A wise man, Bennett Wong, told me this: "Faith is the felt assurance of the continuity of life." I know this to be true. My time here is temporal. My SELF exists beyond time and space.
The teachings of the Buddha would say that the Soul is yet another construct that we cling to , creating more suffering and separating us from the deathless.
And yet they teach reincarnation? Sacred Metaphysics inspires a life of goodness, beauty, and truth, and if there is no soul that travels beyond this lifetime, what did we lose? Nothing, but we lived a life of goodness, beauty and truth. Namaste
That line truly resonates with me, although perhaps for reasons slightly different from those you describe.
During my NDE, I approached what I perceived as a boundary.
During the early part of my experience, I was always able to see my body I left in the bed, the sheet lying on the floor beside me. As strange as everything was my own personal " Jesus"
It seemed like my cobsciousness was somewhere else, but there I was still lying in the bed.
At first I thought it was a dream.
There was still something familiar to orient myself by abd anchor me to something that felt like being grounded to the life I had left behind.
As my exoerience continued, my body gradually disappeared beneath what appeared to me as fog or mist or even cloud cover.
At first notice that the body was no longer visable, that concerned me.
I wanted to be able to see it.
But after a while, something changed.
The need to see my body faded.
What remained was a thread.
I experienced that thread as connecting me to the body I could no longer see, and for a time that was enough.
I was calm and the experience continued. The experience itself remained, loving rather than frightening, and my sense of freedom being away from my body became almost orgasmic
Eventually I reached what I perceived as a atmospheric barrier, where the atmosphere seemed to meet the darkness of space — where oxygen ended and, in my understanding at that moment, death awaited.
By then I noticed the thread appeared extraordinarily thin and vulnerable to breaking.
That was when the fear returned.
Laughingly, I tried to get back to my body by using the breastfeeding stroke in swimming...
It wasn't simply the thought of death.
I was looking at what felt like my final connection to the body I had left behind, and I believed that if I continued, that connection might break.
For the first time, continuing no longer felt like simply going farther.
It felt irreversible.
A decision had to be made.
I wasn't ready.
Now, upon contemplation now and looking back, the experience up to that point of no return almost seemed to have prepared me for that decision by removing my anchors one at a time.
First I could leave my body while still seeing it.
Then I could continue without seeing it. Eventually even the thread connecting me to it seemed ready to disappear.
And there I stopped.
I chose to return.
What would have happened had I continued, I cannot say.
Perhaps the experience would have continued.
Perhaps it would have ended.
Perhaps something would have happened for which neither of those words is adequate.
I don't know.
My experience cannot establish an ontology.
It cannot prove that consciousness survives death, that the soul is eternal, or what, if anything, waits beyond the boundary I perceived.
It remains one person's subjective experience, however profound it was to the person experiencing it.
I approached what I perceived as that boundary.
I had an extraordinary experience.
I chose not to cross it.
Therefore, I cannot tell you what was on the other side of that choice.
A wise man, Bennett Wong, told me this: "Faith is the felt assurance of the continuity of life." I know this to be true. My time here is temporal. My SELF exists beyond time and space.
Death is Xanada interesting topic indeed!!
Kahlil Gibran, my personal favorite...
The Prophet: On Death
by Kahlil Gibran
Then Almitra spoke, saying, We would ask now of Death.
And he said:
You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.
In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
Monadnock Valley Press > Gibran
The teachings of the Buddha would say that the Soul is yet another construct that we cling to , creating more suffering and separating us from the deathless.
And yet they teach reincarnation? Sacred Metaphysics inspires a life of goodness, beauty, and truth, and if there is no soul that travels beyond this lifetime, what did we lose? Nothing, but we lived a life of goodness, beauty and truth. Namaste
Very interesting read.
Thanks for sharing:
“The last word belongs to the soul.”
That line truly resonates with me, although perhaps for reasons slightly different from those you describe.
During my NDE, I approached what I perceived as a boundary.
During the early part of my experience, I was always able to see my body I left in the bed, the sheet lying on the floor beside me. As strange as everything was my own personal " Jesus"
It seemed like my cobsciousness was somewhere else, but there I was still lying in the bed.
At first I thought it was a dream.
There was still something familiar to orient myself by abd anchor me to something that felt like being grounded to the life I had left behind.
As my exoerience continued, my body gradually disappeared beneath what appeared to me as fog or mist or even cloud cover.
At first notice that the body was no longer visable, that concerned me.
I wanted to be able to see it.
But after a while, something changed.
The need to see my body faded.
What remained was a thread.
I experienced that thread as connecting me to the body I could no longer see, and for a time that was enough.
I was calm and the experience continued. The experience itself remained, loving rather than frightening, and my sense of freedom being away from my body became almost orgasmic
Eventually I reached what I perceived as a atmospheric barrier, where the atmosphere seemed to meet the darkness of space — where oxygen ended and, in my understanding at that moment, death awaited.
By then I noticed the thread appeared extraordinarily thin and vulnerable to breaking.
That was when the fear returned.
Laughingly, I tried to get back to my body by using the breastfeeding stroke in swimming...
It wasn't simply the thought of death.
I was looking at what felt like my final connection to the body I had left behind, and I believed that if I continued, that connection might break.
For the first time, continuing no longer felt like simply going farther.
It felt irreversible.
A decision had to be made.
I wasn't ready.
Now, upon contemplation now and looking back, the experience up to that point of no return almost seemed to have prepared me for that decision by removing my anchors one at a time.
First I could leave my body while still seeing it.
Then I could continue without seeing it. Eventually even the thread connecting me to it seemed ready to disappear.
And there I stopped.
I chose to return.
What would have happened had I continued, I cannot say.
Perhaps the experience would have continued.
Perhaps it would have ended.
Perhaps something would have happened for which neither of those words is adequate.
I don't know.
My experience cannot establish an ontology.
It cannot prove that consciousness survives death, that the soul is eternal, or what, if anything, waits beyond the boundary I perceived.
It remains one person's subjective experience, however profound it was to the person experiencing it.
I approached what I perceived as that boundary.
I had an extraordinary experience.
I chose not to cross it.
Therefore, I cannot tell you what was on the other side of that choice.
But I can tell you this:
I am no longer afraid of taking that step.
Namaste 🙏
The symbol is not the referent it only a finger pointing to the source
I am not the body. I am not the mind. I am Shiva, I am pure consciousness. Namaste
I understand the proposition.
With all due respect, I cannot accept the religious language used to express it tho.