Just
Print it, it will easier to read... Click on FILE and then PRINT
(the shortcut is Ctrl P )
READERS RESPOND:
The theme this week was painful letters to
read from grieving parents. Over and over again, they asked, how can we trust
these visions?
Interactions with the dead occur in non-local
reality. They are not really standing at the foot of the bed, or to the side of
a mirror. They are perceptions mediated by a specific area of the brain. Each
person interprets the experience according to his or her own psychology.
For some, it will be a vision. Others hear a
voice. For many it is a intuition or feeling. Some simply feel a presence. All
represent valid right temporal lobe interactions with another reality.
I hope that the following story helps the many
grieving parents who have written to me:
A reader describes a car accident in which her 2 1/2 year old daughter nearly
died. "My daughter had an NDE when she nearly died in 1990, which in a
way, I shared. When she (almost died), I saw a beautiful light radiating from
her body, and felt a feeling of unconditional love coming in that light.
Before I tell you our (story), let me say that
this was a very difficult experience to deal with, not only because my husband
and children were seriously injured, but also because the entire event was such
an impossible and unacceptable experience for me. It took me five years to come
to terms with the NDE and related events. For me, the idea that the experience
was real had serious ramifications,. . .and I wasn' sure I wanted to deal with
them. Anyway, I have come to terms with it, and now regard the NDE as a great
blessing, perhaps the Greatest blessing anyone could have.
(During the car accident) my daughter's face
and body seemed transformed by this light that was radiating from her. Her
features took on a kind of unearthly perfection, and she seemed weightless in
my arms. I knew she was dying. I wasn't afraid, and for a few moments, felt
completely at peace.
But, as soon as the light disappeared (when
the child was close to death), my first instinct was to pray to God to send her
back. What followed then was what, I suppose, is known as an out-of-body
experience, though at the time I had no language to describe it.
Suddenly I was in darkness, looking for my
child. It was some void, some nothingness, all I knew was that I had to find my
daughter, and there was a sense that if I did not find her, I would be
permanently trapped.
Suddenly, all my bodily sensations returned. I
could hear the commotion going on around me, the sirens, my husband screaming
in pain. I saw my daughter's gray and lifeless body in my arms. Then there was
a great jolt in her body, as if my daughter had been dropped from a great
height, or jolted with electricity. All four of her limbs moved at once, then
color came back into her face, and she screamed "I need a bandaid". I
didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What feelings to deal with! Such a mixture
of disbelief, horror, confusion, awe, gratitude and relief. It never occurred
to me that my daughter might have had an NDE.
BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL
A few months later, she told us a story (about
the accident) which goes as follows: She was floating above the wreckage of the
car. Then Jesus picked her up. He was beautiful (and she had a look in her
eyes). He was made of light, blue light and he was taking her to heaven. I
asked her if she wanted to go, and she said "yes". And I asked her
why she didn't, she said "You were crying so much that Jesus gave me back
to you".
WHY DOESN'T JESUS GIVE BACK ALL THE CHILDREN?
Frank Oski, one of my professors at Johns
Hopkins School of Medicine, had a dream, when he asked that very question after
one of his patients died very young. Oski was the Dean of American Pediatricians.
A woman in white came to his bed and told him
that every child's life is important and has meaning, no matter how short that
life is. He was told that children who die at an early age know secrets of
living that the rest of us never learn. From those children who do come back,
we learn what dying is like.