The testimonies of people who have had a near-death experience[1] prove that there is life after death. What’s more, they give us a beautiful, soothing vision of this life – and the present one. For them, Love is the very nature of the universe.
In a few words, these testimonials tell us that :
- There is a universe beyond the physical world.
- This other universe is an unlimited field of unconditional love.
- We are spiritual beings. Death only concerns the physical body.
- We are One with this energy of love and with all that exists.
- The only two questions about our life on earth are: did we love ? Have we become wiser?
- This experience removes all fear of death and gives new meaning to life.
The typical route
Although there are many variations, here is a typical NDE:
The triggering event
A NDE usually begins with a traumatic event or life-threatening situation. This could include a car accident, heart attack, drowning, critical surgery or other life-threatening event. This trigger moment is often associated with a loss of consciousness or altered state of awareness.
Leaving the body
After this event, many people report leaving their physical bodies. They feel themselves floating above their bodies, observing the scene from the outside. Experiencers sometimes even observe scenes that take place in another place, near or far.
The tunnel and the light
This is one of the best-known elements: experiencers often describe going through a dark tunnel. A bright light shines out of the tunnel. They are irresistibly drawn to this light, sometimes at dizzying speed. Infinite love emanates from this light. It soothes experience-goers, who feel totally safe and happy. They often say they feel like they’ve “come home”.
Meeting one or more spiritual beings
Once in the light, the experiencer encounters deceased loved ones and/or spirit beings. Some recognize a well-known figure, like Jesus or Buddha. Others simply evoke a “being” without giving it a name. But all the witnesses say they feel peace, unconditional love and deep understanding during these encounters.
Life review
It’s an essential step for those who go through it. People relive their lives, sometimes in great detail. At that moment, they relive not only their own emotions, but also those of the people who were with them. They feel the happiness or suffering they have caused others. The spiritual being who accompanies them shows no judgment. Only perfect knowledge of their whole life and unconditional love.
The border
At a certain point in the experience, the witnesses reach a kind of frontier between life and death. This boundary can be represented by a door, a threshold or a symbolic limit. Some people choose to cross this boundary, but don’t succeed. While others decide to return to physical life.
The decision to return
Those who choose to return to physical life are often motivated by strong emotional ties with loved ones. But they can also feel a sense of responsibility for unfinished business on earth. For others, it’s the spiritual being who tells them that their time has not yet come, and that they must go back.
Back in the body
Experiencers then return to their physical bodies. They can feel physical sensations such as pain, heat or cold. This return to the body is sometimes unpleasant or painful.
We are not just a physical body
Now let’s get down to the details of what experimenters report.
- The physical world is not the only one that exists. It is surrounded and included in an infinitely larger world of energy[2].
“Our world feels real and dense. But where I come from, even if there’s no material, it’s even more real. It’s a real reality that I enter every time I free myself from my brain’s activity. When the brain stops, you wake up. Our earthly world is an illusion of matter. Science is beginning to suspect it, I’ve experienced it for myself”.
- We’re not just our bodies and personalities– our thoughts, emotions, stories and labels. We are also a spiritual being. This spiritual being lives on after the death of the body, in this other universe. This is where it comes into its own. In fact, it’s much larger, since it’s no longer limited by the constraints of our physical world.
We are not human beings living a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings living a human experience, as the Jesuit Pierre Theillard de Chardin explained.
If we really take this sentence seriously and live by it, we’ll be profoundly transformed.
Death does not exist
Knowing that we are, in our deepest essence, a spiritual being implies, of course, that we won’t die. At least, not entirely: this spiritual being continues its life after the death of the body. American spiritual teacher Ram Dass explains: “If you identify with your soul, death is child’s play. It doesn’t have to be treated as an enemy to enjoy life. Keep death in your mind as an incredible transformation. Death is not a mistake or a failure, it’s a relief. It’s like taking off shoes that are too tight.”
Stéphane Allix adds: “Death upsets our certainties about what we think we are: a stable individual with well-defined characteristics, distinct from all others. Death reveals that this individual was no more than a set of ephemeral masks”.
Bruce Greyson confirms: “the total erasure of our ego, of our identity, does not lead to the disappearance of consciousness. (…) We are no longer limited to a ‘self’. We once again become an infinitely expanded consciousness, interwoven with other consciousnesses, without the illusion of separation.
A world of Love
- This other world is made up of an energy of absolute, unconditional and infinite love. For some, it manifests itself in a “visible” or, at any rate, perceptible form.
There are many, many stories of encounters with this energy of love. All describe a totally extraordinary experience and the discovery of a love infinitely stronger than anything we can experience on earth.
The name given to this Being of love is of no importance. Some experimenters give it a name in line with their religious beliefs. But the majority say they can’t give it a name. Eben Alexander, for example, speaks of a “loving deity for whom ‘God’ seems a poor word”. Another person says that even the word “God” is too limited to describe the magnificence of this presence. Many other people don’t even try to give it a name.
We are One
- In this world, we realize that we are all One – with this energy of love and with all that exists.
A large number of experiencers talk about the feeling of being part of this energy of infinite love. They explain that this energy encompasses everything that exists, even if it’s not limited to that.
This, too, is in line with the teachings of many spiritual traditions. Buddhism and Hinduism both use the image of the wave and the ocean: the wave is part of the ocean, but the ocean is more than the sum of the waves.
Love is the only thing that counts
The only thing that counts in the next world as far as our life on earth is concerned is: did we love? Have we become wiser?
There’s no judgment about what we’ve done, and even less punishment. Experiencers say they understood that it was all about learning to love, to grow in wisdom. They saw the events of their lives through this filter.
What’s more, we’re never asked whether we’ve followed the rules of a given religion.
[1] The quotes in this article are taken from the books “After” by Bruce Greyson, “This Life and Beyond” by Christophe Fauré, “New Lights on the Afterlife” by Raymond Moody, “Death Doesn’t Exist” by Stéphane Allix and “Healed from the Afterlife” by Anita Moorjani…
[2] I use this word for want of a better one. In fact, all our experience participants say how difficult, if not impossible, it is to translate what they have experienced into our own words and limited understanding.
To find out more, visit the websites of the two main experience associations. They include numerous, often moving testimonials: http: //www.iands-france.org/ and https://www.nderf.org/French/index.htm
