Oncologist Jeffrey Long in his book God and the Afterlife: The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and Near-Death Experience (2016) reports on research conducted by the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation study (NDERF).
Purpose
Life’s meaning or purpose is love. Clear and simple, love. {GA, 97}
To learn and understand love. {GA, 97}
Unconditional love, and our job is to help one another find joy. {GA, 98}
We take that love with us to the other side. People who worry about a loved one dying alone have nothing to worry about. We do not die alone. {GA, 98}
To overcome our fears, we need to love and accept ourselves and each other. The actions and choices we make can either be from love or fear—love is golden light, fear is darkness. {GA, 98}
I felt confirmation that life’s real meaning is love—for family and each other. {GA, 99}
Life is for living, not for impressing someone or gaining something. {GA, 119}
I learned that I hate most in others those qualities that I have in myself but can’t see. I fit very neatly into all the areas I profess to hate in others. Love was the key to everything—acceptance and love. {GA, 119}
Jennifer’s experience: Suddenly I was aware of having infinite knowledge—I knew everything, all languages, all religious thought—all at once. I was one with the Creator and with Creation itself. I was the Creator. We all were; those who haven’t come back still are. It’s impossible to describe. My earthly body, the container or vessel of my soul, had been shed. I was God along with everyone else, and yet God was still a universal power that was gentle and kind, humble and pure. God lives in me; the soul of God was breathed into my dead body when I chose to live. We were in and through and with each other. It was humbling, beautiful beyond beauty, and powerful in the most gentle and kind way. Everything seems to be clear—languages, death and life, God, Creation, love, peace, joy, sorrow. I knew the infinity, oneness, flexibility, and omniscience of all beings; I knew that our physical bodies separate us from the One that we are. We are like water poured from a pitcher into individual glasses, where we stay until we die and return to the whole. The purpose I received was to circulate this knowledge—the knowledge that love is the purpose, or that the purpose of love is life. {GA, 126-127}
Heaven
“Encounters with God almost always take place in a heavenly realm that may consist of a variety of common earthly elements, including mountains, valleys, forests, streams, lakes, rivers, and dwellings. Often they are described as having a decidedly unearthly appearance (often due to color or brightness or scale). There can also be vast cities that may be beautiful beyond anything on earth.” {GA, 135-136}
“Typically this place is associated with feelings of peace, love, and connection in the environment. Beautiful or ‘indescribable’ music is reported. Sometimes spiritual beings or angels are present. The importance of learning or gaining knowledge is also often in evidence, and there are frequent reports of seeing or experiencing institutions of learning (sometimes called ‘temples of knowledge’). People also often describe receiving knowledge directly in the form of telepathic exchange from Light Beings.” {GA, 136}
Edna’s experience: I went down a blue tube with a bright light at the bottom. When I exited the tube, I was surrounded by the most wonderful music—similar to pan pipes—that was everywhere. The feeling was so peaceful and there was no pain. I asked, “Where am I?” and was told, “The Halls of Music.” There were a lot of people, and they were all exuding so much love. The sky was a wonderful blue and the grass so green. I saw a bridge and wanted to cross it, but I couldn’t—there was some kind of invisible barrier. Someone I felt I knew appeared on the other side of the bridge, and he said, ”It’s not time yet. You still have work to do.” I wanted so much to stay, but in no time I was back in my body. {GA, 145-146}
Diane’s experience: Words are inadequate to describe Heaven. But I knew I was home. I knew this was where I’d come from. I first came to a serene and beautiful countryside filled with animals—they were so beautiful and contented, so full of love. The grass and trees and flowers were all so exquisite, and a vibration of love flowed back to me from them. The water was living and sparkled back to me with love. I heard music all around, fully more melodic and more beautiful than anyone could write on this earth, just suddenly playing and filling my soul with joy. Everything was richer and more beautiful than anything we could ever create on earth. I realized that everything we create that is beautiful—all paintings, woven rugs, tapestries, carvings—all have their seed from Heaven. We saw all this before we came to earth, and we try to recapture some of Heaven while on earth. We deeply desire Heaven on earth. We miss it deep in our souls.
An angel took me to view the reflection of God’s Light—not the full force of His Awesome Wonder. I was so filled with love and wanted to hug Him with joy. His voice came into my mind, and He commanded me to stretch out my hands and arms so that I could see I was made of solid light. And then He imparted the knowledge that we all are made of solid light, and we each have our own identity and purpose. Each of us was created before we entered earth, and each was male or female before that entry. He contains both sides, and this is the truth of it. For it is not the sexual side, but the strong and the gentle of both sides of Him that determine who we will be—a balance of His being. I have a peace most people don’t have about death because I know that is what Christ meant by the words, “Unless you are born again, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” They have nothing to do with the meaning religion has given them; they are about something we all must do. Our Father told me that I had to go back to earth and complete my test; there was much I still needed to do. He affirmed that He loved me and would be with me all my life. {GA, 151-153}
{GA} - Jeffrey Long, God and the Afterlife: The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and Near-Death Experience (2016).
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