Tag: death

This Matter of Life and Death

YouTube: This Matter of Life and Death

My fascination with near-death experiences stems from the insights they provide into the nature of the soul. Although these reports are primarily anecdotal, they reveal common themes. Two strikingly consistent themes that emerge are the advanced and immortal nature of the soul. It’s the closest we can come to eyewitness accounts of what it means to be a spiritual being.

Physical trauma, surgical complications, disease, and suicide are among the commonest causes of death. Of these, suicide is perhaps the most controversial. Some religions consider it a sin. However, those who survive it and return with a near-death experience, tell a different story. They’re not judged for their action. They are greeted with the same unconditional love all report. And, they are sent back, or choose to come back, to complete their reason for incarnating in the first place.

The impression we are given is that those who do not come back continue their journey in absolute love. Those who do come back are adamant in saying that suicide is not a viable option. Many will actually go into suicide counseling to help others consider alternatives.

Though life can be a struggle, those who have faced death, accompanied by an NDE, often experience a childlike rebirth. They gain a new perspective, shedding many of their self-imposed limitations. Most find a renewed zest for life. Nearly all lose their fear of death, which in turn, eliminates their fear of life itself.

In her New Thought classic, The Game of Life and How To Play It, Florence Scovel Shinn points out that life is not a battle of us against the world, but rather a game of giving and receiving. What we give to the world we receive back―whether that be the dark weight of fear and inhibition or the freedom of joy and empowerment.

This segment of our life that we are living now is our opportunity to discover how to do it well. If we have descended into a rut of the mundane, it may be time to give to the world a new message. It may be that our purpose for incarnating was to prove to ourselves that we could do it successfully. The good news is that the only time we can deal with this matter of life and death, is in each moment. Do that one right, and you’ve got it!

Lifting the Veil

YouTube: Lifting the Veil

With Memorial Day coming up, our thoughts turn to those who gave their lives in service to our country, from military to our first responders. Many of us who haven’t lost loved ones in the line of duty will remember those we have lost in other ways, and we will think of them as continuing on their unique path.

While we continue to associate death with pain and sorrow, we are slowly opening our collective consciousness to the ongoing nature of life. From this earthly perspective, we see death as an end. We are learning from those who have momentarily lifted this veil that there is no end. There is change, but there is no death. When a loved one steps from our life, we suffer the pain of shock and loss. I had experienced this with pets and with grandparents. But the loss of our son, and then my mother, revealed a whole different level of loss.

The grieving period is a time of readjustment. Hopefully we gradually move from what we lost to what we gained through our relationship. When I think of Ashley and my mother, I do not think of them as dead. I wonder what they might be experiencing in their new life. This is not simply an attempt to help myself feel better; it is grounded in the understanding that they continue to live.  

Many NDE’rs express surprise when they realize they are technically dead. The surprise comes from the fact that they are still very much alive. They only know something has changed because no one can hear them explain that they are perfectly fine, and everybody should calm down. One universal take-away from their experience is the loss of the fear of death. While the average person may think death is the worst thing that could happen, the typical NDE’er will insist that their brush with death was the best thing that ever happened to them. The loss of the fear of death seems to spark a new enthusiasm for living life.  

My interest in the NDE is not an obsession with death. As I have said many times, I see this emerging body of information as a window into the soul. I do not think there is a remedy for our feeling of loss. I do think the more willing we become to lift the veil of this thing we call death, the better we understand this other thing we call life.