Coming from a non-scientific background, I completely understand the feeling of potentially being overwhelmed by last week’s discussion involving physics theories. Several years ago, I read multiple books on physics, including Albert Einstein and Michio Kaku only because I was determined to dig into Fritjof Capra idea of parallels of modern physics and Eastern mysticism. I had to read the same paragraphs repeatedly and dissect the words using The Handy Physics Answer Book to grasp the concepts. Fortunately, I won’t be throwing a physics spear of knowledge into anyone’s brain this week. Just keep this concept from last week blog in the back of your mind today: the dynamic nature of existence, wherein energy flows and fluctuates in a ceaseless dance of creation and dissolution.
Eastern mysticism views consciousness as part of this energy, and there are some scientists willing to consider this theory. Many religions refer to this energy as the soul. Whatever name it goes by, there is no greater proof than the empirical evidence provided by numerous people with near-death experiences (NDEs).
Over the past couple of months, I have been digging into published interviews with people who have died and been brought back to life. A contingent of scientists (medical doctors, psychologists, etc.) believe that NDEs are simply chemical reactions of the brain or based on psychological elements that play a crucial role in shaping the subjective interpretation and meaning of the NDE experience. The medical field often presents these theoretical explanations because they cannot accept what patients have reported after being resuscitated, waking up from a coma, or some other non-responsive state. It doesn’t jive with their medical training. But, for doctors who have had near-death experiences, it completely changes their minds. (Read Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife.)
What is hard to dispute are the cases where people have provided verifiable details they shouldn’t have known while they were flatlining, brain dead, or medically unresponsive. The near-death experience is an out-of-body experience (OBE) usually brought on by some sort of physical trauma. From this vantage point, they gained the information they should not have known while in this condition. These experiences provide a glimpse into the connectedness of all of us.
In my experience, a person doesn’t necessarily have to die to realize we are more than our biological makeup, but those who do seem to better understand the universe. People who go into deep meditation have reported being able to create OBEs with consistent practice. I am not that dedicated to meditation to ever have one on demand. Yet, I had a few accidental OBEs when I was a teenager, and not sure if I want to purposely attempt to create one at my age. Like many NDE reports, I too remember leaving my body and then seeing myself from above it. In my case, I was sleeping on the living room couch, not suffering some sort of physical trauma.
On hot summer nights, the green couch became my bed because it was the only air-conditioned space in our home. I can still remember looking down at my sleeping body as I floated above it, fully aware of the experience. This happened again, a few months later, while staying at my sister’s house. In each case, the family dog jumped on me, jolting me back into my body. (A quirky fact was my sister’s dog, Patio, was the mother of my dog, Wally Bear, and each put me back into my body.)
Both of those OBEs were quickly followed by the opening of a spiral tunnel that I could see. Up until this point in my life, OBEs and spiral tunnels were not part of my vocabulary. But they are very much part of the vocabulary of those who have had NDEs. But I didn’t die in my sleep. And, if the spiral tunnel wasn’t strange enough, the first OBE ended in the most bizarre vision, dream, or meeting…something I’m still not sure how to categorize and explain.
We are more than our biological vessels or the roles we take on during our lifetime. Some people believe this purely on religious faith, and others will live a lifetime and never believe it, no matter what the evidence presented. But I think most of us inherently know it, and can identify it just by observing life.
Many NDE interviewees struggled to accept their experiences and kept their stories to themselves out of fear of being judged by family and friends, not alone strangers. But I think many have reached the age where they finally said, “F” the norm, and I agree. There is something everyone can learn from these experiences, including science.
Very few people have ever heard the details of my OBEs. And I share this experience at the risk of readers thinking I have lost my f###ing mind. But, after reviewing enough empirical evidence regarding NDE cases, it’s worth telling because my OBEs shared traits with the classic NDE (minus the dying of course).
When I had my first OBE at fourteen, I remember hearing a female voice call my name as I entered the spiral tunnel. I understood it to be my grandmother’s voice, even though I don’t remember either of my grandmothers. They both died when I was very young. I began moving towards a light at the end of the tunnel. In my young teenage Catholic schoolgirl mind, I entered heaven, but it could be just another realm. I arrived in a white room, and there was a rectangular table, covered in white linen. Behind the table were a handful of figures waiting for my arrival. They wore flowing material (judging by the upper half of their bodies not blocked by the table). Imagine the disciples’ robes depicted in paintings, but cleaner and brighter.
When I approached these figures, they did not introduce themselves by individual names. Instead, they were referred to only as the Council of Elders. (WTF, right?) This reference, which I never heard at that point in my life, was unique and perhaps one of the reasons I remembered the encounter. I stood in front of them as if it were a pre-planned milestone review. They looked at the pages of ancient parchment books that rested on the table. Being fourteen I didn’t know what to think but now I have the perfect reference. It was like having the boss gaze into the manila folder that holds the annual performance review. It is a feeling of judgment on your progress as an employee, but also the moment where you get to express your desired goals for the future and hope the boss agrees.
However, the only detail I remember from the OBE conversation was that I decided to go forward in life without something specific I had with me up until that point. It was as if I preplanned this review to give my decision on a personal path I would take. (Though I can’t remember what I decided not to do). I only remember being told I would no longer receive information or guidance on whatever it was I was giving up. I wish I knew exactly what “it” was, but I suppose if it wasn’t meant to be part of the plan, I wasn’t supposed to remember it.
I never forgot these OBE experiences, but I also never thought of them as anything but strange dreams of a hormonal, creative teenager, until I noticed a pattern. A decade would pass, and new, unexplainable experiences occurred while I was asleep. Some dreams felt as real as that “council” meeting but I no longer saw myself floating above my body or the spiral tunnel.
The next distinctive experience occurred when I was in college, shortly after my dad died. My father’s death came as a surprise to our family. It was also the first time I had experienced the death of someone close since all of my grandparents died before I was born or shortly after. In this dream, I saw Jesus. Many Christians (and even some atheists) describe seeing Jesus during an NDE, but not always. People also see religious figures in their dreams that are consistent with their upbringing. And yes, seeing my dad with Jesus could be a way of subconsciously dealing with his death.
He died during the mid-term of my senior year in college. I went back to school after the funeral, still processing the emotions of an unexpected death, while trying to finish classes and graduate. I completely understand that our dreaming minds do bring out the emotions we suppress using familiar symbols. Seeing Jesus pointing to my father and knowing he was at peace in heaven was a relief. And if it were the only thing I experienced in that dream, I would concur, that what I saw was a part of the self-healing process. But it was not all that I experienced.
Before I saw my dad, I saw Jesus standing in front of me, and this massive white light emanated from his chest. I found myself completely bathed in this white light. At that moment, I felt an unconditional love that I had never experienced before in my entire life, and never since. As humans, we are capable of love, but I don’t think we can ever feel it unconditionally because love is an experience mixed with emotions, including anger, hate, loneliness, jealousy, etc....it’s never pure love.
This feeling left an impression I couldn’t forget, and it mirrored the feelings of those who also encountered the white light on the other side. I understand why many people who had experienced this light in their temporary death became depressed as they longed to return to that feeling of unconditional love. Nothing compares to it.
I woke up that Sunday morning, taken aback by this experience. I even walked to the local Catholic church and attended Mass. Talk about a moving experience. I had never been to the local church during my five years in college. In high school, my parents let me go to Sunday mass by myself (they went on Saturday evenings). I used to just pop into church to get a bulletin that I could take home as attendance proof. I had no patience to sit in church for an hour and listen to things I didn’t connect with while doing the ritual pew aerobics of catholic service. Don’t get me wrong, the motivation to go to the church didn’t last. Instead, those experiences became the motivation to learn more about the world through different scientific, philosophical, and religious perspectives. I could only do this if I backed away from what I was conditioned to believe, which was follow the church’s doctrine or burn in hell. The last thing I wanted was to be reinforced with fear when trying to further understand these experiences.
I don’t know how many people remember their dreams. But, I know I remember most of mine and usually can identify it as a dream when I am still dreaming. Sometimes I use that skill to change the story of my dream as it happens. The typical dream state plays out like a “movie”, and it feels the same whether I am the observer or the experiencer in my dream. I remember it when I wake up, but usually forget about them within a day. The rare dreams, the ones that feel real, are the ones that have taken up permanent residence in my memory. They felt as real as you feel in this very moment, reading my words.
By the time I reached my mid-thirties, I was married with two kids, and still early in my communications career. It was around this time I had one of those rare dreams. This time, it involved the presence of an energy that I couldn’t see. I called it an angel, but it could have been a guide or some other spirit. I remember sitting at a wooden picnic bench, in a small park inside a city where the closest building had many steps that led to a white building with columns—sort of like the Pantheon, but bigger. On the table, was a book, and the words on the front were “Book of Life.” It looked like a large photo album. Throughout the book were pages, each with a photo, a caption, and some additional text. It was written in a language I couldn’t read. I was only able to recognize the year next to the photo. When I looked closer at the image, the energy touched my shoulder. At that moment, we moved into the actual event that took place in the photo represented.
In one of the photos, I felt the adrenaline, sorrow, and angst of a young man who robbed a store with his brother. It was 1927, the road in front of the store was dirt, and two men leaned on a black motor car of the era. They had just robbed the store, killing the clerk inside. It was not supposed to happen that way. The regret of one brother was so deep, in that moment he killed his brother and then himself. In another photo, I was sucked into a dark motel room, where a woman with red hair was about to give childbirth. It was 1954. I could see the face of the man trying to deliver the baby as if I were viewing him from her perspective. I could feel the pain and sadness as she died giving birth.
I returned to the park bench, and I remember wanting to stay to learn more. But I was told it was time to go. I suddenly woke up, believing the dream was real, but reasoning it was impossible. Still, I wrote it down because I never wanted to forget the details of those two lives I reviewed. It made me curious enough to start looking for answers.
The Book of Life is mentioned in the Book of Revelation, and perhaps subconsciously I had picked this up from something I had learned. Though the experience fit more of a life review session, I can’t quite say whose life I was reviewing. Soon after this dream, I was browsing the television and stumbled across Sylvia Browne who was promoting her book, Life on the Other Side. I purchased the book and was very excited to find descriptions that closely resembled some of my personal experiences.
But, before I go further, I have to address the elephant in the room—the psychic medium, Browne. Some people believed Browne was the real deal, others not so much. Naysayers point to multiple failed predictions, including those involving missing children. On the Montel Williams show, she told the parents of a local St. Louis area boy who went missing a few years earlier, that he was no longer living. The boy miraculously showed up alive when the police chased down a suspect in a second kidnapping near the metro area. And this wasn’t the first time she was wrong about a missing child. From this point, Browne lost credibility. I questioned the authenticity of what she wrote in her book, Life on the Other Side, for years and set it aside.
After researching NDEs, I recently revisited Browne’s book. Despite my issues with her credibility, I am willing to stick my neck out on this one because she wrote some things that resonated with my nighttime experiences and numerous stories of NDEs. They gave validity to something I couldn’t make sense of in my traditional, catholic, understanding. For example, she talks about a Council of Elders on the other side. That’s right, I almost shit my pants when I read the subchapter titled “The Council” on page 160. Her first sentence explains the council is also known as The Elders or Master Teachers. Mind blown. Hard to admit it, but there was a strong possibility I remembered a real meeting, not an actual dream. Talking about rocking your belief system. I had never heard of this term before that OBE.
According to Browne, the Council is capable of intervening on behalf of a person’s life chart to alter the experience, but only under dire circumstances. She says a person signs up for this lifetime, and all the crap that goes with it, knowing the other side is perfect, and without fear. Even if she turned out to be a complete fraud, Life on the Other Side contained an obscure reference to the Council of Elders. I heard the term during an OBE two decades before Browne published her book.
I recently found the terms Council of Elders and the Book of Life described in second-hand stories of near-death experiences. Browne wrote that she had an NDE experience and spoke with others who had similar experiences. This controversial psychic medium might have been gifted, or perhaps she was just well-researched on NDEs. I am willing to accept she may have formed her conclusions on real cases because her descriptions of the Other Side are similar to those provided by many who have had NDEs.
The life review is a common theme among those who have cheated death. I wondered if that realistic dream of being at the park bench, reviewing the Book of Life, was similar to a personal scanning experience. Browne described a Greco-Roman building with columns in front, and the first place to visit after death. She called it the Hall of Records, and oddly enough, her description of the building matched the place I saw next to the park in my dream. She explained that it contained a detailed chart of every incarnation that was ever on earth. She also described it as the “Scanning” place where people go for a life review, a term frequently described in NDEs.
However, individual near-death experiences included different “life-review” tactics, from seeing it in a reflection of water to watching it play on a massive movie screen. The individual’s experience on how they do a review seems to be unique, but the review is one of the most consistently reported experiences. Most people explained they reviewed some of the smallest moments in life that had a great impact on others, whether they were good or bad. They felt what others felt in those moments, as a reminder of the impact they can have, no matter how small or insignificant it seems during their life.
These moments reflect the “interconnectedness” of consciousness described in Eastern Mysticism and the operation of energy in Modern Physics. Maybe science should not brush NDE experiences off as a chemical reaction in the brain. The experience of connectedness in many NDE cases included feeling and seeing a bright energy emitting from everything. And as explained last week, science says everything is energy.
Outside their bodies, most experiencers pleaded with figures from the other side to stay on the other side. They felt they were finally home only to be told they had to return to their human existence and finish their work. Some were given choices, and those who chose to come back felt obligated to return to their family and friends. In either case, the most common experience, generally not talked about in detail, was the return to the body. They described their energy as being so expansive it didn’t make sense to many of them as to how they could physically return and fit into something that seemed so small as the human body.
But once they returned, most reported a new outlook on life. They came back with new skills or a strong desire to learn a skill they never considered before the NDE. One man became obsessed with learning the piano because he kept hearing the music inside his head, which he remembered from being on the other side. So, he learned how to play the piano and began writing music. Some came back simply with a new inner calm, and one learned the hatred he held for another race led to his death. He essentially learned that “what we do unto others, we do unto ourselves.” We eventually experience the pain we cause on the other side as feedback. Basically, it all sounds like a great demonstration of interconnectedness.
There are so many fascinating cases of NDEs, too many to describe in detail. And, since many of the interviews can be found online here are a couple of sources I recommend:
Free on YouTube:
There are plenty of books on the subject but I like this one because it was a neurologist who did not believe it until he experienced it himself.
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife
I had no idea you experienced these OBEs! A good discussion for GWE!