All,
Of all footsteps, that of the elephant is supreme;
Of all mindfulness meditations, that on death is supreme.
Of all mindfulness meditations, that on death is supreme.
The Buddha
It was my great good fortune to spend several hours this weekend speaking with someone who, several years ago now, had a full-blown Near Death Experience (NDE). I hope you will indulge me for a moment and allow me to share with you my joy. Together, we may learn from this and I am happy to share something of this with you. This person is only the second one I have met in a lifetime of seeking out people such as this, but something about this person's manner captured my attention and I asked them if they were familiar with the experience and then pressed the issue and somehow won their trust enough for them to relate the entirety of the experience to me. I am immensely grateful to this person for giving me their trust and I will not breach it nor will I relate the details of their particular expeience since the literature is filled with such stories, but will generalize for the benefit of us all.
I don't care for the term, NDE, and the whole genre has become sensationalized since was it was first brought to national attention in the US in the 1970's by Dr. Raymond Moody. This is due to marketing and the pathological obsession we have with being young all of our lives. The experience itself is as old as mankind and the reports, from Plato in the West to the Upanishads in the East, have generally agreed on the basic outline of the phenomenon. Such an experience, like all religious experience, belongs to the realm of myth and dream. Due to our materialism (much needed, yes, but also something quite new and overblown) we tend to discount these realms, but they have generally been understood to be both the origin of true knowledge and the means by which that knowledge is communicated. Consult your Bibles, in whatever religion you follow (if any), and you will see that dreams, visions, and experiences such as the NDE play a staring role. They are natural and it is wise to pay attention to this part of nature.
From what I can discern the NDE here in the West is a little different than what is experienced by traditional peoples in the sense that we have a more developed sense of independent self. Also, our moral actions are not dictated by our clan or caste, but it is a function of the individual (which doesn't exist as we think of it in clan or caste). The most interesting side effect of this is the panoramic life review. The person I spoke to this weekend underwent this. Most NDE's generally involve several factors, but it is only the rarest that has them all together and the panoramic review is among the most fascinating. Much has been written about it and I would encourage you to investigate the literature.
During the panoramic life review the individual sees every thought he or she has had, experiences every event from not only their own perspective but as if they were everyone else, too, and are responsible for those people's feelings, and often, even people those people affected. This is arresting. They are usually at this stage in the presence of a Light, which they identify later according to their cultural beliefs. This Light is understood and experienced as the repository of all that is loving, good, true and holy. Not a single one of them ever wants to leave its presence. However, as the spindle of their lives unwinds the experiencer is often left with a feeling of utter shame and amazement: shame that one has not lived according to the minimal standard that is revealed by the love emanating from the Light, and amazement that one is more fully conscious than ever before. From what I can gather, this Light seems to be a Prime Identity whose being is so powerful and explosive that it spills over into and as all consciousness, like sparks from a welders torch. It seems to be aware of Itself as being everything else, as some of the experiencers testify ("What you do to the least of these, you do to Me").
So, the lesson seems to be this. Our lives have a purpose and meaning beyond what our conscious mind can fathom and we truly are our brother's keeper. The Golden Rule isn't some nifty phrase, but a mandate woven into the very fabric of things. Further, it isn't the big things that stand out to this Light such as getting a new car or volunteer work, say. It is the little things and sacrifices made along the way. Implicit in the life review is the question, "What have you done with your life (to show Me)?" Again, this has nothing to do with our human accomplishments, but with the little everyday things (How can you impress something that is aware of Itself as everything?). During this review the experiencer is pure soul (for lack of a better word) and the ego, which finds reasons for how and why we treat each other the ways we do and seeks to explain them away, is unavailable to defend us. It is not who or what we really are, it seems, but even a little self-reflection will tell us that these social selves we forge and pay so much attention to by creating boundaries and acquiring possessions, do not represent ourselves, but like Emerson said, misrepresent ourselves. God, help us make those little everyday acts our church and to consider one another as the immortal beings we already are and act accordingly.
As I was writing this I got word that my grandmother has just died. Some years ago she hovered near death and saw her favorite brother and her mother, both of whom told her it was time for her to go with them. She was always a fearful woman and tenaciously clung to her body, but it is soon to be sent to the crematorium and the ashes buried. All she has now are her thoughts and her deeds and the feelings inherent within them. It is a chilling thought - death; but a liberating one, at the same time.
I hope you enjoy the video's even though they are somewhat sensationalized as so much of everything is. They will give you a flavor of what was told to me this weekend, though in much more detail. I have several copies of my favorite NDE book if anyone would like one. It is a compilation and deals with the life review more extensively and better than any other I have come across. I bought a stack of them years ago and have been careful about who I give a copy to, but if you are sincerely interested you may have or borrow one (though I doubt anyone will). If you do, I will not tell anyone. If you would like a reading list I can put one together for you - some of the books are worthwhile and some are not.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy"
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy"
Hamlet
Live well,
Gordon
Videos/Photos - cut and paste if needed
Dr. George Ritchie: I first read his little book, Return From Tomorrow, way back in the mid 1980's. I highly recommend it, but not his second book. He even had to rewrite it to make it more "marketable". Better to stick with the first story of a first hand account. He also is the man who met Raymond Moody on a street corner at UVA and inspired Moody to write, Life After Life, which opened the door to public discussions about this topic.Honestly, I've lost a lot of respect for Moody over the years, but will always be grateful to him for writing that first book.
This one is an account from a neuroscientist who taught at Harvard Medical School for 15 years. It is narrated by Morgan Freeman. All I know about this one is this video, but it is beautiful nonetheless.
Beautiful photos of our little corner of the world:
Addendum: From an e-mail concerning a new book and an article critiquing it.
Here is another take on the Dr.'s new book. I think the article is hammy and the objections are getting old and miss the point entirely.
I disagree with the author. As I implied in that e-mail when my grandmother died, I don't think this is a supernatural experience - I think it is a preternatural experience. It is inherent within nature and is something we should pay attention to. I also don't think there can ever be any "hard" evidence of such occurrences. After all, the mind is a story-teller. It spins stories always and about everything. Even "visions" or experiences of the Void (to Buddhists) or Absolute (to Christians) beyond time and space where there are no images or reference points must later be recounted as a story and so the gaps must be filled in. That is what ultimately makes these experiences ineffable. If a kettle is boiling the scientific way of looking at it is to say it has reached 212 degrees. But, it may have been placed on the stove to begin with because a long lost friend is coming for tea. Which is "more" true? I think it is the explanation that tells a more coherent story (the second one) to the human mind here and now.
John Keats once wrote as the Industrial Revolution was gaining ground in England, "There was a rainbow seen in heaven the other day; now it is listed in the catalogue of common things." The point is that the NDE and the Life Review that many have takes us back to first things philosophically - namely, how are we to best live our lives? That is the Socratic question and it is for me the point of studying NDE's; of contemplating death and the consequences thereof.
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