What Will We Know, Once We're Gone?

QUESTION:

"I wonder if you can explain something to me: I have come to believe that reincarnation makes sense as the soul - or our consciousness - needs to grow in some way toward the acceptance of unity. My problem with the Catholic/Christian religion has to do with life being your one shot. After that, it's all over, you either go to heaven or hell. For many reasons I can't go with this, I don't accept it. Anyway, the soul does it's learning through many experiences in the world of 'duality' as an individual. When I read of people's NDEs, I often find them meeting up with people from their family's past. How does the concept of heaven - i.e., where your relatives might go and you will see them when you arrive - fit in? I mean, if you reincarnate within a certain time frame, then, wouldn't you no longer remain in the afterlife for an arriving soul to meet up with? Let's say a grandmother, who died 30 years ago, why would she be still in your particular afterlife? Wouldn't she be gone already into a new life on earth? Can both be true? A permanent afterlife and reincarnation?".....Rick

ANSWER:

Rick, you've asked a big question with no answer anyone can prove one way or another. So, instead of attempting the impossible, let's just consider some basic points:

• There is no way of determining where one may go after death (for certain).
• There is no way of affixing "time" or how long it may take a soul to move on once it leaves any given life.
• Most NDErs at crossover are met by people they once knew in this life - probably as a matter of comfort.
• NDE scenarios focus heavily on the life just lived, to enable learning and experience assessments.
• Some NDEs broach past-lives to the extent of seeing people and events "way back when."
• Those that do have past-life elements in their scenario, seldom are these beneficial or helpful, except to elicit "interest."
• The main emphasis in NDEs is the continuance and importance of life, no matter how lived.
• Aftereffects are geared toward improvement, expansion, and acceleration - on every level of being. 
• About ⅓ accept reincarnation as true after their near-death experience.
• This percentage tends to increase overtime, although not everyone accepts the concept.
• Clearly, the soul has a will of its own and makes choices in line with its own trajectories.
• Trying to compare soul knowledge and choices with those of the personality gets you no where.

The questions you asked are all based on linear concepts and logical thinking. Since the soul does not correspond nor relate to such brain activity, understanding "movement" and "time" requires a shift in how you respond to the world you think you see and live in. Remember, about the most any of us can access of the electromagnetic spectrum we inhabit is between 8 to 10%; all the rest of that spectrum is either infra or ultra to our faculties of perception. Everything is present. Really. There are no secrets and nothing is hidden.

We struggle to respond to what seems "invisible" because we are using the faculties we have in ways they were never designed to be used. If you want a "secret," then it is this: enhance/expand/accelerate the "equipment" you already have (i.e., your faculties of perception) to take in more of the electromagnetic spectrum. Meditation does this for you, so does prayer, religious rituals, spirituality, special music, natural musical instruments, drumming, dancing, developing your intuitive/psychic abilities, learning how to include and project. Near-death experiencers and the entire genre of threshold experiences (intense transformations of consciousness) really do all of this - big time - that's why so many people have difficulty handling them plus the aftereffects. We suddenly expand, improve, accelerate in ways we are not prepared for, and maybe even do not want. Two of my books will help you with this. They are: We Live Forever: The Real Truth About Death and Future Memory. Blessings, PMH

QUESTION: 

"I hear a lot about reincarnation and also that there are many other dimensions and life in this universe. But when people talk about incarnation they seem to say we keep coming back to this earth. I thought there were more advanced domains. . . the thought of coming back here is the equivalent of hell."......Linda

ANSWER: 

No one can define reincarnation or how it really works, not even the experts, be they hypnotherapists, psychics, mediums, and so forth. Paul Von Ward is the only one I know who is truly trying to find a way to understand and define it. I have recommended his books before, and will again. Just google Paul Von Ward on the Internet. You will be astounded at how much work he has put into this subject and the conclusions he has reached.

In my work with child experiencers of near-death states, a fairly significant number identified with being scalar waves, parts of asteroids, bits and pieces of the universe - that agreed to answer the earth's call for help during "the changes" - this meant they had to learn how to "wear" a human body and take on incarnations. . . a new concept for them. I discuss one of the more famous of these cases in my book, The New Children and Near-Death Experiences (Flavio and his brother live in South America with their parents---both are well educated professional psychologists who were forced to reconsider the makeup of the universe and the workings of the human mind in dealing with their two unusual sons).

It is true that many of us can recall lives in other areas of the globe and at other times. It is also true that many of us can remember or at least suspect we began as sparks in the mind of God, and spread out in waves, with each wave being what later was called "a soul group" or "soul family." Some cultures have a tradition whereby the dead come back to their own families, again and again, or enter lineages either in or close to their hometown. If you read my book, We Life Forever: The Real Truth About Death (which discusses all of this), you will remember my saying that my granddaughter Myriam was my former mother-in-law (come back as her own grandchild). No doubt exists in my mind about the truth of this. Clues were numerous. There are also schools of thought where incarnations can be simultaneous and include other forms beside human. Some believe they go in and out of worlds, dimensions, realms, planetary systems.

Who's right? We may never really know until we are once again dead to the body and can choose again, or, at least look around. . . and remember. Blessings, PMH

Nothing Limits the Soul

QUESTION:

"My name is Adam and I'm from the U.K. I've always been interested by the NDE idea and have read many books, etc., on the subject - your own among them. Maybe this is why I'm here. I have a problem that is making me question the existence of a soul and wondered what you'd say about this. Recently, we've been visiting a care home where my mother-in-law is, now after succumbing to a brain disorder called PSP (Dudley Moore died of this). I looked around me last week in the day room and saw all of these poor people whose minds have gone, slumped into chairs drooling. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but when you try to talk to them, its hard! Many seem to make sense until you realise that they say the same stuff over and over. Some can't make sense at all, and it's not all to do with their voicebox. They can speak fine but what comes out is nonsensical. Now, what I wanted to know your view on was this: considering we base our whole idea or mortality on rational dialogue, understanding, and the ability to observe and make conclusions, what's the story as regards the souls of these old folk? Is the 'soul' our minds? And, if the mind goes, where's the soul?!! Hope you can comment. This is troubling me. Best wishes from across the pond." ...Adam.


ANSWER:

No one can say for certain what is going on here, but I can offer you something to think about. The soul of a person can leave long before that person's body dies. I've seen this happen again and again. You can usually tell if the soul is still "in residence" if you look deeply into the person's eyes. If there's no spark, no color, no personality, the soul is probably gone. Soul's can go in and out, as well. An individual can go on living for years and have the soul gone, or coming in once in a while tosee how things are, and then leave again.

Remember, nothing limits the soul. We are limited as personalities in human form, but our soul is not limited. Sometimes the soul enters at birth, sometimes at conception, sometimes not until months have passed after birth has occurred. I suggest that you read my book, WE LIVE FOREVER. I talk a lot about the soul in this book, and about soul cycles and soul families/groups.

It could be, though, that a person lingers in a vegetative or semi-vegetative state for a reason - either for their own growth, or to help another, or to be part of a given event that needs to occur. We cannot know for certain, nor can we judge. What we can do is pray for understanding and patience.

Blessings, PMH


REPLY TO A CRITIC:

In the last Friday Report from Victor Zammit (www.victorzammit.com/week100), an individual was highly critical of my "against the afterlife." I never said I was against "the afterlife." Yet, in a way, the individual was partially right. What I no longer support after 33 years of in-depth research of near-death states with nearly 4,000 adults and children.........is the term "afterlife."

Certainly in all my books and case studies are narratives about life after death. I do not "reinterpret" what experiencers say, or "mold" stories to fit an agenda. I offer the real thing as given. My job as a researcher, at least as I see it, is to look at the phenomenon from as many angles as possible, spread out through different areas, countries, ages, conditions, beliefs, racial groups, intelligence levels, and so forth. Most of my work is fieldwork - original - contrasted with views from significant others of the experiencer.

The one phrase most near-death experiencers say afterward is ALWAYS THERE IS LIFE. Four words, repeated around the world from thousands and thousands of people. Isn't anyone listening? "Always there is life" means...there is no afterlife, or before life, or now life. It means quite simply ALWAYS, IN SOME WAY, IN SOME PLACE, IN SOME DIMENSION OR STATE OF EXISTENCE, WE, ALL OF US, ARE ALIVE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE. Those simple four words, in essence, confirm that life is eternal.

For an in-depth rendering of this finding, refer to my paper titled "Is the Afterlife What We Think It Is? A Challenge from Near-Death Studies." This can be found on my website in the Article Section (www.pmhatwater.com). Any claims that one researcher or another has verified Afterlife Cases more than others, are false. Existence after death emerges from all NDE cases across the board. There are no "special researchers" here. Just dedicated people, like myself, who seek a deeper view of what seems so obvious.

Thank you for your kindness in considering my viewpoint,

P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D.

The Soul's Existence

QUESTION:

“So I know that you deal mainly with NDEs, but given your vast knowledge of what the soul experiences when detached from the body, I have a few questions regarding the soul.

1. What do you know about a soul’s contact with the human world? My mom and I are both fairly in touch with our psychic abilities by nature, though have not necessarily pursued these very deeply. My mom has told me that after her mom died, she came to her in a dream and told her I would be born and what my name would be (this is really just a side note to my actual question). My mom said that while talking to her mom, Pat, she seemed sick. Pat, while alive, had a heart condition, and Pat told my mom that it was at a cost and with great struggle that she returned to the earthplane to tell her this information - because whenever she returned, she was as ill as she was while alive. Is this true for other souls that return to our plane, or is this scenario specific to only a few souls?

2. What of contact do you know about souls that have passed on? My grandpa recently died, and we were very close. My mom and I experienced something at the same time a few hours before he passed: she felt like he was giving her a big hug, and I thought of him, and it felt like we were almost rising, and we felt very peaceful. It seems unusual that this would happen to us at the same time. Is this common of souls leaving the body to visit the living for a last goodbye or something?

3. Have you heard of astral projection? Or possibly you’ve heard of it by other names. From what I’ve read, it happens from a deep state of meditation where the soul consciously leaves the body, though the person is aware and in control of what happens. It’s kind of difficult to explain. I’m sure Google could do better on that. But it’s a meditation thing. Have you heard of this, or have you known this occurs or is possible? I’m very curious about this.

“Sorry about the barriage of questions. I’ve never found so much legitimate information regarding souls anywhere on the web, let along a chance to ask someone with such vast knowledge! Even just answering one of them would suffice. I’m sure you get a lot of e-mails, so I understand if you can’t.”.....Emily

ANSWER:

Emily, I do not admit what all I have seen, felt, and heard throughout my life or in my work, nor will I - until the time is right, and that time is beginning to draw nigh. Remember, I am a researcher and I follow a strict protocol. My work must stand on its own merits; even if challenging, it must still be in the realm of what other researchers can check - if they are willing to follow a similar protocol or something else like it. The only time I have deviated into the realm of soul is in my book, We Live Forever: The Real Truth About Death (A.R.E. Press). This book can still be ordered at any bookstore, on the web, or through my own online bookstore at http://www.pmhatwater.com . This particular book covers much of what you are questioning. I suggest that you read it. In my latest book, Near-Death Experiences: The Rest of The Story, I finally admit that I can see energy. In doing so, I take the liberty to reveal what I never dared to before. Especially the second half should be quite a stretch. Nuff said about this.

Contrary to what psychics, mediums, and hypnotherapists claim, the soul seems to exist in numerous layers and forms within its own matrix. Thus, your grandmother’s claims about her own soul experiencing pain and discomfort in order to leave The Other Side and visit here makes sense in that that particular aspect of her soul might still be in need of refining and improvement. I encountered that sort of thing many times when I worked as a hypnotherapist - aspects of a soul still unfinished and in need of various types of incarnations in order to heal itself. Eventually, the soul matrix does congeal, bringing together all its many aspects for greater understanding of its own power and abilities. The soul, our soul, has a mind of its own and evolves according to the wave-stream of its own potential. The soul does not think like a person does, not your soul, not my soul. It evolves differently.

Souls that move on after leaving the body can be and are contacted on a fairly regular basis by those still embodied. All you need do is read the testimony of near-death experiencers, those on the deathbed, and from certain sessions with mediums, to find extensive evidence to this claim.

Astral traveling or astral projection is the “older” term most of us used for OBEs, or out-of-body experiences, “way back when.” Most children, especially if ill or in fever, and most adults, especially if exhausted, or ill, or drunk or on drugs, leave their bodies - sometimes accidently, sometimes on a fairly regular basis. Out-of-body experiences are not unusual. This has always been easy for me to do. I finally took some classes on refining the skill in the middle 1960s, and then taught others what I learned. I found the skill to be practical, reliable, usable while on the job, and a money-saver with transportation costs (as I did not have to bring my body along). I have many stories I can tell of how cost-effective and efficient this skill has been for me over the years. When I died in 1977, however, what I experienced then pales any other experience I ever had with astral traveling. That separation of my soul from my body was so intense, so totally and completely and utterly real and deeply involved, that I cannot compare it to regular astral traveling. You will note in many of my findings from near-death research, that I found this fact to be equally true with thousands of people, adults and children - almost negating my prior experiences with astral traveling before I died as something that would influence my research findings.

I hope this information is of help. Many blessings, PMH