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| Into the Light a Near Death Experience A personal account of dying by Mellen-Thomas Benedict |
| Simply Stunning! A Profound and Beautiful experience 3 guided meditations on one CD. Access higher wisdom, intuition and insights. Change habits, release fears and activate healing energies. Instant downloads Buy now Click CD's for more info. Read what others say Click cover for info |
In 1982 I died from terminal cancer. My condition was non-operable. I
chose not to have chemotherapy. I was given six to eight months to live.
Before this time, I had become increasingly despondent over the nuclear
crisis, the ecology crisis, and so forth. I came to believe that nature had
made a mistake - that we were probably a cancerous organism on the
planet. And that is what eventually killed me. Before my death, I tried all
sorts of alternative healing methods. None helped.
So I determined that this was between me and God. I had never really
considered God. Neither was I into any kind of spirituality, but my
approaching death sent me on a quest for more information about
spirituality and alternative healing. I read various religions and
philosophies. They gave hope that there was something on the other
side.
I had no medical insurance, so my life savings went overnight on tests.
Unwilling to drag my family into this, I determined to handle this myself. I
ended up in hospice care and was blessed with an angel for my hospice
caretaker, whom I will call "Anne." She stayed with me through all that
was to follow. It lasted about eighteen months.
THE LIGHT OF GOD
I woke up about 4:30 am and I knew that this was it. I was going to die. I
called a few friends and said good-bye. I woke up Anne and made her
promise that my dead body would remain undisturbed for six hours, since
I had read that all kinds of interesting things happen when you die. I went
back to
sleep.
The next thing I remember, I was fully aware and standing up. Yet my
body was lying in the bed. I seemed to be surrounded by darkness, yet I
could see every room in the house, and the roof, and even under the
house.
A Light shone; I turned toward it, and was aware of its similarity to what
others have described in near-death experiences. It was magnificent and
tangible, alluring. I wanted to go towards that Light like I might want to go
into my ideal mother's or father's arms. As I moved towards the Light, I
knew that if I went into the Light, I would be dead. So I said/felt, "Please
wait. I would like to talk to you before I go."
The entire experience halted. I discovered that I was in control of the
entire experience. My request was honoured. I had conversations with
the Light. That's the best way I can describe it. The Light changed into
different figures, like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, mandalas, archetypal
images and signs. I asked in a kind of telepathy, "What is going on here?"
The information transmitted was that our beliefs shape the kind of
feedback we receive: If you are a Buddhist or Catholic or Fundamentalist,
you get a feedback loop of your own images. I became aware of a Higher
Self matrix, a conduit to the Source. We all have a Higher Self, or an
oversoul part of our being, a conduit. All Higher Selves are connected as
one being, all humans are connected as one being. We are literally the
same being. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It was like
all the love you've every wanted, and it was the kind of love that cures,
heals, regenerates.
I was ready to go at that time. I said "I am ready, take me." Then the Light
turned into the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen: a mandala of
human souls on this planet. I saw that we are the most beautiful creations
- elegant, exotic . . .everything. I just cannot say enough about how it
changed my opinion of human beings in an instant.
I said/thought/felt, "Oh, God, I didn't realize." I was astonished to find that
there was no evil in any soul. People may do terrible things out of
ignorance and lack, but no soul is evil. What all people seek, what
sustains them, is love, the Light told me. What distorts people is a lack of
love.
The revelations went on and on. I asked, "Does this mean that
humankind will be saved?" Like a trumpet blast with a shower of spiraling
lights, the Light "spoke," saying, "You save, redeem and heal yourself.
You always have and always will. You were created with the power to do
so from before the beginning of the world."
In that instant I realized that WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED; this is
what the "Second Coming" is about. I thanked the Light of God with all my
heart. The best thing I could come up with was: "Oh dear God, dear
Universe, dear Great Self, I love my Life."
The Light seemed to breathe me in even more deeply, absorbing me. I
entered into another realm more profound than the last, and was aware
of an enormous stream of Light, vast and full, deep. I asked what it was.
The Light answered, "This is the RIVER OF LIFE. Drink of this manna
water to your heart's content." I drank deeply, in ecstasy.
THE VOID OF NOTHINGNESS
Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away from the planet on this stream
of Life. I saw the earth fly away. The solar system, whizzed by and
disappeared. I flew through the center of the galaxy, absorbing more
knowledge as I went. I learned that this galaxy, and all of the Universe, is
bursting with many different varieties of life. I saw many worlds. We
arenot alone in this Universe.
It seemed as if all the creations in the Universe soared past me and
vanished in a speck of Light. Almost immediately, a second Light
appeared. As I passed into the second Light, I could perceive forever,
beyond Infinity. I was in the Void, pre-Creation, the beginning of time, the
first Word or vibration. I rested in the Eye of Creation and it seemed that I
touched the Face of God. It was not a religious feeling. I was simply at
One with Absolute Life and Consciousness.
It would take me years to assimilate the Void experience. It was less than
nothing yet greater than anything. Creation is God exploring God's Self
through every way imaginable. Through every piece of hair on your
head, through every leaf on every tree, through every atom, God is
exploring God's Self. I saw everything as the Self of all. God is here.
That's what it is all about.
Everything is made of light; everything is alive.
THE LIGHT OF LOVE
I rode the stream directly into the center of the Light. I felt embraced by
the Light as it took me in with its breath again. And the truth was obvious
that there is no death; that nothing is born and nothing dies; that we are
immortal beings, part of a natural living system that recycles itself
endlessly. I was never told that I had to come back. I just knew that I
would. It was only natural, from what I had seen.
As I began my return to the life cycle, it never crossed my mind, nor was I
told, that I would return to the same body. It did not matter. I had
complete trust in the Light and the Life process. As the stream merged
with the great Light, I asked never to forget the revelations and the
feelings of what I had learned on the other side.
I thought of myself as a human again and I was happy to be that. From
what I have seen, I would be happy to be an atom in this universe. An
atom. So to be the human part of God ... this is the most fantastic
blessing. It is a blessing beyond our wildest estimation of what blessing
can be. For each and every one of us to be the human part of this
experience is awesome, and magnificent. Each and every one of us, no
matter where we are, screwed up or not, is a blessing to the planet, right
where we are.
So I went through the reincarnation process expecting to be a baby
somewhere. But I reincarnated back into this body. I was so surprised
when I opened my eyes, to be back in this body, back in my room with
someone looking over me, crying her eyes out. It was "Anne," my hospice
caretaker. She had found me dead thirty minutes before.
We do not know how long I was dead, only that she found me thirty
minutes before. She had honoured my wish to have my newly-dead body
left alone. She can verify that I really was dead. It was not a near-death
experience. I believe I probably experienced death itself for at least an
hour and a half. When I awakened and saw the light outside. Confused, I
tried to get up to go to it, but I fell out of the bed. She heard a loud
"clunk", ran in and found me on the floor.
When I recovered, I was surprised and awed about what had happened, I
had no memory at first of the experience. I kept slipping out of this world
and kept asking, "Am I alive?" This world seemed more like a dream than
that one. Within three days, I was feeling normal again, clearer, yet
different than ever before. My memories of the journey came back later.
But from my return I could find nothing wrong with any human being I had
ever seen. Previous to my death I was judgmental, believing that people
were really
screwed up. Everyone but me.
About three months later a friend said I should get tested for the cancer,
so I got the scans and so forth. I felt healthy. I still remember the doctor
at the clinic looking at the "before" and "after" scans. He said, "I can find
no sign of cancer now."
"A miracle?" I asked.
"No," he answered. These things happen . . . spontaneous remission."
He seemed unimpressed. But I was impressed, and knew it was a miracle.
LESSONS LEARNED
The Great Mystery of life has little to do with intelligence. The universe is
not an intellectual process. The intellect is helpful; but our hearts are the
wiser part of ourselves.
Since my return I have experienced the Light spontaneously, and I have
learned how to get to that space almost any time in my meditation. You
can also do this. You do not have to die first. You are wired for it already.
The body is the most magnificent Light being there is. The body is a
universe of incredible Light. Spirit is not pushing us to dissolve this body.
We don't need to commune with God; God is communing with us in every
moment.
I asked God: "What is the best religion on the planet? Which one is
right?" God said with great love: "I don't care." What an incredible grace.
It does not matter what religion we are. Religions come and they go, they
change. Buddhism has not been here forever, Catholicism has not been
here forever, and they are all about to become more enlightened. More
light is coming into all systems now.
Many will resist and fight about it, one religion against the next, believing
that only they are right. When Godhead said, "I don't care," I understood
that it is for us to care about, because we are the caring beings. The
Source does not care if you are Protestant, Buddhist, or Jew. Each is a
reflection, a facet of the whole. I wish that all religions would realize it and
let each other be. It is not the end of separate religions, but live and let
live. Each has a different view. And it all adds up to the
big picture.
I went over to the other side with a lot of fears about toxic waste, nuclear
missiles, the population explosion, the rain forest. I came back loving
every single problem. I love nuclear waste. I love the mushroom cloud;
this is the holiest mandala that we have manifested to date, as an
archetype.
More than any religion or philosophy on earth, that terrible, wonderful
cloud brought us together all of a sudden, to a new level of
consciousness.
Knowing that maybe we can blow up the planet fifty times, or 500 times,
we finally realize that maybe we are all here together now. For a period
they had to keep setting off more bombs to get it in to us.Then we started
saying, "we do not need this any more." Now we are actually in a safer
world than we have ever been in, and it is going to get safer. So I came
back loving toxic waste, because it brought us together.
These things are so big.
Clearing of the rain forest will slow down, and in fifty years there will be
more trees on the planet than in a long time. If you are into ecology, go
for it; you are that part of the system that is becoming aware. Go for it
with all your might, but do not be depressed or disheartened. Earth is in
the process of domesticating itself and we are cells on that Body.
Population increase is getting very close to the optimal range of energy
to cause a shift in consciousness. That shift in consciousness will change
politics, money, energy.
What happens when we dream? We are multi-dimensional beings. We
can access that through lucid dreaming. In fact, this universe is God's
dream. One of the things that I saw is that we humans are a speck on a
planet that is a speck in a galaxy that is a speck. Those are giant
systems out there, and we are in sort of an average system. But human
beings are already legendary throughout the cosmos of consciousness.
The little bitty human being of Earth/Gaia is legendary. One of the things
that we are legendary for is dreaming. We are legendary dreamers. In
fact, the whole cosmos has been looking for the meaning of life, the
meaning of it all. And it was the little dreamer who came up with the best
answer ever. We dreamed it up. So dreams are important.
After dying and coming back, I really respect life and death. In our DNA
experiments we may have opened the door to a great secret. Soon we
will be able to live as long as we want to live in this body. After living 150
years or so, there will be an intuitive soul sense that you will want to
change channels. Living forever in one body is not as creative as
reincarnation, as transferring energy in this fantastic vortex of energy
that we are in. We are actually going to see the wisdom of life and death,
and enjoy it. As it
is now, we have already been alive forever.
Here's to life! Here's to death! Here's to it all!
Mellen-Thomas Benedict is an artist who survived a near-death
experience
in 1982.
Dr. Kenneth Ring has said, "His story is one of the most remarkable I
have
encountered in my extensive research on near-death experiences."
chose not to have chemotherapy. I was given six to eight months to live.
Before this time, I had become increasingly despondent over the nuclear
crisis, the ecology crisis, and so forth. I came to believe that nature had
made a mistake - that we were probably a cancerous organism on the
planet. And that is what eventually killed me. Before my death, I tried all
sorts of alternative healing methods. None helped.
So I determined that this was between me and God. I had never really
considered God. Neither was I into any kind of spirituality, but my
approaching death sent me on a quest for more information about
spirituality and alternative healing. I read various religions and
philosophies. They gave hope that there was something on the other
side.
I had no medical insurance, so my life savings went overnight on tests.
Unwilling to drag my family into this, I determined to handle this myself. I
ended up in hospice care and was blessed with an angel for my hospice
caretaker, whom I will call "Anne." She stayed with me through all that
was to follow. It lasted about eighteen months.
THE LIGHT OF GOD
I woke up about 4:30 am and I knew that this was it. I was going to die. I
called a few friends and said good-bye. I woke up Anne and made her
promise that my dead body would remain undisturbed for six hours, since
I had read that all kinds of interesting things happen when you die. I went
back to
sleep.
The next thing I remember, I was fully aware and standing up. Yet my
body was lying in the bed. I seemed to be surrounded by darkness, yet I
could see every room in the house, and the roof, and even under the
house.
A Light shone; I turned toward it, and was aware of its similarity to what
others have described in near-death experiences. It was magnificent and
tangible, alluring. I wanted to go towards that Light like I might want to go
into my ideal mother's or father's arms. As I moved towards the Light, I
knew that if I went into the Light, I would be dead. So I said/felt, "Please
wait. I would like to talk to you before I go."
The entire experience halted. I discovered that I was in control of the
entire experience. My request was honoured. I had conversations with
the Light. That's the best way I can describe it. The Light changed into
different figures, like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, mandalas, archetypal
images and signs. I asked in a kind of telepathy, "What is going on here?"
The information transmitted was that our beliefs shape the kind of
feedback we receive: If you are a Buddhist or Catholic or Fundamentalist,
you get a feedback loop of your own images. I became aware of a Higher
Self matrix, a conduit to the Source. We all have a Higher Self, or an
oversoul part of our being, a conduit. All Higher Selves are connected as
one being, all humans are connected as one being. We are literally the
same being. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It was like
all the love you've every wanted, and it was the kind of love that cures,
heals, regenerates.
I was ready to go at that time. I said "I am ready, take me." Then the Light
turned into the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen: a mandala of
human souls on this planet. I saw that we are the most beautiful creations
- elegant, exotic . . .everything. I just cannot say enough about how it
changed my opinion of human beings in an instant.
I said/thought/felt, "Oh, God, I didn't realize." I was astonished to find that
there was no evil in any soul. People may do terrible things out of
ignorance and lack, but no soul is evil. What all people seek, what
sustains them, is love, the Light told me. What distorts people is a lack of
love.
The revelations went on and on. I asked, "Does this mean that
humankind will be saved?" Like a trumpet blast with a shower of spiraling
lights, the Light "spoke," saying, "You save, redeem and heal yourself.
You always have and always will. You were created with the power to do
so from before the beginning of the world."
In that instant I realized that WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED; this is
what the "Second Coming" is about. I thanked the Light of God with all my
heart. The best thing I could come up with was: "Oh dear God, dear
Universe, dear Great Self, I love my Life."
The Light seemed to breathe me in even more deeply, absorbing me. I
entered into another realm more profound than the last, and was aware
of an enormous stream of Light, vast and full, deep. I asked what it was.
The Light answered, "This is the RIVER OF LIFE. Drink of this manna
water to your heart's content." I drank deeply, in ecstasy.
THE VOID OF NOTHINGNESS
Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away from the planet on this stream
of Life. I saw the earth fly away. The solar system, whizzed by and
disappeared. I flew through the center of the galaxy, absorbing more
knowledge as I went. I learned that this galaxy, and all of the Universe, is
bursting with many different varieties of life. I saw many worlds. We
arenot alone in this Universe.
It seemed as if all the creations in the Universe soared past me and
vanished in a speck of Light. Almost immediately, a second Light
appeared. As I passed into the second Light, I could perceive forever,
beyond Infinity. I was in the Void, pre-Creation, the beginning of time, the
first Word or vibration. I rested in the Eye of Creation and it seemed that I
touched the Face of God. It was not a religious feeling. I was simply at
One with Absolute Life and Consciousness.
It would take me years to assimilate the Void experience. It was less than
nothing yet greater than anything. Creation is God exploring God's Self
through every way imaginable. Through every piece of hair on your
head, through every leaf on every tree, through every atom, God is
exploring God's Self. I saw everything as the Self of all. God is here.
That's what it is all about.
Everything is made of light; everything is alive.
THE LIGHT OF LOVE
I rode the stream directly into the center of the Light. I felt embraced by
the Light as it took me in with its breath again. And the truth was obvious
that there is no death; that nothing is born and nothing dies; that we are
immortal beings, part of a natural living system that recycles itself
endlessly. I was never told that I had to come back. I just knew that I
would. It was only natural, from what I had seen.
As I began my return to the life cycle, it never crossed my mind, nor was I
told, that I would return to the same body. It did not matter. I had
complete trust in the Light and the Life process. As the stream merged
with the great Light, I asked never to forget the revelations and the
feelings of what I had learned on the other side.
I thought of myself as a human again and I was happy to be that. From
what I have seen, I would be happy to be an atom in this universe. An
atom. So to be the human part of God ... this is the most fantastic
blessing. It is a blessing beyond our wildest estimation of what blessing
can be. For each and every one of us to be the human part of this
experience is awesome, and magnificent. Each and every one of us, no
matter where we are, screwed up or not, is a blessing to the planet, right
where we are.
So I went through the reincarnation process expecting to be a baby
somewhere. But I reincarnated back into this body. I was so surprised
when I opened my eyes, to be back in this body, back in my room with
someone looking over me, crying her eyes out. It was "Anne," my hospice
caretaker. She had found me dead thirty minutes before.
We do not know how long I was dead, only that she found me thirty
minutes before. She had honoured my wish to have my newly-dead body
left alone. She can verify that I really was dead. It was not a near-death
experience. I believe I probably experienced death itself for at least an
hour and a half. When I awakened and saw the light outside. Confused, I
tried to get up to go to it, but I fell out of the bed. She heard a loud
"clunk", ran in and found me on the floor.
When I recovered, I was surprised and awed about what had happened, I
had no memory at first of the experience. I kept slipping out of this world
and kept asking, "Am I alive?" This world seemed more like a dream than
that one. Within three days, I was feeling normal again, clearer, yet
different than ever before. My memories of the journey came back later.
But from my return I could find nothing wrong with any human being I had
ever seen. Previous to my death I was judgmental, believing that people
were really
screwed up. Everyone but me.
About three months later a friend said I should get tested for the cancer,
so I got the scans and so forth. I felt healthy. I still remember the doctor
at the clinic looking at the "before" and "after" scans. He said, "I can find
no sign of cancer now."
"A miracle?" I asked.
"No," he answered. These things happen . . . spontaneous remission."
He seemed unimpressed. But I was impressed, and knew it was a miracle.
LESSONS LEARNED
The Great Mystery of life has little to do with intelligence. The universe is
not an intellectual process. The intellect is helpful; but our hearts are the
wiser part of ourselves.
Since my return I have experienced the Light spontaneously, and I have
learned how to get to that space almost any time in my meditation. You
can also do this. You do not have to die first. You are wired for it already.
The body is the most magnificent Light being there is. The body is a
universe of incredible Light. Spirit is not pushing us to dissolve this body.
We don't need to commune with God; God is communing with us in every
moment.
I asked God: "What is the best religion on the planet? Which one is
right?" God said with great love: "I don't care." What an incredible grace.
It does not matter what religion we are. Religions come and they go, they
change. Buddhism has not been here forever, Catholicism has not been
here forever, and they are all about to become more enlightened. More
light is coming into all systems now.
Many will resist and fight about it, one religion against the next, believing
that only they are right. When Godhead said, "I don't care," I understood
that it is for us to care about, because we are the caring beings. The
Source does not care if you are Protestant, Buddhist, or Jew. Each is a
reflection, a facet of the whole. I wish that all religions would realize it and
let each other be. It is not the end of separate religions, but live and let
live. Each has a different view. And it all adds up to the
big picture.
I went over to the other side with a lot of fears about toxic waste, nuclear
missiles, the population explosion, the rain forest. I came back loving
every single problem. I love nuclear waste. I love the mushroom cloud;
this is the holiest mandala that we have manifested to date, as an
archetype.
More than any religion or philosophy on earth, that terrible, wonderful
cloud brought us together all of a sudden, to a new level of
consciousness.
Knowing that maybe we can blow up the planet fifty times, or 500 times,
we finally realize that maybe we are all here together now. For a period
they had to keep setting off more bombs to get it in to us.Then we started
saying, "we do not need this any more." Now we are actually in a safer
world than we have ever been in, and it is going to get safer. So I came
back loving toxic waste, because it brought us together.
These things are so big.
Clearing of the rain forest will slow down, and in fifty years there will be
more trees on the planet than in a long time. If you are into ecology, go
for it; you are that part of the system that is becoming aware. Go for it
with all your might, but do not be depressed or disheartened. Earth is in
the process of domesticating itself and we are cells on that Body.
Population increase is getting very close to the optimal range of energy
to cause a shift in consciousness. That shift in consciousness will change
politics, money, energy.
What happens when we dream? We are multi-dimensional beings. We
can access that through lucid dreaming. In fact, this universe is God's
dream. One of the things that I saw is that we humans are a speck on a
planet that is a speck in a galaxy that is a speck. Those are giant
systems out there, and we are in sort of an average system. But human
beings are already legendary throughout the cosmos of consciousness.
The little bitty human being of Earth/Gaia is legendary. One of the things
that we are legendary for is dreaming. We are legendary dreamers. In
fact, the whole cosmos has been looking for the meaning of life, the
meaning of it all. And it was the little dreamer who came up with the best
answer ever. We dreamed it up. So dreams are important.
After dying and coming back, I really respect life and death. In our DNA
experiments we may have opened the door to a great secret. Soon we
will be able to live as long as we want to live in this body. After living 150
years or so, there will be an intuitive soul sense that you will want to
change channels. Living forever in one body is not as creative as
reincarnation, as transferring energy in this fantastic vortex of energy
that we are in. We are actually going to see the wisdom of life and death,
and enjoy it. As it
is now, we have already been alive forever.
Here's to life! Here's to death! Here's to it all!
Mellen-Thomas Benedict is an artist who survived a near-death
experience
in 1982.
Dr. Kenneth Ring has said, "His story is one of the most remarkable I
have
encountered in my extensive research on near-death experiences."
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If you would like to copy an article to your site or blog, you are welcome
to do so, but must note copyright Sonya Green and refer to
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suggestions or comments, a small donation, purchasing a product or
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