A spontaneous remission? Or a miracle?

Dr. Larry Dossey relates this story to illustrate the scientific mystery of consciousness. “Mellen-Thomas Benedict, a young stained-glass artist, experienced near-death in 1982. Benedict was dying from an inoperable brain tumor. He was offered chemotherapy but declined, wanting to maintain as high a quality of life as possible in the time he had left. Having no health insurance, he entered hospice care, which lasted for about 18 months. He woke up one morning at around 4:30 and knew this was the day he would die. He told his hospice nurse, and they agreed that she would leave his dead body undisturbed for at least six hours, because he had read that ‘all kinds of interesting things happen when you die.’ Soon he experienced being outside his body. He had a sense of panoramic vision and saw a magnificent shining light, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It seemed to be a conduit to the Source of the Higher Self. ‘I just went into it,’ he said later, ‘and it was just overwhelming. It was like all the love you’ve ever wanted, and it was the kind of love that cures, heals, regenerates.’ Then the light turned into an exquisitely gorgeous mandala of human souls.

“Benedict felt all his negative judgments and cynical attitudes about his fellow human beings giving way toward a view that was equally hopeful and positive. He conversed with the Great Light. He rode a stream of consciousness through the galaxy and glimpsed the entire universe. He felt he was in precreation before the Big Bang. His consciousness expanded to infinity. It was revealed to him that there is no death, only immortality. With this assurance, the entire process then reversed itself, and he returned to his body.

“His hospice nurse found him without vital signs. She could not detect any blood pressure or heart sounds, even with an amplified stethoscope. His cardiac monitor was flat-lined. She honored his agreement and left his body alone. It began to stiffen. Then he suddenly awakened. On seeing the light outside, he tried to get up and go to it, falling out of bed. The nurse heard a clunk and found him on the floor.

“Within three days he was feeling normal, yet different than he had every felt. He was discharged from hospice. Three months later, a friend suggested he return to his physician to be tested again. Follow-up brain scans were done. As his physician looked at the before-and-after scans, he said, ‘Well, there is nothing here now.’ Benedict responded happily, ‘Really, it must be a miracle?’ ‘No,’ the unimpressed doctor said, ‘these things happen. They are called spontaneous remission.’ ‘But there was a miracle,’ Benedict said, ‘and I was impressed, even if no one else was'."

 

---

Larry Dossey, One Mind: How Our Individual Mind Is Part of a Greater Consciousness and Why It Matters (2013), 87-88.

Slave song from the Civil War era

 

She was filled with love for the hospital staff

I was in hospital about to get an intravenous (IV) drip with anesthesia. When the line unkinked, the drugs came racing into my body. I felt my heart immediately go into extreme tachycardia. 'My heart!' I yelled, 'My Heart!' The nurses came running toward me.

Suddenly, I was flying about 8 feet over my body. I was watching the scene below as the nurse scrambled through the cabinet looking for something. She was pulling things out and onto the floor. The nurse assistant ran into the surgery room. She grabbed the doctor, who ran over to me and started doing compressions while the nurses got the big needle out. they were arguing about whether it would be better to put it into my chest or into the IV line. I thought I was in a dream state until I looked at the EKG, and it was all flat lines with the alarms going off.

I said to myself, 'Oh Fu#$! I am Dying!' I could see the doctors down below trying frantically to bring me back. I said, 'I don't want to die! Oh My GOd! NO!' I tried to dive back into my body, but instead I was falling backward through a dark tunnel at what seemed like thousands of miles per hour. It was horrifying until I started slowing down. I realized that it wasn't a dark tunnel. It was a tunnel with so many lights. There were so many colors I had never seen before. I wasn't afraid any more.

At the end of this tunnel was the most beautiful place in existence. I seemed to have arrived back in the room but in another dimension. I was looking at everyone and everything in that hospital through what I can only describe as 'through the eyes of God.' I felt the Love of God for all these people in the hospital; the patients, the staff, and the receptionist. I never saw my own life, but I saw everyone else's life pass before my eyes. I saw the receptionist and everything about her. I saw her heart. I felt her love for her babies. I felt her pain and her thoughts. I saw the technician and everything in his life right then. I saw each person for who they really truly were. I saw what motivated them and I saw their beautiful soul-full hearts. I saw their souls as if through the eyes and heart of God. I saw them and I loved them, each and every person. I seemed to pull back from the room and up, out of the building. I saw people on the street and knew their pain. I saw them with pure love.

Then I began getting an information download. There was no talking, just information going into me with absolute love. It was very clear, very loud, and very certain, that We are ALL VERY IMPORTANT TO GOD. The message was that our lives are deeply important to God and to the existence of the universe. Our Love we have and the love we cultivate on earth, especially for people we have a hard time liking, that love somehow expands the universe and does some very important things. I felt that there was something at stake, that we have a very important job to do. Human Beings are beloved and our choice in how to act is given to us to prove God. I don't know how to describe it, I am trying hard to explain it here but it's hard to explain. It may take my lifetime to explain what I learned.

In this place we go to, we will have lightness, laughter and joy, and our soul family is there waiting for us. Our jobs on earth are to find out how to break through all these illusory walls everywhere that we erect to hide who we are. We need to really love each other and love ourselves. I felt as though there was a sense of humor too. I was like a deep appreciation for our lives and even for our failures. We are suppose to learn from our failures and not beat ourselves up over them. We find a way to forgive and love ourselves because in reality, in the real place of creation, there is only Love. It seemed the message was that if we couldn't find a path to love, then we are destroying something very very precious.

I recognized a big crowd of people around me, but they didn't have human form. I recognized their souls. They had pink shapes but also resonated to the energy which was them. My great-uncle Steve, I felt him there. I also felt the presence of my grandmother who is actually alive. It was then that I realized that when we pray, we actually send our soul-self to the side of the person. It is an act of love which makes creation. The love was incredible and the beauty was so absolutely, outrageously incredible. When I was looking down at all these people and the doctor who was trying to save me, I was thinking, 'I love these people. Oh, these people are so loved!' I wanted to go back so badly and tell them how loved they were. I was standing alongside this soul family of mine and in the presence of what I would describe as total love from the one who made it all. Yet, I wanted to go back.

NDERF.org

 

Her life review was revealing and transforming

I was out of my body but not seeing with my eyes. I knew something had happened during surgery that was life-threatening. It was somehow understood that as a spiritual being, I needed to be outside of the body as it might not have been usable anymore. While I do remember a bright light about the place I went to, I do not remember a journey through a tunnel. I remember floating toward a light. I arrived at a place with both, gorgeous wildlife and beautiful buildings. I don't remember being met by family members or friends who had passed. I do remember a sense of familiarity with the beings who greeted me; one of whom was a dog, my childhood pet.

The way I experienced knowledge and information wasn't through human means. I experienced a sort of fused knowledge, where I had access to different aspects of knowledge if I focused in on whatever it was, I wanted to know. In this way, I'd immediately know the answer to what concerned me. The best way to describe information is through a series of emotional impressions which I accepted as truth, because there was no concept of untruth there. Physically, I did not have form in the usual way. If I thought that I should have form, I would assume a human form. If I didn't think about it, I was a contained essence, but weightless and maybe even made of light.

Two beings guided me into one of the buildings for a life review process. I believe these buildings were constructed as blending with the natural environment. They were open like pavilions. If I thought about them, I think they assumed more form. If I didn't think about them, they assumed less form. What I do remember is a screen as if on a table. The screen was like a touch screen. I never had access to this technology at the time of my NDE, so I didn't know a thing like that existed. I reviewed my life like a movie except that I could pause it and zoom into the different important times during my life. I could examine these times from multiple perspectives, such as the people they affected. When I think of this review now, I imagine it must have taken up a very long time in earth-time had I done the same thing here. However, at this place, the concept of time didn't translate very well. Time was now and it only passed in a linear fashion because I organized the different events as happening in a certain order when I reflect on it. It's extremely hard to explain, but it was nothing like time on earth.

After the life review, I was taken before more beings which seemed to be wiser than the two who brought me to my life review. I communicated with them about my decisions during my life review and areas where I could improve. While it was a collaborative process, I had deep respect and reverence for these beings. I felt that they loved me completely and without any judgment. In psychology there's a term to describe this called 'unconditional positive regard.' I felt completely sure that they had this feeling for me. This surety felt like a warm glow of light around me. The conclusion of these conversations was that it wasn't so much a decision of doing the 'wrong' thing in situations, or making unwise choices, but that the times of greatest challenge for me were times in which I could have acted but chose inaction. It was concluded that when I returned to earth, I must choose action and use my experiences and feelings to guide these actions so that they are acts of love.

Before I went back to earth, there was an agreement of some sort that I could stay in a certain area of this place, but I could not go deeper into this city. For example, I couldn't find out more information about the future of my life, even though I knew I'd forget upon returning if I did. Instead, I stayed in an area of beautiful gardens. These gardens were greener than green is on earth and the colors were vivid and rich. While I was in this place, I was weightless. I could access all knowledge I could think of. I also felt no pain because I didn't have a body. No weight, no pain. It was like it was impossible to be clumsy. It was also impossible to be anything other than truly myself. I felt as if I was more myself there than here on earth.

I spent what would be in earth terms, a great deal of time in these gardens talking to the people there. One of the people there was an ascended master. At the time, I decided to call this master 'Jesus.' But when I look back, it was as if this person was a spokesperson for God who had special access to divine intent. We talked for what could have been hours or even days on earth. It was always light there, as if it was continuously in the afternoon. This wasn't bothersome to me though. I believe it was like that because I thought it should be like that. Unlike being around people on earth, I felt completely energized and refreshed from the social exchange. I'm an introvert on earth, so this was a very striking difference for me. I do not remember what we spoke about except that it involved special knowledge, which I don't have access to on earth.

What I got out of this experience before leaving was that I must choose action instead of inaction. I must behave in a way that would help bring more awareness and love to the world. The ascended master told me that I needed to go. While I was never asked specifically if I was going back or not, it was understood that I was going to go back.

NDEFR.org, #8213

Dead mother guides her dying son to the hospital

I was driving an 18-wheeler semi-truck for a company from Utah to Texas. In the middle of the night, as I was driving west in Texas, I felt a 'presence' in the passenger seat. I turned and looked. There sat my mother who had committed suicide in 1981. She was staring straight ahead as if looking for something ahead of us and was acting very nervous. For my mother this was very unusual behavior even if she was living. Instead of me being frightened, I was concerned about her and was actually trying to reassure her. She 'told' me that I had to find a hospital and quickly. She was giving me directions on how to get there.

Then I remember walking to the emergency room doors. It was like I was in a tunnel and the emergency room doors appeared to be getting farther away. I began to feel tired, and the thought entered my mind to go back to the truck and rest a bit. But as I was going to turn and go back, I felt hands grab my shoulders to keep me walking straight to the emergency room door.

I felt like I was slipping on a hillside with lose rock like shale. As I looked up, it was dark and there were three crosses. The man's face on the cross in the middle had a 'slash' of light illuminating his face, mainly his eyes, but just from his face you could tell he had been severely beaten. But his eyes—to this day I get emotional when I think and feel the complete love, compassion and caring I felt he had for me.

What I'm going to describe happened in thought, not words. He then asked me if I understood. 'Understood what?' was my thought. I then 'saw' things in rapid succession that were moments of my life, complete with emotions I felt during certain times of my life as a child and up through adulthood. Then again, the question 'Do you understand??' Again, I saw a rapid succession of events in my life. I must have been 'getting something' because the next question was 'What would be your idea of heaven?' Before I could answer, I found myself 'in the womb' floating above the planet.

Then came a feeling like I was in utopia with complete knowledge of everything. If I began to ask a question, I had the answer before I finished the thought. It was during this time when I wanted to know Jesus/God better and get as close as I could to him. The thought was, 'If you listen to Thomas, seek out Thomas...'

When I woke from my coma, I told the nurse that if she wanted to know the answer to anything, to ask now because the knowledge was fading fast. But the thought, 'search out Thomas (the book)' was vivid. At the time, I knew that he was one of the 12 disciples, but his importance or that there was a book of Thomas, was not known to me.

The next memory is that I'm standing in the lobby of a hospital. I was expecting someone to 'pick me up' but people were walking past me, like they were looking 'through'' me. I tried to 'ask ' someone where I was and then noticed my friend John was driving his wife's Mercedes which she NEVER let him drive. He was driving it into the parking lot. I started looking for my 'suitcase' but couldn't find it. I looked up to see John walk right past me to the elevator doors and get into the elevator. He had a plate covered with tinfoil, which was my Thanksgiving dinner. The hospital told him that I was in the critical care unit but not my condition.

At no time do I remember 'seeing ' my body or seeing anyone doing CPR or defibrillation or any medical procedure on me. I'm not a huge fan of hospitals anyway!! At no time was I able to get anyone's attention. At no time was the experience frightening. On the contrary, the incredible feeling of non-judgmental, love and peace I felt from whom I felt was Jesus/God on that cross, I will never forget. 

 

NDERF.org, #7981

Seeing grieving family persuades dying man to live

"While in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital the doctors inserted a feeding tube into my nose while I was intubated. The nutrients from the feeding tube filled my belly causing my stomach to spasm and all the nutrient went into my lungs because I was intubated. I felt my lungs fill and my breath shorten. The call-button was just out of reach when I realized I had no control and there was nothing I could do. I thought of my family and the life I wouldn't lead. My eyes swelled in tears as I took my last breaths. Then everything went black.

"It seemed instantly that I was somewhere else. It was as though I stepped through a doorway in the back of my mind and into another dimension. I first noticed the floor or rather the absence of it. There was a thick mist or fog that covered the ground up to my knees. The very next thing that I noticed was the sound of music. It soothed me. I didn't know the song but it seemed familiar. It was symphonically orchestral and with brass, strings and woodwinds, but the sound was still subtle. The sound seemed to be coming from my right. So, I looked in that direction.

"I saw a deep void of darkness, like an astronaut who looked into the stars from orbit. Then I looked in front of me and saw my deceased grandmother. She was standing just in front of the 'White Light.' The light radiated warmth, light, love and anything I needed to know. I also noticed other figures off to the left of me. They seemed peaceful in pairs holding each other and swaying with the music. My grandmother delivered the choice to me. I could stay with her or go back to my life. She told me that if I stayed, everything would be o.k. She said that if I went back to my body, it would be the most challenging experience I would ever endure. Then she showed me my grieving family. It was like I was transported to the moment when my loved ones were talking about me. I saw my other grandparent who was still alive. She was driving to the hospital to see me. My Papa was consoling my grandma saying, 'Don't cry, he's going to make it!' I also saw my best friends driving to see me at the hospital. They were saying how bad it was and how I didn't look like myself. I also saw my mother and aunt in the hospital watching over me. I saw their tears and the uncertainty in there expressions. So, I chose to live." 

NDERF.org #8195

 

Happy during NDE yet grateful to be alive

Dr. Sartori writes that Marie-Claire’s NDE demonstrates quite a few of the after effects: "I became ill with meningitis and was sent to hospital, where I stayed for a month. I remember being in the most terrible pain, like my head was being crushed and not liking bright lights. I was put on a drip and then felt myself falling and I pinched my hand to see if I was dreaming – I was not! Suddenly I was in what felt like a dark tunnel, traveling at enormous speed and at the end was a brilliant golden light which didn’t hurt my eyes. When I reached the end I saw my family and patients (I used to be a nurse), all standing with beautiful smiles and open arms, enveloping me in such love. It was amazing! Even our family pets that had died years before were welcoming me. Some were patients who had had amputations before they died, but now they had limbs and were walking.

 

"A voice, which came into my head, asked me if I wanted to remain with them or return back to where I’d come from. I remember very clearly, I said, ‘Oh goodness I’d love to stay but first I must return to tidy my bedroom!’ I’m a children’s nanny and I’d left books on the floor before I collapsed. Suddenly I felt myself being pulled back very rapidly by what looked like a silver cord, a very fine one, and then I was screaming in pain because I was woken up by doctors and nurses. I told them – why didn’t you leave me alone? I was blissfully happy to be free from pain? Their response shocked me! They said, but you had died, we saved your life, and I felt terribly guilty having shouted at them, not appreciating what had happened to me.

 

"Of course, once I was on the road to recovery, I was grateful for my life being saved and I’ve never looked back. Since I died, I became a spiritualist and I’m not afraid to die; I know for certain, this life is one of many, and we do meet our loved ones eventually. Also, it’s made me a better person and I try to do at least five kind things a day for other people. I love helping my friends and family and I give most of my salary to others who need it much more than I do. Whoever spoke to me on the other side, spoke with such love, it made me cry just thinking about it once I recovered. I shall never forget the love and kindness when I came back; it’s something I’ve never experienced since. Hopefully when my time comes, I’ll meet the same people I saw before and more!

 

"Also, the colors were very different to those here on earth, I can’t tell you the colors because I’ve never seen them before, just that they were absolutely stunning. The flowers were really glorious too, mostly white and the green grass looked like green velvet, it’s hard to explain! Sometimes – just sometimes – I wish I could travel back because my precious twin sister passed away five years ago. How I miss her; we were so very close, and I loved her dearly. I hope this has not been too boring for you but it’s absolutely true and, as I’ve mentioned, I’m not scared of dying. I know it’s just pure love on the other side wherever it is in God’s universe!"

 

Sartori, Dr Penny. Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences (pp. 32-33). Watkins Media. Kindle Edition. 2014