Unbelievable stories
“At Marco Polo’s deathbed in Venice in 1324 the priest taking his confession asked him whether he was finally willing to confess his lies. Marco’s answer was: “I did not tell half of what I really experienced, because I knew that the people wouldn’t believe it anyway.” For people of those days it was incredible what Marco had told. He had described how powerful and rich the Chinese emperor was. That during falconry he was transported in a pavilion carried by four elephants. That he issued paper money, which was even accepted by the Chinese in exchange for really valuable things, like pearls and jewels (in Europe the first paper money dates from 1661).
But they are true
What Marco Polo had described, was really true. That also applies to what people describe who have had had a Near Death Experience (NDE). What they describe sounds just as incredible, yet it is true. Just like with Marco Polo there was disbelieve for a long time, but after thirty years of research it has definitely been established that NDEs are very special experiences. Meanwhile, the “serious” science has also accepted it. For example, the results of Pim van Lommel’s Dutch research were published in The Lancet, a very well respected medical journal. A conclusion from that research is that the occurrence of NDEs does not depend on the duration of a cardiac arrest or the unconsciousness. Nor from medication or the lack of oxygen. Neither was there a relation with gender, religion or education. In short, there was no demonstrable difference between people with NDE and the control group without NDE.
Out of the body
People who get a NDE have great difficulty to describe what they have experienced. In any case they are completely detached from their earthly body. This happens very easy. They just slip out of it! It is like taking a step. It is as easy as breathing. It was “a frequency that you go on”, as if it was a road. Some people recall their escape from their body very clearly and can, for instance, even tell that it was like slipping out of one's head. For other people, however, it can take a while before they realize that the body that lies on the ground or on the operation table, sometimes entirely covered in blood, is theirs. Often they see that image while floating just below the ceiling of the operating room. Some shoot through a tunnel or float up a brilliant staircase.
Out of this world
It is remarkable that none of the NDEs is equal to another. Yet there are a number of similarities. An important similarity is that what one experiences seems to be out of this world. Yet all NDErs are very certain that their experience is real, just as real as the paper money Marco Polo had described. Moreover, they are convinced that it is more real than all we experience on earth. What we experience on earth they find a weak extract of what they have experienced.
Verifiable observations
In a number of cases this kind of leaving the body could be verified. In a well documented example, a patient floats out of her body towards a ledge, outside the hospital. There she sees a tennis shoe, which has some characteristic details. Since she was brought into the hospital that particular evening, she could not have known about the ledge, let alone have known about where the tennis shoe was. Later the shoe was indeed found there. An other example is of an American singer Pamela Reynolds who underwent a daring operation under extreme medical conditions. After her operation she could exactly tell, to the amazement of the surgeon, what had been said during the operation and which actions were performed. And, of course, she had an extensive NDE.
After-effects
Something the NDErs also have in common is that they all have varying interesting after-effects. Not one is afraid of death. “Dying is the best part of life; I cannot wait to do it.” Yet they are not continuously preoccupied with death, but have a great desire to live life: “I am not occupied with death, I am doing life!” That is why they strongly advice against suicide. When people don’t see any way ahead, they have to look again, because for everything there is an alternative.
Other after-effects are that NDErs have a greater feeling of love. It is not about the love for a specific person, but about unconditional love for everything and everyone. Some NDErs cannot handle time any more. They regularly show up too late or cannot cope with timetables and work programmes. A number of NDErs get a heightened paranormal sensitivity. Some can suddenly predict the future; others can leave their body unpremeditated.
The Light
Most NDEs are positive. People have a very pleasant feeling. They are released from their “dirty” body, because that is how they usually see it. When they think of a person or a place, they can fly there without any effort. It doesn’t cost them any time. Sometimes they see deceased friends or family and regularly they encounter beings of light or even the Light.
That Light seems to be overwhelming. It is breathtaking, like a sun, but many times more beautiful and more radiant, without hurting your eyes. It is filled with an endless love. It embraces you. It accepts you completely and unconditionally. It loves you no matter what you have ever done or what you will ever do. And you feel completely unworthy to be present in this overwhelming perfection. Someone said that the Light is so wide-ranging, that every single person is part of it, though just a very small part. You can compare it with a grain of sand on the beach: each human is like a grain of sand, while the Light is the whole beach.
The Life review
Often, in the presence of the Light, you get to see your life review in which you relive everything you have ever done. More than that, you also feel everything from the perspective of others. You feel their happiness for the sweet things you’ve ever done for them. But you also feel the pain and sorrow you caused them. Both the good and the 'non-optimal' you feel to the very detail. And the Light never becomes angry or reprimanding. It keeps sending infinite love to you
Other aspects
When we assume that through NDEs we can get a glimpse of heaven, what would it look like? According to the positive experiences it is magnificent, but it is quite different than here on earth. There we have an incredible liberty. Think about something and it is there. Time and location seem not to form any hindrance. Time doesn’t even seem to exist! NDErs can look in the past as well as in the future. “All time exists at once”.
There is a tremendous energy: the energy of God, or however you want to call it. That energy is made out of pure unconditional love. God’s being is as a collective. It is as if some part of the nature of God is built with the collective consciousness of all parts of creation. He is a part of us and we are part of Him. We are children of God, therefore we are also tiny Gods. We can do everything. Fear simply stops us. Fear is a “contrary” frequency. Just like judgments and negative attachments. All of that is contrary to love. That is why it would be best for us to stop behaviour that is based on this kind of negative things.
There is an enormous interconnectedness: all of the physical creation (including all humans, animals, stones, planets, etcetera) and the non-physical creation is mutually interconnected. It even seems as if all of it has one spirit, because during an NDE we can get an answer to all our questions. All knowledge wherever it may be, is directly and freely accessible to everyone. It is like a unity universe. All knowledge, all time, all place, all spirit, everything is one big whole and it is there for everyone.
Everyone who dies can go there, without exception, because we form a natural part of it. So to speak: it is our 'birth right'. The moment we are born, we have the right to go back again to this wonderful place. Nevertheless, a non-negligible number of people have reported a negative NDEs. It is not really clear why this is, or what causes them to have a negative experience. There is simply not enough cases yet to determine this. It seems that some people get a negative NDE because they disconnect themselves from the Light or the light environment. When people are only preoccupied with their own ego or remain attached to matter, they cannot see the Light. A lot of people who commit suicide also seem to have a greater difficulty in finding the light environment. Nevertheless, there are stories of people who tried to commit suicide and had a beautiful NDE.
Christophor, August 2010