Near Death Experiences
In the past few years there have thousands of near-death experiences (NDEs). This has been very important information for those interested in the spiritual concepts of both Heaven and Earth, much of this information was not available to us without the NDEs. They have not only provided us with proof that Heaven exists but they have also provided proof that the soul exists and leaves the body upon death (or is dying). The image of the soul leaving the body accompanying this blog is perfect as a lead in for this blog. It is the proof of the existence of the soul that interests me the most. It is the concept of the relationship of the soul and the body which has been the subject of my last three blogs, the first of which was The Body and Soul. This is intended to be the wrap up blog of that series about the soul.
One of the best books on NDEs is Imagine Heaven by Burke which includes hundreds of cases of NDEs and it gives an analysis of the most common experience the NDEs have. In the book, “Imagine Heaven” the author quotes a study of 1,300 NDE cases and developed statistics on how often the core parts of the NDE experience were noted. In addition to experiencing overwhelming love, intense light, out-of-body episodes, and new dimensions they experienced that and more as indicated in the following list with the frequency of the group experiencing the event as a percentage:
- Out of body experience 75.4%
- Heightened senses 74/4%
- Intense and generally positive emotions (peace and love) 76,2%
- Passing into or through a tunnel 33/8%
- Encountering a mystical or brilliant light 64.6%
- Encountering other beings or deceased relatives of friends 57.3%
- A sense of alteration of time or space 60.5%
- Life review 22.2%
- Encountering unworldly (heavenly) realms 52.2%
- Encountering or learning special knowledge 56%
- Encountering a boundary of barrier 31%
- A return to the body 58.5% were aware of the decision to return.
When we look at this list many of us may be familiar with the concept that persons that experience near death experiences have an out of body experience. The other experiences are not as well known. But note that the most reported experience (76.2%) is an intense feeling of generally positive emotions (love and peace). Remember God is Love. Note that 5 and 7, encountering a mystical or brilliant light and a sense of alteration of time and space are also the types of experiences predicted by both the prophets and scientists
The question should then be asked, who was reporting all these experiences? Well, it was the person’s soul! Recall that we have already, in an earlier blog, pointed out that the body and soul are inseparable until the body dies (or is dying), Once the soul is free to leave the body only the soul can visit the realm of Heaven. For me, the science and theology that backs up these claims can be found in studies and books on the subject which separate fact from fiction. Those books were very helpful to me. This knowledge occurred for me in three distinct steps and I will give the primary reference book for each step.
The first step was the book I wrote called Yes Viriginia there is a God and He created the Universe, the subtitle was Science proves the Prophets were right. I noted in the book that my primary reference was The Science of God by Schroeder and the subtitle was The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom.
The second step was my introduction to the book, The Physics of God by Selbie. This book carried the Science of God to another level and was I believe the first to state that the body and soul were inseparable until death. Selbie introduced many advanced concepts but did it in such a manner to make them understandable (well, almost). This was my favorite book and I covered it extensively in the blog called, The Physics of God which was not part of the series of blogs on the soul.
The third and last step was my introduction to the book, Science at the Doorstep to God by Spitzer, this book was similar to the Physics of God but was also took it to a higher level because it was done with a higher scholarly standard with rules and tests that could prove the results stated in the book were correct. But for now, I will mention only one of Spitzer’s many studies, it was called Medical Studies of Intelligence in Severely Hydrocephalic Patients Indicating Intelligence beyond the Brain. I am bringing this up because a famous Neurosurgeon had a lengthy near-death experience. He was in a comma for a very long time. Because he was a member of a neurosurgeon group, they monitored him extensively during his comma and his brain activity was essentially non-existent. Yet when his soul returned to his body after his NDE, he recalled the entire experience, indicating that his soul had functioned as if it was himself, while he was in his comma. He recorded his most astonishing stories in the book he wrote, Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife. While the general knowledge collected by Burke on NDEs is interesting and very informative, individual stories such as Alexander’s provide us with the most amazing information. Here is some of what appeared in his book.
Dr. Alexander’s NDE
Dr. Alexander’s intensive NDE took him to both a hellish place and a heavenly place. The hellish place was described as being under a bog or underworld with weird sounds and visions. An angel appeared as a girl on butterfly wings who was taking him through his journey. She also took him through the heavenly place where she encouraged him through kind words (through telepathy) such as you will be alright. He also seemed to be connected to a God-like being who he called an Orb and referred to him as Om.
When he came out of his comma, he vividly recalled his NDE experience although he had no memory of his comma. He wrote down his experience which eventually became his book. Here is the statement he wrote that I found so interesting.
“Through the Orb, Om told me that there is not one universe, but many – in fact, more than I could conceive – but that love was at the center of them all. Evil was present in all the other universes as well, but only in the tiniest trace amounts. Evil was necessary because without it free will was impossible, and without free will, there could be no growth – no forward movement, no chance for us to become what God longed for us to be. Horrible and all-powerful as evil sometime seemed to be in a world like ours, in the larger picture love was overwhelmingly dominant, and it would ultimately be triumphant.
I saw the abundance of life throughout the countless universes, including some whose intelligence was advanced far beyond that of humanity. I saw there were countless higher dimensions but the only way to know these dimensions is to enter and experience them directly. They cannot be known or understood from lower dimensional space. Cause and effect exist in these higher realms, but outside of our earthly conception of them. The world of time and space in which we move in this terrestrial realm is tightly and intricately meshed within these higher worlds. In other words, these worlds aren’t totally apart from us, because all worlds are part of the same overarching divine Reality. From those higher worlds one could access any time or place in our world”
There is one other thing I should mention about his book. After he wrote down what he remembered about his NDE he began to read about the many episodes of NDE of other people and noted that most met someone they knew or were related to and he did not. This was a disappointment to him. However, he also reveals in his book that he was adopted and much later in life he found out that his biological parents got married and had several more children and he began to correspond with them. He found out that he had a sister that had passed away. He did not know her and asked if they would send him a picture of her, which they did. When he received the picture, he was amazed, she was the spitting image of the girl on butterfly wings! It was his biological sister!
Dr. Alexander’s NDE experiences had an enormous impact on him, for those of us reading it, it had a similar impact. However, if we carefully read his NDE experience, much of it is about aliens and multiple universes so some of his writings were so new to us hence it was not surprising that some might be skeptical. But the most important point to remember about his NDE is that his recall helped to prove the test in Father Spitzer’s book about the fact that intelligence can exist outside of the brain even when there is no activity in the brain and Spitzer’s book indicated that that intelligence was maintained in the soul.
Dr. Alexander’s team of neuroscientists were able to provide real data to support the Medical Studies of Intelligence in Severely Hydrocephalic Patients Indicating Intelligence beyond the Brain. And of course, that intelligence was stored in his soul.
Fr. Spitzer’s covers in detail many tests that validate many of the concepts of the book, but I would like to return to three other NDE cases which also appear in his book before I move on to any discussion about his tests and conclusions.
In my blog, The Unborn, I related the NDE case of the four-year-old boy who met his unborn sister in Heaven, his mother admitted she had a miscarriage and never told her son. The other two are probably the most well-known NDE cases, one is about the shoe on the windowsill and the other is about telling the nurses where they put the patient’s false teeth (they could not find them). All three cases were reported in Science at the Doorstep to God and in other publications.
For me, the NDEs offer proof that Heaven exists and our souls also exist and never die. To me that is very important. For anyone interested in the different tests and standards that were used in Science at the Doorstep to God I refer the reader to the book. But I will provide one of the last conclusions in the book which follows:
“As can be seen from this and the last two chapters, there is a high likelihood that we have a transphysical soul capable of surviving bodily death and communicating with God, which is the source of our creativity, free choice, and the pursuits of truth, goodness, love, and beauty. This transphysical soul which distinguishes us categorically from all other animal species must be created by a transphysical cause with greater powers of self-consciousness, intelligence, freedom, love, and beauty than our own. As such, we are justified in associating this transphysical cause with the intelligent Creator of our universe and the unique, uncaused, unrestricted, intelligent Creator of everything else in reality. We may further associate this Creator with the numen of our religious experience, the voice of our conscience, and the horizon for our search of perfect truth, love, goodness/justice, beauty, and being/home. This God is more than an indifferent, intelligent Creator of the deists; He is also a personal God who desires to enter into relationship with us, reveal Himself to us, guide us through his voice and our conscience and help us to find the full eternal expression of our transphysical nature.”
I believe this conclusion is a perfect summary of Father Spitzer’s book, but it is more than that. It is the perfect description of our relationship with God, the Creator of our Universe. And that relationship is between God and our immortal soul! This is what I have been searching for in my “fools’ mission” first mentioned in the Body and Soul blog and based upon Isaiah 55:8-9 which clearly states that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and that humanity cannot understand that. This was recently reinforced in a Jesus Calling daily devotional which advised, “Do not try to fathom My ways. Instead, spend time enjoying Me and experiencing My goodness. The Jesus Calling advice essentially puts me as the man in the middle (a place I have often found myself). Let me address the first part, do not try to fathom My ways—it is true that describes me because I have been on the “fools’ mission”. However, I believe I am ready to consider that mission complete. First, I believe Spitzer’s conclusion that our soul is transcendent and can communicate with our transcendent Creator of the Universe and that Creator is a personal God who wishes to have a relationship with us is the final correct description of how God and our souls interact and that is what I have been seeking. Second, if finding a better understanding of the mind of God requires further study, I believe that I have reached the end of my intellectual ability to go further. So, I am putting aside my “fools’ mission”. In essence I am saying that I have completed my “fools’ mission” to the best of my ability and am ready to move on. Regarding the second part of the advice, Instead, spend time enjoying Me and experiencing My goodness, I believe it contains two parts, a spiritual part and earthly part. The spiritual part involves spending more time in the Presence of Jesus (which is one of the constant themes of Jesus Calling) and the earthly part which is how to live in the world (while not a part of it); this is done by Loving God and Loving my neighbor.
Thus,
I have completed my “fools’ mission”
I have decided to spend more time in the Presence of Jesus
While in this world, I will follow the commandments, Love God and Love my neighbor
God has answered my prayers, I am a Happy Soul!
I have arrived here through the knowledge of:
Near Death Experiences
The book, The Science of God by Schroeder
The book, The Physics of God by Selbie.
The book, Science at the Doorstep to God by Spitzer,
I Know that very few people are interested in diving so deeply into this subject as I have, and that is understandable, but for those who are, thank you for coming along on this journey with me and I hope what I have presented on these four blogs about the immortal soul have been helpful.
Peace Be with You
Will Lannes