On Twitter, a hospice nurse provides observations about our final moments.

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On Twitter, I encountered a fascinating series of observations on death from an unnamed hospice nurse. The Twitter account is from @Rachel, Spirited Sparrow. This particular Twitter link has garnered more than 5.4 million views.

Death fascinates us. The final moments fascinate us. Near-death experiences fascinate us. What the afterlife is like fascinates us. On this blog, we have reviewed at least three books that deal with these topics. One is Map Of Heaven. Another is Glimpses BeyondDeath’s Door. A more recent review is The Devil Sat on My Bed: Encounters with the Spirit World in Mormon Utah.

Now back to the Twitter post. The thread is here. I am going to share only a little of it below this paragraph. I urge readers to go to the above link. The response from readers is also very interesting to read.

Some takeaways after my conversation with a hospice nurse of 12 years based on her experience:

… The people who have the smoothest transition to death tend to be those with a deep faith. The people who have the most difficulty are those who are adamantly anti-faith (rather than just having no faith)

… Men overwhelming more than women will pass when everyone has left the room. ...

… Based on what the dying have said during the end, it seemed to her that they were seeing through sheer curtains, whereas we are always looking at the other side through blackout curtains.

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Recently, LDS Apostle Jeffrey Holland, who has been in poor health, more or less revealed to church members in the church’s April conference that he had a near-death experience. I hear frequend anecdotes about family members near death, conversing with deceased family members that only they can see. I think that correlates with the hospice nurse’s comment about “seeing through sheer curtains.”

The debate over life after death, or whether we will greet deceased family and friends when we die, will always have fervent supporters and opponents. The proof, for better or worse, arrives when we die.

Map of Heaven advocates more study of afterlife

First, neurosurgeon Eben Alexander published “Proof of Heaven,” his account of a near-death experience he had when in a coma due to a severe meningitis attack. The book was a big success, and not surprisingly has its many admirers and detractors. Claims of an afterlife, not to mention personal accounts, have that whiff of religion that annoys secularists and atheists. On the flip side, just about any claim of a near-death experience is held up as “proof” by believers in the divine.

However, in his follow-up book, “The Map of Heaven” (co-written with Ptolemy Tompkins), Alexander is deliberately de-emphasizing the religious angle to the afterlife, while not completely eliminating it. Instead, Alexander advocates the science of the prenatural, or “supraphysical realms” that exist beyond earth. He argues that the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, personal experiences -- some noted in the book -- and the work of historical scientists and academics make it necessary to consider the afterlife and near-death experiences as a science to be studied, rather than something based only on faith. The author cites the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia as one academic center where consciousness, including perceptions of the afterlife, are being studied.

I found the book persuasive but I’m a believer, and as mentioned, there’s no doubt that a cottage industry trying to debunk Alexander and others will always be around. And to be fair, proof that one can touch is not going to be found in “Map of Heaven.” Alexander believes that all humans have an inherent knowledge of a divine existence, and that to lose it, or enhance it, are acquired traits. He argues that as young children we were more in tune with these perceptions, and that their strength weakens as we age. He further argues that religions -- not one religion -- are tools for humans to regain the spiritual consciousness that we once had as children. In fact, he asserts that just about every religion in the world has as its goal, and accomplishment, a path to understanding the afterlife and the greater consciousness. Our ability to tap into this metaphysical portion of the earth depends on us. The author suggests meditation, and accompanying music, as positive tools.

In the book, Alexander writes, “... it’s important to understand that beneath the ’religion vs. science’ debates that lead nowhere, there is another, deeper, and fantastically fruitful discussion going on. In this discussion, a new group of participants -- people who have undergone near death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and other experiences suggestive of the survival of consciousness -- are increasingly being allowed to describe the experiences they’ve undergone. And a small but select group of scientists have decided to take them seriously; to ponder, with the combination of fierce intellectual rigor and vigorous, empirical open-mindedness that all good science demands, what they might mean.”

Since this is a community with a majority of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I’ll mention some similarities in “Map of Heaven” to Mormon theology, with the reminder that Alexander appropriately is disinterested in picking a preferred religion. “Map of Heaven” describes an afterlife that is located in the same world we exist and is comprised of several layers of consciousness, each more perfect than the other. In fact, Alexander argues that each object in our world probably has a more-enhanced version of itself in another layer of existence. We enjoy more perfection as we advance to each higher level. 

The book is written kindly; it’s not preachy or supercilious. Nevertheless, Alexander wants the reader to understand that despite their doubts, he knows that an afterlife exists. In fact, he urges that the word “believe” be changed to “know” when it comes to the divine, quoting Carl Jung, who late in his life said, “I don’t believe; I know,” when asked for his stance on the afterlife. Further study on the divine is envisioned by the author as a means toward better understanding a discipline that is with us and has always been with us.

Recognizing the divine, understanding that there is a map of the afterlife, can provide meaning to a world that sometimes seems meaningless. The adversity of the world, great or small, is a preparation for something greater. The author writes, “... ’all shall be well’ is not the same as ’everything is peachy.’ It does not mean the world is without its terrors and sufferings. It means that we can navigate this world if we remember one thing: that beneath its apparent meaninglessness, there is a world of meaning which is rich beyond all imagining.”

As mentioned, this is a subject that is easy to play the skeptic with; perhaps that’s because scoffing at personal experiences involving the afterlife or increased consciousness is easier than wondering if there is something to all this and perhaps even trying to see if we can enhance our own consciousness. I think I can echo Alexander and others that despite what our personal opinion on these issues are, the best stance is to respect the opinions of all involved.

-- Doug Gibson

-- Originally published at StandardNET

Near-death experiences get treatment from a Mormon perspective

I’m fascinated by the pop science/theology behind near-death experiences. I’ve read the “Life After Life” books by Raymond Moody and several similar books. It was interesting to discover another book, “Glimpses Beyond Death’s Door,” by Brent L. and Wendy C. Top, from the publisher Covenant Communications, which strictly follows LDS theology and authority. One can assume that “Glimpses …” has been thoroughly vetted by LDS leaders.

The authors provide a fascinating, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink, overview of near-death accounts, using many sources liberally with an emphasis on the “Journal of Near-Death Studies” and the book “Heaven and Hell,” by Emanuel Swedenborg, the 18th century Swedish Lutheran and scientist who claimed to have received access to the afterlife. Also, there are numerous discourses and writings from LDS Church leaders, including “Journal of Discourses” accounts from Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt.

If one had to summarize the “Glimpses …” approach quickly, it’d be, “throw out traditional, man-made concepts of crime and punishment” and “law and order.” Based on a consistency in nature of the NDE accounts compiled, compassion and love are the dominating sensations experienced at death. Whether greeted by family members, a guardian angel, or a life reviewer, death appears to be a very positive experience. Many didn’t want to return and were unaffected by the grieving of family members and friends.

(I will digress here to mention that for this essay, I am assuming that these experiences are real, although other than the amount of professed NDEs out there, they certainly can’t be proven. Belief in divinity, an afterlife, or other theological claims cannot be proven, and that’s why heated debate usually leads nowhere. But even for skeptics, I’d wager the topic has interest.)

LDS theology teaches that after death, we go to a spirit world, which is located here on earth, but in another sphere which we can’t see as mortals. Much of “Glimpses …” is devoted to taking the many NDEs of Swedenborg, Moody and others, and applying what they witnessed as glimpses into an LDS-taught afterlife spirit world. While readers must be aware that the authors can pick and choose sources as they wish, the Tops do make an effort to put most precedence on NDEs from non-Mormon sources.

Based on “Glimpses …,” it’s clear that death, and the subsequent journey into a spirit existence, is not a place where a “true church,” or “true gospel,” is revealed to newly arrived spirits. In fact, the most persons who have had NDEs, the authors claim, experience a jump in spirituality, but not any discernible move toward a particular religion. In fact, the afterlife spirit world, based on many of the NDE accounts, is a place where autonomy, the ability to choose, still exists for the deceased person.

Despite being in a sphere that is more advanced than earth’s (time travel and increased, almost effortless comprehension of reason, memory and why bad things happen have been reported) there is no traditional purgatory or hell. However, most accounts show a separation of spirits based on knowledge accumulated and charitable love expressed for others while on earth. The spirits who might be in a place considered “paradise” are not tethered to their own self interests or to so-called worldly pleasures. They want to serve others. They also appear to shine with a greater light. Spirits who might be considered to be in a “prison” are focused on their own personal needs or worldly indulgences. It is hypothesized that these latter group of spirits, still obsessed with the world and themselves, are those who haunt TV ghost shows, or seances, etc.

Not surprisingly, spirits tend to congregate based on similarities of light and interests. It is hypothesized by many that more self-centered spirits are simply not comfortable within the light that more “righteous” spirits possess. Hence, “hell” or spirit “prison” is defined not as an application of pain, but an inability to comfortably exist with other, more righteous people. (This frequent NDE observation may be one reason that conservative, fundamentalist Christians, who preach a literal hell of eternal pain and fire, are often very skeptical of NDEs.)

In “Glimpses …,” the authors point to these distinctions, personal autonomy, and the absence of a “true church” or “gospel” as evidence that missionary work is active in the afterlife spirit world. This is one main concept, of course, that distinguishes this NDE book from others. What may surprise LDS readers of “Glimpses …” is that missionary work in the spirit world appears to be harder than missionary work here on earth. The Tops quote Swedenborg, who describes an afterlife of spirits waiting to be taught more information, but not until they are ready to receive it.

One of the more interesting concepts of afterlife found in “Glimpses …” is that it is far harder to convert a spirit than it was during that spirit’s mortal existence. That’s because a spirit retains all that he or she learned — secular or non-secular — into the spirit world. Personalities and beliefs are molded in life, as well as passions, biases, prejudices and pride. In other NDEs recounted in “Glimpses …,” persons who had been skeptics of divine authority while on earth were observed still believing what they had once taught, and rationalizing, in a manner favorable to their own self interests, what they were now experiencing.

The idea that persons are assigned in the afterlife based on where they feel comfortable is similar to the C.S. Lewis novella, “The Great Divorce,” where residents of “hell” are taken on a journey to “heaven,” where spirits there minister to those in hell and attempt to convince them to remain with them, endure some discomfort (a metaphor for repentance), and live in heaven. Most of the travelers reject the offer, either because they are still afflicted with self pride and self pity, or, interestingly, believe that they are already in heaven.

That may sum up a key theme of “Glimpses …,” which is that in the spirit world, we end up basically where we are most comfortable. In Mormon doctrine, this requires a Millennium’s worth of missionary work, and the attendant effort to bring everyone to knowledge of God’s plan of salvation. Rather than viewed condescendingly, or as a tool to argue with, “Glimpses …” can be an interesting — and unique — opportunity to learn how Mormon theology views NDEs and how it fits into its doctrine.

-       Doug Gibson

A version of this column was previously published at StandardBlogs.