Father Neuhaus's near-death experience
Tuesday January 13, 2009
Categories: Varia
In his moving tribute to the late Richard John Neuhaus, David Brooks recounts the priest's near-death experience: Much later, Neuhaus endured his own near-death experience. An undiagnosed tumor led to a ruptured intestine and a series of operations. He recovered...
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Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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I dropped acid once.
The experience I had was powerfully confirmed by my senses.
I don't believe that what I experienced was real. I believe it was a mental illusion.
You should never drop acid (i.e., LSD-25). It might break or bruise. You should ingest it.
I was in the hospital recovering from a total hip replacement. One night, I 'woke' up and sat up, much like Fr. Neuhaus. The difference for me was that I began to slowly rise up from the bed. I remember thinking that this was impossible, so I lifted my arm, and saw what only can be described as an aura of light in the shape of my arm. I then turned my head and looked out the door (physically impossible for me because my spine is fused) and saw nurses walking by going about their work. I realized that I totally aware of myself and experienced my surroundings exactly as I do now. It was just at this point that I realized that I was or might be in fact dying or dead. I immediately panicked and thought/said, "I am not ready to die!". There was an immediate rush, sort of like the sound of water or wind, and I was physically pulled down. I came to with my eyes wide open and my heart pounding. Ever since that night I have not been afraid of the experience of death. I like Fr. Neuhaus understand the experience to be a particular grace that allowed me to briefly see that death really is just a passing through a thin veil.
To be serious: There are a couple books out now by a guy named Don Piper called 90 Minutes in Heaven, and Heaven is Real. He claims that he died, not just had a NDE. I.e., he was in a car accident (in Texas) and was clinically dead (confirmed by EMTs at the scene, I believe) and then revived, miraculously, perhaps due to the prayers of a person who came upon the accident. He says heaven is just like the Bible describes it, with literal streets of gold, etc. I.e., it's a Baptist's death experience. He says his experience was totally unlike NDEs - no tunnel of light, no body of light, etc.
So, what does that mean - that NDE's are an illusion? A lesser experience? A Near-Death Experience, but quantitatively and qualitatively different from a Death Experience?
I remember going to see/hear a man named Richard Eby (a doctor of osteopathy, I believe) who also supposedly had a death (not NDE) experience - he fell of a balcony and his head broke open and all his blood came out, his brain was exposed, etc. He wrote a book about it, Caught Up Into Paradise, as well as about the time God took him to/showed him Hell. IIRC, his death experience was also quite different from NDEs. You can read the excerpt about his death experience (wrongly referred to as a NDE) here:
http://www.near-death.com/forum/nde/000/91.html
I'm not sure we have medical attestation to his death, though. (But we could see the scar, plus the nerves to his salivary glands remained damaged, so he always had to be taking sips of water, IIRC.)
I once had a Near Life Experience. Turned out it was a delusion. Since then I don't believe in life after birth.
If you're interested in this type of thing, read "Life after Life" by Dr. Raymond Moody.
LOL, Roland! I sometimes find myself falling into that delusion, as well. ; )
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