Near-Death Experiences

Some people--most of them ordinary, average people without the slightest interest in, or knowledge of, psychic matters--have had encounters with the next world without staying in it. cases of this kind are many, and while the medical profession is still divided about the causes, an increasing number of physicians are conviced that these experiences are not hallucinatory but real--a journey to the dimension next door, so to speak, but with a return ticket for one reason or another.
Most people who have reported near-death experiences have been involved in accidents or undergone surgery, and during a period of unconsciousness--whether from injury, as in the case of an accident or heart attack, or anesthesia, in the case of surgery--became separated from their physical bodies. Some have found themselves able to observe what was being done to them from a new vantage point; others have traveled to the next world in a kind of dream state, and observed conditions there that they remembered upon returning to wakefulness. Not all temporary separations of the physical and etheric self include a visit to the next world. Sometimes, it seems, the liberated self merely hangs around to observe what is being done with the body.
There is a definite pattern in these near-misses, so to speak--the experiences of people who have gone over to the Other Side of Life and then returned. There tends to be a similarity about what such people relate, yet the concurring witnesses have no way of knowing of each other's experiences, have never met, and have not read a common source from which they could draw such material.
Often, for instance, there is a beckoning figure in a flowing robe, sometimes identified as Jesus, sometimes simply as a master. The identification of the figure depends, of course, on the religious or metaphysical attitude of the individual, but the feeling caused by his appearance seems to be unversally the same: a sense of peace and complete contentment. Another frequent occurrence is the experience of encountering a dead relative or friend. Sometimes this person appears as if to welcome the newcomer into the next world. It is not uncommon for a dying person to recongize dead relatives in the room, apparenly come to help them across the threshold to the Other Side. In a near-death experience, however, the relatives encountered sometimes seem to have come specifically to tell the person that be or she should return to the physical world.
There are many cases on record in which a person has begun to partake of another demension even while there is still hope for recovery, but the ties between consciousness and body have already begun to loosen. Many cases of this kind occur while a person is being prepared for or is undergoing surgery; it appears that sometimes the anesthetic allows dissociation to occur more easily.
Perhaps the single most common thread in near-death experiences is the feeling of being at peace that seems to follow--a feeling of serenity and contentment and, most notable, a complete absence of the fear of death. Upon their return, these travelers often seem to have undergon profound changes. Their attitudes toward life and death usually change completely, allowing them to live the rest of their lives with a feeling of being more at peace. In addition, in many cases, their inherent psychic ability is fully awakened, and to their amazement, they have become psychic. Apparently exposure to the next dimension, the Other Side, can trigger an increase in psychic ability.
Some people are quick to argue that near-death experiences are nothing more than hallucinations, mental aberrations, or fantasies brought about by situations of extreme stress. I cannot emphasize strongly enough that authentic near-death experiences do not fall into this category. The clarity of the experience, the full memory of it afterwards, and the many parallels between individual experiences reported by different people in widely scattered areas all weigh heavily against the possibility that these experiences are of hallucinatory origin.
Why is it that some people are allowed to glimpse that which lies ahead for them in the next dimension, without actually entering that dimension at the time of the experience? Why do some people get, in effect, an advance look at their own demise? As for the ultimate reason, we do not really know, but it must be that there is some degree of self-determination involved that allows a person to choose to go forward to the next dimension or return to the body. Whatever the reason, though, these witnesses, by disseminating their reports among those in the physical world, put valuable knowledge at our disposal--at least, at the disposal of those who are willing to listen.

From Are You Psychic? unlocking the power within. by Dr. Hans Holzer.

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