The NDE Phenomena

[S.I. Sheehan]

Near Death Experiences can be called many different things. Some call it Kundalini, The Awakening, Cosmic Consciousness, The Opening of the Third Eye, etc. There are many elements which could induce an NDE. Death, surgery, hallucinogens, gravity, meditation, seizures, out-of body experiences, coma, dreams, alien abduction, relaxation, falling, etc. Whatever the NDE is, I for one know that it is real.

Some say that Near Death Experiences are a state of mind. Others say that they are a fabrication, a great imagination attack of the experiencer. However, unless a person has actually experienced one, they could never know what it is like to enter into communion with the god part of the brain. This transcendence of the moment is like no other, and could be defined as a cosmic orgasm. This experience leaves one changed forever.

The earliest book I am aware of which was written about this type of experience was authored by Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke in the book “Cosmic Consciousness” which was originally published in 1901, the year before his death. Dr. Bucke, having had his own illumination experience in 1872, was intrigued by the thread down through the ages which connected documented cases of NDE or Cosmic Consciousness. After my personal experience, I searched to discover just what it was that had happened to me. I read volumes of books, Dr. Buckes included.

The following is from http://www.spiritualcompetency.com/dsm4/cases/ccmecase.html, and relates some of the details of Dr. Buckes personal experience.

“Below is the account of a typical mystical experience, which happened to Canadian psychiatrist Richard M. Bucke around the turn of the century. He wrote about it in his book, Cosmic Consciousness:

I had spent the evening in a great city, with two friends, reading and discussing poetry and philosophy. We parted at midnight. I had a long drive in a hansom to my lodging. My mind, deeply under the influence of the ideas, images, and emotions called up by the reading and talk, was calm and peaceful. I was in a state of quiet, almost passive enjoyment, not actually thinking, but letting ideas, images, and emotions flow of themselves, as it were, through my mind. All at once, without warning of any kind, I found myself wrapped in a flame-colored cloud. For an instant I thought of fire, an immense conflagration somewhere close by in that great city; the next, I knew that the fire was within myself. Directly afterward there came upon me a sense of exultation, of immense joyousness accompanied or immediately followed by an intellectual illumination impossible to describe. Among other things, I did not merely come to believe, but I saw that the universe is not composed of dead matter, but is, on the contrary, a living Presence; I became conscious in myself of eternal life. It was not a conviction that I would have eternal life, but a consciousness that I possessed eternal life then; I saw that all men are immortal; that the cosmic order is such that without any peradventure all things work together for the good of each and all; that the foundation principle of the world, of all the worlds, is what we call love, and that the happiness of each and all is in the long run absolutely certain. The vision lasted a few seconds and was gone; but the memory of it and the sense of the reality of what it taught has remained during the quarter of a century which has since elapsed. I knew that what the vision showed was true. I had attained to a point of view from which I saw that it must be true. That view, that conviction, I may say that consciousness, has never, even during periods of the deepest depression, been lost. (Cosmic Consciousness pp. 7, 8)”

The description of what Dr. Bucke experienced very closely parallels what I felt when I had my pivotal spiritual experience. The fact that only parts of “me” remained was astounding to me. The broadness of understanding which I had received on a Universal level was amazing. That any fear of death was gone, along with the lack of a sense of “god”, was profoundly impacting, not only to myself, but to those who knew me.

When I should have seen the clouds roll back to reveal angels and deity, I instead “saw” the vastness of the living, breathing Universe, and beyond. I had a sudden realization that all paths led to the same great center. I wrote these words in my diary in August 1994, and later discovered that almost the exact same words were uttered by an ancient Druid who was attending the death of King Gradlon of Kernev in southwest Brittany. Also in attendance was a monk, Saint Guenole. When Saint Guenole offered to teach the Druid "the Word of Life," he was rejected. “The Druid pointed to the blue sky, observing that when the time came for one or the other of them to pass into the Otherworld, either one might find “perchance there is nothing but a great mistake.” The monk is scandalized. "To believe is to know," he argued in the christian fashion. His compassion for the Druid leads him to offer refuge in the abbey. The Druid declines, saying he prefers woodland paths. "Do not all tracks lead to the same great center?" the Druid says.” From Peter Berrisford Ellis' book,”The Chronicles of the Celts: New Tellings of Their Myths and Legends”.

What was most striking to me were the syncronistic thoughts that came to me, unbidden, frequent, in vast amounts, and most certainly Universal in nature. The level on which I found myself was something new to explore, and I reveled in the fresh way in which I was viewing life and my own existence. I also found myself perplexed at times, for I was seen differently by those who were in my life. There was the occasion when I demanded from whatever unseen “thing” had caused this to happen to “take it away, give me my old life back”. That was certainly futile, LOL.

I continue on my path, unheeded by any who wish to discredit my experience, or who maliciously slander my beliefs. I choose to walk this way, to believe this way, and to share this way. Any who wish to discuss this at greater depth, please feel free to contact me.

~Susan~ aka Queen Type O Negative

With Harm To None, As It Is Spoken, Now It Is Done©