I love reading Near Death Experiences (NDE’s), but, while there are similarities amongst some of them, they are all different. I was just reading one, and trying to imagine what my afterlife would be like.

I think the great variety comes from the vastness of the Universe. Just like every person’s life is different, so too is every death.There are a great many shared themes, though, such as the famous Tunnel. Other common themes are the Void, Life Review, Feelings of Endless Love, and the Temple of Knowledge.

I have fears that I might end up in the Void. The Void is an unhappy place that some souls inhabit. It is not always clear why. Most NDE’s say that God would never abandon anyone because he is love. While others say that some souls choose to live in the Void, and God lets them choose. Finally, there are some NDE’s that say it is a place VERY bad souls are thrown into… kind of like hell. All of this (and maybe more that I am forgetting) is said with such certainty that it can be confusing.

Anyway, some Near Death Experiences start in the Void and soon leave. I am afraid that I will start there too. I fear this because when I was Manic I was very fearful. Some people get joyful Mania, but I was afraid I had died and gone to hell. So I pray to the angels to help me greatly when I die so that I don’t suffer again.

I do not think myself a particularly horrible person, who would have to fear hell, but I still fear it. I feel a goodness inside myself that I don’t think God would throw away, don’t you feel it too?

There are some NDE’s that are not happy, but terrifying. This can be scary, but I think there is a reason for such NDE’s. I will try to explain with my Mania again. If my Mania had been completely happy Euphoria, I would have wanted another Mania. It was my fear of having another Mania that helped me stay in treatment. So despite the remaining fears of hell, I am blessed to have been so TERRIFIED. It is possible negative NDE’s have reasons too. They do not necessarily reflect what that person’s real death will be like but are lessons.

Similarly, even some positive NDE’s are likely more lessons than reflections of the afterlife. So it can be hard and confusing to picture the afterlife. Yet, I think the similarities can give us a basic idea of what to expect.

Next, I will talk about the Life Review. It seems like it is an opportunity to learn from your life. It is not usually about Judgement, and life mistakes are often viewed with sympathy. A person sometimes gets to see points of their life from other people’s perspectives, such as feeling what the stranger felt during an interaction.

An NDE very often includes feeling Love (and Joy) more profoundly than on Earth. Some NDE’s also feel this Love is mixed with a feeling of Unity with all beings. This Unity doesn’t mean you lose knowledge of Individuality. You are still yourself, it is just you can feel what others think and feel. This includes their emotions and sometimes their memories.

Finally the Temple of Knowledge, which seems to come about in two main ways. In one way a person visits a Temple/Library and interacts with beings. The other is a mental download of information/knowledge. This download often includes memories of other lifetimes.

I hope I have written a good post about Near Death Experiences. There are actually other similarities (such as instant travel) that I am forgetting. I think that NDE’s do often try to show us a bit of the afterlife, to help with our fear of death. I cannot be certain, but I think the common themes show us what the first stage of death is like.

I have stated before that I read NDE’s because they comfort me. I used to worry that I was dead and just didn’t realize it. Early on after being diagnosed Bipolar, I was on a medication that made me want to kill myself. I had been thinking about it for a long time after my Mania due to Depression, but this medication made things worse. I did try to kill myself at one point. I was afraid that I had died, and was unable to accept what I had done so I pretended to be alive (Like in the Sixth Sense). Reading Near Death Experiences has eliminated this fear almost entirely.

Also most NDE’s help with my fear of hell. Just reading them, and seeing the similarities, makes me think they are really what death is like. Nothing to fear after all.

Most of the NDE’s I have read are from AngelicView. The Blog mainly posts exceptionally written NDE’s from sites like the Near Death Experience Research Foundation and Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife.