Have you had an after death
visitation from a friend or loved one?
Email your story for possible
inclusion in my forthcoming book
"Transmuting Grief - Healing and
Growth after Loss"

justabreathaway@yahoo.com

                                                                      Near Death Experiences

Mankind often asks why are we here? Why do the things that happen on this planet, happen? What's the
purpose of life? Stories of Near Death Experiences give us a glimpse into our transcendent nature; we
are more than our bodies and egos; we are spiritual beings having a human experience. Some of the
stories cannot be explained away by science, as in the case of a blind woman being able to see what
was going on while floating out of her body during her surgery, and seeing her surgeon's gold pen rolling
on the floor, and afterwards describing it in detail to her astonished surgeon.

In most of the ADCS (after death communication) and Near Death Experiences the universal message is
we are here to learn unconditional love and to have different experiences in life; love one of the main purposes
of our existence is the only thing we take with us when we discard our physical bodies upon death. I find it
fascinating that no matter what religious, spiritual or cultural path the NDE experiencer is on, or whether the
experiencer is an atheist, the universal  message of love is always the same.

I am sharing links  to  Near Death Experience stories from Kevin William's website.   He has a mission and
passion in bringing awareness to other's of the survival of the spirit and the message that Near Death
Experience bring to all of us.

Death is not extinguishing the light;
it is putting out the lamp
because the dawn has come.

Rabindranath Tagore


Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is
necessary before you can meet again.

And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is
certain for those who are friends.

Richard Bach


“Life is a great sunrise.
I do not see why death
should not be an even greater one.”

Vladimir Nobokov


“Whoever brought me here
will have to take me home.”

Rumi
Near Death Awakening—Mellen-Thomas Benedict
                           Into the Light

I woke  up about 4:30 am and I knew that this was it. I was going to die.

I called a few friends and said good-bye. I woke up Anne and made  her
promise that my dead body would remain undisturbed for six hours, since I
had read that all kinds of interesting things happen when you die. I went back
to sleep. The next thing I remember, I was fully aware and standing up. Yet
my body was lying in the bed. I seemed to be surrounded by darkness, yet I
could see every room in the house, and the roof, and even under the house.

A Light shone. I turned toward it, and was aware of its similarity to what others
have described in near-death experiences. It was magnificent and tangible,
alluring. I wanted to go towards that Light like I might want to go into my ideal
mother's or father's arms.

As I moved towards the Light, I knew that if I went into the Light, I would be
dead. So I said/felt, 'Please wait. I would like to talk to you before I go.'

The entire experience halted. I discovered that I was in control of the
experience. My request was honored. I had conversations with the Light.
That's the best way I can describe it. The Light changed into different figures,
like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, archetypal images and signs. I asked in a kind of
telepathy, 'What is going on here?'

The information transmitted was that our beliefs shape the kind of feedback
we receive. If you are a Buddhist or Catholic or Fundamentalist, you get a
feedback loop of your own images. I became aware of a Higher Self matrix, a
conduit to the Source. We all have a Higher Self, or an oversoul part of our
being, a conduit. All Higher Selves are connected as one being. All humans
are connected as one being.

It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It was like all the love you've
ever wanted, and it was the kind of love that cures, heals, regenerates. I was
ready to go at that time. I said 'I am ready, take me.' Then the Light turned
into the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen: a mandala of human souls
on this planet. I saw that we are the most beautiful creations—elegant,
exotic...everything.

I just cannot say enough about how it changed my opinion of human beings
in an instant. I said/thought/felt, 'Oh, God, I didn't realize.' I was astonished to
find that there was no evil in any soul. People may do terrible things out of
ignorance and lack, but no soul is evil. 'What all people seek—what sustains
them—is love,' the Light told me. 'What distorts people is a lack of love.'

The revelations went on and on. I asked, 'Does this mean that Humankind will
be saved?' Like a trumpet blast with a shower of spiraling lights, the Light
'spoke,' saying, 'You save, redeem and heal yourself. You always have and
always will. You were created with the power to do so from before the
beginning of the world.' In that instant I realized that we have already been
saved.

I thanked the Light of God with all my heart. The best thing I could come up
with was: 'Oh dear God, dear Universe, dear Great Self, I love my Life.' The
Light seemed to breathe me in even more deeply, absorbing me. I entered
into another realm more profound than the last, and was aware of an
enormous stream of Light, vast and full, deep. I asked what it was. The Light
answered, 'This is the River of Life. Drink of this manna water to your heart's
content.' I drank deeply, in ecstasy.
                                 The Light of Love

    I was never told that I had to come back. I just knew that I would. It was
    only natural, from what I had seen. As I began my return to the life cycle,
    it never crossed my mind, nor was I told, that I would return to the same
    body. It did not matter. I had complete trust in the Light and the Life
    process.

    As the stream merged with the great Light, I asked never to forget the
    revelations and the feelings of what I had learned on the other side. I
    thought of myself as a human again and I was happy to be that. From
    what I have seen, I would be happy to be an atom in this universe. An
    atom. So to be the human part of God ...this is the most fantastic blessing.
    It is a blessing beyond our wildest imagination of what a blessing can be.

    For each and every one of us to be the human part of this experience is
    awesome, and magnificent. Each and every one of us, no matter where
    we are, screwed up or not, is a blessing to the planet, right where we are.
    So I went through the reincarnation process expecting to be a baby
    somewhere.

    But I reincarnated back into this body. I was so surprised when I opened
    my eyes, to be back in this body, back in my room with someone looking
    over me, crying her eyes out. It was Anne, my hospice caretaker. She had
    found me dead thirty minutes before. We do not know how long I was
    dead, only that she found me thirty minutes before. She had honored my
    wish to have my newly-dead body left alone. She can verify that I really
    was dead.

    It was not a near-death experience. I believe I probably experienced
    death itself for at least an hour and a half. When I awakened and saw the
    light outside, confused, I tried to get up to go to it, but I fell out of the
    bed. She heard a loud 'clunk', ran in, and found me on the floor. When I
    recovered, I was surprised and awed about what had happened. I had no
    memory at first of the experience. I kept slipping out of this world and kept
    asking, 'Am I alive?' This world seemed more like a dream than that one.

    Within three days, I was feeling normal again, clearer, yet different than
    ever before. My memories of the journey came back later. But from my
    return I could find nothing wrong with any human being I had ever seen.
    Previous to my death I was judgmental, believing that people were really
    screwed up. Everyone but me.

    About three months later a friend said I should get tested for the cancer.
    So I got the scans and so forth. I felt healthy. I still remember the doctor
    at the clinic looking at the 'before' and 'after'scans. He said, 'I can find no
    sign of cancer now.' 'A miracle?' I asked. 'No,' he answered. 'These things
    happen...spontaneous remission.' He seemed unimpressed. But I was
    impressed. I knew it was a miracle.
                Lessons Learned

I  asked God: 'What is the best religion on the planet? Which one is right?' God said with
great love: 'It doesn't matter.' What an incredible grace. It does not matter what religion we
are. Religions come and they go. They change. Buddhism has not been here forever,
Catholicism has not been here forever, and they are all about to become more enlightened.
More light is coming into all systems now. Many will resist and fight about it, one religion
against the next, believing that only they are right.

When God said, 'It doesn't matter,' I understood that it is for us to care about, because we are
the caring beings. The Source does not care if you are Protestant, Buddhist, or Jew. Each is a
reflection, a facet of the whole. I wish that all religions would realize it and let each other be. It
is not the end of separate religions, but live and let live. Each has a different view, and it all
adds up to the big picture.

I went over to the other side with a lot of fears about toxic waste, nuclear missiles, the
population explosion, the rain forest. I came back loving every single problem. I love nuclear
waste. I love the mushroom cloud; this is the holiest mandala that we have manifested to
date, as an archetype. More than any religion or philosophy on Earth, that terrible, wonderful
cloud brought us together all of a sudden, to a new level of consciousness.
    Knowing that maybe we can blow up the planet fifty times, or 500 times, we finally realize that maybe we are all here together now. For a
    period they had to keep setting off more bombs to get it into us. Then we started saying, 'we do not need this any more.' Now we are
    actually in a safer world than we have ever been in, and it is going to get safer.

    So I came back loving toxic waste, because it brought us together. These things are so big. Clearing of the rain forest will slow down, and
    in fifty years there will be more trees on the planet than in a long time. If you are into ecology, go for it; you are that part of the system that is
    becoming aware. Go for it with all your might, but do not be depressed or disheartened. Earth is in the process of domesticating itself, and
    we are cells on that Body. Population increase is getting very close to the optimal range of energy to cause a shift in consciousness. That
    shift in consciousness will change politics, money, energy.

    The Great Mystery of life has little to do with intelligence. The Universe is not an intellectual process. The intellect is helpful; but our hearts
    are the wiser part of ourselves. Since my return I have experienced the Light spontaneously. I have learned how to get to that space almost
    any time in my meditation. You can also do this. You don't have to die first. You are wired for it already. The body is the most magnificent
    Light being there is. The body is a universe of incredible Light. We don't need to commune with God; God is already communing with us in
    every moment!

    Click for Mellen-Thomas Benedict's personal website:   www.mellen-thomas.com
             The Road to Death

In 1982, I died from terminal cancer. My condition was
non-operable. I chose not to have chemotherapy. I was
given six to eight months to live. Before this time, I had
become increasingly despondent over the nuclear
crisis, the ecology crisis, and so forth. I came to believe
that nature had made a mistake—that we were
probably a cancerous organism on the planet. And that
is what eventually killed me.

Before my near-death experience, I tried all sorts of
alternative healing methods. None helped. So I
determined that this was between me and God. I had
never really considered God. Neither was I into any
kind of spirituality. But my approaching death sent me
on a quest for more information about spirituality and
alternative healing. I read various religions and
philosophies. They gave hope that there was
something on the other side.

I had no medical insurance, so my life savings went
overnight on tests. Unwilling to drag my family into this,
I determined to handle this myself. I ended up in
hospice care and was blessed with an angel for my
hospice caretaker, whom I will call 'Anne.' She stayed
with me through all that was to follow
     The Void of Nothingness

    Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away from the planet on this
    stream of Life. I saw the earth fly away. The solar system whizzed by
    and disappeared. I flew through the center of the galaxy, absorbing
    more knowledge as I went.

    I learned that this galaxy—and the entire Universe—is bursting with
    many different varieties of life. I saw many worlds.

    We are not alone in this Universe. It seemed as if all the creations in
    the Universe soared past me and vanished in a speck of Light.

    Then a second Light appeared. As I passed into the second Light, I
    could perceive forever, beyond Infinity. I was in the Void, pre-Creation,
    the beginning of time.

    I rested in the Eye of Creation and it seemed that I touched the Face
    of God. It was not a religious feeling. I was simply at One with
    Absolute Life and Consciousness.

    I rode the stream directly into the center of the Light. I felt embraced
    by the Light as it took me in with its breath again.
    And the truth was obvious that there is no death; that nothing is born and nothing dies; that we are immortal beings, part of a natural living
    system that recycles itself endlessly.

    It would take me years to assimilate the Void experience. It was less than nothing, yet greater than anything. Creation is God exploring
    God's Self through every way imaginable. Through every piece of hair on your head, through every leaf on every tree, through every atom.
    God is exploring God's Self. I saw everything as the Self of all. God is here. That's what it is all about. Everything is made of light; everything
    is alive.