That is interesting story but it turns out that after famous Moody ( 1976) Life after Life there have been even specific studies on the Near Death Experiences.
The best story I ever read associated with near death experience came for the late Dr Kubler-Ross. ..and concerns a ghost. An after-death visitation Source: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D. Show Credentials This description was written by Michael Tymn ("DR. KUBLER-ROSS SEES AND TALKS WITH DEAD WOMAN," March 1, 2007. Retrieved from http://www.lightlink.com/arpr/tymn/Dr_Kubler_Ross.htm, May 17, 2007). In her book, On Life After Death, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a pioneer in the study of the near-death experience (NDE), states that her first account of an NDE came from “a certain Mrs. Schwartz.” After being declared dead following 45 minutes of resuscitation attempts, Mrs. Schwartz began to show signs of life and was revived. She lived for another year-and-a-half, during which time she met Dr. Ross and related her experience during a seminar on death and dying at the University of Chicago. Some 10 months after Mrs. Schwartz’s death, Dr. Ross decided to discontinue the death and dying seminar. After giving her lecture on death and dying in a classroom, she was discussing shutting down the seminar with a minister who had worked with her in the program. As they approached an elevator, where the minister would leave her, Ross noticed a woman standing in front of the elevator. The woman looked familiar, but Ross could not immediately place her. As soon as the minister got on the elevator, the woman, who Ross described as being somewhat transparent, approached her and asked her if she could accompany her to her office. Dr. Ross came to realize that it was Mrs. Schwartz and began to question her own awareness. “This was the longest walk of my life,” Ross related. “I am a psychiatrist. I work with schizophrenic patients all the time, and I love them. When they would have visual hallucinations I would tell them.” She told herself that she was seeing Mrs. Schwartz but that it couldn’t be. She did a reality check on herself and wondered if she had seen too many schizophrenic patients and was beginning to see things herself. “I even touched her skin to see if it was cold or warm, or if the skin would disappear when I touched it. It was the most incredible walk I have ever taken, not knowing why I was doing what I was doing. I was both an observing psychiatrist and a patient.” When they reached Ross’ office door, Mrs. Schwartz opened it and told Ross that she had come back for two reasons, first to thank her and the Reverend Gaines, a former minister in the program, for the help they had given her, and, secondly, to ask her not to stop her work on death and dying. Ross got to her desk and did another reality check, touching her desk, chair, and a pen. “I was hoping she would disappear,” Ross continues the story. “But she didn’t. She just stood there and lovingly said, ‘Dr. Ross, did you hear me? Your work is not finished. We will help you and you will know when the time is right, but do not stop now. Promise?’” As a further test of her awareness or sanity, Ross asked the woman if she would write a note to Reverend Gaines. Mrs. Schwartz complied. She then got up from her chair, and said, “Dr. Ross, you promise,” to which Ross replied, “I promise.” With that Mrs. Schwartz disappeared. Ross kept the note and later told the story to many friends and associates. She considered having fingerprint and handwriting experts examine the note to see if they matched up with the fingerprints and handwriting of Mrs. Schwartz, but she never got around to it and eventually gave the note to the Rev. Renford Gaines. Researcher Boyce Batey later contacted Gaines, who had changed his name to Mwalimu Imara, in line with his African heritage, at the Boston Center for Religion and Psychotherapy, Inc. Imara informed Batey that because of various confidentiality concerns relative to Mrs. Schwartz and her family, he could not provide a copy of the note. However, he provided Batey with the exact wording, viz. “Hello there, Dropped in to see Dr. Ross. One of two on the top of my ‘list’. You being the other. I’ll never find or know anyone to take the place of you two. I want you to know, as I’ve told her, I’m at peace at home now. I want you to know you helped me. The simple Thank you is not enough. But please know how much I mean it. Thank you again. Mary Schwartz.” At the time, Dr. Ross was still very much the skeptic when it came to such things. “I didn’t believe in all that stuff,” she expresses her attitude at the time of the encounter with Mrs. Schwartz. Needless to say, Dr. Kübler-Ross would continue her work with the dying and would come to believe in a spirit world, becoming one of the world’s foremost authorities on death and dying. “Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding its cocoon,” she wrote. “It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow.”
Thank you, Padraig, for the wonderful story. I've been reading some of Dr. Kubler-Ross books lately ( mainly On Grief and Grieving) and have read a lot about her and her personal difficulties in her later life. Do you happen to have some links to her books online, I would appreciate that ( not that I need to be convinced about the afterlife) p.s. unfortunately the non-credential link does not work for me - Not Found The requested URL /arpr/tymn/Dr_Kubler_Ross.htm was not found on this server. Apache/1.3.28 Server at www.lightlink.com Port 80
We used to use Kubler Ross's stages of dying in the Hospice, she was the first one to come with dying stages, a bit of a genius.They still use her work on dying all over the world. But of course when the medical establishment heard she was researching NDE's she was cast into the outer darkness. I don't know about books but this seems a good resource; beware of New Age drivel and spiritualism of course. http://www.greaterreality.com/nodeath.htm
Another thing they tend to miss on is the accounts of people who found themselves in hell. I read an account from a Cardiac Surgeon. He had his patient on the tread mill running while he did some tests on the heart. As he did so the patients heart stopped and he fell down, 'Dead'. The Doctor managed to revive him but the patient kept going into and out off death. What really freaked the Doctor out was the terror of the patient who believed that every time he was going on he ofund himself in a place of fire and terror. In hell in fact. The last time the patient was screaming and begging the Doctor to save him and not let him go back. The Doctor commented that it got so bad that he went into terror too and was in terrible anxiety to save not just the patients body...but his very soul The reason why folks who experience hell don't like to talk about it is...well who would? It would be very easy to recall heaven , very uncomfortable to recall hell. Some do however like Dr Howard Storm
Oh, hell came out of fashion long time ago...one of the devil's tricks, I suppose I might be wrong, but the saints who actually were able to see hell reported that not that many souls are actually there, which does not mean that your particular one might avoid it... ( I am reading your encounters with the darkness itself and it is very frightening, honestly)
It is frightening, I will not deny it. Nor am I a person who is easily scared. I have been in gun battles, had guns put to my head, had bombs explode close by, been beaten , tortured and been close to death too many times to count , but nothing compares to an encounter with the diabolic. I have to say anyone who says they are not frightened must be either crazy or a liar. It still scares me, sometimes very much. I read one time about a lady who survived a Concentration Camp and was asked what worse the worst thing she had ever seen there? She answered, 'Hatred on another person's face'. Well the hatred and contempt the fallen angels have for us is indescribable. Multiply mans hatred a thousand times and it does not begin to compare. They do not even rate us as animals. But you know I have to put up with it for short spells but imagine the poor souls stuck with them for all Eternity. All eternity with no rein or restraint as they are restrained here.
The devil does exist, he really, really does. The only reason we in our generation doubt is because he hides, a good strategy because he does not want to stir our faith back. The first time he came was way back in the 80's when I was in the monastery. It was a very ,very bad winter with snow all around. I had cleared everthing out of my cell for a few months and used to lie on the cell floor with just a blanket..and I think I used to use a book as a pillow. I used to leave the cell windows open and turned the heat off . Sometimes I woke up and my blanket used to be covered in snow. This sounds a crazy thig to do but I did in sympathy for the poor people all over the world sleeping out and as a penance. Anyway I started to get the feeling my blanket was being tugged off me and that there was a presence in the room. I wrote it off as imagination until one nght the blanket went flying off my bed and across the room. When I got up and turned on the light..and it took a while to build up the courage..I found the blanket in a heap at the other end of the room. I tried to convince myself that I had fired it across myself by tossing in my sleep. But I knew it was impossible. Things like that are scarey. No doubt.
Padraig...you never cease to amaze with your stories. You give us a glimpse every now and then of the supernatural.
Wow Padraig! Do you have any idea how close to God you are to be messed with physically by the devil! He can't bear holiness, reminds me of stories about St. Padre Pio. God Bless!
I am very much a sinner, Ioften wonder why he bothers. But you know he bothers with everyone, its much safer when he is out in the open. its when he's hidden I think he is most dangerous. The thing that scares me most are the poor people who don't believe in him.
Padraig... You are so right, and the picture of the lion behind the tree is appropriate. This is something that the Church has been warning us about since the beginning. In fact, every Tuesday night during the Night Prayer for the Liturgy of the Hours (the prayer of the Church), we are given the following brief passage from the first letter of Peter: "Stay sober and alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith." (1 Peter 5:8-9a). This is serious business, folks... and the stakes are high! Our very souls hang in the balance. The good news, however, is that we have all of Heaven on our side. The Angels and Saints (The Church Triumphant) cannot wait to assist us in our battle against darkness here on Earth. They are "chomping at the bit," so to speak, itching for an opportunity to assist each and every one of us, their brothers and sisters in The Church Militant. The bottom line is WE WIN! The jaws of hell shall not prevail. We must all keep fighting the good fight, secure in the knowledge that despite the machinations of the evil one, our heavenly brothers and sisters are there to assist us on the journey.
They hate us because they envy us - we have a chance and they do not. And we are just low people, not angels, like them, how could it be that the creatures like us have it better, then them - that is why they hate us
It's true we have the angels fighting on our side. On the other hand the choices we have are very real choices. The bottom line being that either we will spend the rest of eternity in heaven , in glory , in joy and in light or that we will pend the rest of eternity in darkness, in flames and on agony with the demons. Along with our loss of the sense of sin, along with the knowledge really and actually exists, we have lost this knowledge that there is true evil and that there is true good and that all that we do really does have eternal consequence. So we end up with a kind of wishy washy oh well, it doesn't matter , God loves us it'll all work out fine no matter what we do ;we're all going to heaven anyway kind of point of view. But you know I think encountering demons can be a very real wake up call, a reminder that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; that its not just a game we're all playing down here, it really does matter, this is for keeps. Another thing about the devil is he has no sense of humour. No sense of humour whatsoever. He just takes himself just so very,very, very seriously. Very grim, very grim indeed. ..and you know what there are quite a few folks knocking about the internet like that...have you ever noticed?
Padraig that is one of the things I have always noticed about people of God and that is that they have a sense of humor. It always seems to me that people who pray have a great sense of humor. It seems to be one of the things satan takes away from people because he has no joy or humor in him. You can always tell the people who pray, they have peace and joy and a sense of humor.
