Life and Death: Before, During, and After

When you return from death or near-death, a new commandment courses throughout your veins and in rhythm with your heartbeat . . . love one another. Experiencers of every stripe, tongue, culture, religion, and mindset find themselves beginning to behave in a manner as if life itself is all about love.

We are either told during our episode to be more helpful to others or we naturally move in that direction, incorporating some form of self-less service into everyday life.

A Literal Sense of Being Born Again

Born again. That’s the phrase that applies. Not because of any religious dictim or faith-based ritual, but in the most literal sense born again. That second chance most believe they now have takes on the appearance of a second look—at a world very much worth living in.

Have you noticed? Invariably, experiencers are drawn to sustainable measures of every kind, organic gardening, diets brimming full of veggies with smaller portions of meats, earth-based architecture, geodesic domes, ecology, personalized and alternative medicines and healing measures, innovative design and creativity, better ways of doing business that incorporate the leadership potential of both females and males, education available to each child everywhere, bartering, fair tax laws, democratic debates and voting processes, accountability, churches as a fellowship of prayer and caring, the demise of religious intolerance and “the killing of infidels.” The majority have no stomach for sexual exploitation or the excesses of greed, drugs, and power. The paycheck loses its grip as a motivator. Volunteerism takes its place.

The rediscovery of life’s values enlivens experiencer voices: what needs fixing can be fixed, who needs loving can be loved. This translates to a keen sense of self-governance, self-motivation, and self-control. Cooperation defines how the average experiencer participates in group energy. Connectedness between people begins to override the need for shoving and pushing one’s way up some proverbial “ladder.”


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Coming Back with a Sense of Purpose

Our various comings and goings during our lifespan are not accidental. One experiencer came back knowing he is here to save the world’s tallest, strongest, oldest trees by cloning them. Another found a way to harness light in ways that can be used to increase bodily health and longevity.

A woman woke up to her own incredibleness and when she did, she reached out to others, producing classes and seminars large and small that have helped thousands wake up too. A neurosurgeon discovered heaven and set the world “ablaze” with the passion of his excitement. The list of near-death experiencers who, once revived, go on to make changes large and small would fill hundreds of books.

Why are we here? The question remains, irrespective of what we think is the answer.

Of the thousands I studied, about thirty percent or so returned convinced that reincarnation—life after life—is the only valid explanation for how our soul can correct any mistake it may have made in its own journeys. The majority still avoid such assumptions, preferring instead to think more in terms of the soul, each soul, as having a will of its own.

A situation I was involved in back in my home state of Idaho speaks to this type of scenario, that of a soul having a will beyond that of “personality.” It involved two girls, best of friends, who were about to graduate from high school.

Knowing Ahead of Time When She Would Die

The year before, one of the girls calmly told her parents she would die in a violent accident the day before she graduated. This upset her parents. They sent her to several psychologists for evaluation but nothing was found to be amiss. No dream. No vision. She just knew. When the fateful day came, she and her best friend were sitting in a car at an intersection, waiting for the light to change. Suddenly, a car careened out of control and slammed head-on into theirs, killing both girls.

Police discovered a note written by the daughter, revealing that she knew her best friend would be killed at the same time in the same accident as she would. Investigators also discovered that the best friend had acted in a manner suggestive of someone who knew death was coming, even though there was no reason for her to think this.

A year later both mothers had a dream on the same night where their deceased daughter appeared and explained why the accident happened. This dream was so vivid neither mother could keep it to herself. One told a friend of mine who contacted me. Between us we arranged for the psychologist of the first mother to invite both sets of parents over so the separate dreams could be heard. What both dreams revealed, the reason for the girls’ untimely death, was this: both girls had agreed before birth to participate in the horrible death event for the purpose of one helping the other work through a lingering fear of dying violently.

One soul helped another soul.

I offer this story to you because it accurately reflects how near-death experiencers tend to view the various reasons for birth and death, why we come and go as we do. They seem to recognize that sometimes another agenda holds sway besides personal notions.

Do People Have Advance Knowledge of Their Death?

I’ve often been close on the heels of unexpected deaths: first as a policeman’s daughter; later when my former husband became a crop-duster pilot specializing in night jobs, flying barely inches above the ground in tree-lined fields; and whenever called to give healing prayer for those who were ill or about to die.

If appropriate, I asked questions about the deceased and their behavior before they died: were there any changes? Over the years, a peculiar pattern emerged . . . people who died suddenly or accidentally, subconsciously communicated their “knowingness” about what was to happen through a specific pattern of behavorial clues:

  • Usually about three months to three weeks before their deaths, individuals begin to change behavior normal for them.

  • Subtle at first, this behavioral change begins as a need to reassess affairs and life goals—a shift from material concerns toward philosophical ones.

  • This is followed by a need to see everyone who means anything special to them. If visits are not possible, they begin writing letters or calling on the phone, maybe e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook.

  • As time draws near, the people become more serious about straightening out their affairs and/or training or instructing a loved one or a friend to take over in their stead. This instruction can be quite specific, sometimes involving details such as what is owed and what is not; what insurance policies exist and how to handle them; how possessions should be dispersed; and what goals, programs, or projects are yet undone and how to finish them. Financial matters seem quite important, as is the management of personal and private affairs.

  • There is a need, almost a compulsion, to reveal secret feelings and deeper thoughts, to say what has not been said, especially to loved ones. There is usually also a desire for one last “fling,” maybe to visit special places and do what is most enjoyed.

  • The need to settle affairs and wind up life’s details can become so obsessive that it appears “spooky” or weird to others. Many times, there’s a need to talk over the possibility of “what if I die,” as if the individual had a dream or premonition. The person may on occasion seem morbid or unusually serious.

  • Usually, about twenty-four to thirty-six hours before death, the individuals relax and are at peace. They often appear “high” on something because of their unusual alertness, confidence, and sense of joy. They exude a peculiar strength and positive demeanor as if they were now ready for something important to happen. Many take on a “glow” about them.

I’ve noticed this pattern in people from the age of four on up, regardless of any expressed beliefs or intelligence level. I have also observed it in some people who were later murdered. Certainly, not everyone displays advance knowledge about their coming death, but all of those in my investigations did. I rather suspect the reason some do and others don’t has more to do with the individual’s sensitivity to inner promptings, than any real knowing.

What Death Is and What It Isn't

Based on first-person commentaries from over 3,000 adult experiencers of near-death states, here is a summary of what they shared:

There is a step-up of energy at the moment of death, an increase in speed as if you are suddenly vibrating faster than before.

Using radio as an analogy, this speed-up is comparable to having lived all your life at a certain radio frequency when all of a sudden someone or something comes along and flips the dial. That flip shifts you to another, higher wavelength. The original frequency where you once existed is still there. It did not change.

Everything is still just the same as it was. Only you changed, only you speeded up to allow entry into the next radio frequency on the dial.

As is true with all radios and radio stations, there can be bleed-overs or distortions of transmission signals due to interference patterns. These can allow or force frequencies to coexist or commingle for indefinite periods of time. Normally, most shifts on the dial are fast and efficient; but, occasionally, one can run into interference, perhaps from a strong emotion, a sense of duty, or a need to fulfill a vow or keep a promise. This interference could allow coexistence of frequencies for a few seconds, days, or even years (perhaps explaining hauntings); but, sooner or later, eventually, every given vibrational frequency will seek out or be nudged to where it belongs.

You fit your particular spot on the dial by your speed of vibration. You shift frequencies in dying. You switch over to life on another wavelength. You are still a spot on the dial but you move up or down a notch or two.

You don’t die when you die. You shift your consciousness and speed of vibration. That’s all death is . . . a shift.

And Then What?

The biggest surprise for most people in dying is to realize that dying does not end life. You can still think, you can still remember, you can still see, hear, move, reason, wonder, feel, question, and tell jokes—if you wish.

You are still alive, very much alive. If you expect to die when you die, you will be disappointed. The only thing dying does is help you release, slough off, and discard the “jacket” you once wore (more commonly referred to as a body).

When you die you lose your body. That’s all there is to it. Nothing else is lost.

* Subtitles by InnerSelf.
©2014 by P. M. H. Atwater. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission. Publisher: Rainbow Ridge Books.

Article Source:

Dying To Know You: Proof of God in the Near-Death Experience Dying To Know You: Proof of God in the Near-Death Experience
by P.M.H. Atwater, L.H.D.

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About the Author

P.M.H. AtwaterDr. Atwater is an internationally known researcher of near-death experiences and a near death survivor, as well as a prayer chaplain, spiritual counselor, and visionary. She is the author of numerous books including: "Future Memory", "We Live Forever: The Real Truth About Death" and "Beyond the Indigo Children: The New Children and the Coming of the Fifth World". Visit her website at: www.pmhatwater.com