Moody, Raymond. Life After Life

Life after Life is a book, which documents the accounts of people who had a near death experience commonly referred to as an NDE (Near Death Experience). An estimated 5 % of the global population has had an NDE; however, the real figure may be much higher as many are not able to express their experience into words. This book highlights some of the common attributes of this experience and classifies them, moreover, based on scientific research, Dr Moody highlights and explains the key stages of NDE.

Back Cover

[Braille Monitors] The back cover reads: "Dr Raymond Moody JR., Ph.D., M.D., is a world renowned scholar, lecturer, author, and researcher, widely recognised as the leading authority on near death experiences. He teaches at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he holds the Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies."

I have to say that this is one of my favourite books because Dr Raymond Moody employs scientific methodical research in his findings. Consequently, he is the leading authority on the afterlife and highly respected within the scientific communities for this research.

He has personally researched and interviewed people who have had an NDE, has identified, and categorised the various stages of the experience. He also discovered that these stages occur regardless of background and religious beliefs.

The Tunnel

Here is an example of a stage in the early beginning. Many have reported being very gently and peacefully drawn into a tunnel. The feeling is peaceful, loving, comfortable, and very enjoyable.

This tunnel is just one of a vast network of tunnels, and if you want to see its structure then you need to read this book, The Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 15 Translation to English.

What is NDE?

A near death experience has a transforming effect of making the person more aware of their humanity. They return with a renewed purpose to life, that life is not about how much money you have amassed, or status, power, or prestige. It is about how much love and compassion you have demonstrated to all living things.

A biological-spiritual mechanism not yet currently known records all deeds good or bad and plays back these events. The images are as real as real life and contain more information. It is in 3D, and you are there at that time and place. Everything is much clearer, brighter, and the colours are vivid and vibrant.

A slide show may not be the correct concept to use since words such as recording and playback taken from modern inventions scarcely do any justice. Recording and playback would imply a reproduction of memories. A reproduction is not the original, whereas these moments are better than the original. They contain more information that was previously not within the field of perception. It would be more true to say they were seeing the original moments through better eyes. Perhaps a better concept to use is from Physics. Einstein postulated four coordinates of space. Three of space and one of time can locate any moment within the fabric of time-space. Theoretically, with a time machine you can travel to any moment of your life, or anyone else's life. You can jump from one moment to another and see all the moments of your life. However, existence seemed to me to be one where time itself becomes a physical dimension.

You get to re-live, as an observer, all of your actions and feelings that you had in your life. It is not just clearer, but the feelings are stronger as well. It is like a very fast virtual reality slide show... The speed is approximately 100 moments per second if not more. Paradoxically, there is still plenty of time to analyse each one. It is as if time does not exist. The moments are not just from your perspective, but also from the perspective of others that interacted with you. You feel the pain, suffering, joy, and happiness, which your actions brought to others. You get to see and feel the consequences of your actions unto others. In the physical body, people generally twist the truth, bend it, and even lie to others and themselves. However, as spiritual beings all of this changes. Pain caused to others and conveniently forgotten and remembered and you will get to see and feel the suffering that you caused to other beings in their lives.

The remembering process is under the context of helping you understand the importance of love and compassion. During this time, it is not possible to hide the truth. It does not matter who you were, no matter what title you had, whether you were a lecturer, superstar, or a millionaire, what position you held, or how much power you had because none of this matters. Ultimately, there is no hiding place from your true spiritual self. There is nowhere to run to; no place to hide, and everything you did in your life is remembered and ultimately you judge yourself.

During this stage, when you are remembering the moments of your life, your loved ones who you were close to, and are alive, may also become aware of these moments that are unfolding in the slide show, especially if the moments are those which involved them as well. Our spiritual self intimately connects these moments within the fabric of space. You can see any of these moments in any time and any place. If these moments involved other people as well and we had an impact in their lives then it will also connect us to them as well. In many ways, the physical nature of the Universe is such that we always remain linked with everyone we knew, even after death. Whilst on one side it appears as if death separates us, on the other side it unites us.

During some events of your life, there will be explanations. Sometimes there are revelations of things that people did to you that you did not know about, making you very angry. There are also revelations of things that others may have done to impede you in your life. The truth comes out. It is very much like a review, revelations, and a learning opportunity simultaneously. God is a busy person after all and he chooses the most expeditious manner possible to educate.

Most people typically sense a presence during this time, and it fills their heart with profound joy, love, and happiness. This being is not there to judge or blame but is there as a guide to help and understand your life and the events that occurred within it. This entity is sometimes perceived as a religious figure, if you are religious, however if you are not then you will just sense a being of light full of love. Some have reported seeing a black hooded figure that remains very silent and still, and is immensely frightening to look at... If you saw one of these, you need to make serious changes in your life! The being of light on the other hand, does not have a shape or a form, but is more like a presence. The light is not a physical light you see with your eyes but more like an intense understanding, intense knowledge, intense love, and a connection... The connection is a bit, like when Google connects to your site and scans the pages looking for original content of value... :-) The only difference is that god does not hit you with a penalty for a mistake! The entity of light also has a sense of humour, and often finds watching the events within a life very humorous. It is as if it already knows everything and finds the show interesting, bit like reading a book but instead reads your life as one would read a book for knowledge, turning the pages very fast...

The Question

The slide show of your life starts with an open-ended question such as, let us see what you did with your life that was worth anything, or let us see what you did with your life that has anything of value, or something to that effect. The things of value were kind selfless acts of love and compassion.

Sometimes pausing at a particular point within the moment and commenting that you could have done it better this way... or sometimes saying that you should have shown more compassion here... or, you did the right thing here by forgiving and walking away... Typically, such an experience transforms a person into becoming a better human being. They no longer care about wealth, power, or status. They often do charity to help others. They are also more compassionate toward their fellow human beings.

The Stages

People may have had an NDE without realising it, however, for the first time Dr Raymond Moody describes the key stages of this experience that provides a reference point for comparison.

By sheer coincidence, I was recently reading A Christmas Carol and noticed that the story had similarities with the stages of NDE. Charles Dickens used a large number of sources for his stories, so it is difficult to determine the person who had the NDE. However, they must have realised the sheer significance of it to want to have it written down.

The story begins with Ebenezer Scrooge who is a miser devoid of any love for his fellow man. He goes to bed one night, and his experiences begin with hearing the loud continuous ringing of bells, which scares him. He wakes up but does not know if it is a dream or real.

Hearing the loud ringing of bells is a primary key stage associated with an NDE that many have reported.

He then sees his deceased friend Jacob Marley who comes to greet him. There is also a hooded figure in a dark robe that scares him. This figure is obviously from the underworld. Many who have had an NDE have reported seeing a figure in a hooded dark robe. They have reported it to be a very unpleasant experience.

Then Scrooge sees his life in the past, present and future and the consequences of his actions, namely, Tiny Tim dying. He sees the mistakes he made in his life, for example, not marrying the woman who loved him... He feels remorse for the pain that he caused unto others, and during this time, the spirit tells him that he should have shown more compassion to others...

The next morning he awakens transformed... He becomes a better human being full of love and compassion. Is that coincidence? Interestingly, this story also depicts a large swirling tunnel, through which souls enter and leave. The dramatisation of this story into film also shows souls floating into a swirling tunnel, which is remarkable! This indicates to me that the storyteller must have had an NDE! That must be one of the earliest recorded experiences by anyone.

Life after life is most definitely worth reading because it does contain sound ideas. If you have had a Near Death Experience, (NDE) please kindly email me your story. I would love to hear it, as this is something I find very interesting and would like to build upon the concepts and mechanisms that are involved. More information including books and resources are available from the official website of Dr Raymond Moody.

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