Paths to Wholeness discussion

Raymond Moody's Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon - Survival of Bodily Death was the first book on the subject that I read after I began to figure out that I'd had a near-death experience due to a medical error in 1993. Several others followed, as well as a subscription to the International Journal of Near-Death Studies, membership in a group of near-death survivors, and eventually, transitioning from a PhD program in English to counseling psychology. That experience is at the heart of my recent book, Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas.

All these years later, it's still not clear to me exactly what the meaning of an NDE is, but Moody's book did a credible job of documenting the phenomenon, one I still find more valuable than the extraordinary claims of those who have more recently, and famously, written about near-death experiences.

I read Closer to the Light: Learning from the Near-Death Experiences of Children 22 years ago, shortly after I had my own near-death experience and was trying to make sense of the phenomenon. This book, along with Raymond Moody's Life After Life, helped me see that although the experiences near-death experiencers have are shaped by their spiritual and cultural beliefs, there are some common denominators that recur even with young children.

Loving husband, father of three, and upper level financial executive, Dale Reppert finds his life forever detoured after contracting bacterial meningitis while undergoing brain surgery.

Detour to Heaven is the true story of Dale's near-death experience and how it changed everything he thought he knew about life, love, success, and faith.

This is the story, as told by Dale and his devoted wife Louann, of Dale's continuous battle to live and how, through unwavering optimism and God's constant presence, he has managed to persevere.

Hope you all enjoy it...

https://www.amazon.com/Detour-Heaven-...

Have you read my book?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

I have no my own near-death experience. But, I have read(and studied) a lot about this subject (mainly in Buddhism).

According to the Buddhism when a person dies, for someone two or three days before, for someone several hours before or for someone at the moment of death strongly remind one of below three things.

1. A Past Karma
2. An object used to do a past Karma(Karma Nimitta)
3. Something exist at new birth place (Gathi Nimitta)

Then his new birth has selected with a Reproductive-Karma. This Reproductive-Karma will govern the new life. According to the Buddhism it is possible to change the next Reproductive-Karma before his final death. But, this can be done only by a person with a good mental energy. He has to gradually remove the memory of the past Karma of deign person.

Near-death experience can be seen as an out of body experience before the final death. Still person's fine material body is living. But he is going to die with reminding a past Karma. According to the Buddhism fine material body(Astral Body or Sukshama-Kaya) is the main thing. Physical body don't have any consciousness. Without the fine material body physical body is just like a tree without any consciousness. It seems fine material body some how survive the death then come back to the physical body. This can happen since still his current Reproductive-Karma has some power to continue the life.

This is what I can see as NDE.

Regards,
Muditha Champika

Thanks for this interesting perspective on near-death experiences. A couple years after I had mine, I ran across an article in a Buddhist magazine which described an interpretation similar to what you are describing here.

It's been more than 20 years since I read it, but my recollection is that in that branch of Buddhism, the belief is that first the body separates from both the ordinary consciousness and what you are calling Sukshama-Kaya (I think they called it spirit), and then the consciousness separates from the spirit, and then only the spirit remains, and may either choose to inhabit or be tempted back to inhabiting another body or may go on to the non-material realm. Again, my recollection is vague, but is that somewhat similar to what you are describing?

The description I read back then strongly resonated with my own near-death experience, in which initially I was completely separated from my own history - I was essentially just consciousness, with no sense of being a human being, having a history, or ever having been a human being. Then I encountered a figure which I sensed had been there before this consciousness and would continue beyond it.

There's more on this in my book, but these phases of separation you describe resonate with what I experienced then.

Hi David,
Thank you for the comment.

According to the Buddhism, ultimately there is no permanent thing as a soul. But, we can conventionally treat soul as the sequence of consciousness (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijñāna).

If consciousness escape the fine material body it is the death. There is a base element of consciousness. This is called as Citta(non-material). When one base element(Citta) of consciousness vanish next Citta arise without any delay. There is a non ending sequence of Citta.(All Chittas are not in same qualities. But life time is same) Even at the death, when last Citta vanish from the old body, next Citta arise in a new place without any delay. This is the birth or conception.

I just wanted to tell you that, if consciousness(Citta stream) escape from the fine material body, next Citta should be arise in another place(since he/consciousness is not enlightened). This is a new being. When consciousness arise at a new place, consciousness embrace the new place with it's cravings. So, going back is not possible. If consciousness go back to the old body, it should happen after the death of new being. This is a complex thing. Any way, according to the Buddhism all NDE should be some thing before the final death. Otherwise consciousness may come back to old body after living as a another being.

Any way there is no part which we can treat as a soul among material or non-material parts of a living being. This is a main concept of Buddhism called as Anicca. One of the 'Three Marks of Existence'.

Regards,
Muditha Champika

Thanks. I think I understand. Is it also possible for Citta to not arise in another place in this life, but instead to be free from rebirths after reaching a fully awakened state? Isn't that what nirvana is?

Yes. Exactly it is the Nirvana.
www.quora.com/What-are-the-principles...

Thanks!