Since this book begins with a description of the NDE phenomenon, you might wonder if this book will claim that near-death experiences somehow prove the existence of God and an afterlife. No, this book does not make that claim. Most scientists who research NDEs do not make that claim. Most experiencers of NDEs are absolutely sincere in their beliefs. They might be telling the truth, or at least part of the truth. However, the rest of us cannot be certain, especially because NDE testimonies can be interpreted in many ways. Furthermore, most people who have had an NDE would probably admit that they do not know the answers to every question you might have about spirituality, or life, or the Universe, or God.
This book does not investigate their experiences, and it does not focus on the NDE phenomenon. In fact, not a single case of any individual’s near-death experience is presented in this book. If those stories are of interest to you, there are plenty of books and videos about them available in libraries and on the Internet.
Instead, this book is about you.
It is about you because you have a soul. You may not believe that you have a soul, but if the soul is an illusion, then the soul is a very important illusion which you should not dismiss or ignore as supposedly irrelevant. This is because your soul describes your deepest essence. Imagine yourself without your physical appearance, without your race or ethnicity, without your intelligence, without your wealth, without your social or economic status, without your successes and your failures, without your reputation, without any family relatives or any family history, without any friends, without any enemies, without any beliefs about anything. Imagine yourself without any of those personal abilities or things that you show to the world about yourself.
What is left is your own awareness that you exist. You have consciousness. You have a soul. You may hate yourself. You may love yourself. But you cannot escape yourself. You cannot escape your soul.
This book was written during a time of global uncertainty. Humankind in the past has survived greater problems—warfare, poverty, economic exploitation and upheaval, technological disruptions, natural disasters and diseases—but only rarely has humankind faced such problems all at once as they are impacting us now, their duration measured not in centuries or decades but within a very intense few years or months, demolishing so much of what we thought we knew about the world and believed that we could trust. While the future is rushing down upon us like an avalanche, many of us are still trying to understand the present.
Increasing numbers of people now describe themselves as “spiritual” rather than “religious.” There are other people who do not know what to believe about spiritual matters, or how to describe themselves with any certainty. For many of them, religions have become cultural decorations rather than sources of moral guidance, and so those people turn elsewhere for moral guidance, for example to secular institutions. But those institutions often disappoint us. When those institutions are needed the most, they may respond with incompetence, or cowardice, or hypocrisy.
Science, which studies material reality, has offered us explanations that are logical and very technical, but as spiritual answers they do not always feel very satisfying. Religions offer us answers that may have satisfied most people in the past; but for many people today, traditional religious dogmas feel outdated and leave many questions unanswered. Many of those dogmas are based on interpretations of ancient scriptures, but those interpretations sometimes failed to consider the original context of the scriptures or possible symbolic meanings. Those interpretations are now centuries old and sometimes depend on outdated concepts that violate facts, involve weak reasoning, and even include moral contradictions. The results are religious dogmas that are overly complicated and, for many people today, no longer make logical sense.
Questions abound. Why is life so difficult? Why are there so many religions, and even cultures without religions? If God is good, why do evil things happen? Why does God not fix everything, immediately? Or, if God does not exist, then what are we to do? What can we trust? What is the point? Are we missing the point?
You may feel overwhelmed, perhaps betrayed. Perhaps you feel alone. Perhaps you are suffering a crisis of faith. You probably have some questions.
This book offers some possible answers. If these answers make sense to you, then they may help you to understand why the world is the way that it is, how it works, what the purpose of your life is, and why this lifetime is so very important for your soul, even if you do not believe that your soul exists.
Not everyone will agree with these answers. If you believe that any of these answers is inaccurate or insulting, then I offer my sincere apologies. I am human and I make mistakes, and I had no intent to be hurtful. Some answers in this book are my opinions and interpretations based on my own study, analysis, and intuition. If you are certain of a different answer based on your faith, then you have the certainty of your faith. Beware, however, because faith by itself does not determine whether or not an idea is true. Faith is a commitment of trust and confidence. So, whatever you choose to focus your commitment to, please choose carefully. Seek the truth. Before you renounce any alternative ideas, please consider those alternative ideas. Remember that the truth, the genuine truth, can understand any criticism.
The answers offered in this book are based on five premises:
- The first premise is that God exists and is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving. However, if God does not exist, then the implications of that possibility are also considered.
- The second premise is that God created the planet Earth for a purpose—but that purpose requires that the presence of God not be obvious to everyone. God is mysterious and often hidden. The reasons for this premise and its implications are explained.
- The third premise is that every religion has its own unique purpose—and that all religions fit together into a giant mosaic of spiritual beliefs. This premise may surprise people who, when they look at religions, see only differences and rivalries and assume that only one religion can be the truth. Yet, all religions exist because God wants them to exist, for otherwise they would not exist. Religions are different paths to the same destination, the Divine. Are we missing the point? Differences are the point. Differences do not make religions wrong. And that includes beliefs that are called atheism. If God did not want atheists to exist, there would be no atheists. They do exist because they have purposes, and those purposes are not evil.
- Fourth, mystical experiences can reveal messages from the Divine. A mystical experience occurs within the mind, which means that mystical experiences can include dreams. Several books in the Holy Bible are descriptions of dreams. The Holy Quran was conveyed to the Prophet Muhammed by the Angel Gabriel on God’s behalf, conveyed using dreams. Not all dreams are mystical experiences, however. A mystical experience can occur when a person is awake. Perhaps the person sees, hears, or feels something so extraordinary that the experience causes an intense emotional reaction. Examples of this include a religious vision, or an eventful meditation. The received message, which the person may or may not attribute to a supernatural source, can take the form of words, emotions, symbols, or clues. In many cases the message must be interpreted, especially if it involves symbols. The message may convey warnings; it almost always conveys insights. And the experience may transform that person’s life. A mystical experience can also occur when a person is clinically dead or nearly dead. We call that a near-death experience. The typical NDE occurs under conditions that are so extreme, and it conveys messages that are so profound, that the NDE phenomenon deserves its own premise.
- The fifth premise is that near-death experiences could be supernatural. Indeed, NDEs could be the supernatural miracles of our time, conveying Divine information almost as important as the sacred texts of the world’s religions. Or, alternately, near-death experiences may involve nothing that is supernatural—but NDEs do reveal information about the subconscious mind and the deepest desires of the human species. Either way, NDEs reveal profound information that you should learn about.