Roger,

It strikes me that ADCs will depend primarily on two factors:
1.  first the state of the deceased.  If they are scared, fearful, in a bad place; if they need rest over there after a prolonged illness; if they understand that they are more than their physical bodies........a lot of scenarios.  I would imagine that depending on their condition on arrival in the afterlife, they may or may not be focused on the communication, or even know that they are dead.......

2.  The state of mind of the grieving person in the physical plane.  What are their true belief systems?  Is a comforting ethereal hand a possibility, or something they wouldn't be open to?  We open or close our minds to communications as per our belief systems. 

So from my perspective the enormity of the situation can make an ADC difficult from the get go....  Many who passover are overwhelmed.  They go to a beautiful park, and quietly soak in what happened.  Or they are in denial that they have died, and they hang around their house, or their body, etc.   Given all these possible states of mind, we can see that getting the situation optimized for a satisfying ADC may indeed be a rare event.


M

Matthew-

I understand your point, but on the other hand we have people like Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, who by all measures should have had an easy time making her survival known to others.  After all, everyone who knew her was aware of her conviction that we survive death and her positive attitude about dying.

Surely she wasn't fearful, nor were those she left behind resistant to being shown that she survived death.

She's one of the most well-known of afterlife believers, but certainly not the only one.

Remember Don's example of Harry Houdini, who assured his wife that she would get definite signals that he survived his death.  No such signals occurred.

I agree that the negative state of mind of both the deceased and those left behind would be factors in lack of ADCs, but when we have the opposite scenarios shouldn't we expect opposite results?

I continue to think that there is some sort of protocol that comes into play that determines whether an ADC will occur, especially when it comes to dramatic examples such as Leonard's son, who not only appears in physical form to his father after his death but who actually gets into the family pick-up truck and drives the two of them around.

R

Rondele,

Here is one possible explanation for why the most obvious deceased spirits fail to communicate with their loved ones.  Elizabeth Kubler-Ross contracted Alzheimer's Disease and entered the afterlife in this impaired condition.  If she needed extended care in the afterlife equivalent of a Rehab Center (such as that reported by Robert Bruce and Robert Monroe), she was in no position to enter atraining program to contact earthly loved ones.  Swedenborg and Robert Bruce both report suppression of earth memories on the part of postmortem spirits, but the onset and conditions of this suppression are murky.  On the other hand, Leonard's son, Jeff, and his family were killed suddenly in a plane crash and may have entered the afterlife with their minds in good condition; and the shock of unexpected death may have induced an obsession to reassure their family.  The same can be said for Tami H. who died at age 19 of an unexpected toxic reaction to pharmaceuticals.  Of course, the issue is far more complicated than this, but it strikes me as a good idea to correlate ADCs, especially the most impressive and persistant type, with how the deceased died and their mental state at death.  Perhaps there is a limited window of opportunity to enter a program for ADCs. 

That said, I'm fascinated by the fact that, whereas Houdini failed to keep his promise to contact his wife, William James was able to keep his promise to contact his friend, James Hyslop.  Houdin was a lifelong skeptic, and William James was highly evolved spiritually and a true believer in the afterlife.  Houdini promised to reveal the contents of an envelope, which he may have forgotten at death.  William James left the form of postmortem contact flexible, and ultimately communicated through a Ouija Board in Ireland the meaningful inside joke message, "Remember the red pyjamas."  This message was meaningful to Jamse Hyslop in New York. 

There is one aspect of this question that troubles me.  Most of us would want to reassure our loved ones of our survival, if we could.  Is it possible that death totally changes the priorities of most people?   A fascinationg and important question!

Don

Don-

When I read your last sentence, I thought "bingo!"

It reminds me of something I read in one of Michael Newton's books that always struck me as a possible explanation as to why most people don't get ADCs.

Specifically, clients of his who were under deep hypnosis reported that when we incarnate, we take only a portion of our energy with us.  Part of our spiritual makeup remains in the "afterlife."

So perhaps...just maybe...when we die there's no priority to provide evidence to our loved ones on earth that we survived because a portion of our loved ones is fully aware of that to begin with.  They have been there all along and are welcoming us back.

Yeah I know it sounds farfetched, but the very fact that we are conscious human beings instead of a member of the insect family or an amoeba of some sort is an awesome fact once we contemplate the alternative possibilities.

R

From reading near death accounts, it is apparent that for some people their "crossing over" experience is so overwhelmingly pleasant and different from their point of view from this "reality" that they do actually feel that this life experience is almost like a dream to them.

Imagine waking up from a dream in the morning as the dream begins to slip from your memory and you commence with the vivid life which you live in your day to day life -- that is how near death experiencers describe the "crossing over" process.

Many people seem to feel an overwhelming feeling of being drawn elsewhere, and to feel such peace and love where they are going, and to be seeing and experiencing such utterly fascinating and delightful things that can hardly be described in words that they simply can't comprehend the "importance" of this place anymore.

I have read accounts where they acknowledge that it sounds almost cruel or inhuman, but they just don't care anymore about this place. Even when they find that it is not yet their "time" and they return, it is often described as unpleasant to have to return.

We are apparently sometimes drawn to realms so quickly and so thoroughly that we are like moths to a flame, and we can hardly help ourselves. We are, indeed, at the mercy of a process which is often beyond our conscious control.

That is what I can pick up from these accounts of near death.

It seems to be such an "expansive" state that we are pulled into that our individual perspective from this place on earth is quite alien, even if we do a life review. We have, seemingly, awakened into our more "real" life, much as we sometimes seemingly awaken to our more "real" life here.

I have posted a video in the "Off Topic" section which illustrates this in an unusual way. Imagine that you are 4 years old. Imagine the conversation you are having with a friend of a similar age. Can you remember being 4 years old? How clearly? Does it seem like you were a completely different person when you were 4? No doubt, that is the magnitude of the change of our essential being when we cross to a higher plane of existence.

I have had some contacts with my spiritual guides which may not have been spectacular but they were very intense.
There has to be a reason for it and it has to fit in the situation.

I remember one situation while I was working as a volunteer in a spiritual growth organization in my thirties. I was not too very sure if I was doing the right by being there so my guide offered me a kind of assurance.
While I was sitting at my desk I suddenly felt a strong flow of energy going through my underarms. It was a very powerful and magnetizing energy. It was something that never appears by itself. It was so strong that I had to take a break and go to the tea-room to let my arms get back to normal again. It took me at least ten minutes or so and I wondered about the power that the spirits must have overthere.

But it had done it's job. I did not doubt anymore that I was on the right track overthere.

I've had more of those experiences.

Lucy-

When I referred to solid verification, I was thinking of Don's story about Leonard's son as an example.

For a newly deceased person, dying unexpectedly in a plane crash, to appear to his father in physical form and to get behind the wheel of a truck and drive around with his dad by his side, conversing just as they would prior to the crash....well that is some scarlet ribbon!!

Maybe Don will re-tell the whole story sometime.

Regarding your other points, of course I agree.

R