When We Come Back From The Dead

Saturday Stories

June 16, 2018

Olaf Sunden was fourteen years old when he died. It was a simple tonsillectomy. But in those days, patients were given a whiff of ether as anesthetic – and his heart stopped.

The boy knew he was dead. He felt so happy and free. There was no pain. He lost interest in the things he was leaving behind. Death is insignificant next to the incomparable beauty that surrounded him.

Then he saw The Light. At that moment, he understood what the greatest scientists in history have been trying to find despite the limits of our finite physical brains.

But he was told to go back – it was not his time yet. The doctors were shocked that he revived after they pronounced him dead, and they even forgot to take his tonsils out.

Olaf became an honors student after that experience, and even after being told by his teachers that he had learning disabilities. His amazing increase of intelligence made him one of the leading engineers in the R&D field, and he now holds over a hundred chemical patents.

This is my first story on near-death experiences since I wrote "What Happens At The Hour of Our Death," which I've designed to be the definitive article about NDEs.

I made a point-by-point analysis why they are not drug-induced hallucinations or otherwise caused by the usual alibis by debunkers. I've also come to accept that there will always be people who'll diminish anything that is beyond what they are capable of being open about.

The first story was published on February 8, 2009 in The Philippine Star, retitled "Experiencing Life After Life," one of the weekly winners of the My Favorite Book contest sponsored by National Bookstore. My featured book was the landmark Life After Life by Dr. Raymond Moody, the pioneer of the modern scientific study of NDEs. It is now part of my first book, The Way To Inner Peace, published by Amazon Kindle.

This new blog story is inspired by Transformed By The Light: The Powerful Effect of Near-Death Experiences On People's Lives by Dr. Melvin Morse and Paul Perry, authors of Closer To The Light: Learning From The Near-Death Experiences of Children which is an integral part of the first story.

A person who comes back from the dead is never the same again. He becomes more compassionate toward his fellowmen. It is interesting to note the contrast with those who almost died without an NDE: nothing changed in their life.

Some of the core elements of a real near-death experience are the sense of unexplainable peace, the knowing of being dead, the reluctance to return, moving through a tunnel and into the light, and meeting a Being of pure radiance. The encounter with this Light is what transforms a person forever.

Dr. Morse and his groundbreaking Seattle Study, the world's most comprehensive ongoing research on NDEs today, has broken more grounds with their new Transformations Study – about what happens to those who had near-death experiences. This new book is so precise, down to the last detail, of the many safeguards they put in place to get the most accurate findings.

The results are incredible and absolutely defies coincidences. People who had NDEs, regardless of age, race, culture, religious beliefs and socio-economic background, have lost all fear of death, they value life even more, they have gotten more intelligent – and they have become psychic.

A young woman named Sandy committed suicide because of family problems she felt she couldn't bear anymore. She got her aunt's prescriptions pills and took them all.

She saw the bright light. "Why are you doing this?" it asked with infinite love and total lack of judgment. "How could you give back the greatest gift I have given you? You should go back and a find a place where you will feel more comfortable so you can learn more about me."

Since then, she began to see or dream what would happen the following day. One night, she dreamed of her uncle's death. He was in perfect health. But the next day, he died from a sudden heart attack.

People who had NDEs all say they cannot find the words to fully describe what they have seen and how they have felt. The most poignant recollections don't even come close to the real thing.

A woman named Jan died when she drowned when she was ten. What happened next was so vivid that she still has crystal-clear memories of it even after thirty-five years:

"I went through a tunnel or something like it that wasn't very long," she says. "There was a beautiful light on the other side, so beautiful that I didn't want to leave. All around was a garden where the plants were all bright. In the light I could see a figure that I know was God. I wanted to stay with him but I didn't. Someone pulled me out of the water and pumped my lungs."

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com