaning their
brains are still functional even if not fully aware of it.They didn't actually die.
Leaving much room for stories although I have no doubt some people actually do believe themselves that this happened to them.
Even the nurses comments about seeing 500 people "die" with experiences like this
does not give true answers as again they were brain functional as they were dying.
and they didn't come back to confirm.

While the topic is actually "Near Death Experience " The only true answers can come
from people like myself who actually died and came back.
Not to be rude, but it doesn't matter how close you came , What matters is you did die and returned to talk about it.

when you are dead you are dead.

Except that you weren't, were you? You came back.

Just how exactly do you know this? Mr/Mrs Doubting Thomas? Do you know something the other 6 billion of us don't know?

In an autopsy - when all the essential organs are removed - what does love look like when it is removed? What is it you say? Love is not there? I beg to differ. Despite not seeing it - one feels the pain and joy of love as equally as they feel a broken wrist or chest pains, or a migraine headache.

If love is not present - yet can be felt - where does it go?
My guess is we go to the same place where love goes.

Hopfully for the sake of mankind, proud liberal is right and that all the liberals just cease to exist...that would be heaven!

Was this snarkiness really necessary?

dear proudliberal..sadly if that is what you truly believe, then you are already dead.

Tood H, You didn't have a NDE. You had a cardiac arrest. Did you not read the article? Cardiac arrest doesn't mean you died. Unless your brain shut down as well as your lungs simultaneously. From learning combatives, I've been choked out many times. Choked out meaning having someone choke you till you pass out. So if not breathing is one of the criterias of death, was I having a NDE everytime I got choked out? No. Everytime I got choked everything faded to black, without thoughts or feelings. Same as what most of these people experienced. But it still is not a NDE. "The bright light , life flash before my eyes people are suffering from lack of oxegen to
the brain and seeing things much like when you get stoned on drugs." Are you a doctor? That comment is just absurd. So please stop talking as if you've had first hand experience. Because you haven't. "The only true answers can come
from people like myself who actually died and came back." That was ignorant.

naive question: if one believes in "dead is dead", one will be dead?
similar question, if one says it out loud, leave me alone and don't care about me! one will not be taken care of?

I have no idea about this. I tend to believe not though.

my 2 cents,

The process of death and what occurs after is a mystery and shall remain one. The more imprtant mystery to be explored is how to live in a manner that exudes compassion for all life.

How can anyone believe this LOAD w/thout suffering from severe depression? There's something disconnected inside your head. Quick............call the paramedics; I think your brain may be playing tricks on you! Are you trying to say that if we all reduce ourselves to the most common denominator we are all just brains; that we all amount to no more than heaps and piles of gray, wobbly, jelletin, waterlogged, neurotic brain matter? Hmmm.......I always kind of thought of my brain as like a computer joystick for the real me (the spiritual me) to use to operate my body. But you're inferring that I'm nothing more than a brain, and that I play tricks on myself at the moment of death? You don't believe in other dimensions, I bet, either do you, or the theory of relativity, or quantum physics? Not that physics has much to really do with spirituality, but science is always saying that there's more going on than meets the eye. You must be the type that only believes what you can hear, see, feel, or smell, or taste. What if you could do none of those bodily operations? Would you still be alive, or would you just be more disconnected than you already are? Wake up man! The only thing that's really real here is the OPERATOR of the gray, neurotic mass of over amped sells that you believe your self to be. Everything else IS AN ILLUSION BROUGHT ON BY THE OVER CONSUMPTION OF THE ILLUSION OF TO MUCH OXYGEN!!! DEATH AND LIFE ARE TRANSITORY EFFECTS................................................... OR AFFECTS IN YOUR CASE. ask the question

That is the EXACT same thing that happened to me! I was floating above my body looking down at myself and the Doctors working on me to bring me back, I wasn't sad or scared in fact I have NEVER felt such peace, it was so beautiful, I am not afraid to die now. I wish I could feel that kind of peace in my living life.

I also coded 4 times. 2 of them I remember, the others I was told of. I never saw all of the stuff people report. I think it's because I knew I wasn't going to die, and I was extremely furious at my body for being so weak. I wonder if the anger had something to do with why I survived. I saw a show in which a girl reported being angry at that time as well. She wasn't supposed to make it either and that made her angry.

What does the emotion of anger do to the physiologic response of the body? The others that have commented, do you remember any anger at anytime during your episodes? I think I am most fascinated by HOW and WHY I survived, when I had literally than less than 1 % chance of it. (I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that medical science doesn't know what to make of me.)

This happened to me as well. I was able to see those below me and watch the team of doctors and nurses working on me. I was then drawn to a tree lined tunnel with a bright light . My brother and I were hit by a drunk driver when walking. I held my brother's hand when going toward the light. My great grandmother who had died several years before was sitting on a rock to our left. She reached for my brother's hand and took it from me. I tried to go with them, but she told me it wasn't my time and o go back. At that moment I was aware of being back in my body and in a lotof pain with my family around me. (I later learned that my brother had died) I feel that I was lucky to be able to escort my brother (age 6) to heaven and hand him over to my great grandma so he wouldn't be afraid. (I was 14 at the time. I have been pronounced dead twice now (separate times) and have no fear or doubt of life after death in heaven with God. I am also comforted knowing that I will be joined with love ones again some day.

I agree with your pope comment and giving your money away. God, whether male female, or a big fat buddha doesn't need our money. Is your story real, this is really a place for commenting on NDE?

You died for 4 minutes from drowning and there were doctors present..............Curious.

GO BABIN!!!! You ROCK HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Babin, I love your style! You actually made me laugh out loud. Keep up the good work.

Babin, I love your style! You actually made me laugh out loud. Keep up the good work.

R'amen brother babin! All bow down to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. May you all be touched by His noodly appendages and feel the warmth of His noodly embrace. Pasta be upon you.

please read my comment on this subject

Babin,

I'm furiously writing my check to you! PO box?

I have "nearly died" according to doctors many times but was not privileged to have a near death experience or a vision of the operating room. I'm jealous.

Keep trying. If at first your don't suceed!

jokes.

I have also been Blessed to be allowed to be present with both of my parents when they died. My mother had cancer and my father had emphysema. They died within 3 weeks of each other. My father was an only child, born out of wedlock, and had never met or known his father. He also greeted people , shook hands that we could not see, and sat straight up to inform us that he had met his father and that his father had told him that he loved him. He then sang" I'll Fly Away," and he did , at 4:50am the next morning.

My mother talked to people that we couldn't see for about 2 weeks before her death. Within 8 hours of their last breaths, I asked them to tell me what they saw. My father opened his eyes, shook his head no, and said " I can't". Once you experience this you have no fear of death or any unanswered questions about whether there is a Heaven or Hell.

I have also had a NDE. I jumped from a speeding car. I remember floating , feeling a faint breeze, while I looked down at my body. A truck driver was kneeling over me . I felt so relaxed and at peace. I could see the 18 wheeler and all the lights that were blinking. The next thing I remember is being in the ER and the nurses cutting my clothes off.

Love it, Babin! I'm not in a hurry but I do look forward to experiencing it for myself.

Darlene, I am pleased that you also felt blessed to be present when your parents died. I felt that it was such a gift. I do remember the surprised expression on someone's face when they offered their condolences and I blurted, "I wouldn't have missed it for the world!" I have been told the same thing by others who have been present at a natural death and it is not what I expected at all. When I was a child and teenager I was sure that being present when someone died, or even seeing a dead body, would be a horrifying experience.

I've read all of the posts and I'm so glad that people are being respectful and not ridiculing the people who have had experiences. One thing I know for certain is that I don't know anything for certain. I'm confident that things are as they should be and that when it is time for me to know what happens when we die I will find out without fear.

Darlene...

I think during the natural dying process, the "veil" between this dimension of life on earth,
and the spiritual dimension of the afterlife, becomes "thinner", and we kinda reside in both dimensions for a time. Also, concerning your NDE...it could be that you just do not remember some of the "happenings" or "feelings" between when you saw the truck's lights, and felt peaceful, and then being in the ER. Sometimes, some of it will come back to you in your dreams, maybe, too...when your consciousness is not so active in filtering out what your brain has put in the place of things that it cannot process. Does that make sense? One of the reasons that people have such a difficult time explaining death experiences, and they can sound so different that some people disregard the validity of them, is because we really do not have adequate words in our languages to describe heaven and the after-life, and there is not time there...just "being", so to try to explain something in terms of our dimension that is not from our dimension is very difficult. And I believe the "loving part" of us, joins with the loving part of all the saints before us, with God. If we allow the "loving" part of us (our Holy Spirit, I call it) to be completely extinguished while here on earth, then hell is just complete separation from God and love in our afterlife...nothingness...there is nothing to go to heaven, I think. Thats what we mean by "God knows the heart". I am not sure if this explains what I am trying to say very well, but thats how it seems to me.

I had an out of body experience shortly after heart surgery. I was looking down at my body from above and listening to the doctor and nurses talk as they were trying to bring me back. I watched the doctor open my chest back up and was amazed to see him clip my arteries from my heart and put me on a heart/lung machine. I felt no pain, just a sense of wonder at what I was seeing. I turned around (over?) and saw people that I knew were dead...everyone was smiling, I saw my father and he held my hand briefly and then let go and told me I needed to go back. I didn't want to go. I heard a loud noise like a shot gun maybe and I was back in my body in ICU in awful pain. I have never experienced anything like that, not afraid of dying if that is what it will be like.

I too have been at the bedside of several of my relatives as they went through the dying process. I too witnessed them speaking to known dead relatives and when asked if they were in the room with us, their responses led me to conclude the same thing, that they were seeing through the veil. This has been so common, that now if a relative starts these conversations following a surgery or illness, we know that they are not going to get well, we know that there will be complications and they will pass. I am comforted by this actually because I believe when we die we are not alone, we are escorted over by our loved ones.

Yes, Lou, my husband died eleven months ago. Two days before he died, he slipped into a short nap. When he awoke he asked me, "Who are all these people in here?" There was no one that I could see so I asked him, "Who do you see?" "Well," he said, "Your dad is over here." And he gestured to his right side just behind his shoulder. "And Dad, is over here," he said, gesturing behind his left shoulder. "Mum is next to Dad." I knew it was his birth Mom by the way he spoke and not his step Mom. "And Mother Mary is next to Mum." "Is the Father here?" I asked, meaning God. "Sure, he's right here in front of me." "Do you see Jesus?" "Oh, yes, he's right here next to Father." These words came without hesitation. "Is my Mom here?" I asked. I have always worried about the afterlife of my Mom and was hoping she was there. "No, I don't see here. She must be in the next room."
"Is Helen here?" I asked about his first wife. "No, she must be with Velma." (My Mom) "But who are all these others? There must be fifteen of them?" "Do you recognize anyone else? "No, I don't know them."

I knew then that my husband would surely not recover. I knew it in my guts before but it was obvious to me that God, Lord Jesus, friends and family had come to prepare him to go home. A few moments before my husband died, I saw my father "fly" into the room behind me and stand behind my husband. I said out loud "Dad, you're here." He responded audibly to me "I came to take my friend home." Minutes later my husband stopped breathing, became very gray and left his poor body behind.

My Mother's death was not so peaceful. I have had no contact with her since she died over twenty years ago. But we were never particularly close, and I think that has a lot to do with closeness after death.

I had a death experience when I was twenty-four. It is as vivid now, thirty-four years later, as it was on that day. I had gone from work with a group of co-workers to donate blood. During the process my heart collapsed and I died. I was aware of flying at an incredible speed through space. The stars were shooting past me at such speed that it felt as though I was in a tunnel. I also was aware that I had no body but was just a glowing essence being pushed by an angel. I heard music that was so beautiful it couldn't have come from earth or any voice or instrument on it. The peace and joy I experienced is so indescribable. I saw a light in front of me, first very far away and then getting closer and closer. Instinctively I knew that God was the light and I couldn't wait to get there. Then I heard the voices of men and women calling my name from earth. I knew it was the doctors and nurses who were attending those giving blood. I felt an annoyance at having to answer them because I wanted so badly to keep going on to God. I felt that it was necessary to answer them out of a spirit of obedience. At that moment I came to an utter stop in my flight. I knew I was being given a moment of decision to respond or not to respond. I decided to respond. I was then "sucked" back into my body at an even faster rate than I had been flying. It was the most nauseating feeling I have ever had. Morning sickness comes in second.

When I tried to respond to the nurse I still could not see, and my tongue had swollen inside my mouth so that I couldn't respond though I tried. Over and over my name was called. It seemed a long time before I could answer. When I could see, the nurse's face was just inches from mine. There were at least five nurses and one or two doctors around me. At my revival all but the nurse at my face left.

If I had to go through it again I would not respond. I would keep going. God, surely would have sent me back anyway, because I believe he still had, and has, things for me to do. But since that time I have had no fear of death. I also think that this experience has helped me to walk others through the door of death with peace and confidence.

I am sorry for those who do not believe that there is a God: a loving Daddy God who created each of us for Himself, and longs to have us home with Him in a place so wonderful and beautiful that "eye has not seen nor ear heard nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared" for us. If God could prepare an earth so incredibly beautiful for us, what could he have prepared for the forever we know is coming!

If you don't believe in God, know that He believes in you. Live as if you did believe. Because you don't want to be left with second choice of the only two in the hereafter.
For me, second choice will never do - for you either! Have a Happy Eternity!

Mary MC, you are so right. My gradmother had alzhiemers. She passed at the age of 78. We watched on for 10 years as her mind and body slowly deteriorated. Towards the end, probably the last two months near her death, she started to speak of her friend (who had passed when they both were in their 50's of 60's), mu uncles (her 2 sons who had passed before her), and others who had passed before, saying things like "Alice wants me to meet with her so that we can go". We then new it was time. I was 17 at the time, but I remember my grandmother waiting until all 12 of her childern were back home in Mississippi, and I remember my grandfather telling her "Emma, everyone is here now, you can go". I remember my grandmother passing away peacefully with all of her children and grandchildren around. I am convinced that Grandmother was between heaven and earth from September 1997 - November 1997.

What an amazing story about your husband. When you wrote about your dad coming to bring his friend home, it almost brought me to tears. Thank you for sharing!

Yes, the story about your husband Lou did bring me to tears. I love reading things like that because it just reaffirms me that the afterlife and God and his plan is so very real. Thank you for that. Reading your story really set a positive tone for my day.

Rico is telling it true

I believe Rico not so much the others.

I was in my doctor's office getting a lidocaine trigger-point injection for fibromyalgia when I went into full cardiac arrest. My experience was very similar to Rico's. I felt like I was fainting more than napping and I "awoke" to my doctor leaning against the wall looking like he'd just run a marathon and two nurses yelling at me to tell them where I was and to stay awake. Nothing happened while I was "dead" nothing. It all just went black and I also felt a calm that I've never felt before when I regained consciousness. I thought that was strange since I hadn't had a religious experience.

Why have you been plagiarizing my writing? I see you've posted text from my book "Everything Forever" here. In fact, Z-Bob, you have been posting this same letter (of my words) on forums for almost 2 years. Shame on you. Please find ways of expressing yourself by yourself.

This is amazing, since Gevin Giorbran died a few months ago, we now have the proof of the "afterlife" and the ability of the deceased to interact with the living (and through the internet).

Also, Giorbran's ideas are much more complex than the above post.

Furthermore, I have quoted many scientists in the above post and no one would consider this wrong since I am advocating their ideas not attempting to benefit from these quotes.

But thank you whoever you really are because I would definitely recommend the website of Gevin Giorbran:
www.everythingforever.com

Boring

Thank you for a very interesting explanation. You may well have hit the nail on the head.

Old Brit:
Thank you for your comment. If you are interested in further reading about how modern theoretical physics seems to substantiate the essences of many belief systems, I recommend the following books: "The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra; "The Self Aware Universe" by Amit Goswami; "The Physics of Consciousness" by Evan Harris Walker.

I agree with the time thing. Particularly to the life flashing. I think of it more as a blink that your mind can only process so fast so it appears as a rapid succession of snap shots. I started to see most of the important things that had happened in my life before I lost consciousness which tells me it's not actual death, but the beginning of it with a few other things yet to still happen before it's final.

The looking over yourself and the scene is all true but there really wasn't any concern either way it turned out. It was more of an observation. I did start to get frustrated that I couldn't communicate with anyone. No one was listening to me so I gave up trying then it ended but I do remember having thoughts like "where will they bury me"? I never have been afraid of death since I came to deal with the fact that it will eventually happen anyway and I can't change that.

I neglected to add to the reading list the insightful book "Zen Physics" by British astrophysicist, David Darling. The book is available to read on-line at:

David Darling's website is: www.daviddarling.info

I'll surmise that you lost all but a few precious souls with the intelligent ramblings of collegiate enterprise. Simply stated, and in a relatively spiritual context, as a Buddhist might interpret and as the great beacon of light and hope Jesus of the Christ said, "I am that I am" inferring undertones that we are all the same being and nothing less. When Christ says "I Am" then the meaning is that there is nothing more; no separation. A separation of any kind implies individualistic tendencies and leads us to believe and interpret time and space in intervals. No one likes to go so far as to say that we are all God having a dream of independent separation, but it's something to ponder isn't it? But then again all of this seams far removed from the topic of life after death. I posit that both life and death are illusions of the same dream, and the dream of life and death may be whatever we believe and therefore whatever we make it.

Aerocarpenter:

Excellent post! I agree with you that when Jesus Christ stated that "I am that I am" He was stating that He is all things whenever or where-ever they manifest in space-time. In other words, He is One with all things at all times and, therefore, One with God. He experiences God consciousness which is the consciousness that exists within us all but is hidden by our fragmenting, separating ego selves which divide us from the oneness of God.

It appears from the many experiences of the commenters here and in other studies that this oneness of mind, space and time leads to eternal (timeless) existence for us all. Whether we ultimately retain our individuality or are subsumed into the one mind of God is another question but, in either circumstance, we are eternal.

Peace

Zbob and Aero:
Really, doesn't much of what you are discussing fit with the classical Bible predictions? A final judgement, where every deed is known by all - if we become one with God, would not we all know everything that was accessible? And if God is truly infinite, and our knowable universe is just a figment of his imagination, then if we become One, will not we be in a state where every desire, dream and ambition is/has already been possible AND filled?

Or, maybe in another way, every post here is absolutely correct, we are all creating our own heaven and reality. A terrifying thought - you are going to have to live with yourself through infinity!

George McKninney,
You may be absolutely correct that we are creating our own heaven (or hell) in every moment of our lives and we may have to live with ourselves throughout eternity. But the beautiful power of forgiveness allows for us to be in a state of peace for eternity since we must view our lives (and all existence) in a holistic, timeless manner.

Peace in every moment in our minds and actions, with the power of true forgiveness, will eventually spread throughout the world.(if we want it to)

Peace

You know, with the NDE descriptions out there they reminded me of the dreams I have had. Some dreams I remember in such detail that I can remember them for years! Some I seem to close my eyes to sleep and the next thing I know I'm waking up the next morning eight hours later! I almost drowned and had a flashback of a time when I was 5 and jumping on our trampoline with a water hose.

Now, back to zbob's initial comment on time and stuff...assuming I understood what he explained correctly, and I like to think I did. Zbob just explained "eternity" in a couple of paragraphs. A topic that is nearly impossible to explain on a level for everyone to understand (correctly), because nothing in this life, here on earth, is eternal for us to compare to.

Jesus the Christ, aka "I Am". A lot of what Jesus did in the New Testament was confirming that which was prophesied in the Old Testament. I believe when He said, "I am that I Am", He was referring to being Jehovah of the Old Testament. George's comment is interesting in the fact that it paints a picture of a fragment on who God is and what our possible role might be with Him.

I guess the bottom line is that you better live up to your beliefs, because if you turn out to be wrong, at least you can say you did your best! Then again, if everything goes blank and your conscience ceases to exist...well, you wont have any hard feelings 'cause you won't have anything to feel!

For those intersted in the "I AM" statement: Both God and Christ who refer to themselves (Himself, if you prefer) in the present continuous form, are indicating that they are not finite like mortal man. God, being spirit and eternal, the alpha and omega, the A to Z, has no beginning and no end, much like a circle. He simply IS, presently and continously, because there is no point of origin to limit him and no culminating point which defines His existence. God, unbound by time constraints, is a continous flow of NOW. He's not I WAS, nor is He 'I Will', He simply IS. I do agree with the loosely stated notion that perhaps it means that in Him all things are held together, and that in Him we live and move and move and have our being, but I think it refers spefically to His eternal nature...a hard concept to explain to a creature who knows only finite time-lines.

zbob, I guess the words you copied wouldn't then, be 'your opinion'. It is the opinion of someone else, an opinion that you agree with.

Dot Parker:
Actually, the words are not copied from anyone regarding my opinion. I have quoted Albert Einstein, David Bohm and Brian Greene but they do not state the same conclusions that I have made (to my knowledge) The faux Gevin Giorbran was misstating and overstating his plagiarism charge. In other words, the website that I mentioned has some of the same quotes of the aforementioned scientists. I have given credit to the original person(s) who made the quote(s).

The opinion about the "afterlife" is mine. Of course I have incorporated the ideas of these great scientists into my view of this subject.

Peace.

zbob
I truly dig that you were extrapolating information from scientific theory, and I was expounding on the profundities of spirituality and we were able to find common ground!!! Now, that's profound....................

Peace to you Brother,

Beautiful story. I totally believe you. After my out of the body experience / dear death experience I too found out I can do something that most people can't. I too can talk/ connect with others that have passed on to the spirit world / afterlife. Do you contact them or do they contact you? There is so much that people don't understand about the spirit world, or what happens as we die to what happens after we are dead. Its been a very good topic to research.

No jokes, seems logical. I don't believe in the out of body experience.

So, TL-522492 I have to ask if you do not believe in this topic why in the*%^( are you even on this post? Just wondering!

marin, I don't believe it either - I agree with TL-522492. I believe that NDEs are merely the body's desperate last-ditch attempt to stave off the extinction of conciousness that happens when the body dies. I have no belief in any deity, afterlife, religion, or any other supernatural explanation for anything. We have our bodies, physical reality, our five senses, and that's it. No anecdotal evidence from people in extremis will ever convince me otherwise, although I do believe they are totally sincere in their beliefs.

However, all that said, my strongest beliefs are that everyone has the right to believe in exactly what they want, and are free to read and comment on anything they want, whether they believe it or not, without being attacked by some "true believer". Actually, I've seen very little of that in these comments, up to yours.

Evidently, only people who agree with you and *your* beliefs are allowed to comment, is it so?

you are a true believer on "everyone has the right to believe " :)

That's sure true! :-)

.If you want to pursue that experience further,I suggest you find a ashram.I was born with abilities that I thought every child had. It was in the third grade I realised I was different,Isaw things before they happened ,knew when people said things, that they felt other wise inside and what they really thought.I was not upset,Iwanted to know more.I had no one to ask. So I just talked to god about it.Then, the turning point was on a gloomy day my mother gave me the news my best friends mother was dying of cancer.Iwas sitting in the kitchen looking out the window,wondering what death was like.I saw a person standing under the apple tree next store.I was10 yrs. old,I ran out side to see this being,He was a elder man long white hair,brown eyes that looked Thu me,he had white long robes on.Icould not break eye contact,I asked who he was?He said he was my teacher,he also was holding a sickle.I told him I wanted to experience the whole process of dying.I have experienced dying from the beginning 4times.MY husband called me back.My husband passed away Jan.21 2005,I Lead him over as far as I had gone . He passed over 15 min. later.He passed with his head cradled in my hands.I do not at all fear death,it is a beautiful experience.When you consciously die you are only connected to your body 25% so you have the chance to go back and in your body at will.It is like a onion,first you are wide a wake and see your parents ,than I saw myself between them. I told my husband what is my dad and mom doing standing at the bottom of my bed? Than I saw my self between them. Thats when I felt the first layeraround my body leaving, than Ifelt this beautiful feeling of letting go. It is like a giant magnet pulling you toward this bridge,as layers 0f substance fall off you.There is a light brighter than the sun every where. As this force field is pulling you,there are beings with you in white robes walking with you. The bridge which looks like a bridge made with strips of wood ,asI walked further on, the bridge turned into a rainbow.Than my husband said do not go!do not go!come back,come back. It felt so good to go,but when he saw me going it felt like a giant shepherds hook grabbed me and pulled me back into this body. Coming into the body was unbelievable pain,so much pain. I was ready to go,asI have had 19 operations and live with pain 24-7. Than to find while I was in the process of dying,my husband had 6 months to live.We took care of each other, we thought I would go first. When he died my world fell apart,and of course my health,all I tell people is be so thank full you have a husband or mate, because you donot know till they are gone how much the love and feelings you have had together. The pain of losing apartner is something you never get over.` If it was not for dream time with him,I donot know how I could go on.He was my pillar to lean on,now he is not here, so Brad I do know the depression,pain and everything that it entails. May the force be with you and heal the pain.I know it is easy to say but hard to do,But be thankful that you have your children so you still have work ahead for you, be very thankful.

I believe you

Brad, you seem truly interested so at the possibility of ridicule I would have to say that on two occasions I at least have been close to the door. Both times I thought I saw a couple dressed in 1950's garb at the foot of my hospital bed. They were telling me it wasn't right and I should relax and everything would be right. After the second experience I thought on it and it came to me those two people were the same in each instance. The second time i was more open to going as I had convinced myself I was tired of fighting what would surely recur but they talked me out of that as well.For over 10 years that medical condition has not recurred and after I felt a sense of well being that I still can feel today.

Willow-369182 I am very interested in your psychic experience as I have had two very interesting readings. I also have had my two year old granddaughter walk into my home and say hi to my father, whom she said was sitting in my favorite chair, [dad passed in 1981].

Thank you.

Perhaps there are multiple reasons why "all" people do not have NDE.
One reason may be physiological, another may be dimensional "maturity"

www.consciousnessconnector.com

If you what to pursue that further I would find a ashram and learn to meditate.I was born with many abilities that felt normal to me,I thought every person had them too. In the third grade I started to realize kids didnot tune (see things before they happened like I didand know about what people were like inside and how they really felt even tho they said otherwise. Than when I was 10 years old, my best friends mother was dying of cancer. My mother told me sandy's mother did not have much time left. I well never forget that day, we lived in the countryand it was a gloomy day,I sat in the chair at the table thinking about death.While thinking I looked out the kitchen window and saw a person standing under the apple tree in tall grass next store

Awsome, great blog

That ghost is in need of your spiritual help to go home.
Please pray for it, read scripture to it, and tell it about
the love of the Lord and how He died to have all of his
children home with him. If, over time, you can "sense" it's readiness, invite it to go to the
Light where God is. It will be able to see the light and choose to go if it is ready. You are gifted to be able to do this for someone in such need.

Lisa, thank you for sharing the experience you daughter shared with you. It was very beautiful.

When I was your daughter's age, my grandmother shared with me the story of her father's death. My great grandfather died as a young man. He had been a giving, wonderful and loving man and a pastor of a church. Moments before he passed, he sat up in bed and called to my great grandmother, "Why, Dory, why is so and so here on my right side, and at the foot of the bed is so and so, and on my left, is so and so, and why are they all here?"

My great grandfather proceeded to talk with those whom he was speaking, began a conversation with those around his bed. My great grandmother knew, that those in attendance, were members of his congregation and had preceded him in death. His friends and members of his church. Many medical professionals insist this is very common, communicating with deceased family and friends upon one's passing.

As an RN you may know this is true. I was to have surgery in 1986. I had been through 2 surgeries in 1971 and 1981, so I knew the routine. Somehow, this one did not seem quite right, so I wrote a note to my husband the night before and gave it to him "just in case". He looked at it and said he didn't want it, but I made him keep it. As I was taken to surgery, I saw my anesthesiologist and knew right away I did not want him to put me to sleep. In the Operating Room, before I could tell my doctor I wanted someone else, he had me asleep. Now, as I look back, putting me to sleep did not happen so quickly previously. It was as if I was falling asleep on my own, but this time I just went out, fast. Long story short, the only thing I can remember is the nurse coming into my room and asking me to move my feet. I did. I remember hearing my dad and mom's voice, then nothing else. This part I was told by the head nurse, another RN, and my husband. My parents had left, my husband was straightening up my pillow when he said my head dropped over like a newborn, no function to hold my head upright. This led to him picking up my hand and it felt cool to the touch and limp. He got down beside my ear and screamed my name. The nurse's station was on the other end of the hall and the nurses there heard him yelling my name and rushed to my room. The head nurse could not get a heartbeat or pulse so she summoned the anesthesiologist, (took him 10 min. to get to my room), and as she turned toward the door she saw a CN with an ice tray going down the hallway. She ran and grabbed the ice tray and dashed it in my face. This brought me around. The anestheiologist did not want to give me a shot to bring me out of it because he said I would be in pain. The head nurse told him to give me the shot, she would deal with the pain when I woke up.

This is what I know. I was in a very dark place, no stars, no sun, no top, no bottom, no sides. I was walking slowly, then I began to walk faster until I was running. I remember it was so warm and the farther I ran the warmer I became. It felt so warm as the sun is on a very hot day except I did not sweat, it did not burn, total darkness, yet I could see, and I wanted to go to the other side. I think that warmth was angel wings wrapped around me. Within all this warmth was so much love, I felt loved like no other can ever be loved! I cannot describe how much love or how it felt, but I knew I wanted to go! Then, I woke up, with a little pain, and nurse was saying she could get a pulse and heartbeat. Next day, one of the nurses told me I had scared them to death. I smiled and told them it would have been alright, I knew where I was going. Today, it is as real as if it had just happened. My husband told me I seemed to be a different person, as if he took one to the hospital and that one was replaced with another. I would never change what happened because now I know exactly what is waiting and I still want it. I believe in the 23rd Psalm and believe I was "walking in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."

Those of you that read this may be sceptical or not. I really don't care, I know what I believe and I know it happened. I did not look down on myself nor did I see a light, but I felt tremendous love like no other. I love God and I believe in afterlife and in the kind of love I felt, only God can give.

Great post!! Sensible analysis ...the life reviews (random collection of memories), the light, the tunnel like feelings are "said" to be the results of poor brain function due to lack of O2. With that said, may i also point out that i meant no disrespect to those who have had NDEs (including my mother) and their spiritual beliefs. NDEs are real and 10% of American's have had them. Just like our perception of life, our perception of death (at the brink of it) is different from one to another. So it makes perfect sense for these experiences to vary. Thank you for all those who shared thier experiences!

Awesome Post! Thank you for sharing, I've never had any NDE's but I did experience something that proved to me God exists! Again Thanks!

Yes, it's almost impossible to explain that there is God to those who don't know Him unless you personally experience Him and know you will be going either heaven or hell.
And I do understand why a lot of people don't understand this and some people laugh about this fact.
I know the man from NEWZELAND got stung by jellyfish 5 times and died at the hospital with no vital sign. He wasn't a religeous person at all but he experienced hell first with cold, dark, scary place with evil spirit there and heard voice saying he belongs there and he deserved to be there.
And next second, suddenly he found himself to go thru tunnel with bright, beautiful light that he never seen or experience before on this earth.
And he felt tremendous warm love shining on him and automatically he knew it was God.
When he opened his eyes, he saw man's feet infront of him with white robe and His arms wide open to him.
He said he couldn't see the man's face because of the bright, radiant light fuming out of His face and he could feel the warmest love coming out of this Man. He could feel that this Man was love. He started to weep and telling God that He couldn't love him because he had sinned so much and cursed God so many times and sleeping around etc ... And when he said that he felt more love coming out of the Man's body and touched him. God asked him if he wants to go in or wish to return.
He told God that he is not married and no children and he has no reason to go back and told Him he wants to go in to paradise.
Then he saw his single mom standing and smiling at him. ( his mom was a christian)
He couldn't go in leaving his mom alone thinking her son died and went to hell and bury him without knowing her son went to heaven.
He told God he wanted to go back and in a second, He fell suddenly from heaven to earth so quick and he woke up in the mortuary.
He still trembles when he shares this story and this happened over 20 years ago.

Well said!
That's an eye opener!

I have been interested in Buddhism for a while, and I am at a nihilistic stage at this point. To me death is simply end of awareness, but what you are saying makes sense... I will ponder about it, as you suggest.

Thanks

By the way, I also had a near death experience, if it can be so called. The difference being that I was never near death nor was I aware of any danger. It happened in my late teens, I was skiing at night early in the season and took a spill. While sliding down the trail, enveloped in a fog of snow, I fell off a decent cliff. I never saw it coming, was not injured in any way, but suddenly I was surrounded by bright, warm light. I did not physically see it, I sensed it with my back.... Also, I felt a presence of a person, old but familiar, who projected a powerful feeling of care and love. I realized that this person was there always, but only at that moment I was able to sense it. I fell of a 25' cliff, onto the rocks below. I was banged up, but unhurt and continued skiing for the rest of the night. I was in danger, but my brain did not know it so I had now fear before I had this experience. I don't think my brain compensated for anything, as some people claim. I was not injured, yet I feel that my experience was similar to the ones described in this blog. Great discussion!

Akmuo,

That person who you became aware of was Jesus Christ. So why be interested in Buddhism? Why think death is an end to awareness? In fact, there is no death...After you leave your body, you become more keenly aware of everything tenfold. God has given you an opportunity to become a good Christian before you die. I suggest you go to your library and check out the book Return from Tomorrow by George G, Ritchie Jr. This tells the story of a man who died and was shown an afterlife by Jesus. He learned how critical love is in this world and why everyone needs to project only love. Also, he learned that once you "die," you analyze what you have done with your life. At that point, nothing material matters, nor do awards and achievments mean as much as they do on earth. On the contrary, one takes pride in how much love and compassion they showed and took action in on earth. God Bless.

Thank you perspective for your insights and your integration of modern theoretical physics and Buddhism. And I am a practitioner of zazen and I am also a huge fan of David Bohm's "Wholeness and the Implicate Order"--amazing ideas. And if you look at my response to "Gevin Giorbran" (who died a few months ago) you will see that I am not trying to plagiarize anyone but I am only interested in spreading these beautiful ideas so that more people will find peace in every moment and live every day without fear, anxiety and attachment. Peace