Despite what current politics may suggest, there’s
no doubt that a “Divine Consciousness” is rapidly expanding throughout the
human race. Even my coffee cup is about to start talking to me. A lot of what
was once considered ridiculously paranormal has now been empirically proven,
and popularly embraced. In fact, the human race is clearly now a race between
the realization of the role Consciousness plays in the creation of our
world, and the destructive consequences that ignoring it has caused, and is causing
everyday.
So what does that have to do with ‘Near-Death
Experiences?’ Well, now it seems even Science is converging on the ancient, but
currently revolutionary concept
that Consciousness itself may be an elemental force – a field, like gravity, or electromagnetism. That Consciousness itself
is really the eternal quantum field of being, generating the formation of
material life – rather than the other way around (this idea, as biocentrism, is very intelligently proposed
by Dr. Robert Lanza, of Wake Forest University). And what are ‘NDEs’ but further
testimonies of the continuation of consciousness beyond physical life?
The rapidly growing Near-Death Movement – based
on thousands of testimonies of people who have experienced consciousness beyond
the limitations of our physical life – is yet another example of humanity’s
limitless spiritual potential. It's additional evidence of our ability to
co-create whatever reality we participate in – be it on the Earth right here,
or in that sweet hereafter.
I'd never given any of it much thought, until
the power and meaning of my own three "NDEs" arose, and compelled me
to write a book that put me into the hub of the hubbub. I've since discovered
that the community of near-death experiencers ranges somewhere from five to fifteen
percent of the general population, globally. Now that's a whole lot of
non-ordinary reality.
Naturally, I have less reason than the average
Joe to doubt the veracity of all that testimony; but I have found plenty of
reason to ask this question: why is it that near-death experiences
are all so different? If we're all governed by eternal, invisible machinery,
why do we see such a range of afterlife options, all tailored to the individual
participant? Shouldn't we all go down that identical tunnel into the light, and
meet Grandpa in that same shimmering field of Elysium?
Some near-death returnees report celestial
extravaganzas. Some tell of organizations of elders and angels, structured in
an elaborate cosmic framework. For others, it's a hellish nightmare, complete
with every infernal cliché. The reason for all these differences can be simply
explained if we consider the way we’re always participating in the field of Consciousness
– how we are always creating our own
individual realities.
My own
NDEs were humble, by comparison, but they all had one glorious factor in
common; that I did not lose Consciousness when I lost consciousness. In fact, all
three times, I experienced an enhanced consciousness, seamlessly uninterrupted
from this life to the next.
Skeptics suggest this sense of continuity is
the result of a still-active mind – a mind not yet fully "dead," and they're
right. Since Consciousness is a field we eternally participate in, our mind
never actually dies, it simply joins a greater mind. The Hindu Vedas suggested
that thousands of years ago. Dear Dr. Carl Jung described it too, way back in
the 20th century. Mind continues working
on, beyond these physical constraints.
And as for the differences, well, imagine
someone dying, and awakening in this world. What would they experience? An ongoing war somewhere? A recital by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? Perhaps a
high-powered business lunch – or even that visit to Grandpa's? In this
elemental context, we all imagine the
life we are living, and live it. We all enter into the life we need to
experience. This is the mystery of any incarnation; and it will continue to be
the mystery, from this life to the next. What NDEs do tell us is that our
continuing engagement in a greater mind is defined by the karma we create in
our life (or lives), and carry that with us (and back) in a way.
"Memory ensures that nature
creates individual forms that are copies of the primal universal forms."
The Hermetica
What if all bets (the limitations of this
material world) really were off when it comes to our greatest potential
imaginable – the unharnessed power of
“God’s mind?” What if our imaginations
were released from the obvious limitations of this physical form? Almost
anything is already possible here and now – so how about a world where your
imagination is set free to manifest reality, without material limitations?
In "the next world," as in this one,
our karmic imagination is like the clay connecting us to Divine Consciousness; that
Consciousness is like the ever-spinning potter’s wheel that everything grows up
out of; and the source of power is like, well, The Source of Power.
Welcome to every life (and afterlife) you will
ever live–and remember, whatever life you’re living, create that life with
Love!