Near-Death Experiences, The Rest of the Story: What They Teach Us About Living and Dying and Our True Purpose
by P.M.H. Atwater
Posted by: DailyOM
Real-life stories of out-of-body experiences, encountering a special light, greeters from the afterlife, life reviews, tunnels, and 360-degree vision--are all part of this intriguing look at near-death experiences (NDEs) by one of the world's noted authorities, P.M.H. Atwater. Atwater shares her amazing findings, based on her sessions with more than 4,000 adults and children, and over 40 years of research; a breathtaking culmination to a successful and controversial career.
Atwater examines every aspect of the near-death phenomenon: from first-hand accounts of survivors experiencing flash forwards, waking up in morgues, and developing psychic abilities, to stunning cases of groups experiencing NDEs together. Atwater offers statistics from her findings to show the distinctive common patterns that people experience, as well as the common aftereffects and how it changed their lives.
She also explores the physiological and spiritual changes that result from near-death experiences and looks at the connections between the NDE experience and what is often called "enlightenment." Near Death Experiences provides a glimpse of not only what lies beyond the veil of our temporal existence, but points to what--or who--we really are and what we are meant to be.
P.M.H. Atwater is an international authority on near-death states as well as a near-death experiencer who "died" three times. She is the author of 20 books and lives in Charlottesville, Va.
Spirit Shift: Biological Imperative
“Evolution is the emergence of that which already is in form,
in an ever-upward spiraling. The whole process of evolution
is to produce a being who can consciously co-operate with the
Evolutionary Principle, which is Pure Spirit.”
We are forever seeking an ecstatic high because of our subconscious drive to advance the species . . . just as we are forever seeking an orgasmic high because of a subconscious need to procreate the species. The high of sex and the high of enlightenment activate energy surges and bodily systems that seem similar, yet are vastly different.
The brain is hard-wired to have otherworldly mystical and religious/spiritual experiences. We have all of the physical equipment needed to produce these ecstatic states. But this equipment is not causal. It is auxiliary. So is the procreative system. Our sex organs do not cause procreation of themselves. Only when stimulated do they respond accordingly.
Brain shifts serve to accelerate evolutionary advancements in the human family. They stimulate increased brain capacity and access to mind. Geometric images in natural patternings (visions, dreams, art), if radiant or luminous, are often signs or signals of the higher brain/higher mind in mutual reception.
Evolution is not just adaptation to changing needs and environments. True evolution is geared toward improving and perfecting form so powerful bioelectrical currents can be accessed and utilized without harm. That which underlies Creation is a force that stretches, pops, shimmers, and hums as it moves, alters, changes, transforms, mutates—from the particle to the wave and back again—the same and yet different . . . ever spiraling as if “The Movement of God’s Thought.” There are near-death experiencers who claimed that once on the other side of death they felt as if they were inside a giant brain processing thought, as if we were all projections of that thought, and so too were planets, asteroids, solar systems, and the universe itself. These testimonies and others like them imply that Creation is exactly designed to produce a consciousness capable of participating in its own creation.
There is a biological imperative for life to exist and to continuously evolve in form, capacity, and intellect—towards ever-higher order.
The law of chaos explains how this imperative works: when existing systems become disordered, an underlying order that appears as randomness emerges as a new order.
The Biological Imperative Behind Transformative States
We are not here by accident. The vast majority of near-death experiencers and those like them return convinced of that—that there is a “plan.” Most call it “God’s Plan” or that of Deity. Whether or not you agree with what this implies, the work I have done over the decades has shown me that the lens through which we view transformative states is much too small.
Forgive me for repeating, but I intend to do a lot of that in this chapter, as I want to make certain you recognize the patterns that form from the various details I have been giving you. It’s the patterns that tell us the larger story, unveiling one surprise after another. Transformations of consciousness are not what you think they are. They are more.
Look again at how these experiences happen: suddenly or under turbulent conditions (“baptisms of the holy spirit,” near-death episodes, shamanic vision quests, kundalini/ku breakthroughs, from certain types of head trauma or being hit by lightning) or from slower, more tranquil means (spiritual or religious disciplines, rituals/worship, meditation, mindfulness techniques, or, because in a prayerful and sincere state of mind, an individual desires to become a better person).
Look again at the universal patterning that spreads out from them: “Initial,” few elements, more of an introduction for the individual to other ways of perceiving reality (a stimulus); “Unpleasant or Hellish,” distressing, as if a confrontation with distortions in one’s own attitudes and beliefs (a healing); “Pleasant or Heavenly,” loving, as if a realization of how important life is and how every effort that one makes, counts (a validation); and “Transcendent,” luminous, as if an encounter with Oneness and the collective whole of humankind (enlightenment).
Look again at the mosaic of physiological and psychological aftereffects which evidence not only changes that follow, but the possibility of transmutation. The end result of integration can be spectacular: more intelligent, healthier, able to heal, more patient and loving, happier, wiser, more spiritual and spiritually guided, self-governing, creative, innovative, highly intuitive with unusual sensitivities, service-oriented, open-minded, possess a certain calmness with rapid change and the coming of death. These traits lie in stark contrast to what most societies consider to be “normal” behavior.
Mull over what you have just read in light of this very big surprise: the physiological and psychological traits that many experiencers develop may be and often are passed on to future generations.
Earlier in my work I disagreed with this notion. I even found cases where, in my estimation, such an idea had no truth in fact; I said so in several of my books. Then I started to discover the opposite: children of experiencers who must have inherited their parents’ unique characteristics because such traits were not present in older generations of the family. In many of these cases, those same traits also passed from that child to grandchildren (again, the only link being the older grandparent who had had a transformative experience).
Admittedly, DNA is altered by the intensity of unusual or unique experiences. Yet, thanks to scientists like Emma Whitelaw (who worked with mice), findings now show that a child’s DNA can bear the physical “marks” of a parent’s experience plus the consequences of that experience. Adaptation can actually occur in a single generation, making it hereditary.150 This finding puts transformative experiences squarely in the lap of evolutionary processes that advance the human species . . . and in ways we may not have previously recognized.
Hold on to this thought as we explore broad sweeps of time, searching for repeating patterns that mimic the transformative process—individually and culturally.
Evolution’s Ups and Downs
Some years ago I hunkered down in a library (there really are people who do that sort of thing), curious to see if any important historical figures might have had a near-death experience as a child. This is what I looked for: a serious
illness or accident between birth and age fifteen that nearly claimed the individual’s life; marked differences in behavior afterward; the effect of aftereffects (especially bouts of depression intermingled with brilliance, sensitivity to sound/sun/medications, robust health yet complaints about digestion/allergies, hunger for learning, creative/intuitive, abstract at young ages); and an almost obsessive drive to accomplish a particular task or project.151
In that week I found evidence that Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Queen Elizabeth I, Edward de Vere the 17th Earl of Oxford (whom I now believe to be the real Shakespeare), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Winston Churchill, Black Elk, Walter Russell, and Valerie Hunt all might have had near-death episodes. My sense from this exercise, and what I keep finding elsewhere, is that most of those who made a significant difference in their society, and in the world, had a near-death or transformative episode as a child that inspired their life’s work.
You may get bogged down trying to search through historical data about wet/dry/hot/cold weather cycles, earth changes, and pole reversals. With all the sociopolitical unrest versus improvement that occurred, you may begin to wonder if the human family actually spent more time devolving than evolving.152 But don’t stop there. Notice the incredible number of breakout periods of invention and creativity that criss-crossed our planet in wave after wave of upliftment, such as what happened during the Golden Age of Greece. Each major region on earth had its “Culture Bearer,” an enlightened and charismatic genius, who brought reason and justice, industry and philosophy to the populace, enabling the refinements of culture to occur (Example: Huang ti; the legendary “Yellow Emperor” of China153). Notice that all the world’s great religions formed within the same basic time frame because of Great Lights who taught a better way to live.
Include in this search what we can know of ancient peoples, intelligent habitations, dating back millions of years, and the cyclic rise and fall of great cities and empires. The Mayan Calendar illustrates this, not as some “end of the world” cosmic clock, but rather as a device used to track the development of consciousness on this planet.154 Esoteric traditions underscore these early claims, as do researchers who have discovered actual relics that predate current conclusions—relics that have repeatedly been tossed off as “mistakes” or “anomalies” by scientists unwilling to study them.155
Please note as you glance across the historical landscape “of record” (which must include oral histories, myths, dream recall, and “memories” to be complete), that whenever the human family was at its lowest ebb and seemed to be enveloped in “darkness,” “new lights” entered in the form of great teachers, leaders, and messiahs. Were they all suited to their role because they were “Chosen of God” or possessed of a “Divine Destiny,” or, because as children or as an adult they were transformed by an experience of “the numinous”? History points to the latter.
The miracle is . . . each transformed individual, adult or child-turnedadult, taught others how to be like them, or to be as if “born again,” or as if to have “the new face” of what it means to live in accordance with Higher Truth.
Even more of a miracle is . . . thanks to the modern conveniences of film, books, newspapers, and television, anyone can be exposed to experiencers of transformative states and their personal narratives. This exposure alone can alter and uplift the consciousness of others . . . and it is doing just that.
My research has shown me that near-death and transformative states of consciousness comprise the vehicle that advances the human species. This advancement is a biological imperative. No other form of adaptation or pressure can compare to the power unleashed by a consciousness freed to know Itself.
What I have just said may seem excessively speculative, an unnecessary stretch, that does nothing to advance the point of this book. Au contraire, this is exactly where my research has led me. I now believe this is why we have transformations of consciousness, why we crave them, and what they are for.
When I stated that “no other form of adaptation or pressure can compare with the power unleashed by a consciousness freed to know Itself,” I want to also state that the unleashing of that power gains its momentum from the harmonics of the human heart.
In many important ways, the heart is like a fifth brain. Between 60 and 65 percent of all heart cells are neural cells. The heart is the major glandular structure in the body, with an electromagnetic field five thousand times more powerful than that of the brain organ. Shaped like a torus donut, the heart field busily converts one form of energy to another as it generates an infinite number of harmonic waves. These harmonics run throughout all bodily systems and are so sensitive that they react to conditions four to five minutes before actual occurrence. This futuristic awareness tells the heart if what’s coming is positive or negative so it can prepare. First the heart feels the coming event, then the brain is aware of it, then the eye sees it.156
These harmonic waves come into coherence when you feel good, are in love, experience happiness, have bonded with someone in a positive way, or are in a supportive relationship. When the heart’s energy coheres, it taps higher energy fields to empower itself, while emoting feelings of love and connectedness. This feeling sense operates like a thinking mind with an unbelievable memory, as the medical community is now discovering with heart transplants: the history of the donor can infuse, even overshadow, the life of the organ recipient.157 Although cellular memory is true of every cell and body part, a heart transplant can seem as if a “brain transplant.”
Heart harmonics entwine worldwide. Our spiritual traditions claim this is so because our heart is the center of our soul. A soul set free by these harmonics serves. The universal law of love translates “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” This Golden Rule is the real measure of behavior between peoples. Love propels us, shapes us, heals us, designs our very being, and determines how we evolve. Charles Darwin wrote in his second book that the power of love and moral sensitivity were more important in evolutionary processes than the survival of the fittest and natural selection.158
Love, or the lack of it, dominates near-death scenarios. You see the lack of love in unpleasant states (where people are distressed or confused by what they find) and in rueful life reviews. But the fullness of love, being loved, and discovering the power of love layers the overall effect near-death states have on experiencers, their significant others, and anyone who hears about them. It is no exaggeration to say that the majority of near-death experiencers return “in love with love.” The love they were bathed in provides the momentum that pushes them over the edge. That love, beyond the descriptions we give it, connects us to All That Is . . . God/Allah/Deity. For just a few seconds or minutes, you were one with The One. That experience of love beyond measure pales anything less. It is challenging for experiencers to “step it down” a few degrees after their episode so as not to freak people out.
The heart’s code is love: love of Source, love of others, love of self. Yet we understand the power of love best when we see what it can do through the magic of empathy and compassion. To talk about near-death experiences and transformative states of consciousness is to talk about the heart’s ability to expand, embrace, and include the fullness of waveform harmonics—which we recognize as altruism.
Just ask experiencers. They’ll tell you that everything they saw, be it bird, flower, grass, rock, river, or mountain. Every swirl of color, every speck of darkness, every skeleton, storm, rage of wind—was alive, full alive, totally conscious and aware of that consciousness. Everything! Nothing is inert.
Scientists are beginning to agree that the universe is looking less like a great machine than a great thought. The consciousness of that thought comprises the full spectrum of visible and invisible realities, the very fabric that underlies vibration, pulse, plasma, and the harmonics of the universal heart becoming aware of itself as it, too, evolves and expands.
As we move closer to a sense of oneness within ourselves, others, and our world, we move into a natural vibratory rhythm of forty cycles per second— a little fast for us now, but we’re getting there. In transformative states, and especially in the research now being conducted, we are learning that each human being contains the organizing intelligence of the universe. The structure of how our brain/mind assembly works follows the blueprint of how our universe works. Even cellular biology reveals the mechanisms that bridge mind/ body connections, providing us with a molecular basis for consciousness and evolution. There are master switches in our physical body that create the conditions of our body and shift with our changing place in the world. We are continually affected by consciousness, eternally co-existing with all beings in the timeless moment of “now.” What is known to one mind is knowable to all minds.
We seem to think that “potential” is dream stuff. I challenge that assessment. My work has shown me that potential is functional. Potential is what causes the shimmer in the Void. It is a pre-energetic, a sense of presence that appears in advance of manifestation. Potential is that functional thoughtstream that partners the creative process in actual creation. Without the presence that defines it, creation would lack the energy it needs to order what is intended into directional force fields.
If you don’t understand a word I’ve just said, remember this: potential is a thing, a function—what exists just before consciousness stretches, pops, shimmers, and hums along in its journey from the particle to the wave and back again. Without potential, light waves would never become dense enough to form matter. Potential obeys the need for consciousness, through intention, to reflect Creation’s core intelligence.
In near-death and transformative states we become aware of our own and the world’s potential. We discover that everything is twice created: first in mind, then in form.
Published by Hampton Roads
Book Excerpt, Spirituality