NDE Interpretations and Reaching Back to Source

QUESTION

        “In the cardiac situation, a person is dead until/unless he is resuscitated.  Some who are resuscitated have had spiritual experiences; some have no memory of such.  One interpretation of this fact is that everyone cannot remember, although having had an actual experience.  Another interpretation is that not everyone who dies has such an experience.  What is your interpretation?”....Larry

ANSWER

        Both can be and often are true.  We have no way of knowing as researchers why some people have near-death experiences and others do not.  The global figure for the general population is between 4 to 5%.  In the clinical or emergency setting, the figure is between 12 to 21%.  That means a significant number of people do not have them.  The way you can tell if a person did have such an experience but just doesn’t remember having had it, however, is the aftereffects.  The pattern of physiological and psychological aftereffects holds true for both children and adults.  It’s the aftereffects that validate the experience, not the other way around.  And the aftereffects emerge based on the intensity of the episode.  In my research base, 79% were significantly impacted by what happened to them - changes were lifelong.  The other 21% claimed no such changes (aftereffects) occurred.  These people said their experience was more like a fleeting dream, nothing to it.  In those cases where I could have sessions with significant others of these experiencers, those folks winked at me and said the individual really had changed and was indeed showing some of the aftereffects pattern.  This fact pointed out that few experiencers realize the extent to which they have changed.  They don’t recognize it.  Neither did I.  It took years before I looked back and saw how much I had changed - people were telling me - but I didn’t believe them.  Blessings, PMH

QUESTION

        “Hello, I’m fairly new to the stories of people who have strayed just a little beyond the realm of consciousness we refer to as life.  Although I have never had a near-death experience, I strongly believe in the existence of an afterlife and spiritual world.  In my life, besides my earthly endeavors, I feel I have a strong need to find the source to which near-death experiences often refer.  I know I have it within myself, and I strive to commune with it, but it always seems just beyond reach - though I can sense its beauty, power, and eternity.  My question is whether one can reach that place within the soul while still alive?  At times I’ve experienced hints of it through meditation and (I almost hesitate to admit) psylocybic mushrooms.  Of course one hears of Jesus, Buddha, Paramahansa Yogananda, and the rest, but I fear that my path will be forever thwarted by my unstable life, my constant worry about finances, and a general lack of peace within my own mind.  It seems it would take no less than death (not intentional death) to unleash the bonds which prevent me from moving into that place.  It is my intuition that tells me that it would benefit myself and even humanity around me if only I had the strength and conviction to reach it.  I am blessed that I happened to see your interview from what looks like a long ago on YouTube.  It would be my luck to meet you in person someday.  I would appreciate any advice you would have for me in the meantime deeply.  And of course I send my thanks to you for inspiring words.”.....Darwin

ANSWER

        The way my husband put it one day, answers your question best.  We were having a discussion about enlightenment, reaching that state of higher mind and then being able to integrate the experience in a useful way in one’s life.  My husband reached his through the martial arts (he at one time was a karate monk), and me by dying.  I pounded on the table and said to him:  “It’s not fair.  You got there the easy way.  I had to die to get there.  I had to suffer, and there was all that pain and blood.”  He patted my head as if I were a puppy dog, and said:  “I have a theory about that.  Only those people who need to be knocked around get it the way you did.  The rest of us don’t need to go through that.”  I threw a pillow at him.  Chuckle.

        But he’s right.  In a way almost unfathomable, we get what we need in life and in the manner that best suits us.  For those as stubborn as a concrete wall, it takes a tragedy or perhaps a series of blows in life that either wake us up or turn us around.  For the rest, just the desire to be a better person does the job, or maybe a lifetime of prayer and meditation.  And meditation certainly is an effective and wonderful way to begin one’s inner journey and to ensure both protection and completion.  I meditate and pray every morning.  That’s a must for me.  No amount of interruptions interfere with that.

        There are many paths to the God of Our Being, and, that’s where you go, deep within and through your heart of hearts.  We all know the path; it’s just that most of us have forgotten it.  What spiritual/religious commitment does is help us to remember what we already know.  Unity Church  offers some great classes in this.  So does Science of Mind (also known as the United Centers of Spiritual Living or Church of Religious Science).  Even just an A.R.E. Study Group is great.  A.R.E. stands for the Association for Research and Enlightenment (based on the psychic readings of Edgar Cayce).  Google for addresses in your area as all of these are global.  there are a number of books out that offer tips for the inner journey and how-tos, so many, in fact, that I no longer remember their titles.

        The longing to reach back to Source is within all of us.  and that longing is wiggling around within you right now, or you would not have written to me.  Read my latest book, Near-Death Experiences:  The Rest of The Story.  I am certain you will find information in that book that will apply to you, help you to better understand yourself and the process of the inner journey.  Bon Voyage!  Blessings, PMH