Place Of Dread Where The Dead Fear The Watcher At The Gate

There's a belief, in what was once called the Gilbert Islands, that on death the spirit would have to proceed to the Place of Dread on the island of Makin-Meang. This was seen as a sort of half-way house or stopping point before the dead could continue to paradise.

While at the Place of Dread the spirit had to be careful to avoid Nakaa, the Watcher at the Gate, who would try to strangle the spirit in his net. Not a very pleasant introduction to life after death.

Now you might say this is a load of mumbo jumbo, but Arthur Grimble, who wrote the Pattern of Islands, may disagree.

Grimble, while on Makin-Meang, persuaded a local man to take him to the Place of Dread. He got to there safely, but on his way back got separated from his guide and saw a man approaching.

Grimble wrote:

"Across the arc of a curving beach I saw him appear round a point. I could follow every yard of his course as he came nearer. My eyes never left him .. He walked with a strong limp ... He was a stocky, grizzled man of about fifty, clad rather ceremoniously in a fine mat belted about his middle ... I noticed that his left cheek was scored by a scar from jawbone to temple, and that his limp came from a twisted left foot and ankle, I can see the man still in memory ... He totally ignored the greeting I gave him. He did not even turn his eyes towards me. He went by as if I didn't exist."

Grimble caught up with his guide and asked who the man was that he had just seen. The man went into hysterics and rushed on ahead with Grimble in his trail.

After investigation it was discovered who the mysterious man was. His name was Na Biria and he had died at about the same time that Grimble had seen him. In other words it was a dead man walking.

Na Biria's body was laid out in a nearby hut where rituals were being carried out to prevent the Watcher of the Gate from catching him.

So how could Grimble have seen a dead man. Author Colin Wilson has a theory:

"The dying man believed in it [the Place of Dread and the Watcher at the Gate] which was enough to project his 'phantasm' along the road north. It seems probable that he was still alive when Grimble saw him limping past, and that his thoughts projected his image. Everyone in the Islands believed that spirits had to enter paradise via the Place of Dread, and this was enough to produce the 'phantasm'.

It's an interesting theory and it's possible to enlarge on this.

On approaching death, do we see or visualise what we expect to see - i.e. our idea of Heaven? This would explain why near death experiences (NDE) are often varied. The person concerned experiences what he or she believes they will see when they die.

Perhaps initially we view our own idea of Heaven and see who we expect to see.

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So, Where Is Heaven?

"So where is Heaven?"

I've read quite a few Near Death Experiences (NDEs) and though, often very descriptive, they never say 'whereabouts' it is they actually visited. Travel descriptions and pictures are all well and good but it's also nice to have a map. Especially if you think you might one day pay a visit yourself.

Usually people say that Heaven is up above us: we go up to Heaven and down for Hell, but that must surely now be an outdated view.

I was pondering this conundrum - not that my bags are packed or anything - but it would be nice to know where certain people are now residing.

When my best friend died his wife gave me quite a few of his books, many of them I still haven't got round to reading. I did, however, open up one yesterday called, The Magic Of Angels. This is a publication from the Seekers Trust who my friend was associated with. They are a spiritual and healing group in England.

The book is written by C.A. Simpson but the fly leaf states, "Based on the teachings of Dr. Lascelles received through his medium the late Mr. C.A. Simpson." Think of that what you will.

Anyway, here is what the book says about the location of Heaven:

"Heaven, we are informed by the great teachers and masters, does indeed exist, but it exists in the here and now, not in some other place some other time.This leaves us with the conclusion that it must occupy the same place as this earth.

One of the first precepts of philosophy is that two things cannot occupy the same place at the same time. But they can. If one interpenetrates the other as the odour of roses interpenetrates the air, or as water interpenetrates a sponge, then two things can occupy the same place.

This leaves us with the problem of invisibility. If Heaven is here and now interpenetrating not only us ourselves, but everything else on earth, how is it that we are not aware of it?

Perhaps the problem is one of hyper-physics whereby one atomic system can exist within another. This would indicate that there is nothing supernatural about Heaven and that it is a manifestation of a greatly extended nature, vaster and more intricate than science at this stage is capable of measuring.

After all, frontiers of nature have been pushed back so far that many things which are regarded as normal and acceptable (e.g. radio waves for instance and the whole range of cosmic rays) would have been looked upon as both impossible and supernatural a century ago."

Regarding Heaven and it's residents the book states:

"As for the inhabitants of Heaven we might consider Dr. Lascelles' assertion that Heaven is a mirror of this world. If a mirror, then the inhabitants of Heaven would be recognisable, but so also would the buildings, roads and artifacts. Normality would have to be the keynote."

So, according to a dead doctor - who should therefore have the inside info - Heaven is running alongside the earth side by side, intermingled, so to speak. The dead are with us but denseness or vibrational levels mean we can't see them.

And what do the dead in Heaven wear? Clothes - fortunately! To quote the good doctor:

"The inhabitants of Heaven wear clothes. It is noteworthy that period costume appears to be the mode more than modern gear. This again suggests that what we call Heaven is, in some mysterious way, furnished by our own consciousness ..."

And regarding the variation in NDE visions, this would be dependent on what part of Heaven was seen. Just as our earth varies from country to country and continent to continent, so does Heaven.

Did this answer my question: "Where is Heaven?" Probably not entirely but I've always felt that there are different 'layers' surrounding the earth getting finer and finer. The level we reach after death depends on our personal level of attainment. If we are none too fine, back we come to our earth level for another lesson. This way I can believe both in Heaven and reincarnation.

But there again, it could all be something completely different and one day we'll simply wake up from our dream. The only thing I feel certain about is that we are all immortal.

Here's What A Few Other People Think Of Heaven

Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.
~ Richard Bach, in Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Nothing is further than Earth from Heaven: nothing is nearer than Heaven to Earth.
~ Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth

If our Creator has so bountifully provided for our existence here, which is but momentary, and for our temporal wants, which will soon be forgotten, how much more must He have done for our enjoyment in the everlasting world?
~ Hosea Ballou

Heaven, as conventionally conceived, is a place so inane, so dull, so useless, so miserable, that nobody has ever ventured to describe a whole day in heaven, though plenty of people have described a day at the seaside.
~ George Bernard Shaw, A Treatise On Parents And Children

He who seldom thinks of heaven is not likely to get thither; as the only way to hit the mark is to keep the eye fixed upon it.
~ Bishop Horne, Aphorisms and Opinions of Dr. George Horne

The number of levels in Heaven is the number of verses in the Qur'an. Thus, when a reciter of the Qur'an enters into Heaven, it will be said to him: 'Go up one level for every verse that you can recite.' Thus, no one will be in a higher level than the one who has memorized the entire Qur'an.
~ Muhammad

Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.
~ Andrew Jackson

Name something you like. I bet it's not in heaven. Sex? Sorry, lust is a sin. Can't have it. Your career? Nope. There's no money in heaven; nobody needs to work. Besides, as far as I can tell from studying the scriptures, all you do in heaven is pretty much just sit around all day and praise the Lord. I don't know about you, but I think that after the first, oh, I don't know, 50,000,000 years of that I'd start to get a little bored.
~ Rick Reynolds

Other Randon Posts:
Near Death Experience Changes Womans Life
Tortured Man Experienced Astral Projection And Travel
Captain David Perry And His Near Death Experience

The Maltese Fisherman Who Visited Heaven

The fisherman who says he has been to Heaven, next to the $93 million boat

The universe sometimes works in mysterious ways. While in Malta I started to read a book called Proof of Heaven by Dr Eben Alexander. I only got through a few pages but remembered some of the Near Death Experiences I have mentioned on this blog and seen elsewhere.

The next morning Karin and I went for a walk around the big harbour in Sliema. In the middle there is an island, Manoel, now joined to the shore by a road. Along one side there are some enormous private boats moored - some costing millions.

We walked to the far end of the island looking at - and envying - the boats, many registered in the British Cayman Islands for the benefits that brings.

Sitting at the far quayside was a man fishing. Karin asked if she could look at what he had caught. I joined her and the fisherman told us they were parrot fish which he would be taking home to his wife. We chatted about the big boats. He was a bit of a philosopher as he went on to say that the owners still had all the problems that the rest of us have.

It was then that he looked at me and said, "I have been to Heaven."

No idea why he said this, as it was way different to what we had been talking about. I, of course, wanted some more information on what he had said. So I asked him how and why he'd been to Heaven.

I never got his name, just his photo above, but he told us of how he had had a severe heart attack. His wife rang for an ambulance and he remembers being very scared and saying over and over, "Please God, help me, please God help me."

He was rushed to hospital and it was then that he 'went to Heaven.' What he described was a little different from many other stories.

He found himself on a beach with very fine sand and all of his fears had diminished. He felt at peace but what he remembers most was the colour blue. As he looked upwards there was a blue, the like of which he had never seen before or seen since.

I asked him if it was anything like the blue sky above us in Malta but, no, it wasn't. He couldn't put the colour into words.

He then saw a group of people standing nearby. He didn't know any of them but they told him he had to go back, this wasn't his time.

The next instant he was back on his hospital bed again and in great pain again moaning, "Please God help me."

He remained in hospital for surgery and his wife told him that the doctors had explained to her that he had died - at the time he had found himself in Heaven.

Maybe this isn't as detailed as other Near Death Experiences but I found it convincing and what amazed me was why he even mentioned it to me - synchronicity?

The boat that cost $93 million

As for the boats the one next to the fisherman in the photo is something special. It belongs to a billionaire and I've found out since on Google that is was bought by the owner for $93 million!

The fisherman told us he had heard that the boat was leaving for Monte Carlo at 3 pm that day. So Karin and I returned and took some photos as the boat left the quayside. Just us there to wave it goodbye! More on this another day.

Photos: © Mike Perry

Other Malta Posts:
The Cannon Went Off And Malta Turned Magical
The Billionaire And The Indian Empress In Malta Coincidences
A Pilgrimage To St Paul's Grotto In Rabat, Malta
Valletta: The City Built By The Knights of the Order of St John

Remembering Our Life Prior To Us Being Born

I have had some response to my recent post Where We Were Before Birth: Our Before Birth Experience. This included reports of people who could remember something of the time prior to them being born.

Before I enlarge a little on the subject here are two further experiences. The first is from 'seagreen' who left the following comment.

"My son told me that when he was 3 or 4 years old he vividly remembered having a dream about being a fish under the water looking up to the surface. He said he saw me as a little girl and a man on the bank. He immediately knew I was going to be his mother.

He was about 12 when he told me this. He was very serious when he related the dream to me. He asked me how would he know I was going to be his mother. I don't remember the context of what triggered his memory of this dream but he did say he never forgot it because it seemed so real."

~ seagreen

The second Before Birth Experience is from someone who wishes to remain anonymous.

"I was glad to read your blog as I have thought about my own experience of an awareness before birth. I have mentioned it briefly to others but they just write it off as imagination or a dream, but to me it was and is real.

What I remember is being with who I now know to be my great grandfather. I have seen photos of him and recognise him from these. We were together in a silver room along with a few other people, none of whom I knew. My great grandfather told me how he would stay with me as I was reborn.

I knew who my parents would be and that they were waiting for me. I felt apprehensive about a new life as I had been very happy where I was, but I cannot describe or remember any details of this. My only memory is of the silver room and the love of my great grandfather.

He told me it was now the time and I felt like I was surrounded by light.

It was when I was about six or seven that I remembered all of this following seeing a photo of my great grandfather. This somehow triggered the memories.

I know it all sounds unbelievable but I know I was somewhere prior to being born.

Thank you for writing about this."

Another comment left on my original post mentioned the Bible and how it indicates that our souls were there before we were born.

In Jer. 1:5, God says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." This is a biblical implication that we existed in some form before we were born. There are numerous non-scriptural references to the pre-existence of our souls.

Reading experiences such as these sort of makes sense. If, as many believe, there is a Heaven or an afterlife then it makes logical sense that there must also have been an existence before we started our stint on Earth. If we are indeed immortal then we must have also been around in the past - as we will be in the future. There is no beginning or end.

My own personal belief is that our 'souls' arrive with our first breath and leave with our last. As for our parents I've always been under the impression that we choose who we wish these to be. I can't say why I think this way or where these ideas came from.

Further Reading:
Where We Were Before Birth: Our Before Birth Experience
10 Stories About Reincarnation
The Over Powering Love Of Near Death Experiences

Where We Were Before Birth: Our Before Birth Experience

Over and over we read and hear of theories about what happens to us when we die. But I've also often wondered where we were before we were born. It could well be the same 'place' as we frequent after death, if you believe in, say, reincarnation.

I remember when my son was little I used to read him a story at bedtime and afterwards we would chat for a short while. We covered some strange subjects. When he was five or six, for example, I'd ask him where he was six or seven years ago. The question puzzled me and I thought he may be able to help.

Yesterday I came across the following Before Birth Experience - a BBE. Makes a change from NDE's! This suggests what Before Birth was like for one person - see what you think.

"I can remember standing in a dark space, but unlike being in a darkened room, I could see everything around me and the blackness had dimension.

There was another person standing to my right, and like me, he was waiting to be born into the physical world. There was an older person with us who could possibly be a guide, since he stayed with us until we left and answered my questions.

Behind us was a crowd of people, but they weren't clear to our vision like the two people standing next to me. In front of us, and approximately 30 degrees below us, we could see the Earth with the facial images of two couples.

I spoke to the other person next to me briefly, but I can't remember what was said. I can remember talking to the older man. When we communicated, it wasn't with spoken word but with a form of telepathy. We communicated with thought transfer but we heard the words clearly as if they were spoken.

I asked the older man who the people were behind us and he replied that they were waiting to be born but they weren't ready yet. I asked him what was that in front of us and he replied that what we were looking at was Earth. I then asked him who those people were whose images appeared on the Earth and he replied that they were going to be our parents.

I didn't know which parents we were each going to end up with. The older man conveyed to us that it was time to go. The other person standing next to me walked forward and disappeared from my sight. I was told that it was my turn and I walked forward.

Suddenly I found myself lying in a hospital nursery with other babies around me. I still had my normal thought processes at this stage. I noticed three people standing at the foot of my bed. I immediately recognized two of them as my parents. They looked exactly as their image appeared on the Earth. The other person was my older brother, but I didn't know this at the time.

I remember lying on my back looking around and thinking this must be Earth. I tried to stand up and found I couldn't, since I was now trapped in a baby's body. I can't recall anything before being in the dark space (it's as if I suddenly was).

My father, who knew nothing of my experience, often talked about the first time they came to the hospital to see me. He said I stared so hard at the three of them that he thought my eyes were going to pop out. I was born in 1965 and man wasn't able to view the Earth as I saw it, until they went to the moon. As a child, when I first saw the photos of the Earth taken by the Astronauts from space, it was exactly as I remembered it.

I can also remember, while still in the spiritual, that the physical world seemed as unreal as the spiritual does from the physical perspective." Source

My immediate thought when I first read this was about the parents. For some reason I'd always felt that we were able to choose our parents whereas, in the case above, they appear to have been chosen for him.

In her book Coming From The Light - Spiritual Accounts Of Life Before Life Sarah Hinze tells of the following:

"I was putting three-year-old Johnny to bed when he asked for a bedtime story. For the past few weeks, I had been telling him of the adventures of his great-great-grandfather: a colonizer, a soldier, a community leader.

As I started another story, Johnny stopped me and said, "No, tell me of Grandpa Robert."

I was surprised. This was my grandpa. I had not told stories of him, and I could not imagine where he had heard his name. He had died before I had even married.

"How do you know about Grandpa Robert?" I asked. "Well, Momma," he said with reverence, "he's the one who brought me to earth."

So I wonder, where you were before you were born?

Resource: Coming From The Light

Other Random Posts:
Reincarnation Changes Us For Better Or For Worse
A Glimpse Of Her Death In A Former Life
The Reincarnation Of The Cathars Priest Roger de Grisolles

Ohio Man Claims He Visited Heaven During Near-Death Experience -

This recent video tells the story of Brian Miller and his Near Death Experience (NDE). It's not one of the best but it's another case of where a person is told that he still has 'things' to do before he can move on.

Other NDE Story Posts:
The Over Powering Love Of Near Death Experiences
NDE: Returned From Death As She Had Three Things To Complete On Earth Before She Could Leave
Author's Experiences Led Her To Believe In Life After Death

80 Percent Of Elderly People Have Ghostly Visions Of Their Deceased Partner

Image by DreamersNight

Those ghostly visions, which some bereaved people experience shortly after their loss, are simply hallucinations. Well that's what scientists would have us believe.

I came across a study on this subject headed by Agneta Grimby of the University of Goteborg, Sweden. One of the things that struck me was how common these 'hallucinations' actually are.

The study found that over 80 percent of elderly people experience hallucinations associated with their dead partner one month after bereavement. These ghostly visions are very vivid. Almost 'a third of the people reported that they spoke in response to their experiences. In other words, these weren’t just peripheral illusions: they could evoke the very essence of the deceased.'

The researchers added that these 'ghostly' visits were said by the recipients to be a 'helpful and comforting experience.'

It's interesting that the Scientific American summed the subject up by saying:

"We often fall back on the cultural catch all of the 'ghost' while the reality is, in many ways, more profound. Our perception is so tuned to their presence that when they are not there to fill that gap, we unconsciously try to mold the world into what we have lived with for so long and so badly long for. Even reality is no match for our love."

So looks like - according to the scientists - we don't live on after death and therefore obviously can't communicate with loved ones who have died. But how can they explain things such as:

From Angeladtao: "I was talking to a man who had lost his son in Iraq today. His wife had seen the son after death as a warm, concrete presence who reassured her that he was happy and well. They are both atheists, so there was no complicating factors about religious beliefs here. I have heard other similar experiences."

He goes on to tell of his theory:

"My view is that our bodies, if you go down to the molecular levels, are made of atoms which, in turn, are made of energy. Therefore, we are essentially beings of energy. Mass is a relative term when you look at it that way. Our skin is made of atoms (thus, energy) which, for some reason unknown to me, manages to contain our atoms within it in a human shape.

Our thoughts are energy generated from atoms in the neural pathways. Why is it that when our life ceases, this unknown force that contains our atoms in its human shape fails to continue to do so? That is a question for another day. Yet, the energy that composes us is never lost, and its mass is still present in our universe (E=MC2). I think that there is another force/power/influence that allows us to maintain our human shape when alive that withdraws at death. However, the energy pattern of our consciousness is still present.

My explanation (and it is, of course, only a suggestion) is that our 'personalities' or 'souls' are still very close to the state of being that it was just a part of and can pull together enough atoms to re-make a temporary body for just a fleeting moment when they sense the strength of grief of a loved one (more energy). What happens after that, I leave to others."

Here's another example:

"During the Second World War my granny woke my father in the middle of the night convinced that another of her sons, Stanley, had just been fatally wounded and was calling to her for water.

My father was able to reassure her that her son, and his brother was thousands of miles from the war front convalescing in hospital after an earlier, non-life-threatening wound.

However, granny, usually a very strong character, was inconsolable and convinced she had received a communication from her dying son.

In actual fact my Uncle Stanley died that very night of a wound received at the Battle of Knightsbridge. Unbeknown to his family he had recovered from his previous injury and returned to his unit, and died that night in a German field hospital of blood loss - and hence in great thirst."

It's up to us as to what we believe or want to believe. I personally believe we live on after death.

Other Posts:
The Over Powering Love Of Near Death Experiences
NDE: Returned From Death As She Had Three Things To Complete On Earth Before She Could Leave
10 Ghost Story Posts

NDE: Returned From Death As She Had Three Things To Complete On Earth Before She Could Leave

Here's a near death experience story I came across recently that somehow rings true. It's also interesting that the person concerned returned to our world because she had three more 'things' to do before she could move on. This follows the idea that we all have a purpose pre-determined before we are born. We have lessons to learn or projects to accomplish. Here's the story, see what you think.

"I think there should be more research and more scientific work done on possible life after death and any connections to another dimension we know nothing about. I am saying this as I have a personal story concerning my mother.

She 'died' when I was eleven years old. She killed herself by taking an overdose of tranquillisers that our family doctor had prescribed to her. My father's boss had stopped in to see if my dad was at home and noticed my mother laying on the floor. He called an ambulance and she was rushed to the hospital.

The doctors and nurses had her hooked up to the life support systems and heart monitor and were not able to get any pulse or brain activity. They had given her electric shocks to get her heartbeat back with no avail, nothing worked. They placed a sheet over her body and came to see my dad and told him she was clinically dead.

The priest came and asked if she was Catholic and would give her the last rights. He entered her room and began giving them but did not realise she was still hooked up to the monitors. The machine came back to life and started to blip and showed a heart beat. He told the doctors who rushed back in and brought her back to life.

As they checked her and asked her questions she seemed to have no brain damage or effects from the entire time she was transported to the hospital, which took roughly 30 minutes. She had 'died' for about five to ten minutes. She remained in the hospital for a few days and was omitted to the psychiatric part of the hospital for counselling for depression.

My mother was released after a week and came back home and continued to get counselling for a period of three or four months for her depression. Things worked out for her and she was able to manage in a much better way. It was not until I turned about twenty years old she confided in me about something very personal.

She told me she could remember everything about her death and that she remembers taking the pills and falling asleep. She remembers my dad's boss looking over her, the ambulance attendants checking her and picking her up and taking her into the ambulance.

Here is the weird part she actually tells me she was watching them all do this from above - she is looking down at them and she is watching it all.

Now I kind of thought this was a joke or, you know, maybe the medication she was on or something, or possibly some kind of connection to these people when they were dealing with her. Yet this gets better.

She tells me she can remember the hospital and the doctors working on her and she can remember the moment she died. She felt this tremendous warmth rush over her and could see a light appear in the distance and it was like a tunnel. It was calling her somehow, telling her to go into it to follow the light.

She told me she felt the most incredible feeling of happiness and love and started to go to the light. She was going towards it through this tunnel and all of a sudden there were four beings at the end of the light and they stopped her. They told her that it was not time for her to leave. She needed to complete three more things here before she could be accepted.

She told me that she did not want to leave and pleaded with them to stay, because she felt so wonderful and wanted to stay. They continued to instruct her to remain as she had to complete the three things on Earth before they could accept her and she would know, in time, what these three things were. All of a sudden she awoke and noticed the doctors checking her and asking her some questions.

It was pretty freaky that she could remember all of this and see everything that was happening. I was not sure what to think of this and I told my mother I had heard that some scientists and doctors had worked on this kind of thing. They said that the light that people see is just the last few electric impulses our brains have before we die. My mother insisted that this is not so and that she really experienced a spiritual meeting and conversed mentally with beings and now saw everything in a different way. She told me that she now has no fear of death and if she were to die she would be completely happy and know there is another life after death.

Now I have heard other people having the same experiences and our family ancestry is native, we are Algonquins and Ojibwe by blood. In the native cultures you hear the elders and other native people speak of spirits who talk to them or send them messages of how their life path should be. They have out of body experiences. They make important decisions based on what they should be doing in life before they can meet with their ancestors in the other world.

I tend to believe my mother and I think when it is time for me to die I would like to be happy knowing that there is something more to my being than just living on Earth and dying never to be heard of again." Source

~ RB

Other Near Death Experience Stories:
Author's Experiences Led Her To Believe In Life After Death
The Over Powering Love Of Near Death Experiences
Near Death Experience In The Stars
Pam Reynolds Near Death Experience

Author's Experiences Led Her To Believe In Life After Death

Author Fay Weldon has reached her ninth decade and doesn't fear death. She believes we live on in an afterlife - though she has no idea where this 'somewhere else' might be.

Fay was brought up in believing that the laws of physics are immutable and are the same throughout the Universe - and yet somewhere there is still an afterlife.

She bases her beliefs, that we continue after death, on her personal experiences.

Firstly on near death experiences (NDEs). To quote her words:

"The first came when I was 17 and under anaesthetic for a knee operation. I felt myself hurrying down the tunnel of death towards a light at the end: the feeling of euphoria, or being united in companionship, was so vivid as to be unforgettable and convincing.

"This left me with the feeling that the Universe is benign, and I've been afraid of very little since."

Her second NDE was when she was in her 70s and her heart unexpectedly flat-lined. This is what she experienced:

"Under anaesthetic in hospital, I saw the gates of Heaven, in garish colours rather than pearly white. I was being dragged through while others - I couldn't see their faces - tried to hold me back.

"Staring through the haze, I caught a glimpse of the other side. I had a clear impression of the same old familiar struggle going on there as here, good and evil mixed, one step forward, half a step back.

"Waking up in intensive care I heard myself say: 'Oh I see, just more of the same!' Whatever it was, Heaven or Hell, it didn't seem too bad, and it led me to the notion that death was just the continuation of life by other means."

Kay has also seen ghosts. She says:

"I accept that the unusual happens. For example, that the man in the preacher's hat whom I saw winking in and out of nothingness at the end of St Andrews pier in 1951 was, indeed, the parson from Dundee who drowned according to legend, on his way to preach to the students one Sunday in the year 1551.

"I felt spooked but ... at the time he just looked as a man would have looked 400 years earlier."

The NDEs and the ghostly sighting means she no longer fears death. She also claims that loved ones visit us after they die.

"You're lying asleep or walking down a street when they make themselves known, as if tapping you on the shoulder and saying, 'Hi, it's me. I've come to say goodbye.'

"You look around and there's no one there, yet you heard them clear as a bell. It's a kind of brushing of the spirits that puts grief to rest; a sudden, clear unexpected awareness of their presence for a second or two before they go off somewhere else."

And that is why Fay Weldon believes there is life after death - her experiences and feelings tell her this is the truth. Maybe we all get such glimpses throughout our lives and overlook them as tricks of the mind or imagination - but they may well be something more meaningful.

Fay Weldon's latest book on Amazon: Habits of the House

Other Posts About Life After Death:
Death Is Freedom And All Is Well
The Over Powering Love Of Near Death Experiences
Where Is Heaven?

Out Of Body Experiences

I have published several posts about Out of Body Experiences (OBE) and Near Death Experiences (NDE) and it's interesting when readers leave their own experiences.

The noticeable thing about OBEs and NDEs is that people recalling them are always sure that these aren't simply dreams. They are very real. As to whether this proves life after death is up to individuals to decide.

Here are a couple of reader's experiences - anonymous as requested.

"I personally had a similar experience (an OBE) and had not heard of anything like this prior to now. There was a time in my life when I was mired in the experience of the greatest emotional pain that I've ever endured. At the height of my body's suffering, I felt 'myself' float up and behind my body.

For a few minutes, I floated there looking down on the back of my head. I remember the immense peace that I felt while floating. My thoughts during this experience where that I had no idea my body was capable of such an emotional extreme and I was marvelling at the event. After my body calmed down I naturally migrated back in to it.

From my experience I might offer that perhaps the spirit is incapable of occupying the body when the body is experiencing extreme pain. And that once the body is again an available vessel, the spirit will return to its natural state."

"I recall having my drink spiked, followed by a blur and then waking up in hospital (or so I thought) in a critical condition and witnessing my mum and her friend at my bed side. The strange thing was that I felt serene and peaceful but here is the twist in the story. I wasn't awake as I was essentially in a coma with drips and all sorts of things attached to me.

When I saw my mum the next day I apologised to her for the grief I had caused everybody and we spoke about the night before and I will remember till the day I die the look on my mother's face when I told her that I remember seeing them both at my bedside the night before. To which she replied, "You must of dreamt it," because apparently I was completely out of it, and she told me that I was in a coma when she had visited me the night before.

I have since tried to do this again but I am unable to do it as it feels very strange and I guess fear plays a big part."

Random OBE and NDE Posts:
Tortured Man Experienced Astral Projection And Travel
OBE: An Out Of Body First Experience
OBEs And Out Of Body Loving Experiences

She Died But Was Visited By Her Living Daughter

Many people who describe their Near Death Experiences (NDE) talk of seeing Heaven, perhaps their 'dead' relatives and so on but it was different for Amanda Cable who told her story to the Daily Mail.

Amanda didn't see her deceased loved ones but instead saw her young daughter, who was very much alive. But let's start at the beginning.

Amanda developed a severe pain in her side, which gradually got worse. She was visited by her doctor who immediately called for an ambulance and she was whisked away to hospital.

The hospital discovered she was pregnant but the baby was ectopic and had therefore developed inside the fallopian tube instead of the womb. As Amanda had lost a lot of blood she was kept in hospital. This was particularly upsetting as her young daughter, Ruby, was about to start school and she so wanted to be with her on that special first day.

It wasn't possible to go home. The next day she could hardly breath and suddenly all hell broke loose. She heard the doctor telling her to, "Wake up, stay with me." She heard an alarm bell ringing and the doctor was now shouting, "She's tachycardic"

Her bed was immediately rushed to the operating theatre. She says, "I remained strangely aware of everything around me. I remember the entire medical team swearing. I fought to stay calm and thought of my three children ... who were unaware their Mummy was dying ... death was beckoning me."

It was then that she felt, "my entire body being sucked into the white light. I found myself in a white tunnel and knew I had died ... there was a wonderful sense of calm."

Amanda tells of how she felt no fear and knew she would soon join her loved ones who were already on the other side. She felt ready to accept this.

She became aware of someone near to her and imagined it might be her late grandmother but instead - much to her surprise - it was her daughter, Ruby!

Amanda explains, "Ruby was wearing her new school uniform and had her hair tied neatly in bunches. I'd never seen her in her uniform and she'd never allowed me to put her hair in bunches."

It seems young Ruby was in control of the situation as she told her mother to follow her down the white tunnel - at the end of which was a gate. Amanda knew her relatives were on the other side. Her little girl instructed her to step through the gate. As she did so Ruby slammed the gate shut rapidly behind her. This action jolted her whole body. Amanda says, "I am sure it was at this moment that the defibrillator pads were were being used by the medics and shocked my heart back into rhythm."

She knew then that she would survive.

Her husband was allowed to see her later and had with him a photo he had taken of Ruby. There she was wearing her new school uniform on her first day but, most noticeable, was that her hair was in bunches.

Ruby had allowed her father to put her hair in bunches for the very first time - exactly as Amanda had seen while she was with her in the white tunnel.

And finally in Amanda's own words, "I will never be able to understand what happened on that fateful day. But I no longer harbour a fear about death. And at the same time, I have stopped being scared of life. I have never looked back since."

Similar 67 Not Out NDE Stories:
The Over Powering Love Of Near Death Experiences
Black Elk On Peace And At The Door Of Death
Pam Reynolds Near Death Experience

The Over Powering Love Of Near Death Experiences

I was reading a long study by Dr. Pim van Lommel on the International Association For Near Death Studies website.

I don't want to repeat the eleven pages he has written - you can read this at the link above - but I thought I'd just publish part of his conclusion about Near Death Experiences (NDE):

"There are still more questions than answers, but, based on the aforementioned theoretical aspects of the obviously experienced continuity of our consciousness, we finally should consider the possibility that death, like birth, may well be a mere passing from one state of consciousness to another."

To reach his conclusion Dr van Lommel had carried out a clinical study of 344 patients who were successfully resuscitated after suffering cardiac arrest. About 18% of them had an NDE. The patients remembered details of their conditions during their cardiac arrest despite being clinically dead - even with a flat line brain stem activity.

I believe that we live on following what we call death but can understand why there are so many sceptics. Most modern science is on their side with various theories on how NDEs happen.

But - no matter what scientists and other 'experts' state - anyone who has actually experienced a NDE will be emphatic in what they saw and felt. Take this lady, for example, who wishes to be anonymous:

"Over the years, I’ve tried to find the words, but they don’t even come close to describing what I want to say. It was just the most-beautiful experience in the world."

She told her story to the The Columbus Dispatch.

At the age of 24 she had excruciating pain caused by a blood clot in her leg.

A very bright light filled the room and she found she was looking down on herself. Her pain had disappeared and she felt very safe and secure, as if arms were wrapped around her.

She witnessed thousands of scenes from her life and could feel the emotions of people she had either helped or hurt. A 'greater force' seemed to tell her everything she ever wanted to know but, unfortunately, she is now unable to recall what this was.

She became aware that her great-grandparents were accompanying her throughout what was happening. There were also other people she didn't recognise but she knew they were loved ones.

After a while she realised that she had to return to her Earthly life, but couldn't understand why.

She returned to her body and the pain and regained consciousness.

She talks of the love she felt during her NDE: "It was one hundred times more - thousands of times more - than love for your parents or your child. Multiply that by I don’t know how many times, that’s what it was like. Nothing comes close. I love my husband; I love my kids. But nothing comes close."

Needless to say she no longer fears death.

Kathi Beasley also experienced this same love with her Near Death Experience.

She said, "I was pierced by this incredible column of light that was iridescent, and it just filled me with the most unbelievable, unconditional love that I have experienced in my entire life. Nothing comes close, nothing. There’s no experience that I’ve ever had that is so deeply spiritual or meaningful to me at that moment.

It was filling me, filling me, filling me with love, filling me so much at one point I said, 'that’s enough, please stop, I can’t take any more, this is wonderful, but just stop,' and it did, it stopped."

Kathi realised she had to return to raise her daughter but even so she adds. "It’s so incredible and so beautiful you don’t want to go back,"

NDEs have been experienced for thousands of years. The first recorded is said to be in the 4th Century BC in Plato's The Republic.

But sceptics will tell you that the drug Ketamine produces all of the elements of an NDE when it is injected into normal, non-dying people - reference: Dr. Karl L. R. Jansen. But does this disprove that there is an after life? I don't think so.

What we believe, of course, is up to us as individuals.

Similar Posts about Near Death Experiences:
Pam Reynolds Near Death Experience
Where Is Heaven?
Captain David Perry And His Near Death Experience