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A listener to the Gnostic Reformation on Substack recommended a video this week about Near Death Experiences. NDEs. It’s been quite a long time since I looked into the subject. He was right in saying the video was gnostic. In fact, the experiencer in the video I watched confirmed many of the spiritual aspects of the gnostic cosmology I share here.
The video is called Neuro Surgeon Dies; Gets Shown Truth about Re-incarnation and Quantum World (NDE). The experiencer’s name is Eban Alexander and he’s written a couple of books about his NDE. You can find his book at this link: Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife
The video appears on a youtube channel devoted to Near Death Experiences. The channel is called The Other Side (NDE).
I watched a couple of more experiencer videos on the channel and then did a little research online. I found a few interesting educational articles written by a Catholic priest named Fr. Spitzer, who uses the findings to point to the existence of God and heaven. So there’s something we have in common. His site is called Magis Center and the article is called 5 Credible Stories of Near Death Experiences (Peer-Reviewed).
Let me share the big takeaway first. We are loved. You are loved. Existence within and beyond this universe is love. There is no need to fear death or separation from loved ones. Consciousness does not cease with the death of the physical body—we move into a realm of love. And once you experience that cosmic love, you never forget it and you never doubt it, because it is not only as real as our normal reality, it is more real, more intense. And the experiencers who then return into their bodies are changed forever by that experience of love. The big takeaway is that we can share this love, God’s love, through being kind to those around us.
Let me share Dr. Alexander’s experience with you and at the same time relate it to our Gnostic cosmology.
Dr. Alexander was stricken with meningitis that damaged his neo-cortex and took his brain off-line. He had total amnesia of who he was throughout his experience. His body was in a deep coma that lasted for a couple of weeks. He was given a 5% chance of recovery into a vegetative state because of the extent and location of the brain damage.
He says his first experience was from the point of view of an earthworm. As far as he could tell, he was an earthworm. I would liken that awareness to the lowest consciousness level that connects directly to the molecules of the material world. We are all higher, eternal consciousness fused onto the transient material world. A fertilized egg would build itself up to an organism from that baseline, earthworm point of view.
He next observed a white, spinning light that threw off a musical melody—an extraordinarily beautiful melody. This resembles the figure that I associate with the Totalities of the ALL as they transition and emit the individual consciousnesses that make up the Aeons of the Fullness. It was at this point in the Gnostic cosmogeny that the Silences of the Totalities spoke the Word–that Word in Dr. Alexander’s vision is the musical melody.
The spinning light became a portal to what he calls the Gateway Valley. He describes the Gateway Valley as a verdant meadow where there is no death or decay, there is only life. And that life is packed with meaning and comforting consciousness. He found his earthworm consciousness to be sitting upon a butterfly’s wing alongside a beautiful female companion. Her presence gave him immense acceptance and comfort.
I’ve described this Valley in this way in The Gnostic Gospel Illuminated: “Redemption means returning to the Father’s abode—that Paradise dreamed by the Fullness, where there is no death, no disease, no disappointment, and no deficiency. That Paradise where Christ is King and peace reigns supreme, and there is only cooperation, fellowship, and true love. In Paradise there is naught but life; so all the grass is green, and flowers blossom endlessly, and every soul that has ever lived, lives happily with their friends and families. Repentance allows one to grasp the love of the Father and so return home to Paradise” (Ropp, 44).
The Gateway Valley reminds me of the vision of Paradise I just shared with you. It also remind me of the “in between” place we have talked about in connection with the transpersonal field accessed through past life regression hypnotherapy, and our discussions of the bardos of the death experience.
It was there in the Gateway Valley that he became aware of a force—a Divine Wind—that brought love and acceptance from Above. Above this Valley he saw angelic orbs singing the most beautiful heavenly music.
This Divine Wind is known to us as the Holy Spirit. It is the force of love flowing out of the One consciousness Above that we refer to as the Father. Consciousness is a top-down phenomenon that flows like an unending stream, bringing love, life, and consciousness to all living creatures here below.
The angelic orbs sound very much like our description of the Aeons. I depict these Aeonic orbs as golden lights of fractal consciousness, arranged in a hierarchal form. For diagrammatic purposes, these Aeonic orbs are shown in their pyramidal, hierarchical positions. But in reality, the Aeons move about cosmic space as a dream of Paradise.
Dr. Alexander then talks about Deep Time. Deep Time is the timeless, non-linear sense of eternality that allows for Life Reviews. Time has no meaning in the afterlife, other than providing an overall view of occurrences. Deep Time allowed him to have a complete Life Review. He says this Life Review was not a sepia-toned movie of his life, but rather a real-time passage of his entire life that seemed to take as long as when it occurred. The fascinating thing about this Life Review is that it was not from his own point of view, as it is when we first experience it here on earth. The Life Review had 360 degree awareness of everything and everybody in the frame. Not only that, but he experienced the Review from their points of view, not his. So this Life Review demonstrates the actual effects that one’s behavior has on others, from their perspective.
It seems to me that this type of Life Review would have the effect of promoting true learning and growth, freed from the self-reflective egoic point of view. Imagine what life would be like if we had such empathy with others that we saw the consequences of our behavior from the perspective of the other rather than from the perspective of our Ego. This Life Review would bring true, deep repentance for the harms we carelessly strew about. With this sort of deep empathy we can truly repent of bad behavior and be redeemed into the perfection of our Aeonic inheritance of love, compassion, kindness, and acceptance.
This is why I continue to insist that our loving Father will not eternally punish any of us for the mistakes of ego down here on the material plane. We are blinded here by the distractions of the world and our own ego’s preeminence. Once those blinders are off in the afterworld, we have no need to embrace selfishness and vice. The loving beings Above welcome us back home with open arms. There is no wrath or condemnation Above, only love, forgiveness, and acceptance.
Dr. Alexander relates that the next level of awareness during his NDE was through another portal into what he calls The Core. The Core was black, inky darkness full of love and forgiveness, compassion, harmony, peace, and prosperity. He realized that ascension to the Divine requires Oneness with the Divine. He uses the word “Divine” rather than God, because we humans have attached misunderstandings to the concept of God. He speaks of One Mind. One love for self and others.
In my Gnostic cosmogeny, I depict the Father in the same way. As the inky blackness of primordial love and consciousness prior to the emergence of the Son and light.
Dr. Alexander learned that prayer and meditation is the path to connect our free will to the One Mind. In his vision he saw countless sparks of consciousness below him, and he realized that these were people down below in prayer, connecting to the One Mind.
There were more details in his video, but these were the ones that jumped out to me as I was watching. I encourage you to watch the video and others on The Other Side (NDE) channel. I have peppered this transcript with links to all of the references made in this episode, including links to the relevant Gnostic Insights podcasts.
Again, our takeaway from this episode is to take heart and comfort, for we are truly and deeply loved. Love and consciousness is a top-down causality. If we must suffer because of the limitations of this material world, realize that we may suffer joyfully. Dr. Alexander urges us to spend our lives here showing God’s love for others through our own kindness.
This is a short episode, so it leaves you time to revisit the earlier episodes of the Gnostic Insights podcast referenced today, and to watch some of the NDE clips on YouTube. The other experiencers have slightly different details of their experiences, but they are basically the same as this one of Dr. Alexander’s.
Onward and upward!