Near Death Experience

WED., NOV. 15, 1989, 6:49 AM
FARM, STUDY

It can be said that “you’re either dead or alive.” Life and death are absolutes. It’s either one or the other. My Teaching to you this morning refutes that premise. Rather, I say, life is continuous, and death is an event (a major one) in any life. While there is a difference between one who is definitely dead and one clearly alive, the actual time of transition can be hard to identify.

Some people in your culture have had or have investigated experiences that are “near death.” Vial signs are absent or fast diminishing. Death has apparently supplanted life in a human body. And the life returns… with remembrances of experiences quite inconsistent with the dead condition of the body. A few such reports are fake, and a few are induced by drugs or the trauma of the situation. Many, however, are real, for I tell you that this can be a genuine experience in “between lives.”

Near death experience affirms an important but generally hidden reality – consciousness continues, in quite a vivid way, even as the body is apparently dead. When you are in a human life your consciousness is some combination of brain and cosmic action. The brain is the site of human consciousness, which culminates in rational thought, memory, and judgment. You observe consciousness in your small grandchildren, but they have little in the way of language to verify this, and they shall not remember these early years of development. You ask Sarah if she is an “old soul,” and she nods “Yes.” With your rational mind you know that she is replying only to the tone of your voice. With your cosmic mind you know that she understands and is affirming a truth that she may forget as her brain becomes more active.

Cosmic consciousness is another term for spirit. Spirit tends to recede as the power of the brain and its rational consciousness develops. When spirit is not well developed it may seem to disappear during the time of rational life. When it is strong there can be competition throughout a human life… or there can be a wonderful harmony between these two types or levels of consciousness.

The near death experiences that are remembered are previews of the transition from human life to some other form of consciousness or life. Those who have reported these obviously have come back to human life, for a time, but many who do not return to human consciousness also have such experiences. Being in a coma can be an “in-between” experience. There may be some human consciousness, but no capacity to express it. Or human consciousness may be dim to virtually non-existent, and, if the spirit is strong, there may be much cosmic consciousness in that seemingly dead person.

As Jesus I suffered in dying, and My verbalizations on the cross were partly rational and partly celestial. I was fully conscious as I died, and the transition to pure spirit was an easy one (“a piece of cake”). I then was given the privilege of returning in a visible body, to affirm that I was “alive” and well, but even the Biblical record tells that this body was not limited by time nor by space. A few humans also return briefly, as a help to those who grieve.

Those who have a spiritual experience while “dead” and then “return” to life almost always experience this in a positive way and have no subsequent fears about impending death. The great value is in being helped in an assessment of life and “coming back” with more desire to love and to serve. It’s unfortunate, isn’t it?, that each person can’t have such an experience during earth life. So many experience death and are saddened by the picture of a largely wasted life in the earth. It is a privilege only a few can enjoy.