Soul… more than just music?

I’ve come across this article today:
In England some researcher is doing a double blind experiment to see if there is something like NDE, or near-death experiences. Does something live on, even when the brain has ceased to function? Do we have a soul? Is there life after death?

I know religions answer… quite a lot of religions state that there is afterlife, and that you can have it “eternally great” if you live a good life and believe. Or if you live “evilly” an eternity of suffering will come your way.
Please, do not bother throwing all kinds of religious quotes towards me. I know the Bible, I know some of the Koran, I know several other religious testaments. If you can give me decent ARGUMENTS pro OR contra, than I’m prepared to listen. But claiming some view is the Truth (capital T) because someone said it 2000 years ago is NOT sufficient for me. And threathening with Eternal damnation because I dare to doubt the existence of the Soul (or God) doesn’t work either…

For now, I have heard some good arguments AGAINST the body-soul duality (eg. the release of DMT – dimethyltriptamine- by the pinal gland or the similar experiences when using Ayahuasca/Hoasca, containing DMT). But I’ve also read a few extremely good examples FOR the theory (eg. unexplainable observations, detailed “reports” of past lives that could be proven to be exact). My opinion is that if even 1 single case can prove there is something after the brain stops living, than the whole discussion can end. If you can prove that 1 swan exists, you have proven the exitence of Swans in general (disregarding the number of swans).

A colleague once started to tell about her NDE. Nervous at the start because she was affraid we would think of her as a freak, but when we showed sincere interest she started telling: When she gave birth to her daughter she had suffered a brain haemorrhage. She “died” on the operation table. Her heart stopped, no brain-functions. She experienced waking up in some sort of big white room where some other people were lying as well. There was a warm, friendly, cosy atmosphere. She sat up straight and could see the others sleeping. With every person in that room, there was some person watching them. Everyone was dressed in white. There was someone with her too. I believe she said it was a relative or some dear friend. It was made clear to her that it wasn’t “her time” yet. So she “awoke” again. Ever since, she looked towards life completely different.

Anyway, I haven’t had any kind of near death experience (yet) myself so I don’t have first hand information for you. The only thing that comes a bit close, was an experience I had while meditating several years ago. It does NOT prove anything near a Soul. It doesn’t even negates ANY argument that these things are just delusions of the mind. But it made a huge impact on my personality.
For starters, I set a moody atmosphere: a darkened room, a candle in front of me and some mild inscence. This was just to help me “get into the right mood”. In no way do I claim that a “ritual” is needed for getting these meditation experiences. But it facilitated everything.
Then I sat in front of the candle and the inscence and stared into the flame. I tried to empty my mind, (which is not easy if you have a mind that flashes from one idea to the next every microsecond )
After a while I closed my eyes and relaxed my whole body and emptied my mind even further.
When I was completely relaxed I imagined I (my essence) was a small ball of energy inside of my body. It appeared that “my essence” was positioned somewhere between my chest cavity and my intestines.
I imagined my essence floating through my body to every body part: arms, legs, my head, …
Slowly I “let” my essence grow in diameter. Very slowly. After a few minutes (i guess) my essence had filled my entire body. So I had a skin, filled with a warm, glowing form of energy.
And I let it grow even further… It passed the limits of my skin and slowly began to fill the room (I lived in a two room appartment, just a bedroom and a bathroom). Every nanometer my essence grew, I felt more relaxed, calmer…
When I filled the entire room, I slowly let myself grow untill I filled the building I was living in. And even further… I filled the entire city. After that the entire country. The entire planet. The larger my energy was, the faster it grew.
I grew bigger than the planet. I filled our galaxy. And then, suddenly I filled All. I filled Everything. I was everywhere and everywhen. All places and all times. Also for that small instance of time, I knew everything. I knew what everything was all about, I knew the true meaning of life. I don’t know how long that state lasted. But I knew when I “shrank” again I didn’t like it. I hadn’t been in that state long enough. And even more sadly: I didn’t have the total knowledge anymore I experienced. I “forgot” the meaning of life. I slowly shrank back to my small, insignificant human shell.
The only thing I have left from that experience is a feeling of “connection” to Nature, to Life, to Reality or whatever you want to call it (in my case I have come to call it Tao). And somehow my fright of Death has completely vanished. I am not affraid of Death anymore. Take note that I do not like the idea of suffering before I meet the End. I do loathe the feel of Dying. But Death itself I do not fear anymore. Also note that I do not postulate that my fear has gone due to a belief that my “soul” will live on. I don’t know. I will see it when it comes to pass. Oh, and “not fearing Death” is not the same as longing for it, okay… It doesn’t mean I’ve become reckless. I do want to stay and live here for a couple more years. There’s too much to see, too much to learn to give up already… I am not affraid anymore. But that’s not because I believe I will go to Heaven, Nirwana, Asgard, Eternal Paradise, become Enlightened or whatever. Somehow that doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is what happens here and now. When you watch an episode of a series on TV, you don’t care for next episode, except for when this episode has finished… I am curious if there is an afterlife or reincarnation (“will there be a next episode”) but whatever will take place in that next episode is of no importance in how I want to live my life here and now. And if there won’t be a next episode, well I guess than I won’t be able to regret the lack of it either…

I have been interested in spiritualy, mysticism and all of the things my entire life. But everytime I learned something it was with small steps. Somehow, this experience felt, and still feels, as if it was a giant leap for me.

I would be honored if some of you could/would share their experiences… (or even if you tried the method I used, if you experienced the same “journey” as I did)

Tags: afterlife, death, duality, dying, esotheric, esothery, experience, meditation, nde, near, philosophy, reincarnation, soul, spirit, spirituality