A lot about the afterlife has been talked about in human history. However, they have been mostly from religious scriptures and speculation. The messages from NDEs are a result of returning from a short exposure to the afterlife and so they are from a firsthand experience rather than from interpretations of scriptures. Such messages help us assess the relationship between the way we live and the nature of our afterlife. Explorations on the preparedness to meet the afterlife can significantly help us bring about a spiritual order in our life and that will have its favorable impact on our practical life too. In this article, we look into some aspects of NDEs that throw useful light on the link between the way we live and what transpires in the afterlife.The Primary Message
One of the most significant pointers from NDEs is the fact that what we carry with us from ‘here’ to ‘there’ is the way we have treated others – the harsh and kind treatments. Our social success and failure have no value at all over there. During the Life Review of NDEs, people go through the joy or suffering that they dished out to others during their lifetime. On those occasions, the Light also tells the entity about possible alternative behavior so that the person at the receiving end is not made to feel sad. Those aspects help us understand how important it is to be kind and gentle to our fellow beings, be they human beings or otherwise. No doubt, religions also teach similar attitudes but such verbal instructions cannot have the same impact as the messages from a firsthand experience such as an NDE. This is further reinforced by the fact that, during the Life Review, the entity is actually made to feel what his recipients went through at his hand.
Negative NDEs
It has been observed that about 3 to 4 % of the cases studied showed very unpleasant NDEs. These have been mostly of the people who had lived a violent, riotous life or who had strong guilt feelings about themselves. More research is needed to establish these correlations firmly. However, the fact that a majority of people have had very pleasant NDEs indicates that just paying some attention to our life (in terms of treating others) can make the afterlife a rewarding one.
The Impact of Self-awareness
Self-awareness can be said to be the most fundamental virtue because in its wake other virtues fall in place as byproducts. Such awareness brings about a natural austerity in our lives. The austerity that comes through following instructions cannot have the same depth and constancy. When this awareness moves into the region of the afterlife through the NDE messages, life acquires sacredness. That is, the life here and now acquires a wholesome and holistic rhythm. One can expect that, to that extent, it will have favorable significance in the afterlife too.
The Flood
The NDE messages tell us that, on the other side, we are flooded with unconditional love, the likes of which we can never experience on earth. In order to be able to receive that humongous blessing, we should have a level of consciousness that is evolved enough to do so. That capacity cannot come through giving oneself over to belief systems because such a situation can only support self-centered activity in the name of religion. The evolution of consciousness is directly related to pure self awareness.
My book "In Quest of the Deeper Self" deals with similar topics as also my website http://spiritualit...