Question: Many people who were
diagnosed as having died clinically but who then returned to life, report a
remarkable experience that proves that the soul remains alive after death. The
person feels himself being detached from his body, hovers over it, gazes at it
from above, and sees everything that happens to him. He enters a gigantic
tunnel whose end is awash in brilliant, powerful, sweet light. He encounters an
entity full of boundless love that affords him a feeling of marvelous
contentment. He meets various figures, some known to him and some not, angels
and saints. He watches a reenactment of his entire life, as in a sort of
movie. In the end he returns to his body
due to a decision from Above or due to his own entreaties. All of this is in
line with our sources about the World to Come being full of the light of the
Divine Presence, and about encounters with previous generations. The remarkable
thing is the enormous uniformity of all the descriptions. The experience is
almost identical, which proves that it is true.
Answer: Indeed, everyone has an almost
identical experience, but not entirely. Sometimes the experience is marvelous,
and sometimes it is awful, with frightening nightmares about being tortured by
demons, etc. (about 15% of the cases).
Should one conclude that that is proof of Hell? Yet only 20% of those who have clinically
“died” report any type near-death experiences, and 15% of these have only
partial memories. Thus, most do not
experience anything, which would then prove that there is nothing after death.
Indeed, extensive research on clinical death
before resuscitation and NDE - “Near Death Experience” was conducted in 5735 by
Dr. Raymond Moody. While Dr. Moody did
do quality work, he only considered those subjects who supported his theory,
and ignored those who contradicted it.
Research projects are not always reliable.
Even the great researcher Dr. Kubler-Ross, who very much supported Moody's
theory, was, in her great enthusiasm, misled by a scoundrel who, so to speak,
spuriously "made contact with the dead", to confirm her theory.
Moreover, Christians meet Jesus and the heads of the Church, Muslims meet
Muhammad and all sorts of Imams and we, the disciples of Moshe, meet Avraham
and all the other lofty saints. All
this demonstrates that each person "sees" there what he believed in
before, and all the other wonders he sees there are dictated by his own beliefs
and opinions. That is why children, who do not yet have a rich perception of
the world, report much less about near death experiences than do adults.
Psychiatrists do not believe that these
phenomena constitute any proof of life after death. Rather, they consider them
simply delusions resulting from a fogging of the senses that leads to various
experiences that a person later interprets as life after death.
Many people in fact report experiences following
other occurrences that "fog" the senses: 1. The taking of Ketamine, a
hallucinatory drug that serves as a quick-acting anesthesia. The drug causes a
feeling of being cut off and distanced from the body – which thus enables operating
to take place. 2. The taking of various
drugs such as Hashish, LSD or DMT. 3.
Psychosis. 4. Epileptic fits. 5. Receiving an electric shock to the temple
lobe during an operation for epilepsy.
6. Oxygen deprivation or diminished blood flow, for example following
the loss of much blood, or even in pilot training for fast acceleration. 7. High carbon dioxide levels. 8. Childbirth. 9. Meditation. 10. A very strong migraine. 11. Being in a critical situation, such as
hearing the doctor say that you’re dead, or moments before your car is about to
crash. 12. When one is in on the verge
of sleep.
It goes without saying that people with well
developed emotions or imaginations report more about the experience of near
death.
As far as the feeling of being detached from
the body and floating above it, known as OBE – an Out of Body Experience – this
is a well-known experience owing to a break-down in the temple lobe and the
vestibular and proprioceptive system. These mechanisms allow a person to keep
track of his body and to know his body’s movements even with his eyes closed.
When they are damaged, one’s senses operate in a distorted manner.
And regarding people’s awareness of
conversations going on around them when they were declared dead, it turns out
that they weren’t entirely dead, despite the reports from the equipment. Or, a
person may have unconsciously pieced together everything he was later told and
retroactively processed it in his memory.
It is true that it is impossible to explain
each and every phenomenon, but such is the lot of all the sciences, and we
don’t reject them because of it.
Yet let us make no mistake. Certainly there is a World to Come. Certainly
the soul lives on after death, even without scientific proof, which we don’t
need in any case. Quite the contrary,
science needs faith to enlighten its path, faith does not need science to prove
it.
Maran Ha-Rav Kook wrote: “Regarding conjecture
on metaphysical matters that remain outside the bounds of practical and moral
life, even if we cannot deny them, we still should not let them dictate our way
of life. Our holy Torah distances us
from preoccupation with unclear visions, forbidding all sorts of witchcraft and
séances. It forbids Cohanim from becoming impure through contact with the dead,
and it links all the Mitzvot to life.” (Igrot Ha-Re’eiyah, Letter #79).
Moreover, let us not forget that we do not live
in Heaven but on earth, and the Torah is a living Torah, which the Living G-d,
who desires life, gave us. See Mesilat Yesharim, Chapter 1, which deals with
Torah and Mitzvot in this world. G-d
doesn’t like it when we are preoccupied with death. The dead render us impure.
A grave renders us impure. If someone touches the dead, he is impure for seven
days. All of these mental excursions to the grave and back are not
healthy. Choose life!
