The following are questions submitted by Suprina Walvekar, a college student interested in the near-death experience ( near-death experience ), and my answers to them.

Question:   What are you hoping to learn from researching near-death experiences?

Answer:   Foremost, I would like to find hard scientific proof of life after death, specifically, proof that consciousness continues on well after bodily death. There is a mountain of circumstantial evidence but very little scientific evidence this is true. As stated earlier, It may be asking too much to obtain scientific evidence of life after death. Existence after death may not be scientifically quantifiable. I also hope to go beyond the proof of life after death and discover exactly what does happen after death and why. What is life after death like? Is there a God? Do we reincarnate? These are some of the main questions I want to answer from NDE research.

Question:  What kinds of near-death experience accounts intrigue you the most?

Answer:  The near-death experiences that interest me the most are those where people see and hear things while out of their bodies which are later verified by third parties to have happened. I already have documented a few such near-death experiences at this web page .  While these kind of near-death experiences have been documented, they still only constitute circumstantial evidence and not hard scientific evidence.  Also, the near-death experiences of people born blind interest me tremendously. I have documented one at this web page .  Studies have shown   people born blind do have vision while out of their bodies.  For such people, this is the first time in their lives they have ever seen anything. Also, near-death experiences revealing the reality of reincarnation fascinate me. I have documented several on my website at this web page .  Near-death experiences foretelling the future are extremely interesting.  You can read them at this web page . Finally, I am also interested in near-death experience from people who do not fit the typical profile of the many people who have published accounts.  These can be found throughout my website.

Question:  What do you think is the most important information you learned from researching near-death experiences?

Answer:  By far, the most important fact I have found from the near-death experience is the extreme importance of love. The near-death experience appears to be an encounter with the "Source" of all the love in the universe, or God, if you will. The near-death experience suggests unconditional love is the highest form of religion there is. They also suggest the way to the higher spiritual realms of bliss is through practicing unconditional love while here on earth. Those who do not practice unconditional love will have trouble attaining these higher spiritual dimensions of bliss in the spirit world. Another important fact I have learned from the near-death experience is this:  we are currently living in one of the afterlife's spiritual dimensions right now.  The physical universe represents only one of many dimensions to the afterlife.  But this physical universe is not considered among the highest spiritual dimensions. Some near-death experiences suggest the physical universe is somewhere in-between the lowest spiritual dimension and the highest spiritual dimension. It appears we are already living in the afterlife right now, but just in a lower spiritual realm of that life. Humanity's goal is to attain these higher spiritual realms through the processes of physical and spiritual evolution.   Eventually there will come a day when everyone will finally reach the highest spiritual realm and become reunited with the Whole from which we all originated.

Question:  How would you describe a typical near-death experience ?

Answer:  A typical NDE is very easy to describe. It begins when one finds themself outside of his or her physical body; hearing themself being declared dead or seeing their physical body being resuscitated; hearing the thoughts and experiencing the feelings of the living people around your physical body; traveling through a "tunnel" that seems to connect our physical dimension to another dimension; seeing a being of light emanating tremendous love and who knows everything about you yet holds no judgment; being reunited with loved ones and friends who have already died; having your life replayed from the day of your birth to the time of your death (this has been described as an instantaneous reliving of every thought, feeling, and moment of your entire life); and finally, being told that "your mission is not complete" or "your time to die has not yet come," and eventually finding yourself back in your body. One of the strangest aspects of the NDE is when the NDEr is told they are not ready to die and they must return to physical life. It suggests there is a purpose for our lives here on earth. It suggests once we have fulfilled that purpose, we will be able to return to our spiritual origins. The fact so many people are being told the same message, adds credibility to the NDE in my view.

Question:  What aspects of a near-death experience catch your attention the most?

Answer:  The life review has been said to be the single most enlightening aspect of the NDE because it is where your life, often for the very first time, is shown to make complete and profound sense. Every question you may possibly have is ultimately answered. You not only re-experience in an instant every thought, deed, and feeling from your entire life, but also every thought, deed, and feeling of everyone you have ever been in contact with during your entire life. Even the thoughts, deeds and feelings of strangers you briefly encountered are made known. The life review has been described as seeing your life from every possible perspective: from your own, other’s and God’s perspective. Every imaginable perspective is there to be reviewed. The life review is the complete and instant reliving of your entire life from birth to death, all the while, having unlimited and complete knowledge. Sometimes the life review is not limited to just one life, but many lifetimes.

Question:  Did the near-death experiences you research take away your fear of death?

Answer:  Very much so. It would be very difficult to read all of the NDEs I have read and not come away with the idea that death itself is really an illusion. We are already in the afterlife right now. Death is just a brief transition into another realm of existence. In this respect, the NDE is very contagious. The profound, enormous love described and the utter lack of fear associated with the NDE are the important aspects that have changed me. Madame Marie Curie, one of the discoverers of radiation, once said, "Nothing in life is to be feared, only understood." Once a person understands death from reading about the NDE, there is nothing to fear except pain which is a normal and necessary instinct for survival.  

Question:  Did you look at life differently after you first read some of these near-death experience accounts?

Answer:  Oh, yes. Before I read a single NDE, I was a fundamentalist Christian who was absolutely certain that upon death, I would be carried to the highest heaven to be forever before the very throne of God. After reading thousands of NDEs, I realized that merely "believing in Jesus" is not enough to attain heaven. I learned that one must become as Christ Himself practicing unconditional love for others to reach this level of bliss. It means we get to heaven by emulating the love of Jesus rather than worshipping Jesus. The NDE tore away my narrow religious mindset. It made my religion to be ridiculous at best. From the NDE, I found a great spirituality and understanding I could not get through religion alone. The great thing about it is you don't need to have an NDE to benefit from an NDE. All you need to do is read what others have experienced and put into practice what you have learned. Most of the New Testament was written by a man who had an NDE. Paul bases his whole authority as an apostle on his NDE (2 Corinthians 12:2-4). Anyone who has had an NDE can write a Bible or something comparable to it. In fact, anyone who has a profound spiritual experience has the authority to write a Bible. There are many profound NDEs documented. Reading them will give one a larger understanding of the nature of God, life, religion, and afterlife which the Bible alone cannot.

Question:  If you could tell us one important lesson in life according to your near-death experience research what would it be?

Answer:  By far, the most important lesson coming from the NDE is this: love is what life is all about. Love is where we all came from. Love is where we will all eventually return. Learning and growing in love is why we are alive. Life is God. Love is God. Everyone and everything is a part of God. All things come from love and all things are held together by love. Love is the way to heavenly bliss. There is no greater force in the universe than love because love is universal and divine. The more love one learns and the more love one gives and receives, the better one's life and afterlife will be. In this respect, death doesn't change much. According to one NDEr, Chuck Griswold, death is merely "a body problem." We must grow to heaven here on earth. The earth is a kind of "school of higher learning." We must pass this test called "life" and grow spiritually in love in order to graduate and make it to the next grade. Sometimes the class is flunked, sometimes it is repeated, but there is a continuous progression toward making the grade. Life is the question and the answer to this test is called "love." When love is learned, we can go on to other higher schools of learning. It is quiet possible that this process of learning never ends.

Question:  What do you enjoy most about researching near-death experience accounts?

Answer:  I enjoy the passion and love found in the NDE. Each NDE is unique but, as mentioned earlier, there are universal aspects found in a great majority of them. Love is one of them and the most profound. The drama of the NDE is so fascinating, it is obvious these are accounts would be difficult to fabricate. One NDEr commented that he couldn’t have fabricated his NDE even if he tried. The NDE has a "strangeness" that all real things have. They are stranger than fiction. This "strangeness" surprisingly shows up in a majority of NDEs, such as being told "it is not your time to die." I enjoy the full range of emotions expressed in the NDE: from initial fear and desperation about dying, to curiosity about being separated from your physical body, to the tremendous love found in the light, to the satisfaction of having all your questions answered in a life review, to the ecstasy of being one with all things in heaven, to the pain of finding out you have to return, to the inability to tell others about it later. Every human emotion, in its rawest form, can be found in the NDE.

Question:  What do you believe is the ultimate meaning of near-death experiences if you could tell us in one or two sentences?

Answer:  Life, love and light is God; and we are a part of it. Love is the way to heaven and death is merely an illusion because life is everlasting.

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