Dancing Past the Dark ~ distressing near-death experiences

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Physics, faith, and a lot more including NDE

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In celebration of our 100th blog post here at dancingpastthedark, here is an article I very much want you to read. It is, to my mind, the ideal conclusion to our months-long wondering about quantum physics and its relation to NDE and consciousness; but some of you will take one look and begin to whine. Therefore, let me make a one-paragraph speech and then turn you loose to read.

Massive changes are occurring around us, and whoever and wherever we are, as humans we are all trying to describe and understand the same shifts and the same universe. Whether we take the perspective of scientists, especially physicists, finding mathematics the best language, or the perspective of philosophers and theologians, working with words and stories—it is still the same universe. It should be no surprise to find commonalities coming from the two very different approaches. Most of us prefer one or the other approach, but we all need to know something about both. Whatever your perspective, and whether you consider yourself religious, atheist, or any point between or beyond, the linked article has something important to say about our life as part of Western culture in a time of immense change. I think that in this article, published some 15 years ago, Barbara Brown Taylor clearly describes part of the upheaval. If you say you hate math and science, please put away your objections and read the article. If you are still thinking that anyone using the word “God” is talking about a very large, supernatural humanoid somewhere in the sky, know that the author doesn’t think that, and plunge bravely ahead. In other words, whatever your objection, please put it aside for now. You can grumble to me after you’ve read her article. (Insert smiley here.) [Read more…] about Physics, faith, and a lot more including NDE

Religion, NDE, and the limit of our sight

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Writing this blog is the mental equivalent of training for a triathlon. You have no idea! Because the subject matter is both so personal and so experimental, everything has to be examined: “Do I really mean this?” “What does it mean to say [that]?” “How true is it that…?” “Who knows about …[subject requiring a decade of study].”

And so it occurs to me that I must have lost my mind to undertake a topic like religion and near-death experience, especially distressing NDEs with their connotations of hell. The readers of this blog range from “I-know-I’ve-been-there” experiencers to convinced evangelical Christians to puzzled mainliners (having nothing to do with drugs), to a whole range of non-Christians to religiously-dismissive atheists to believing-but-confused atheists and Nones, the spiritual-but-not-religious, and all points in between.  How to speak to all those perspectives…especially as mine may be altogether different?  [Read more…] about Religion, NDE, and the limit of our sight

Religion and Distressing NDEs, Part 2

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Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
Wendell Berry, Manifesto

This is not a religious blog.

Or maybe it is.

That’s because it’s about numinous experiences. A numinous experience is any event that feels like a contact with a transcendent reality. A near-death experience is one kind of numinous experience. So is a spiritually transformative experience (STE). Or an “exceptional human experience” (EHE). Or a mystical experience (mystical experience). Sometimes an out-of-body experience (OBE) will have a transcendent quality. It’s like a religious conversion. All these are numinous events.

You will notice that all of these descriptive phrases take up far more time and space than simply the acronym. So, because of my specialty with distressing near-death experiences, I call them NDEs. Yes, I do recognize that this blurs lines many people consider important, and which I, too, sometimes consider vital. Unfortunately, more people understand “NDE” than know the meaning of “numinous.” “NDEs” is simply more efficient. NDE purists think I am indiscriminate. True. I have a difficult time with doctrine.

In any event, it is clear that questions concerning religion lie behind many difficulties with understanding near-death experiences and their close relatives. What is it about religion that causes so much confusion? Here are a few contenders:

  • Religion has to do with an unseen and often inexpressible aspect of life, something beyond the physical. So do NDEs.
  • Religion has to do with values, relationships, self-discovery. So do NDEs.
  • Religion has to do with encountering a powerful force greater and more meaningful than anyone can describe. So do some NDEs.
  • Religion, or its observance, can transform a person’s life. So do most NDEs.
  • Religion, at its best, has more to do with life on earth than it does with an afterlife. So, I believe, do NDEs. My view.

As I see it, there are two major differences:  [Read more…] about Religion and Distressing NDEs, Part 2

What about religion and distressing NDEs?

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Part 1 of 3

The subject of this post results from a small crowd of blog comments and emails following the posts about my conference presentation,“Untangling Hellish Visions,” and the documentary Hellbound? For example, here are quotes from two typical comments:

  • It’s terrifying that such a god might exist and is actually believed to exist by millions and millions of people. I agree with the other poster who said they pray that religion isn’t real: such a possibility is a nightmare.
  • I don’t know what to believe any more, and I am so afraid. What is wrong with religion?

The June, 2012 issue of Nature magazine carried an interesting report about the closeness of our genetic relationship with apes. Scientists have known for several years that we share almost 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees, our closest relatives. Now bonobos, the chimps’ sibling species, have joined them in our DNA pool. It seems we share 98.7% of the DNA of both species.

Reading further on the topic, what I find most fascinating is the behavioral complexity of this news. Chimpanzees are known to be aggressive, hostile toward strangers, power-hungry, often violent to the point of murderous. Male dominated, they form attack gangs to roam their territory looking for outsiders to fight and kill; a male will kill unprotected infant chimps not his own.

Bonobos, the siblings from the opposite side of theCongo River, are the only peaceful ape. They are reported to be cooperative, curious rather than hostile toward outsiders, and alpha-female-dominated. Unlike chimps, bonobos share easily, even sharing food with strangers; they do not patrol the borders of their territory or practice infanticide.

It is not that bonobos do not experience conflict; they do. However, saysDuke University researcher Brian Hare, bonobos will bite, but they won’t kill. Primatologists say they are hyper-sexual, preferring to “make love not war” as a way of resolving conflicts. Whereas chimps tend to address conflict with violence, bonobos of both genders prefer to settle scores with (non-procreative, sometimes homosexual) sex.  Journalist Andrew Sullivan reports about one laboratory experiment that “at times the chimps were too busy fighting each other to complete tasks. But the sexually hyper-promiscuous bonobos could focus…” How very intriguing. [Read more…] about What about religion and distressing NDEs?

A take on life school

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Dave has sent a comment to the post about Osama Bin Laden’s death, saying in part:

…Therefor, why not take it that this [life and death] is an intended process that we, and all other living things are subjected to. If this truly is the case, stop judging this process that forges on ahead whether we like it, agree with it, or not. Instead, accept it as it is, study it, and learn from it. This means dump all the religious dogma that we’ve been hampered with, albeit that some truth is contained within. However, real truth cannot be fully convayed by mere words, it’s something you feel, and enables you to act accordingly.

The real truth we seek is found through sensing the creative force within us (God), and from that perspective, experiencing this process (school) that we’re all involved in…

Every one of the enduring religious traditions has originated not in the intellectualized rules of a religious dogma but in the personal experiences of a single individual. Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Confucianism–all began with an individual who so powerfully felt and studied his own encounters with that creative force that other people were drawn to hear and then follow, from which sprang teachings–which, because human beings love to keep memorabilia so they won’t forget, became formalized into dogma.

Always, at the center, is the clear spring of encounter. It is our task to remember that doctrine is simply the clothing of direct and intensely personal experience, and to apply to our own experiences the same careful study and discernment  that will prove them worth keeping. Really knowing a religious tradition and understanding deeply how it works can be a big help with this. (It’s more than being bossed around!)