I've read a few reports about life after death, and only a tiny fraction of people who have died and been revived say they've experienced it. The rest of the people who were revived didn't recall anything at all.

Since I was very young, I've been terrified of becoming oblivious after I die. I believe in God, but am not convinced that there is life after death.

Why do only a small fraction of people experience the so-called afterlife? What about the other people who were revived? I'm quite convinced that the soul is nothing more than the brain.

Quote:

The rest of the people who were revived didn't recall anything at all.

The key word here is recall. (did I make that obvious enough? :D)

Just because they did not remember anything does not mean that they did not experience anything.

It is just like dreams or OBEs.  They occur every night to every individual, and yet not everyone remembers every experience they have during the dream state.  

It is impossible to prove that life after death is not a reality, and yet there is tons of proof that it is.  What you need is first hand experience.  Meditation, OBEs, and lucid dreams are excellent ways of getting in touch with your inner being and will allow you to see how much more you are than just a brain in a physical body.

Is the afterlife like a dark muddled dream that you don't remember?

To me it seems like a walk through a forest. Through the trees I can see a light up ahead. As I approach the light I remember the way home. I feel a small tingle of anticipation at the thought of approaching home. I remember that there is a clearing ahead, a huge, open field with all manner of flowers and a clearly marked trail. Above it the sun shines, and if there are clouds they exist only for our own pleasure. We're going Home.

Hello credulous_skeptic:

I've had numerous experiences that let me know that the afterlife exists, and they have occurred in a manner where it is pretty hard to doubt them. It sure makes life more enjoyable when you know that you have a wonderful and infinite future ahead of you.

Of course you don't know me, therefore, there isn't a basis for your taking my word for it.  What's going to convince us the most is our own experience. People don't open up to experiencing the afterlife for various reasons. Sometimes because it isn't their life path to do so. Sometimes, because they are afraid to do so, even if they aren't real conscious of their fear.

If a person opens up to experiencing the spirit World, I suggest that he or she be in a good state of mind before he or she does so.  He or she should try to live according to love. I don't believe it makes sense for a person with a lot of anger, hate and/or fear to try to make contact with the spirit World. Perhaps on a level they aren't aware of they do.

When you read something such as a near death experience, ask yourself if this is something a person's mind, based on his or her previous experience, could create.

Have you read that there are people who have been blind all their life, yet when they have a near death experience they can see? Below is a google search.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22near+death+experience%22+%22blind%22

Credulous,

The frequency of NDEs is greater than you think.  NDE researchers like Dr. Kenneth Ring have discovered that 35-49% of the clinically dead can report NDE experiences.  Percentages vary from researcher to researcher.  Dude begs the question by suggesting that patients have NDEs that they can't recall.  But Dude's claim can be documented in the case of hellish NDEs.  Cardiologist Maurice Rawlings reports that about half of his clinically dead heart patients provide detailed reports of visits to hellish realms.  When they regain consciuosness, they have no recall of their postmortem ordeal.  They apparently repress the memory of their hellish NDE.

I've read that millions of people have had NDEs. Many keep mum.

credulous_skeptic,

Whatever you believe, keep an open and sceptical mind.  The physical life system is made in the way to increase the usefulness of the experience.  That’s why we always came back refreshed,  and don't remember... but you can remember, if you want.  It depends on the quality of your being and your intent.

See the brain as a computer.  The consciousness is the user, and it interact with the virtual world through  input devices of the computer.   If there is damage to the computer (brain and senses),  it disturbs the ability of the consciousness to evolve and experience  this reality.  If there is damage to the consciousness, same result happen.  

No offense meant,
Dear credulous skeptic,

but your name hurts my brain!   :D
It's neither here nor there, so I can't find a place to mentally file it ! ;)

I look forward to reading more of your posts so I can see what side of what fences you are on ! :)

Betson

So about half of the revived people are going to hell when they die again?

That bites.

What of those people who went to hell? Do they have a chance to redeem themselves? Do they get to enter paradise eventually?

Credulous,

Ah, that is the question!  Most find the question so threatening that they answer with reassuring New Age or religious doctrine with little or no verification.  Many on this site would claim to have retrieved souls from lower spirit planes, but they cannot back this up with the expected verifications--names of friends and relatives, addresses, and date of death of the deceased.  I performed a powerful astral retrieval of a girlfriend who committed suicide.  Later, I replicated this intense state of consciousness in lucid dreams in which I could recognize that I was dreaming in the dream. Honesty requires me to dismiss my retrieval as a mere lucid dream of a retrieval during a fake OBE state.  I am not convinced that waking OBEs are any more reliable, but I will continue to seek evidence both in books and my own use of Robert Monroe's Gateway tapes.  So far I am very disappointed.  

Early Christianity taught that God's love never permanently abandons anyone after death and that, by implication, Hell is a self-chosen state.  By implication, rescue from Hell is posasible then and is indeed taught by the New Testament.  I choose to believe this, but I long for better evidence than this site and modern astral exploration has been able to provide.

When Dr. Rawlings is challenged about the large percentage of hellish NDEs, he replies reasonably enough that, as a cardiologist, he is on the scene during his patients' NDEs and the later suppression of this memory.  You wouldn't expect hellish NDEs to be cheerily reported by patients to doctors and researchers, now would you?  Sigh! I try to take some comfort in the fact that another cardiologist, Micharl Sabom has not been able to replicate Rawlings's high percentage.  But even so, I feel like I am whistling past the graveyard! :-X

Don

Hell exists. But, hell is only hell when you can't find your true friend. Who is your true friend? The true friend will allow you to be who you are, to stay who you are, but will show you another way. You can choose to stay or go. You can always choose.

credulous_skeptic

Hi,

It is really good to be skeptical and your very skepticism shows me you will never have to fear any hell.

You spirit is made of a ceaseless inextinguishable spiritual energy.

I have had a near death experience an was really not a perfect person, in fact in my youth I was a very naughty boy indeed

So relax those people who have almost died and have no recollection of the period they were clinically dead, have just forgotten what they experienced. Just like we forget a dream etc

Alan

Going by the experiences I've had lower realms do exist. It isn't a matter of a higher level being punishing us. It is a matter of us living our life in a way where we end up in a lower realm.

We are always free to change. This is true after we die. Once we decide to do so, light beings will help us do so. Such help exists while we still occupy a body.

Don (Berserk) is making a mistake if he believes that all retrievel experiences are defined by his experience.  For some of us, once we established that we are working with friendly spirit helpers and understand that these spirit helpers aren't going to lead us on fantasy based wild goose chases, it became unnecessary for us to to obtain information we can verify. It would be unreasonable for us to expect the spirit beings we work with to keep presenting retrievel cases that can be verified. Not every death can be verified by doing something such as an internet search. Should only spirits who had their death posted on the internet be retrieved?

As far as presenting evidence for other people is concerned, if a person had it in mind to deceive others, what would stop this person from doing an internet search and finding the name of a deceased person and claiming that he or she found out about this information during a retrievel? Even if a person did obtain information during a retrievel, a skeptic might assume that this person is simply providing information he or she obtained on the internet.

P.M.H. Atwater investigated about three thousand NDEs, and found that about one out of five people have a negative NDE. The reason is usually due to issues relating to guilt, fear and anger. She found that such people have the kind of experience they need in order to be motivated to change their ways.

I checked out Dr. Rawling's site. He spoke about people experiencing a hell that is filled with fire.  I don't believe that souls are thrown into a fire filled hell as a form of punishment.  Perhaps some people believe in such a hell so strongly that after their body dies, they create such a hell.

A while back I had this retrievel experience. While I lay in bed awake I heard a voice say: "Get ready to see someting horrible." I said: "Okay."  A little while later I saw a lady with an expression of great angst on her face. I figured she needed retrievel help.  Next I saw a door open, and this lady was inside of a room that was burning. She was screaming like crazy.  I spoke to her and helped her out.  At the time I thought this might be what she figured hell would be like, since doorways are sometimes shown to me as entrances from one realm to another realm.  But right as I was writing this it occurred to me that perhaps she burned to death and got stuck in that experience for a while.  

I figure that if we can create an imaginary burning room and experience it as a reality, then perhaps we can create a firey hell and experience it as a reality.

If a person decides to believe what Dr. Rawlings reports, and if he (or she) feels guilty about something he did during his life, he might end up creating his own firey inferno after he dies. Therefore, unless a person wants other people to create imaginary firey infernos at the time of their death, they might want to be careful about what they share with other people.

Heat....overrated....agreed

Based on my experiences, the afterlife experience differs depending on the person. Since free will is the rule, an energetic fragment of the soul can get get stuck in the astral plane (which is the location of hells and false heavens). Even more confusing is there may be multiple separate fragments residing in different parts of the astral at the same time.

Fortunately, there's a devoted teams of souls on the other side of the veil, as well as a few of us part-time volunteers Here, who will make sure that every fragment that is ready to merge with their happier higher-vibrational source will have that opportunity.

Monroe's Going Home series, Subject is quite a good explanation of what is going on as we pass out of the physical. When I listen to it I can hear my body breathing quite differently than my consciousness. In fact I thought the CDs were recorded with breathing sounds in the mix, but they are not. I haven't experienced a full separation yet with this tool, but I think it is eminent.

Not everyone is aware of their dreams so it stands to reason that not everyone will remember their NDE. If it were easy to prove then there wouldn't be much point to knowing and understanding our lives let alone our departures.