Is Death Just Another Step in our Existence? People see a lot of things just before they die and many times what they see makes their death easier for them. Many a professional who administers to those who are on the last leg of their life journey are told by the people seeing these things what they have seen. Workers who have been in nursing homes for a period of time or work in a hospice have learned a lot of things about death and it is all not just sadness as the rest of us would imagine. It is hard to believe someone who is sick and dying could die happy especially if they are suffering, but it happens a lot more than we would suspect. This raises the question what are these people seeing and why? It has been reported many times people see their deceased loved ones. When the people who are about to die report this they usually say their loved ones look very happy and are getting ready to greet them when they pass. This is a very pleasant thought for us. How many of us would like to know there is something better waiting for us and it is filled with people who we know and loved? I think I can answer that question by saying it is probably all of us. The people who report these things come from all walks of life and all religions. It seems no one religion or race has a lock on this type of thing even though some religions teach if you are not one of them you are going to hell. Some religions teach we have to respect other ones and if people live decent lives they will all go to heaven no matter what religion they believe in. Even if someone had no religion and is a decent person they may still be able to experience the same phenomena. A study which was taken of dying atheists shows they have the same near-death experiences as others so what does this prove? It could prove God forgives most of us and doesn’t hold it against someone who doesn’t believe in him. It could also mean what others think is just another step in existence. They believe we live, we die and we are reincarnated. Then there are those who believe there are multiple steps involved in existence and we only know about life and death but there could be more steps and maybe the ultimate goal is finally heaven. There are many belief systems out there. I don’t want to get too personal about this. When nurses who worked with the dying were interviewed they had some interesting stories and one could tell by the way they were speaking many of them had become believers in a higher power after being told by patient after patient who were dying what they saw was remarkably similar. Some nurses said they noticed a pattern in what they were being told and that pattern went this way. People who were dying would say they saw their deceased family and friends and then they died a short time later. Could it be we get tipped off when we are near the end of our lives and are about to die? One could certainly make a case for this. Does that mean those who are killed suddenly in some manner like a car wreck or in some similar way actually have a vision of family and friends just before they die? We would have no way of knowing, but it is a possibility. Some dying people have reported seeing what they thought were angels and after seeing them they felt a lot better and many have said the fear of death left them. There are some long time medical personnel who have come to believe people who are dying get a glimpse of the afterlife just before they die and this is what makes them feel better and it seems most people get a glimpse of something good but not everyone. The nurses and doctors were struck by the similarity of the things they were told. Some told nurses their loved ones told them they were waiting, but in a few cases, they reported they were told it wasn’t time yet. There are some scientists who attribute what these people are saying as just a change in brain chemistry but quite a few doctors and nurses don’t believe this, after all when you get people all saying the same thing about what they are seeing it is just too much of a coincidence. There seems to be a higher power at work here. I remember one man who was an evangelist and had a bad heart attack. He was brought to the hospital and died for a few minutes before he was revived. He reported just the opposite of a calming experience. He said he felt his spirit float out of his body and into the hallway where he heard a terrible noise. He saw demons running toward him snarling and he screamed out Jesus please help me and just before they reached him he awoke back in his body. When he asked the doctors what happened they told him he had died for a few minutes but they were able to bring him back. He swore to live a much better life after that and now goes around telling his story to others and telling them why they should live a good life. Many people who have died and were brought back changed. People who have experienced a near death experience have been quizzed by scientists and a rating system has been constructed which rates parts of that experience from 0 to 2 on sixteen different items. It has been said that even though NDEs or near-death experiences can be quite different there are some things that seem to repeat quite often and these are bright lights, an overwhelming sense of love and out-of-body experiences. Scientists found in their study events in the NDEs did not occur in the same sequence all the time and each experience could be quite different. There is a story about a woman who had suffered from cancer for years and it looked like her end was in sight. She went into a coma but awoke some time later with an incredible story. She said she was floating out of her body and was able to see everything at once. She met her deceased father and he told her she shouldn’t go any further because she would not be able to return. She said she didn’t want to return to her life, she felt no pain and everything seemed beautiful. She also didn’t have any more fear and felt a wave of love all around her. A few days later she came out of her coma and her tumors had shrunk tremendously. She told others she knows it wasn’t her time to die. Could there still be things we don’t understand about death? Death may not just be the end of life as we know it, but it could lead to another type of living. The universe is full of mysteries and it is beginning to look like death is just another one.
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