How come those people that had an NDE Near Death Experience long for heaven and feel like strangers here on Earth?

Tell us more about what happened.
How long has it been?

How about you ask for yourself instead of phrasing things in generalities? That’s a personal question, one that I’m not even sure should be on Fluther. How can we dissect why you feel a certain way after an experience? Unless, you would like us to show you research to explain away the ‘NDE’ itself. Science has looked into it you know.

I don’t see a problem with the question. I’d like to see what people say on this subject.

I think there are also people who long for heaven without having a NDE. What happened during yours, seVen??

My husband had an NDE and he is perfectly happy here on Earth. It wasn’t time for him to go so he came back.

I have a very close friend who has had an NDE. (He actually did die, lost his vitals for a time, but came back so maybe that doesn’t qualify as an NDE, maybe it is an _actual death experience.) He does not feel like a stranger here on earth. Though he looks forward to being in heaven when the time comes, he thanks God that he is still here to learn and grow in this womb in preparation for his life beyond this world.

Did your NDE make you more religious?
Is your new found religion isolating you from others?
Perhaps they are having a hard time adjusting to your transition?

@scamp: The only problem I see is that this isn’t asking for others experiences but asking for us to dissect his experience..with almost no information. I don’t like those types of questions, I think they are poorly thought out.

Many people believe that the soul is associated with the body, but is also of the spiritual realms. Not having had an NDE, I would just be hypothesizing to say that it could be that during this experience, you felt what it was like to be in your spirit without the encumbrances of the body.

The reason why I could see people wanting to not be in their body was that longing for the spirit. But the reason why I could see people enjoying life to the fullest is that they see the purpose of being here is to make the spirit stronger for the next world.

But that’s just a guess.
Everybody is going to have different reasons for feeling the way they do.
If you want to talk about your experience, do so.

Maybe also read Richard Bach’s book The Bridge Across Forever

I think you are generalizing. Many people who have had NDEs report that they feel they were “sent back” to fulfill a purpose. While they have confidence they will experience “heaven” when they finally die, they do not necessarily experience longing for it now.

You have often spoken of your faith on this site, seVen, can you not feel confident that your God returned you for a purpose and that he wants you to find satisfaction in the life you have now rather than longing for what you do not have?

@asmonet I’m going to reserve any further comment on the validity of the question until the asker returns. If he says nothing more on the subject, then I would have to agreee with you that it is in fact too vague, but for now I think it’s an interesting topic, and I don’t want to tear him down.

I find this much more interesting and fluther-worthy than some of the others I’ve seen here such as why does my nose run when it’s cold, or who else is drunk… know what I mean?? Let’s give the guy a chance.

Hey! I just wanted some intoxicated company. :’(

I actually agree with you, I just really disagree with the phrasing. The point of the question seems too personal as written now, I’m waiting too you know. :)

Too bad I missed that one.. I would have messed with your head. Ask Loser, I’ve done it to him a couple of times. ha ha!!

In presupposing that all people with NDEs will have such longings, the question essentially gives its own answer; seVen clearly wants to advance the idea that these sentiments are caused by actually, legitimate encounters with a divine afterlife, and just wants us to say it for him.

@seVen – Don’t just hit and run. Tell us about your NDE and how it changed your life.

Hey! What did I do wrong? How come @seVen isn’t highlighted?

@AstroChuck – you needed to leave a space between @seVen and the dash, I think.

I don’t recall doing that in the past. I’ll go back and edit and see what happens.

Nope. No difference.

Or maybe it is because seVen has asked the question but not come back to comment?

Well, now I have to agree with @asmonet and @AstroChuck. what could have been an interesting discussion has gone to hell in a hand basket!! I’ll back away slowly now….....

@Darwin- That’s probably it.

Ha! I win. :)

@AstroChuck and @Darwin – I could mess with you about @seVen and not tell you that I cheated.

Yeah, I thought it might have been seVen opening up a bit, but I guess he isn’t ready to respond yet.

@fireside- That is cheating.

@asmonet yes you did! But I scored some lurve for being all humanitarian before you won, ha ha!! :P

Seven is a troll. He never responds.

@tiny: what’s a troll?

@cdwccrn – There will be a quiz on this video

They live under bridges. ;)

@scamp: Some of it was from me. :)

@cdwccrn- A troll is someone who posts a contraversal question just to stir people up. Usually they just hit and run, enjoying the chaos they’ve left behind. seVen has been known quite often to stir things up with fundementalist religious questions.

I’m not even touching this question.

Maybe he’s off having another NDE to not tell us about .

^nice.

@tinyfaery and your not supposed to feed them :P

NDEs are just your pineal gland pumping a lot of DMT into your brain, thats why everyone usually sees that bright flash of light and their life flash before their eyes in what feels like an eternity but is only a matter of seconds. DMT also has been known to give very religious experiences and make one feel their in the presence of a higher being.

Where can I get some of that?

The thing is, when you have an NDE, it’s kind of like getting a map that no one else has. Did you ever read “The Phantom Tollbooth?” Kind of like that. So, the map says, “you are here,” and then there’s this road going straight to heaven (sometimes called Shangri La).

The problem is, that once you hit that road, everyone seems like a stranger. It’s really disconcerting. They all speak a different language, and you just don’t get it. And you can’t turn around and go back. You can only go further on, but the further you go, the weirder it gets, and you wish you could get to the end of the road, because there’s a town there, and that town is named “Heaven.”

Along the way, there are all these hints about what Heaven is like, but since you can’t understand what people are saying and you can’t read what they write, you are left to your own interpretations about what is up there. Sometimes, on this road, a bush will suddenly burst into flame. Or, you’re drinking a glass of water, and it turns into orange juice, or wine. You light a candle, and it lasts for weeks, burning and burning, but not burning out.

You figure these are signs being sent to you from Heaven, and that Heaven must be a miraculous place. Your desire to get there grows stronger and stronger, while your connection with people grows weaker and weaker.

Anyway, my point is, that when you’ve had an NDE, you don’t feel like ordinary people any more. You are different. Special. You feel separated from others, and you wish you could be in a place where you were no longer separate.

Here’s the problem. What you make of what happened—it’s all yours. It’s all in your head. It can be the story I told. But it could be a lot of other stories, too. Whatever story you tell yourself, if you’re of a certain mind set, you’ll want that story to be the only story, and you’ll see others who don’t understand your story as lost souls. Literally. So it goes.

Ok, here I go with my experience. I don’t know how to express with words much because I’m not a native English speaker, so you guys must excuse me for not responding ASAP or at all sometimes. My experience happened one summer day at a lake, I simply went too deep where I couldn’t reach the base of the lake(floor) and started drowning, of course i didnt know how to swim at that time.As soon as I knew I’d never make it on top, I’d panicked but only for 20 secs max, than an overwhelming unearthly peace came to me and filled me like a vessel, it’s indescribable , all I can say you’d sell all you have in your life to just have it. It was an unconditional loving peace that warmed all that you are. As Im experiencing this, I see bubbles surrounding me, they were all sizes, I figured my lungs last oxygen. Some short time after I seen rays of comforting light penetrate the waters and embracing me and than a flash , a huge slide of my life-time starting from childhood to my teenage years how I lived and who I’ve hurt or helped any way I began to feel that in myself as if I was that person I done bad or good to.
The motion pictures went really fast before my eyes but I felt as if I was reliving my life normal again, I was in those pictures.
As that progressed and I started to feel horrible to bad things I done to some people the light spoke to me in my conscious , if I’d like to stop and I acknowledged. I was told that I need to learn from my mistakes in a loving matter and. I need to come back because my time isn’t done yet. Than I found myself lying on the beach with the life guard.

See uber’s post.

Anyways from that time, which happened like 12 years ago, I’m totaly different . I’m more in tune with inner peace, I’m spiritual where I never been and long for that certain place I been, this earth seems so unlively as the state I been when having the NDE. Oh yeah and I can’t seem to communicate with people in deeper sense, I feel they don’t understand me at all, even my family.

Therapy could fix the emotional detachment you know.
In fact, a lot of people who have an ‘NDE’ go to therapy to work out their feelings toward the experience. Have you ever done that?

You think I’m insane? I don’t think anyone can tell me anything other they’d studied in their books, unless they went through same as me.This isn’t a natural experience but supernatural.

I heard a woman speak to a group in great detail about her NDE. She was a serious practicing witch (who embraced Obeah, a very ancient form of the craft), and it did not make her long for heaven. Instead she seemed to feel that she had come to a greater understanding of how things really are, in mystical terms, and she also felt that she had gained an ability to read auras.

My inference (assuming her NDE was real) was that it took her in a direction toward which she was already predisposed. That is, she was already a witch, and afterward she felt she was a more powerful witch.

I didn’t believe in any of it. I’m just relating what I heard.

@seVen: Excuse me, but no one suggested insanity, and you kinda just proved my point. You’re only hear to talk about your experience. Not discuss the phenomena in general.

I told you therapy can help you assess the situation and work through any emotions you have lingering. Try to read what I wrote and not what you want.

Maybe I should have stayed silent here and try finding an nde forum if it exist, nevertheless I’m glad I shared.

There are such groups, seVen, and speaking with others about your shared experiences could no doubt be very beneficial to you.

But I mention one more time that if you were told you were not ready.and you were told you had a purpose. are you not defying your God by not with zeal carrying on and discovering and fulfilling that purpose?

To get back to there, you need to honor this life, this place. You need to open your heart to others. You are holding yourself aloof.

I am not saying that it is easy.

@seVen – as I said earlier, my husband had an NDE but did NOT have the response you had. He died on the operating table and remembers being able to look down on himself and hear what the operating team was saying. He also saw the bright light up in a corner and went to it, only to be told by his late uncle that it wasn’t his time yet and to go back to his body. He proceeded to get very involved with humanity and feels very much a part of this Earth. He doesn’t long for Heaven at all, but is living his life here as best he can.

So in short, the answer to your question is they don’t all feel that way.

heh seVens NDE sounds a LOT like my last DMT experience, and i will agree with what he says, it does open your eyes up to a whole new way of seeing the world. DMT trips are a very spiritually awaking experience.(seriously, i went to heaven, i dont even believe that place exists, yet there i was and it felt realer than anything ive ever felt before)

@tinyfaery its near impossible to find unless you know someone who can make it(not really hard just a basic understanding of chemistry needed). It took me a good 2 years of looking before i came across it.

I always thought seVen = female. No?

oh well, mark this down as case 80943 of gender confusion on fluther

I could be totally wrong, uber.

@augustlan: I always thought seVen was a dude.

Me too.

Me too.

Perhaps seVen will come back to the thread and enlighten us all.

S/he has a great chance to make me look like an idiot :)

I call dude!

I knew I saw that somewhere.

Good catch, mo!

I’m the idiot ;)

Can’t make any assumptions any more about the sex of a person who refers to his or her wife, now, can you? Or, for that matter, about the sex of the wife.

@Jeruba In seVen’s case, I think we can be pretty sure ;)

@Jeruba: Normally, no. However because of the topic of the question, I’m inclined to believe he is male. I would assume if it was a same-sex marriage it would have been mentioned anyway.

And come to think of it…I just don’t expect Mr. Jesus Freak to be in a homo relationship.

My heart stopped for two min due to a flu virus and over training, I saw no white light, no tunnels or angels. The only thing I can tell you is the cold and the weird feeling in my head at that time. I went for counseling they told me that each person experience it differently, my theory is if you a Christian and believe in angels and something like that happens to you, you will see lights, tunnels and angels. If you are a Muslim you’ll probably see a bunch of virgins, and if you believe in a Hindu god you will see some six armed woman or an elephant head dude. In my opinion your NDE will differ from mine or any body else. Einstein said something on his death bed that may make a bit of sense. We are all simply energy and when we die we return back to the universe. My don’t want to think about it again, but it f @#$ my life up even the way I think about religion. So I have respect for people who had a NDE. So it’s true that you feel detached from society I still feel that way and it’s 12 years later. People tend to treat you differently as well.

Oxygen deprivation.

Edited to add: Oxygen deprivation can twist the mind in ways similar to a drug trip. And very often, people coming back from drug trips see things in ways that more straight edge people don’t. (Just say “no” to NDEs?)

Good point

I agree with Marina, it doesn’t matter what physically caused the experience, what matters is how you live your life afterward.

If you felt that the message you got was to come back, then you need to be involved with the people around you. You need to stay centered and focused on each day and not get lost in your desires to be someplace different.

Many people take up running or meditation or drugs to achieve a similiar type of feeling. But just wishing for something that is not here and now is unhealthy and will lead to a disconnect with those around you.

The suggestion of therapy isn’t too bad, especially since you’ve been through a lot and it seems to be affecting your personal life. Just because you go to therapy doesn’t mean that you are crazy, it means you acknowledge the fact that you need someone to share these experiences with, which is what you seem to indicate by your questions here.

Everyone has difficulties or confusion in their life, whether it is over spirituality, sexuality, finances, love or any number of other things. The idea is to engage the world and face those problems, not to withdraw. That is what will make your spirit stronger.

Who was it who said, “Before Enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.” ?

@laureth – That’s Zen. Very nice.

I think that yoga or meditation of some sort would help, seVen.
That’s basically like do-it-yourself therapy.

Perhaps we can’t accept that we all going to die one day and there may not be anything on the other side so we think we see things when we have a NDE.

@antimatter experiencing nothingness isnt uncommon for a DMT experience either.

@asmonet thanks for the lurve. I gave you some too, and I promise never to second guess your judgement again! I guess I’m not here as much as you to spot the…umm er, shall we say “troubled souls”? :P

@seVen I just looked at your list of questions. You seem to have a habit of asking questions and not returning to your own threads. I think it would be good if you could at least respond to the people to take the time to post a reply to you. Some people may think it’s rude to have all their hard work ignored. It makes me want to not bother participating in your questions anymore.

@scamp: Haha, it’s nice to be reminded sometimes to tone it down a bit anyway. :)

wink wink, I know exactly what you mean! :}

I’ve had 2. I don’t long for heaven. It just made me realise that someone really really wants me to stay here and get some things done first. So I accepted the task, and try to look at the signs that will guide me to it.

I thought I would try to answer this before reading all the other comments after just reading a couple. I didn’t want to be highly influenced by what other’s have said.

Before ever reading this question I was thinking about the questions you’ve written down here. The questions you’ve written have caused more interest here on this site then there would’ve been.

In my opinion even in the very best of health a person is still some what limited physically. Each one of us have an eternal soul that reaches out with imagination, ambition, competition, our conscience, and many other things that our body can’t always keep up with.

A lot of NDE for people I’ve read about say they experience total acceptence and total unconditional love from an eternal being that is represented in a great white light. As well as sometimes seeing other’s who have all ready passed greeting the person who is experiencing the NDE.

After such a profound experience its only natural for some people to feel regret about having to come back. From what I’ve read some want to stay where suddenly there is all these lovely feelings, and release from this body of clay. Some people naturally want to go on to eternity with all those wonderful experiences. I’m only guessing, mind you, since seVen is an individual and owns the experiences that came about. But I’m hoping I’ve explained a little why you’d feel a bit different now.

I just got done reading the other responses to your question. Wow, I didn’t know SeVen was possibly a Christian since I’m new coming here.

I don’t want to blame any one here, but really the experience you’ve had is something you own. Any one who doesn’t agree or judges that experience that is their opinion. I really liked your question because I daily explore the spiritual side of my life. And for sure one out of one from each generation dies. So, sooner or later each one of us will face the total death experience. At that point in time we won’t have to question what its like we’ll know what its like. Each one of us has an appointment with death, and during that death each one of us will be judged, according to the bible.

Nice to meet another person of faith on here.