Near-Death Experiences
How Dying Teaches People About Living
What exactly is a near-death experience (NDE), and just how common is the phenomenon? Have you ever had one? Do you know anyone who has? Well, I do. Years ago, my mother (Marleana Gongola) had a near-death experience of her own. It was 1980, she was only 24 and I was just 4 years old. The thing you need to know is that we both have scoliosis, but my spine is shaped like a sideways “S” while hers is a forward “C”. So, I could stand upright but she couldn’t. As such, her condition required major surgery. The problem was that after they put rods and screws in her back and she came to, they put her on a lot of Demerol. Her little 90-pound body couldn’t handle it. Eventually, she went into a coma. So, my Quaker family prayed for her and toiled over what to do. After four days, my grandmother decided that it was time to pull the plug on my mom. Can you even imagine a mother having to take her daughter off of life support? Miraculously, as this was about to happen, my comatose mom suddenly became aware of a white cloud forming around her. She saw two rows of people’s silhouettes beside her, one on either side, ending at a point in the distance in front of her. None of the figures were distinguishable as anyone in particular. She had no idea what was going on, at all. She just began moving towards whatever was in front of her. Then, all of a sudden, she heard my great grandfather’s voice say: “It’s not time yet.” When she heard her dead grandpa Archie speak, my mom realized that she must be deceased. So, she eagerly went on to the Gates of Heaven, but he said: “You have to go back.” Just as my grandmother was about to end my mother’s life, with the Supreme Being in his corner, my great grandfather cried out: “You have to go back!” At that moment, my mom came out of the coma.
So, Archie Durnil saved the life of Marleana Gongola from the afterlife!
This radically transformative experience can’t be explained by the current reductionist monism of academia, it can only be explained by expansionist dualism, but a full description of all NDEs really requires an expansionist triplism. So, what does that even mean? Well, among philosophers there’s what’s known as the philosophy of mind. This primarily deals with what consciousness is and how and why it exists. So, a guy like Dan Dennett says that the mind is just a byproduct of the brain, and that’s it. In other words, he only believes in the existence of the body. He essentially thinks that consciousness is secreted from the brain, like bile from the liver, or whatever. Meanwhile, a guy like Thomas Nagel says that the body and soul both exist. This allows for the possibility of out of body experiences (OBEs). Then, a guy like me says that the body, the soul, and a spirit exists. My soul is my lower self and our spirit is my higher self or Higher Power. This allows for near-death experiences (NDEs). Thus, based on all the evidence at hand, I have developed a modified version of a model that was created by Raymond Moody. This shows the relationship between the mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of people. It also shows where, when, and how the universe and the multiverse take part in the process. Death is a multi-step process, but people can be revived or resurrected at various different points as they are dying. This includes, but is not limited to, reverberation, exaltation, discarnation, superlumination, orientation, communion, retrospection, and finally either reincarnation or liberation.
Reverberation (buzzing)
Exaltation (peace and pleasure)
Discarnation (out of body experience (OBE))
Superlumination (tunnel of light (entrance to Paradise))
Orientation (guidance from the radiant ones (souls))
Communion (greeting the Radiant One (spirit))
Retrospection (the life review)
Reincarnation or Liberation (rebirth in either the universe (Earth) or the multiverse (Heaven))
REVERBERATION
This is the point at which sonourous confusion sets in. Things are dark and disorienting. After the soul starts to split from the body, there is this like buzzing or ringing that often happens.
EXALTATION
If anyone is in pain at the time of death, this ceases as the soul disengages from the body. This brings with it a feeling of total peace that washes over the dying. Phantom limbs are fully restored, and the blind even (re)gain (second) sight.
DISCARNATION
At this point, the soul often begins to ascend. This is when the recently deceased often see their own corpse at the scene of the death. Thus, fully affirming to the experiencer that they are indeed dead, or at least dying.
SUPERLUMINATION
Next, the well-known “tunnel of light” leads to the afterlife. This is when the soul, which is a metaphysical subject, moves from space (body) to hyperspace (spirit). This happens at warp speed, thus producing the tunneling effect. It leads to an unusually beautiful, brilliantly colored landscape.
ORIENTATION
When going from the Land of the Living to the Land of the Dead, a soul is met by the radiant ones. These are the “beings of light” that people talk about. These are souls with a powerful inner glow. They are usually dead relatives, but sometimes they are friends or even pets.
COMMUNION
Following that reunion comes one of another kind. This is when someone finally “meets their maker”. The radiant ones bring the dead before the Radiant One. This is when the higher self “weighs” a lower self’s ethical merits against their demerits.
RETROSPECTION
The “life review” is a full replay of everything that a person has done in their most recent past life, if not many past lives. They relive every act they’ve ever done and they can even experience it from the perspective of the people they interacted with. So, one finds out what God and everyone else thinks of them.
REINCARNATION
If after being judged a soul is found to be incompatible with the spirit, based on too many immoral deeds, then the soul is repelled from hyperspace and compelled toward space. In other words, they are cast out of Heaven and down to Earth.
LIBERATION
This is the point of everything, the spirit has an endless yearning for righteous souls. If a person is virtuous and pious then they will get into Paradise. At that point, Moksha is attained, and they are removed from the cycle of life and death. This is an emancipating and enlightening experience that everyone should strive for.
Here’s the thing about NDEs. Whenever a near-death experience happens to a hospital patient and they experience things during clinical brain death, then the activities of the mind can’t be the result of the body, but instead must take place in the soul. The mind can’t be what the brain does when a brain-dead body isn’t doing anything, but the person is still aware, often during an OBE. I’m saying it even happens to people who register flat EEGs during an NDE. Thus, the mortal body must be inhabited by an immortal soul. Consider the following. 100 million years ago our ancestors were having near-death experiences, but it wasn’t until 100 thousand years ago that they began to realize what was happening. Several thousand years ago, primitive hunter-gatherers who died and were either revived or resurrected told very descriptive stories about paddling canoes to the underworld after they crossed over. Millennia later, this began to include the need to find a ferryman to take you to the spirit world in the afterlife. In ancient Greece, this involved crossing the River Styx to get to Hades. Similarly, in ancient Japan, the souls of the departed had to find a way to cross the Sanzu River to get to Yomi. In time the Underworld became the Upperworld, and Shamayim emerged. The ancients made it out to be an arduous process, but it seems to reduce to something very simple. The soul in metaphysical space has to detach from the body in physical space and attach to the spirit in hyperspace. So, either humanity’s perception toward this process became more favorable over time, or it used to be much more difficult to get to Heaven. The truth is that near-death experiences can extend well beyond what I have described here. For instance, a couple of years before someone dies they will have an intuition about their demise, but most people don’t understand what it means, so they often just ignore it. Still, this affects one’s breathing and behavior, whether they realize it or not. Then, a couple of weeks before they die of natural death people usually begin to have deathbed visions. This is when deceased loved ones come to reassure the person that they have somewhere to go in the afterlife. At this stage, second sight starts to overtake sight, and they begin to transition into the spirit world. At the very end, some people experience terminal lucidity. Even people with Alzheimer’s or paralysis can sit up and identify everyone around them to properly say farewell. Every NDE is unique, but there are lots of similarities too. So, ultimately, your next near-death experience could last anywhere from a couple of years to only a couple of seconds, and you may or may not die from it. The question is, will you have led a good life when your time is finally up?
