Spiritual laws of life as seen from a near-death experience

Near-death experiences — experiences I prefer to hear about from others! — are misnamed, I feel. Why not short-death experiences? Those who have long-death experiences are still having them. But for the short-deathers, there’s that tantalizing peep into the other side when they report back.

Here’s one, let’s pick up at the moment of death:

Then I felt a surge of energy. It was almost as if I felt a pop or release inside me, and my spirit was suddenly drawn out through my chest and pulled upward, as if by a giant magnet. My first impression was that I was free. There was nothing unnatural about the experience. I was above the bed, hovering near the ceiling. My sense of freedom was limitless and it seemed as if I had done this forever. 

Betty Eadie describes seeing a lifeless body, and having been a nurse, knew immediately that it was dead. Upon closer inspection she recognized it as her own. She felt compassion for the body, thinking it was younger and prettier than she remembered.

But the eyes of the spirit see in more dimensions than the eyes of a mortal body. I saw my body from all directions at once — from in front, behind, and from the sides. I saw aspects to my features I had never known before, adding a wholeness, a completeness to my view. This may be why I didn’t recognize myself at first.

. . . . . 

I saw that death was actually a ‘rebirth’ into a greater life of understanding and knowledge that stretched forward and backward through time. 

Betty left the hospital and visited her family in her new free-as-thought form, witnessing her children at play.

I came to know that each of my children was on earth for their own experiences, that although I had thought of them as ‘mine,’ I had been mistaken. They were individual spirits, like myself, with an intelligence that was developed before their lives on earth. Each one had their own free will to live  their life as they chose. I knew that this free will should not be denied them. They had only been placed in my care.

Betty was soon immersed in a realm beyond this realm and was able to bring back some of the insights she gained — or recovered — there: 

I understood that there is a vital, dynamic link between the spirit world and mortality [her term for life here], and that we need the spirits on the other side for our progression. I also saw that they are very happy to assist us in any way they can. 

I saw that in the pre-mortal world we knew about and even chose our missions in life. 

. . . . . 

We were given agency to act for ourselves here. Our own actions determine the course of our lives, and we can alter or redirect our lives at any time. I understood that this was crucial; God made the promise that he wouldn’t intervene in our lives unless we asked him. 

. . . . . 

Whatever we become here in mortality is meaningless unless it is done for the benefit of others. 

. . . . . 

Above all, I was shown that love is supreme. I saw that truly without love we are nothing. We are here to help each other, to care for each other, to understand, forgive, and serve one another. We are here to have love for every person born on earth. 

. . . . .  

Each spirit has the capacity to be filled with love and eternal energy. 

. . . . .  

I knew that anything we do to show love is worthwhile: a smile, a word of encouragement, a small act of sacrifice. We grow by these actions.  

. . . . . 

I saw that we all volunteered for our positions and stations in the world, and that each of us is receiving more help than we know. 

. . . . . 

I saw that there are many laws by which we are governed — spiritual laws, physical laws, and universal laws — most of which we have only an inkling. These laws were created to fulfill a purpose, and all laws complement each other. When we recognize these laws and learn how to use their positive and negative forces, we will have access to power beyond comprehension. 

. . . . .  

Within our universe are both positive and negative energies, and both types of energy are essential to creation and growth. 

. . . . . 

I saw how a person’s words actually affect the energy field around him. The very words themselves — the vibrations in the air — attract one type of energy or another. A person’s desires have a similar effect. There is power in our thoughts. We create our own surroundings by the thoughts we think. Physically, this may take a period of time, but spiritually it is instantaneous. If we understood the power of our thoughts, we would guard them more closely. If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. In our thoughts and words we create our own weaknesses and our own strengths. 

. . . . . 

All creation begins in the mind. 

. . . . . 

We don’t have the knowledge to judge people accurately here.

___________________________
Excerpts from Embraced By The Light, by Betty J. Eadie. Her near-death event took place in November of 1973.