Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Sharing a Near-Death Experience

QUESTION

“I read about the four phases of integration, and I had some questions - specifically about the part where sharing their story becomes a priority.  My question is, when NDErs share their story, how desperate are they for people to believe them? Or, do they show off their psychic powers to try and convince people what happened to them was real?”.....Andrew

ANSWER

That’s a big question, Andrew.  Adults usually take about 7 to 10 years to integrate their experience.  That finding of mine was verified scientifically by Dr. Pim van Lommel and his team in a prospective study done in Holland.  It appeared in Lancet Medical Journal 12-14-01.

With adults, talking about it is primary - if they can.  The desire is certainly there. They want to share the news of what just happened to them.  They want others to know. They want a dialogue, a way to discuss all the many things they saw and experienced, even if their episode was brief and included only one or two elements, or long and complex with many elements.  Doesn’t matter. They want to share their story, talk about it. Was it real? Had anyone ever heard of such a thing before? Sometimes experiencers are thrilled to announce and utterly convinced that what they witnessed on the other side of death was a miracle, or, at least an “earth-shaking” occurrence.  Many who could see their body far below are especially talkative, curious, surprised, perplexed, maybe troubled. Still, they want others to know. Talking to others helps to validate what they went through. It gives them feedback of some kind.

Others are frightened.  It is way too far out, too unusual,  Would anyone believe them? Can they believe it?  Was it real? What does it mean? What might others say?  The sense that they might be construed as crazy shuts many of them up.  It takes the average experiencer many years to say much to anyone. The exception is someone they can trust - like a husband or wife, special friend.  Even so, most stay quiet or say very little, maybe over time they might say more - “like testing the waters” to see if they could be believed. Some go to their minister or a religious person of some type:  invariably that proves to be the wrong choice. Even today, ministers, clerics of every stripe, seem to be the worst possible person to turn to and can shame the experiencer. Only if the near-death episode follows “the letter of the law” according to the faith of the one the experiencer turned to, can they be believed.  This turns off experiencers, confuses them, scares them, blocks any appreciation for or curiosity about the event.

You need to talk.  But to whom?

Do experiencers brag, show off, afterward?  Some do, but very few. What can sometimes occur, though, is that overtime, once the experiencer is more comfortable with what happened to them, and the extras that follow, they can become like “the chosen few” in the way they can take over conversations and dominate “show and tell” sessions.  Yes, some do brag as if what happened to them was rare, and they must be equally rare to have been “chosen” for such a gift. Some turn to healing and can become really good healers. Same with any new ability or knowing or gift of the spirit. Now, since the phenomenon has become better known, it is not unusual to find those who have become professional psychics, mediums, healers, artists, and public speakers.  This has led to some very fine careers, or some very awful plunges into the negative side of one’s ego.

In a few cases, the enhancements that can occur, lead individuals to blessed and exciting careers and/or points of service.  Some enter the ministry or become professional at whatever point of service they are drawn into. Remember, most of the saints canonized by the Cathlic Church, had a near-death experience as a child.  There is a “Historical Cases” chapter in my newest book, The Forever Angels:  Near-Death Experiences in Childhood and Their Lifelong Impact.

Yes, there are “chat rooms” on the Internet for experiencers that are truly a waste of time, as experiencers who participate tend to judge others and claim they alone know best.  Certainly there are experiencers, even right now, who are media sensations making claims that “God told them” …………….. (whatever). The vast majority, though, work their way through the drama and scare and wonder of what happened to them, finding new horizons that lead to a more spiritual and fulfilling life.

I have covered adults thus far.  My newest book (just mentioned) shows us there is another pattern altogether with the very young.  It takes the average child experiencer 20 to 40 years to integrate their experience - if they ever integrate it at all.  Babes, toddlers, kids up to and around five, either don’t have a “before” to compare anything, or, very little of one. Because such experiences happen at major junctures in brain and nerve development, you get a different kind of story, a different way to look at not only the experience but the way it impacts those who had it.  Be sure to read the new book. It is out now, and will both surprise and shock you.  

Many blessings, PMH





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Monday, December 02, 2019

The Alien (UFO) Question

QUESTION

I’ve received many queries from people asking about the UFO/Alien question.  In my book BEYOND THE LIGHT, and in the Anomalies chapter, I cover one very remarkable case of an accident/turned NDE/turned alien abduction (three-in-one).  The police report of the event sorta-covered it. I say sorta because the officers who investigated what happened could not in good conscious say what exactly happened - except that whatever it was, the position of the vehicle and the damage to it plus the large tree it hit, plus the “immediate” healing of the woman inside - were simply not possible. They left it at that.  Read that section if you want to know more.  I asked Nancy Clark, a well-known NDEr, to share some of her thoughts about this topic.  What she sent to me follows. You may find it interesting:

SHARING/ANSWER

“The alien question is very interesting!  Did I ever tell you that I saw a UFO while parked at a stop sign when I was a teenager?  It hovered above my car. I saw its windows, colored lights inside, and antennae rising above the craft.  I recall a slow blink. I have always been especially curious why I can remember having my eyes shut for a brief second and opening them again.  I mean, one doesn’t remember such things do they? Blinking of the eyes are involuntary. Why in the world would I remember such a thing as a slow blink of my eyes?

“A psychologist friend of mine has always wanted to hypnotize me and take me back to that time, but I don’t want to.  Hmmmm….even that hesitation seems to warrant some kind of stress in me. I should be curious to find out what happened during that time, if anything.  One wonders if I was taken aboard that craft that night and the slow blink of my eyes was when I was ‘awakening’ from it all. Well, who knows. I just remember that event very clearly to this day, as if it happened yesterday.  The craft turned and sped away with enormous speed - wham - it was gone.

“I was a senior in high school at the time and come home from a school dance.  I was by myself in the car. I had not yet had my NDE, but had been privy to many paranormal experiences all my life.

“Karen Herrick is submitting one of my “silver cord” experiences in her manuscript she is currently working on about the vagus nerve.  I still have some difficulty comprehending her ideas that the vagus nerve “breathes.” She has tried to explain it to me, but I don’t get it.  I think I am just too focused on the physiological understanding that a nerve doesn’t ‘breathe’ - take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. I’m hung up on that.

“Any way, in case you are interested, one evening I was coming home from a date with Ched.  We weren’t married at the time. We were seated in the car talking when all of a sudden, I lifted out of my body and floated above the car.  I panicked and yelled, ‘I have to get back, I have to get back!’ I had witnessed a cord attached to my etheral body and knew if it got detached, I would die.  That is why I panicked and fought to bring my etheral body back into my physical body. Ched was a dear. He must have wondered what was going on, but all he did was calmly soothe me.  I didn’t tell him about being out-of-body, or the cord. At that time, I never knew about a cord being attached to us or what it meant, so for me to have experienced it, was a whopper of an experience!

“One evening my son who was probably in his 30’s at the time, came into my bedroom to talk to me.  I was lying in bed and the window blinds were up. He approached the side of the bed where I was and suddenly, he got very excited.  He blurted out that just saw a UFO in the yard! I saw a bright light just as he said that, and I rushed to sit up and look out the window, but by that time it was gone.  My son is NOT the type of person to believe in woo-woo things. Even at that time in his life, he and the rest of my family never believed that I had an NDE. Everything to them could be explained away by something logical.  So for him that night to get hyper-excited in seeing a UFO completely changed his mind about aliens. As they say, direct experience is one’s truth. Hmmm. I wonder why a UFO appeared twice in my lifetime, even though I didn’t actually see it the second time.  My son did, however, so it surely visited us!....Nancy

****  Rev. Karen E. Herrick, Ph.D. finished her book.  The title is PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SOUL AND THE PARANORMAL (discover why you get good ideas in the shower).  This book is available from Dr. Herrick at 205 Broad Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701; karen at karenherrick.com


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