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The Afterlife


melina

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Has anyone read the research study by Jeffrey Long about near death experiences? He is a radiation oncologist and collected his research based on people's near death experiences in a book called Evidence of the Afterlife. My husband and I were both atheists, or maybe agnostic (on my part anyway), but I don't think you need to really believe in the classic idea of God to believe in an afterlife.

It could be because I desperately want to think there is a life after this one where my husband is healthy and happy, and that we'll be together again at some point in the future. But I read a little in this book every night before bed, and it comforts me.

Jeffrey Long has a website where people write in with their near death experiences, and it worries me that the site looks a little tacky. I think his wife fills the site with other stuff as well - which in my opinion cheapens the whole idea of the site. But still, I love to think that my husband may be "home" waiting for me.

Just wondering what the rest of you think about this idea.

Melina

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Guest Nicholas

Not my cup of tea - as a Buddhist I believe in rebirth, at least I should do. My son certainly did and was convinced he would be reborn as a dog. If he has been reborn, I hope he is happy and knows I am missing him terribly and crying each day. There are many documented cases of people remembering past lives, Ian Stevenson* wrote a series of books on them, one volume dealt specifically with Thailand.

*Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume IV ,Twelve Cases in Thailand and Burma

and, of course, the Lord Buddha remembered past existences. During my research in Burma, I came across many such extraordinary tales.

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Hi Melina

I have been all over the map on the afterlife, God, etc. . I was raised to believe in all of it, then threw out all of it and then slowly returned to belief in an afterlife and a God of some kind...not in the traditional sense. I have no clue what God is...a mystery for sure but I do believe that we are spirit and only our bodies die and somehow we go on. Our consciousness exists in my opinion. I believe I will be united with my love again but I have no clue how all that works. I have read a LOT of NDE books and experiences especially since my husband died and I just have about 1/10 of 1% doubt in an afterlife. The other 99.9% is a belief that we go on, that our spirits hang out around us. As a therapist for 40 years I have heard a LOT of stories from clients who lost someone also. Evidence that is hard to refute. I guess in the end, it feels better to believe in an afterlife, that Bill's consciousness still exists and is with me somehow....it is comforting and if it makes me feel better, I have nothing to lose. If it is all a colossal joke, I am still comforted now. But science and spirituality are starting to merge now and scientists who have been disbelievers are being surprised by evidence found. Check out a free podcast on SoundsTrue.com by Bruce Lipton (scientist who did cell research for years) as he talks about the imaginal antennae on cells..a theory but worth a look/see. I do not believe this eliminates the idea of re-incarnation though I have no clue about that either. mfh

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Mfh,

I think the way you do - that believing that our loved ones still live somewhere - in some other plane of existence - is comforting to me now. If it's not true, if when we die it is just like not having been born, then it's not going to bother me when I die because I won't know it.

But what I need right here, right now is the comforting thought of my husband being somewhere good.

I haven't received any signs or communications of any sort - but I want to believe this anyway.

Melina

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  • 2 weeks later...

Melina,

I just read "Heaven is for Real." It is the true story of a 3-year old's near death experience. There were many surprises in the book. The biggest surprise to me was that a non-believer insisted I read it. I couldn't put it down.

Kath

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I just finished watching Afterlife (on Charter cable TV On Demand). It is available at Amazon and at http://www.paulperryproductions.com/ Cheaper at Amazon but the Paul Perry site has a trailer. It is about NDE interviews with people who have had near death experiences and it is excellent. he interviews those folks as well as Jeffrey Long and Raymond Moody. It was uplifting on a day I have found difficult due to a nightmare about Bill that I have had trouble shaking today...as well as it being a holiday weekend filled with cold and rain. If any of you are interested I recommend this film. It is very reassuring. Moody is now working on shared NDE's where the person who has died (temporarily) and a person who has not died experience similar insights reinforcing the fact of life after life (at least it is a fact for me). I truly believe our loved ones are experiencing something we can not even begin to describe or understand and it is incredible and lovely and peaceful. mfh

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I truly believe our loved ones are experiencing something we can not even begin to describe or understand and it is incredible and lovely and peaceful. mfh

:) Me, too.

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Mary,

I watched the Afterlife trailer and I may buy the film on amazon. I was afraid that this was something they conjured up to make money. But a couple of weeks ago, my mother came to visit. We don't get along very well, and she hasn't been here at all after my husband died. But she told me something that strengthened my belief in this.

My grandmother was declared clinically dead just after my mother's birth, but managed to pull through. She came down with an infection after giving birth at home. This was in 1934 in the middle of nowhere in Norway. There were no doctors at births, just lay-midwives, and not all of them were very good. Some women died during childbirth. My mother said that my grandmother had a very high fever for about a day, and her heart stopped beating, just as the doctor finally arrived. She then found herself out of her body and hovering near the ceiling. She could see everyone standing around her bed and that there was a lot of chaos and crying. Her two older daughters were almost pushed out of the room. My grandmother then turned to see a very bright light and suddenly her own grandmother (long deceased) was standing beside her. She said something like "Not now" or "Not yet", and then there was blackness. My grandmother was in a coma for three days and was bedridden for weeks, so my mother was partly raised by her own grandmother (my grandmother's mother).

I thought it was interesting that here was someone who had clearly never heard of near death experiences, yet her experience was similar to the ones Jeffrey Long described.

Melina

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The evidence is growing. Spirituality and science are engaged and will soon marry. We can no longer discount any of the findings. I truly do believe in afterlife....it actually just makes sense to me as we are energy and energy is only transformed...I am glad you like the film. I may also buy it and watch it when my doubts creep back in. What a gift from your mother on her visit. Wow!! mary

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Since my Grandmother's death I have had strange things happen. More so right after - but even today I felt her hugging me. There are moments I wish I could feel her had in mine again - and occasionally I swear I do. In the first few days and weeks I felt her here all the time. The smell of her floor cleaner waking me up at night. Hearing her voice clear as day in my head. Lights flickering when there was no reason. Doors opening or shutting for no reason. Someone knocking on the door - and their being no one there. Other people in my home heard this stuff to. I had very vivid dreams of her. Then - a few weeks after she passed away I had a dream in which the family didn't know what to do about Grandma. She was still alive in her dream. I went up to her and said, "Grandma, what do you want?" She hugged me (and I still feel her hug - it was like it was when I was little and she was a little heavier - she was warm and soft) - then she looked at me and started crying. She said, "I just want to see heaven." I knew it meant we had to let her go. I woke up crying and told her to go to heaven. I begged her to go to heaven and not wait around for us. That was the last time she spoke to me. I have seen her in other dreams - but she never spoke to me in them. I have felt her - but it has been different.

I believe in something after we die. For me - in my mind - there has to be a creator if we are more than just chemical and biolgical reactions. I don't know if it is a God like I was taught - but I feel God - or at least I feel something. I have seen way to many strange things in my life to not believe there is something else beyond what we are.

I feel my grandma and I feel comfort with the thought that what I am feeling is actually her and not my imagination.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dear Ones,

I found this today on YouTube and posted it on Grief Healing's Facebook page:

This is an NBC News Special on Dr. Morse's work. In it they state that he has done more to prove the existence of life after death than any other scientist. The Special features interviews with him as well as videos of his study patients discussing their near death experiences:

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Thank you, Marty.

Science and spirituality are finally merging. Bruce Lipton's theories are also interesting. Podcast interview at

http://www.soundstrue.com/podcast/?cat=9&s=bruce+lipton

He was on the faculty of the UW (Wisconsin) for years and does cell research.

The evidence is growing to support those of us who have always believed that life on earth in a physical body is not all there is. I plan to check Dr. Morse out also.

Thank you for the post. mfh

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  • 1 year later...

A very interesting topic indeed. I have to say that I am not the most religious person out there and my bride Kathy who died of cancer a year and a half ago was even less religious than I. We often talked about the other side of death because we had heard so many stories and talked with those who had experienced events. Shortly before Kathy died she told me that she would reach me if she at all could. Let me just say she did. At first I thought I was imagining things because I needed it to be true. (an escape from the vivid fact that she was gone). Lights in my house began to turn on even when I was at home alone. These lights were all 12 volt systems by the way (lower voltage than regular house current). One night I was awakened because the alarm on her car was going off inside the garage. We always left the keys inside the cars since the garage was secured. Her car had also locked itself. By that point, I just laughed to myself glad I had extra keys and wondered what she was trying to tell me. I remembered that she always took very good care of her car and I remebered that ever since her death, I hadn't had the oil changed. I took it in that week.

There is a ceiling fan in my family room that we put in years ago. (a twelve volt system also).

It can only turn on by the remote as it is hard wired to power. There is a light on it as well.

Needless to say, it comes on every once in a while and even though I have the remote out of range, it still is easy for her to manipulate. So many times things have happened seeming to have nothing to do with each other that I would need volumes to list them all.

Let me just say that just before mothers day last, things happened several times a day. I knew something was going on and I got a call from my sister in law that Kathy's mom had passed away.

I was going up to Calgary for mothers day but it turned out to be a funeral. I know right now that they are together because nothing has happened in my house since then.

I know I may sound crazy but it is what it is and members of my family have seen these things occur so they no longer want to have me locked up. (just a joke)

So for what it's worth, just know that there are many unexplained things and we can only be certain of one thing. We don't get to know the secret till we go there.

Stephen

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Dear Ones,

I found this today on YouTube and posted it on Grief Healing's Facebook page:

This is an NBC News Special on Dr. Morse's work. In it they state that he has done more to prove the existence of life after death than any other scientist. The Special features interviews with him as well as videos of his study patients discussing their near death experiences:

I remember this thread last year.

I've been following NDE experiences ever since, with interest and hope - so I was dismayed to read this about Dr. Morse.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/10/paediatrician-accused-of-waterboarding-daughter

Not that his alleged crime changes the fact (or not) of life after death - all it really shows is that the man has serious problems - but still I sometimes wonder if maybe we're just seeing what we want to see. Believing what gives us the most hope, and not what's really true.

It's easy to feel discouraged when life continues - mundane, stressful, money-focused and without any sign from "beyond".

Melina

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Melina, my dear, I too am saddened by the stories about Dr. Morse ~ but as you say, we human beings are "seeing what we want to see." There is great truth in that statement, in that we do have choices about what we focus on and what brings us comfort. You can choose to let this man's circumstances cast more doubt on what you hope to believe about life after death ~ or you can look to others whose research and writings strengthen those beliefs. To be sure, life is difficult, and there are many things that discourage us and drag us down ~ but we still can choose to focus on those things that give us hope and lift us up.

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  • 1 month later...

Our culture is very "scientifically" based and wants to prove everything beyond a shadow of a doubt. In many cultures, after life and afterdeath communications are considered quite normal. I have had enough experiences of seeing a vision of a loved one after their death, and getting other things happening that can't possibly be attributed to coincidence or wishful thinking. At some point you have to decide that you believe in this, because someone who is determined never to accept the idea of the survival of the spirit can close their eyes to anything -- and that is their choice. Likely there will never be a consensus on this, because the experiences are so personal. What I see as an amazing message may not seem so to another person, because I knew the person who died, and I know the message sent was just like them, or referred to something only he and I knew about. That proves nothing to someone else. But I know it was real. That's all that matters.

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