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“Death is nothing more than a doorway, something you walk through” (George G. Ritchie)
In recent years I have been concerned with near-death experiences.
My “theological” brother wrote a book about it in 2009 (Is There Life After Death?).
Especially in recent years, a lot of material has been published on the internet about these experiences.
There are a number of things that stand out:
- these experiences are always live changing;
- they occur in both believers and atheists;
- they are accompanied by out-of-body experiences;
- there is a live review;
- the other side is experienced as “super real” or something like that;
- the deceased is “omniscient” and “one” with the cosmos;
- the new state is indicated, among other things, with words such as infinite, unconditional LOVE,
but words or images always fall short; - no one initially wants to return to his/her limited body and this physical world;
- the near-death experience remains etched in the memory in detail: as if it had just happened;
- people only dare to talk about it now because when it happened and they told about it, they were considered insane.
When I compare the described state of being with my own mystical experiences, I feel many parallels. One difference, however, is that I can no longer recall things in detail like they can (9.);
but I also find it extremely difficult to put these experiences into words (7.).
One simple phrase comes to mind:
it was a state of everything and everyone is exactly as it should be. This was accompanied by a sense of being uplifted, detached from everyday reality (5.) … and LOVE (7.).
The fact of omniscience (6.) resembles the enlightenment experience (Satori) of the Buddha and other enlightened masters.
What amazes me is that I hear almost no spiritual master speak about this phenomenon.
Questions about (near) death are often answered very vaguely and unsatisfactorily.
Yes, they all claim that death doesn’t exist, but …
Whereas near-death experiencers can describe things very clearly.
Eckhart Tolle says that death is one of the gateways to flowering/enlightenment, but in my opinion we will all be enlightened (6.) after our physical death.
What is your take on this?