I'm going to try to show you that there is a reason for your being here. That you are more than that which you think you are. That no matter how bad things may seem, there is a purpose to it. No... if you really feel that you can't cope, that you cannot complete your journey, across the Bridge, you won't be damned... but you might need to come back and do it all again? So hold on!
Some spiritual people say that you are never given more than that which you are able to cope with, on your journey, crossing The Bridge of Life. Evidently, that may not be true.
Figures from the Samaritans’ Suicide Statistics Report 2016 state that in 2014 there were 6,122 deaths by suicide registered in the United Kingdom. 10.8 per 100,000 people (16.8 per 100,000 for men and 5.2 per 100,000 for women). The highest suicide rate was for men aged 45-49 at 26.5 suicides per 100,000.
If someone could offer indisputable evidence that proved life didn’t end here, that when you die you go to 'Heaven' (or some other form of Paradise); the suicide rate would probably double overnight. Maybe that’s why there is no such evidence readily available?
If you've read my previous entry 'Life And Death' you may be wondering what happened during my 'practice run' at death, between the hours of around midnight and six in the morning, back in 1981?
The Near Death Experience
There have been numerous accounts from patients on the verge of death who experience a so called 'Near Death Experience' or NDE. There has also been a certain amount of clinical research into the subject, carried out usually with a desperate purpose... to discredit the possibility that an individual's consciousness can exist outside of the physical body.
However, some have continued to ask awkward questions and research into the subject continues.
"Several NDE researchers have argued that the NDE poses a major challenge to current scientific thinking regarding the relationship between consciousness and the brain, as argued by Van Lommel..."
"How could a clear consciousness outside one's body be experienced at the moment that the brain no longer functions during a period of clinical death with flat EEG?... (the) NDE pushes at the limits of medical ideas about the range of human consciousness and the mind-brain relation."
Most common NDEs usually involve a sensation of being separated from the physical body, bright lights, long tunnels, a state of euphoria etc, etc. Christians tend to have angels on hand whereas, some people see demons and visions of doom and damnation! (The doom and damnation isn't selective or strictly reserved for non-Christians or atheists, by the way).
Most of this is 'explained' (by the men in white coats) as increased brain activity at the point of near death:
"Psychologist Chris French has summarized psychological and physiological theories that provide a physical explanation for NDEs. One psychological theory proposes that the NDE is a dissociative defense mechanism that occurs in times of extreme danger. A wide range of physiological theories of the NDE have been put forward including those based upon cerebral hypoxia, anoxia, and hypercarbia; endorphins and other neurotransmitters; and abnormal activity in the temporal lobes."
Slightly less easy to explain however, is the fact that in some cases NDE survivors have been able to describe the events that took place in the room in detail... after they died?
Experiments have been carried out where pictures or targets have been placed above eye level, on shelves which would only be visible from above. These have not so far been conclusive... I wonder why?
This kind of illustrates to me, the peculiar way, the men in white coats think. So you've just died... and you're going to be looking at the ornaments on the shelf... really? You wanna try that yourself?
Hold on... the following is relevant, read on.
Déjà vu
All of my life, as far back as I can remember (and I can remember right back to when I was two years old) I have had the feeling that I arrived here, from somewhere else. And... kind of like school, that this place really is a pain in the ass... but necessary?
When I finally visited Greece in 1984 and saw the Parthanon albeit from a distance, on the way to Spetses Island in the Aegean Sea; I had an incredible feeling of coming home to a place that I had known before.
This is undoubtedly a common experience for many, maybe you have experienced it too? However, I bet you didn't feel compelled to read Homer's 'The Odyssey' and then the 'Iliad'... (all 358,020 words of it)... when you were just sixteen?
Life Changing Event
From a very early age, around three to four years old, my parents would often find me in my bed in a hysterical state.
In this reality I was sitting up in bed, screaming the house down. Although the light was on and they were by my side physically shaking me, desperately trying to bring me out of it... I was somewhere else.
From my point of view, I was falling down and down, into an endless pitch-black hole. I was completely devoid of any sensory perception, I couldn't even hear my self screaming. It was the most terrifying experience I have ever encountered to date.
As a direct result of that, I no longer have nightmares... well that's to say, I do have dreams that might scare the pants off of you... but they really don't worry me in the slightest.
I also seem to have developed the ability to wake up within a dream, being fully conscious of the fact, that my brain is dreaming and will wake up, when it gets around to it. What would that suggest to you?
I also seem to have developed the ability to wake up within a dream, being fully conscious of the fact, that my brain is dreaming and will wake up, when it gets around to it. What would that suggest to you?
Around age seven, maybe because of the nightmares, I was very nervous. I was also terrified of Mrs Elliot, the English teacher... I was crap at spelling and when you got it wrong, she had a compulsion to hit you with a ruler.
By age ten, the dreaded 'Eleven Plus' exam was looming and the pressure to succeed was on. The exam would determine whether you were bright enough to get a Grammar School place... or not?
This really did worry me, to the point of not being able to sleep at night, as the dreaded exam date loomed ever closer. I knew what was expected of me by my parents (who only wanted what was best for me)... but I had incredible doubts about my own intellectual ability.
The night before the exam, I was lying in my bed, with that sick feeling burning the inside of my stomach, unable to sleep. Then someone appeared at the foot of my bed.
Now, if like me, you're not religious... you're gonna laugh. Yep, it was Jesus... the blue-eyed blonde haired one, the one that we were all taught about in the RE lesson at school.
The fact that it was the fairy tale Jesus is relevant however. Someone had a message for me... and for me to receive it, and act upon it, I needed to be able to identify with the bearer of the message. Maybe the ten-year old boy constructed the image... or maybe the messenger did on my behalf, who knows? it doesn't really matter, the message does:
"Why are you worrying about it?"
"What is the worse thing that can happen?"
I stopped worrying and instantly, went to sleep. The next day I woke up feeling incredibly confident... and completely relaxed. I went to school and sat the exam, with a smile on my face.
When the results were announced, my parents were told that I'd done very well. However, I was a 'borderline' case and it was only because of the number of applicants (42 in a class back then) that I missed out on a Grammar School place.
The 'worse thing that could happen' really was not such a big deal as has so often been the case throughout the remainder of my life. Worrying about something, is nothing but ultimately, self-defeating.
The Real Jesus
Although my parents had the foresight to leave it up to me to decide (and I have not been baptised into any religion)... I do however, believe that there was a man called Jesus, a great teacher.
He would have been dark skinned, dark haired and probably was crucified on a Roman cross but may not have actually died there?
There is evidence to suggest (that seems, ironically, to have only been documented by the Islamic faith), that he went back to where he came from; into the East, to continue to teach, to any who would listen, to his great words of wisdom...
There is evidence to suggest (that seems, ironically, to have only been documented by the Islamic faith), that he went back to where he came from; into the East, to continue to teach, to any who would listen, to his great words of wisdom...
'The world is a Bridge, pass over it, but build no houses upon it".
(To be continued).
Richard Ashcroft 'Hold On': Hold On
Further viewing: Did Jesus Die On The Cross?
Further reading: The Muslim Jesus: Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature
