Is the afterlife a real dimension of imagination?

According to William Blake, who got many of his ideas on this subject from the seventeenth-century scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, the imagination is ‘the divine bosom into which we shall all go after the death of the Vegetated body.’ This statement is hard to get much of a purchase on until we realize that what Blake is talking about is not ‘imagination’ in the sense of our ability to create unreal images within our minds, but rather a whole dimension of being: one which we enter when we leave the physical body, and which is less dense, less stubbornly immovable, but equally real.

 

When we die, in this view, we go to another real place. But the rules of this place are different from those that govern the material one we are in right now. Our active imaginations, after a lifetime of collaborating with physical reality, and doing so as the less powerful partner in the alliance, are suddenly much more free, much more in charge of things; they are in a realm of being in which, whether they want to be doing so or not, they are able to actively create much more of that reality than they did when they were in the physical world.

 

The afterlife is a place where, as the poet and student of afterlife philosophies William Butler Yeats put it, ‘Imagination is now the world.’ As such it has a novelistic depth and subtlety to it. The afterlife is, quite simply, as complex as we are. This is terrifying, but it is also the single most fantastically positive piece of news we could ever hear, and the cure for every variety of modern despair. For if the world beyond the body is a place where our full and fathomless interior complexity is allowed to emerge and truly exist, it means that we might actually be the secret larger beings that humans have, since the dawn of history, hoped to be.

 

Ptolemy Tompkins, The Modern Book of the Dead (Atria Books, 2012), 102 and 105.

On her way to heaven until called back

I woke up from surgery in the intensive care unit (ICU), looked at my husband and squeaked out, 'I never dreamed before while under surgery.' He thought that was a strange statement because I dream frequently. When the anesthesia wore off, I was able to tell the whole story. The doctor happened to be at my beside While I told the story to my husband.

Before when I had undergone surgery, it was like going to sleep and then waking up with no knowledge of time having passed. This time was different.

I was suddenly in a hallway. It was as if the walls, ceiling, and floor were made of light. It was as of love was a tangible thing, and I literally breathed it in and out. It was the most amazing feeling ever. I suddenly knew where my granny G was, so I started hurrying down the hallway, I was eager to go see her.

Suddenly, I heard someone scream, 'KIM!' I turned around and thought, 'I forgot my kids.' Then, I woke up in ICU.

The doctor's face went white as a sheet. He said that the surgery had been going perfectly. Then for no reason at all, my oxygen dropped to 60 percent, which is brain death. He tried everything to get me back, but nothing was working. Finally, he said that he grabbed my shoulders and screamed, "KIM!" in my face. Then, everything returned to normal.

I know I was on my way to heaven. Had I been allowed to actually see the other side, I don't think I would have wanted to return.

NDERF.org 

The spiritual: Steal Away Home

Steal away, steal away, steal away home to Jesus.


Steal away, steal away home.
I ain't got long to stay here.

 

My Lord is calling,
is calling by the thunder.


The trumpet sounds within-a my soul.
I ain't got long to stay here.

 

Steal away, steal away, steal away home to Jesus.


Steal away, steal away home.
I ain't got long to stay here.

 

My Lord is calling, is calling by the lightning.

The trumpet sounds within-a my soul. I ain’t got long to stay here.

 

Steal away, steal away, steal away home to Jesus.


Steal away, steal away home.
I ain't got long to stay here.

 

Umoya Gospel Journey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL93GqQiiDg

A near-death experience of Unconditional Love

I remember the four hours it took to get me to surgery. My wife said I was in excruciating pain but I do not remember any pain. I remember telling her I couldn't feel my legs anymore and then I couldn't feel my left arm. I knew I was dying. I remember signing my own consent form. I finally was wheeled to the operating room.

I then left the earthly realm and entered into an alternate reality. I saw a lagoon that was surrounded by beautiful plants. Everything was soft to the touch. There were 4 or 5 entities who were present, but I could not see them. They assured me that everything would be all right and that I could leave anytime I wanted. They told me that this place was for me and it contained all the Unconditional Love I had for others and that they had for me.

I did leave that place once but then came back. I asked why everything was soft and was told that the energy that binds matter here is that of Unconditional Love. I laid down on the ground. The energy embraced me and the profound healing power of Unconditional Love healed me.

One of the doctors on the team that worked on me came to see me once I was alert. The doctor was very nervous around me and told me that she felt like she was in the presence of a saint because I should be dead and nobody can explain how I survived. In surgery, I had a dissected aortic arch that ruptured into my chest. During the aortic repair my brain was completely drained of blood and filled with cryogenic fluid. They used a new technique that is recommended for 60 to 90 minutes maximum. Yet, my brain was frozen for 100 minutes. I suffered ten brain clots and stroked at some time during surgery. My entire frontal lobe was a continuous bruise.

After a thorough brain scan, the doctor asked me how I was doing. I told her that I was home from the hospital and starting to do a lot of things. The doctor informed me that people with as much brain injury as I had, don't even get out of bed. Yet, I felt fine except for some dizzy spells.

It has been 5 months now and I can run 12 miles. I'm a bit emotional but doing very well. I feel I have gained great insight into the nature of the universe, life and its purpose. 

 

NDERF.org

 

Reborn thru his NDE, not as an artist but as the art

Atwater writes: "In 1991, Dan Rhema survived a near-death experience caused by the multiple brain infections of dengue fever (breakbone fever) and spinal meningitis. During his recuperation, Dan began to compulsively create multimedia collages, sculptures, and masks from found objects. He also began to paint, capturing the images flowing through him in a unique three-dimensional style. It soon became apparent to Dan that these acts of creating were healing and re-creating him. He has taken this realization and made it the focus of his art; trauma can awaken creativity, and through creativity, healing can begin.

"The near-death experience," explains Dan, "brought me to a place where I no longer need to seek answers to all the big questions—I am content to let the mystery be. In my life, the difference between reality and unreality has become permanently blurred. I now experience a Zen-like existence living right here, right now only in the present moment.

"The sensation of floating began during my near-death experience and I have continued floating ever since. One night, I had a dream that I was gazing out from within the sculpture I had just completed. At that moment I understand that I had not been reborn as an artist—I had been reborn as the art."

P. M. H. Atwater, Near-Death Experiences: The Rest of the Story (Hampton Roads, 2011).

An eight-year old's experience during her coma

Jenny stood at the doorway of death when she was eight years old. “I had a mysterious intestinal virus. My symptoms included high fever and vomiting. My symptoms were persistent and severe enough that I became dehydrated and required hospitalization. I entered the hospital and for the next several days was intravenously fed. When my parents stepped out to eat, a nurse brought me a tray of Mexican food, which is my favorite. I ate the entire meal! My body went into shock, which resulted in a coma state for 48 hours. While in coma, I experienced numerous near-death states.

“In one, I hovered over my body and saw people coming to visit me. I watched my next-door neighbor and her mother bring me a strawberry Shortcake tin can of hard candies. When she placed one in my mouth, the flavor sent me back into my body.

Another time, I left my body and went down the hall to visit more friends. My boyfriend was visiting his mother and young sister. His entire family was chatting with each other as I hovered over their heads. I left because I realized someone had come to visit me in my room. As I was in the hallway on the pediatric unit, I saw my best friend from school and her sister. They were excited because they had costumes to surprise me with a skit they created. I was hovering above them as they put on their costumes. They had trench coats with Groucho Marx glasses and mustaches. When they entered my room and saw my body in a coma state, they responded with a gasp. As I experienced their shift from excitement to fear, I went back into my body.

“I decided I was tired of the hospital. I thought to myself, ‘I’m leaving.’ I began to float up and see the hospital from above. In the darkness I experienced a set of doors made of energy. They felt like hospital doors with a gate keeper who was loving and accepting. It seemed like the side of the door I was on was dark, and the other side was light. I wanted to enter, but the gate keeper said, ‘It’s not your time. You need to go back to your body.’ I attempted to bargain my way into the light. Another entity, who felt like God, authoritatively told me, ‘YOU MUST GO BACK.’ God’s message: ‘You have a message to bring to earth. It is a message of the existence of a higher power that loves all his children.’ I asked, ‘what am I supposed to do?’ God said, ‘You do not have to know now. It will come to you in dreams and insight.’ Suddenly I was back in my body. I was told that my parents stayed with me during this time. They were with my body while my soul was with God.

“Over the years I have gone through different stages of denying these experiences and accepting them as well. It is difficult to put into words what happened to me. The paranormal abilities that come with it can be perplexing and confusing. One might say this is a gift with a double edge.”

 

P. M. H. Atwater, Near-Death Experiences: The Rest of the Story (Hampton Roads, 2011).

Child's death reversed by deceased Catholic nun

“My name is Bruna Reyn and I live in Canada. Born in Vienna, Austria, from the age of two to seven I was a ward of the court in the care of The Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross. When my mother remarried, my brother and I were returned to her. From a young age I have been drawn to seek information about what happens at death. I had a ‘dream’ as a child that is as vibrant today as ever. In my ‘dream’ I was floating in outer space towards a brightly lit figure. The figure was Jesus Christ. He was dressed in robes of brilliant white and blue. Both arms were at His side and were directing ‘souls’ floating towards Him to pass Him, some to His right and others to His left. This was a brilliant scene in the black space where I was floating towards Him. I now believe this was my near-death experience when I was three. As a very young child (under 10), although my mother was not religious, when I was sent to bed, I would both pray and try to understand God and eternity. I recall one amazing moment where everything made sense—the fact that there was no beginning and no end, the existence of something beyond my environment—then it was gone.

 

“In 1994 I received a strange phone call form my mother. My mother said The Sisters of the Holy Cross had contacted her to say that they had been looking for me. The reason: on a hot August day, when I was 3 years old, I had been found drowned in a cistern in a small yard in Laxenburg. The cistern was a very large cement tank for collecting rainwater. They knew I was underwater at least 6 hours. Attempts at resuscitation by the nuns who found me, as well as the doctor in attendance, failed. The doctor pronounced me dead and left. But, following passionate prayers directed towards Sr. Maria Theresia, the founder of the Order, I opened my eyes. I had a very high fever for 3 days.

“I was told that everyone who was present for this event, including the doctor, was asked to provide a written description of what they had witnessed. Besides having no explanation for this, the doctor also cautioned that they must be prepared as there would be brain and/or organ damage. This did not occur. Once the fever broke, I appeared to be fine. This event was documented, and made its way through various levels until it reached the Vatican. In 1994 the Vatican declared this a miracle. I was invited, together my husband, to attend the 1995 Beatification Mass for Sr. Maria Theresia Scherer, and receive a medal.”

 

P. M. H. Atwater, Near-Death Experiences: The Rest of the Story (Hampton Roads, 2011).