The darkness was emptiness, not good or bad. It was lacking emotion. But I was comfortable, no longer in pain. I was totally alone. By the time I’d reached this rich black void, I had given up any regrets and stopped thinking about my life, dying, and loved ones left behind. I began to sense a connectedness to this void. The fertile blackness seemed infinite. Yet there was something more, something supportive, and I had a knowing that the state I was in was the most natural thing in the world. I started to feel comforting joy and happiness. Although I could not quite grasp the meaning of this perception, I sensed there was more going on around me. I sensed something bigger, larger than myself, more than myself. I felt as if I should be communicating with this darkness. There was an omnipresent intelligence at hand, and somehow I knew I should move on. The feelings of being supported and joyous kept growing.
Slowly, ever so slowly, light started to appear within the darkness. A dim glow was growing lighter around me and I could see a brighter light off in the distance. As I got closer I started feeling the light. I felt welcomed and loved. As the light got brighter, my feelings intensified. I was being lifted up emotionally as well as moving toward the light and as it got brighter I felt as if it were enveloping me, taking me into what I could only call Love. I was becoming a part of its Love…
Every time I explain my experience in the light I can feel the touch of the Love that accompanied it. It is still incredibly emotional for me even many years later. In the light, without a body, I could handle that level of love because I had left the physical side of emotion behind. It is not that you don’t experience emotion when in the light, but without a physical body, you have no physical reaction. In our physical body we feel excitement in our stomach and love can make us light headed. In the light I felt love, joy, passion, and excitement without the physical sensations. I was simply accepting and awed.
Not only was I in awe of the Love, I also had a greater understanding and knowledge of life’s mysteries. The universe suddenly made sense to me.
When I initially returned from death, I tried to share my experience and received a negative response from my first wife. I certainly couldn’t tell my friends at work. We were all commercial divers and we put our lives in each other’s hands every day. Death was a taboo subject. I felt isolated, yet at the same time I experienced gifts from my time in the light. I could see the divine light in other people’s eyes. I could see the auras that were around everyone and everything and if that wasn’t enough I started receiving intuitive knowings. This was all new and very difficult for my engineer’s mind to accept.
That was the beginning of the unique personal and spiritual challenges with integrating this transformative experience. Besides a commercial diver, I was ships engineer and this experience was an unanticipated introduction into a reality unlike anything I had ever faced previously. I had been in God’s Light and returned to this life for some purpose that I understood when I was there, but didn’t have a clue of upon my return. I wanted my old life back but that wasn’t part of my “Purpose.”
The Light deeply altered my views about living life and about death. My worldview before was to simply survive by what ever means available and make a life for myself. Now there was a sudden urge to be more of service to the world, to humanity, because during my experience my self-awareness had extended beyond the boundaries of my individual personality and I was exposed to the interconnectedness of all beings. I understood the unique and spectacular gift that life was and no longer feared death. This shifted my philosophy to appreciating and squeezing all the juice out of life.
I began a quest for harmony and unconditional love, which was inconsistent with my life before the experience. While on this quest my love changed. The way I expressed and received love had evolved. I was unaware of this shift for a long time, causing additional challenges. Expressing love for everyone and everything confused my family and those I interacted with. I was trying to exemplify the unconditional Love I had experienced while in the Light. I finally came to understand that my love had changed like my worldviews. I learned unconditional love was within all of us and we only have to allow it into our lives, but in certain situations it is best to tone it down so not to confuse those who don’t understand.
The three spiritual experiences I share in “Voyage Of Purpose” build one upon the next all pointing the way toward transformation and purpose, giving me the tools I needed for the future. The process of integrating these experiences became a spiritual journey that gave me the guidance and strength to overcome my life’s obstacles and suffering including stage IV lung and spine cancer.
This path of integration is available to everyone, you do not have to die to have a transformative experience or to glean lessons from life. The purpose of a transformative path is to change our way of being. When we experience a shift in our worldview, we often feel nothing will ever be the same. Like water wearing away stone, integrating transformative experiences into our core way of being often requires patience and inner work.
A recent study at the University of Chicago tells us that close to one third of Americans have had some form of spiritually transformative experience. Because we have had an exceptional experience doesn’t mean we get a pass for a free ride. Instead we have tasted our potential and understand the imperative to grow. It is a call from our authentic self to participate in the transformative process for the world and ourself. This growing portion of our population is quietly looking for paths of integration. Like myself, many feel a duality of being and are looking to become whole. This may be difficult at first. In our book we share ideas and practices that can assist anyone on the spiritual path toward wholeness.
David Bennett is a public speaker, an author, and a teacher. His website, www.dharmatalks.com is a respected resource for those looking for information on near-death experiences (NDE). He has appeared on and consulted for numerous radio and television programs, including Oprah and Dr. Oz, as an NDE resource. Cindy Griffith-Bennett has a diverse background in metaphysics and energetic healing. She teaches Meditation and Psychic Development with clients throughout the United States. They live in Skaneateles, New York.
Technorati Tags: David Bennettt, Death, dying, inspiration, love, near death experience, Spiritual Experience. Vivid Life, Spirituality, Voyage of Purpose
November 22, 2011 by Life with Direction with Sharon Quirt
Filed under •-Feature, •-VividLife Radio Shows, Grief and Loss, Insights, Life with Direction, Personal Growth, Purpose, Reflection, Spirituality, Vision
Join host of Life with Direction Sharon Quirt as she chats with David Bennett about a his story, a regular guy, a macho engineer and diver whose life was dramatically transformed by not one, but multiple brushes with death. David will reveal why many who have experienced near death believe that ‘dying is hard, but returning to life can be even harder’.
“David Bennett is one of millions who have had a near-death experience; one of thousands who have written about it….Voyage of Purpose, though, has a different ring to it. His is a raw and honest travelogue of a man who hardly had a chance as a child, then became a “man’s man” to make up the difference…What he went through to regain his health is the stuff of miracles; what he learned along the way is a message for all of us – about spirituality, about purpose, about the power of prayer and the reality of unconditional love.” ~ P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D., author of Near-Death Experiences: The Rest of the Story
“Totally engaging in candor and truth, totally inspiring in the outcome of the struggles. Voyage of Purpose is the real deal.” ~ Howard Storm, author of My Descent into Death: A Second Chance at Life
David Bennett is a public speaker, an author, and a teacher. His website, www.dharmatalks.com is a respected resource for those looking for information on near-death experiences (NDE). He has appeared on and consulted for numerous radio and television programs, including Oprah and Dr. Oz, as an NDE resource. Cindy Griffith-Bennett has a diverse background in metaphysics and energetic healing. She teaches Meditation and Psychic Development with clients throughout the United States. They live in Skaneateles, New York.
Technorati Tags: Dying to Change ~ Why Dying is Hard But Returning to Life Can be Even Harder with David Bennett
Making strong connections to people, places, your spirituality, new learning, as well as your purpose and mission in life is a critical coping strategy. It makes the difference between living with life’s ups and downs or being inundated emotionally and physically when big changes occur. Significantly, there are numerous studies that prove the efficacy of connection, yet many mourners overlook the obvious.
Acting on the concept of connecting is an extremely powerful determinant in how one grieves any death and adapts to life without the physical presence of the loved one. Connecting is not limited to interpersonal relationships. Nature, storytelling, beauty, art, music, even specific objects owned by the deceased, or previously given to the mourner by the beloved, can serve as effective transitional bridges to strength and comfort. They can also play a key role in the opportunity for personal transformation that is always present when experiencing loss and change.
On the other hand, disconnection is the root cause of all unnecessary suffering. It leads, among other things, to isolation, boredom, increased loneliness, lowered self-esteem, and ultimately an increase in reactive depression. Neglect connecting on a variety of levels and you invite illness and more stress, not to mention emotional turmoil.
Most important, you lose the positive feelings toward the self (an essential force in meeting the new conditions of life) generated by continually choosing connections. This is not to deny the need to unplug from others periodically in solitude, in order to think through big questions and potential problems.
Here are some of the disconnections to avoid that block progress in doing one’s grief work.
1. Extended periods of being alone. As mentioned above we all need time alone. However, the tendency to stay isolated and allow the feeling of victimization to pervade our thinking is a dangerous practice. Yes, thoughts of self-pity are normal and you can give them short attention. Then it is critical to make a move. Do something to reorder your train of thought by focusing attention elsewhere. Planning specific connections for each day is the way through self-imposed isolation. This means we must reach out and not wait for others to reach out to us.
2. Refusing to try new behaviors and establish new routines. No one likes to accept the fact that without the presence of our loved one life becomes a new and different existence. We want our old life back. Without planning new activities, accepting some changes in old routines while building new ones, and reaching out to reestablish our feelings of worth, we inadvertently are building fences to keep the world out. Somehow it becomes necessary for us to find the space within to love the self and not only our beloved.
3. Turning down invitations by neighbors, co-workers, friends, or family. If you believe that socializing when mourning is disrespectful to the memory of the deceased, remember what your loved one would want you to do in this regard. Certainly not to have time in the safe and secure surrounding of people who care about and love you. Become aware that openness to being helped is one of the most positive coping responses to adopt. We need each other.
4. Hiding your feelings from others. It is normal to feel sad, exhausted, lose meaning about life, feel guilty, angry or depressed even though those feelings may seem utterly abnormal. When you find someone you trust let those feelings come to the surface. Share them. Perhaps one of the connections to consider is a mentor. Hiding feelings clearly results in more stress. Strong feelings that remain unexpressed leads to increased physical complaints since for every thought and emotion there is a corresponding cellular response within the body.
5. Not providing enough caring attention to your health. Eating well, trying to rest and sleep, taking a daily stress break, and doing some daily exercise are essential connections to work on. I see numerous mourners who are dehydrated, which culminates in more pain and interferes with sound thinking. Find the best foods to eat and examine the myths to debunk (like you have to drink eight glasses of water each day) as part of establishing a strong connection to maintaining good health.
6. Omitting nurturing connections to deceased loved ones. You will always have a connection to the loved one you are mourning and all loved ones who have passed. Never buy into the false advice that you have to let him/her go in order to get on with your life. That is untrue.
I tell every mourner I work with that it’s okay to talk to your deceased loved one. In fact, it is healthy to have conversations and to learn to love in separation. Ask a question and see what pops into your mind. Or imagine what your loved one would say to you. My mother died 30 years ago and I still talk to her. Make every effort to keep the memories alive as they will support and provide opportunities to talk about the loved one at appropriate times.
Finally, create the mindset that reprogramming is an ongoing part of life. We only intensify and prolong the pain of great loss by not committing to reinvesting in life through making the changes that our new circumstances demand. We have no control over the past but we can influence the way we deal with forming the present. Use the inevitable lifelong need to deal with change and the new circumstances presented as tools for personal growth. Make a commitment to increase patience, humility, and gentleness because these three are indispensible to making connections and avoiding disconnections in the process.
Dr. LaGrand is a grief counselor and the author of eight books, the most recent, the popular Love Lives On: Learning from the Extraordinary Encounters of the Bereaved. He is known world-wide for his research on the Extraordinary Experiences of the bereaved (after-death communication phenomena) and is one of the founders of Hospice of the St. Lawrence Valley, Inc. His free monthly ezine website is http://www.extraordinarygriefexperiences.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lou_LaGrand
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Technorati Tags: Death, Disconnection, Dr Legrand, grief, inspiration, loss, Personal Growth, self help, suffering, vivid life
