Why Do People Have Near Death Experiences?

I read this article today and it made me think about something.

LSJ - Near-death experience was life-changing for Howard Storm.

A lot of people have died and come back. The vast majority did not have what is termed a Near Death Experience. I have read that it is about 1 in 10. An NDE is a "spiritual" experience. It is the experience that some have of seeing the other side and is generally characterized as a feeling of love and acceptance shared with at least one other sentient being. Now, some people before they die "imagine" talking to love ones who have passed and are waiting for them. While that experience is equally important, it is not characterized as an NDE as those people haven't physically died.

I cannot prove my experience was "triggered" by my first heart attack; but, they did occur at the same time. As I have read about NDEs in the last few years, it also caused me to read about spiritual experiences unrelated to death. The Kundalini experience is very similar to a NDE and the Shamans that used certain drugs described their experiences in similar terms. The experiences are described as more real than real and the reality that the person is aware of is mental rather than true physical.

The man in the article was an atheist and the experience made him a believer in God. I was already a believer in God when I started this blog and prior to my heart attack. My understanding of him and the afterlife was different than it is now; but, the experience didn't cause me to redefine me. I was quite happy being me before and my still am, that did not change for me.

Very few people write about these experiences and it is usually the one's whose lives totally changed because they changed and redefined themselves and their purpose. I believe it is very possible that most who have had an NDE don't talk about it much. Certainly few of us bother to write a book. I don't even bother reading books about other people's NDEs. Been there, done that and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.

I remember when my doctor told me that I had a heart attack just from looking at my EKG. LOL. What he didn't know was why it wasn't in my folder. I didn't tell anyone at the time and didn't see a doctor for three years or so. I didn't think it mattered as I did not believe I would be alive for more than a year. Funny, my doctor recently told me that when he met me, he didn't think I would live out the year. Now he says I am fine, that must be bad. LOL.

Anyways, as I read the article I began thinking about the purpose of having an NDE when many of us do not come away redefining ourselves. Perhaps the experience has more than one purpose and that the purpose is unique to each one who experiences it. Not everyone has an NDE; but enough do that we may be able to determine some patters and they would be reflective of the effects they had which would tell us about the varying purposes.

If you read about NDEs then consider that the people that write about theirs are a small minority of people who had them. It is (falsely) claimed that the average serial killer is white (that is because other countries catch fewer, report it less and haven't bothered profiling them by country, race or religion. Try catching a serial killer in remote Africa or Polynesia, you have no CSI labs. You may not even have a local police. We don't know what the average serial killer is like, we only know about the ones we caught in America and a couple of one's from other countries. NDEs are the same way, the average person, if he knows about them, only knows about the people who ended up writing books about it and they are an incredibly small minority of us.

As I considered all of this it made me wonder why have the experience if you don't end up redefining yourself? What purpose did it serve for me or others like me? It didn't change me, I knew it was real and learned some things; but, it didn't change me and I did not need reassurance as to who I am or why I am me. I am me and that has never been on the table. I felt the love on the other side and would have stayed; but, I had to be me, I couldn't become addicted to the ultimate love if it meant losing me. I have to be me, it is the only thing I have fought for during my whole life. The right to be me while accepting the responsibility for all my actions as the price tag. That is the burden and freedom that comes with free will. My NDE did not do a darn thing to change that except maybe make me even more determined to be me, the person I choose to be.

Many people come out of their NDEs feeling a need to redeem themselves. I didn't, I came out feeling a need to forgive myself. I did not come out of it with a "mission" or message for anyone other than me. I do preach; but, that was because I was asked to by another person who had an NDE or two. LOL. He had at least two, I had two heart attacks; but, the second one did not result in an NDE that I know of. I believed in God already and I chose my path and career when I was 4 and my brother and sister know that for a fact.

God gives us all gifts and challenges, we define ourselves by determining what we will do with them. Success is not about achieving your goals, it is about becoming you, defining you. That is called free will and is it's purpose.