The difference one letter makes.
Deniers of life after death forestall related conversations with a seemingly unassailable argument. "Nobody ever came back to prove otherwise." Take that, New Age pansies? Not so. Sri Yukteswar, Yogananda's guru, visited his devotee after dropping his body to report on where he was now. This is recounted in the famous book Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. Needless to say, no physical body, no physical means to show oneself in this 3rd dimension. To Yogananda who conversed with his guru on a higher plane, this simply was no limitation. Naysayers present during this visitation obviously wouldn't have seen or heard a thing. It'd be their proof to the contrary.
But reports of life after death are far from exclusive to saintly personages. Many 'ordinary' people have crossed over, returned with full recall then shared those experiences. A non-disclosure agreement or NDA forbids us contractually from divulging certain information. It's an enforceable gag order. A near-death experience or NDE is so personal and invisible to embodied bystanders that unless the out-of-body traveller divulges it, nobody else is any the wiser. When surrounded by atheists or deniers of spirit, many people who had an NDE might well feel as though bound by an NDA. Yet with the democratization of self expression whereby individuals so inclined can use YouTube to reach a global audience, numerous NDE accounts have become pages in an open book which anyone with Internet access may read; or in this case, listen to as retold by the after-death witness.
For committed doubters of scientific bend, here's the thing. If one does study up then compares notes, the emerging picture from clear overlap between such first-person accounts becomes quite overwhelming; undeniable even. People from all walks of life, of different beliefs and backgrounds, have experienced very similar things on the other side. I won't list them here. To each their own. I only suggest that for the curious, it takes no more than punching these three little letters into a favoured search engine. Bring whatever scepticism, worldview or belief system is yours to this party. Like a scientist, profiler or investigator, study the evidence.
See where it leads. You could be in for a surprise. If so, we needn't have our own NDE to let emerging understanding from listening to those of others transform how we view and approach our own life. If judgment day isn't a Biblical cataclysm but unvarnished life review which anyone crossing over must face in the proverbial mirror by assessing themselves in full interactive recall of the life just finished, shame and all… then the context in which we presently live keens. And to my mind, the immediate benefit of such investigations to our here/now isn't the indulgence of some morbid fascination. It's a deeper understanding which intensifies our fleshy existence. Never before was such an investigation this easy to undertake.
If afterwards your existing belief demands it, you can always invoke a complex conspiracy by which NDE witnesses collaborate to sell us an elaborate after-life fantasy; cite illusory experiences caused by oxygen-starved brain activity; or call the lot copium for those unhappy with their present circumstance. If we're convinced that death is the end, lights out, nobody there to know that the light has gone, forever… accounts to the contrary shouldn't rattle our convictions. Plus, none of these NDE witnesses ask for our belief. They aren't hawking membership in a new club or cult. They merely share what happened to them because the experience of temporarily being without a physical body, in a different much faster-vibrating dimension pervaded by living consciousness and peace beyond comprehension, has made a profound difference to their resumed physical lives. Aren't you the least bit curious?
From NDA to NDE – the difference one letter can make if you let it…
