A video tape that came out in the UK called “Visions of Hope” documents authentic testimony of people who were at death's door and came back to life. People who were “there.” The video records the testimonies of people who experienced clinical death, a condition in which the heart stopped beating, but the brain is still functioning.
Geoff Freed, a retired captain:
“Above me was the brightest light I've ever seen. Then came this being and wordlessly motioned for me to look down. I saw a ball approximately the size of a tennis ball, slowly rotating in space. I knew I'd have to go back to this place. When I moved toward it, it became bigger and bigger. I did not want to return to it, I wanted to stay where I was in space, and continue. Today I understand, that ball was the Earth.
“I saw the Earth with all of its colors. This was in 1942, long before there were photographs from space.” Fried's story began when a doctor was called to the home and pronounced him dead. He relates: “My father told me that they were going to take me to the morgue to make an autopsy on my body, but my mother, who was a religious Jewish woman, didn’t allow them to do so before the end of the Sabbath. On Sunday morning before dawn, I woke up, and made noise, which frightened the man standing next to my body out of his wits.” Freed encapsulates his experience: “I learned to love this earth, but I know that this is not the last stop.”
The testimony of Freed, a serious and reliable person, is just one of dozens of testimonies that appear on the tape.
Another witness, Trudy Lace, summarizes her experience: “Now I know beyond a doubt that who I am is not this body.”
A witness named Susie Hulda, relates: “I was rushed to the hospital in the fifth month of my pregnancy for a miscarriage. The pregnancy was unsuccessful because I was very sick. The doctors were under pressure and decided on an emergency cesarean, but I was not worried. I think that by then I had made peace with the fact that I was going … then I remember that I lost consciousness.
“The next thing I remember is that I was looking over my body, and people were bent over it. Then I saw a circle with blue light in it radiating white light, and I found myself drawn to the blue light. I was surrounded by peace, serenity and absolute beauty. I felt like I was floating. I was sucked deeper into a tunnel, at the end of which was light, and I heard in it a voice speaking to me: 'Do you really think you did what you had to do? Are you going to leave your child, three-year old Simon, alone?’ This voice softly repeated itself again and again.
I thought to myself: “If people really knew what death means, they would not be afraid, because it doesn’t matter what happens to your body because you are not it. You are a free consciousness, full of light.’ I realized that this was the moment to choose. I could continue into the light, but I found myself being drawn back. There was a kind of noise, and suddenly I found myself in my body, surrounded by an i.v. and a huge commotion.”
Scientist Shirley Purcell participated in the conference of scientists in the UK at St. David college of the University of Wales, which was centered on the question: “Is the phenomenon of clinical death a subject that justifies serious and advanced study?” She explains that for many people, this experience was a total surprise. According to her, the “near death” phenomenon is real, and should be investigated thoroughly. She rules out the possibility that it is wishful thinking and hallucinations, as these do not generate significant changes in life.
The findings show that whoever underwent a near-death experience undergoes fundamental changes in their approach to life. Psychiatrist Dr. Joyce Strom-Paikin, supports her words and adds: “Hallucinations and fantasies can only temporarily change the course of a person's life, but as soon as the imagination stops, the person reverts to being what he was. The evidence suggests that those who experienced the phenomenon will never again be the same person that he was.”
The famous American psychiatrist, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, who seriously investigated this matter for over twenty years says: “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that life goes on after physical death.
“I am very skeptical by nature so I carefully examined every aspect of this experience. I found, for example, that people from whose bodies limbs had been amputated, said that when they left their bodies as souls, they again were whole. Moreover, blind people who for years had never seen the light, reported that they could see. Even people who were blind from birth described to me in amazing detail what people in the room where the body was laying were wearing, which jewelry they had on and what they did. I mean, it's impossible! How could they know that?”
She does not see any need to convince others of the truth of the phenomenon. As she says: “These who are open to hearing it will hear it, and those who block it — will be surprised one day! Until today, thirty million (!) witnesses from around the world who have experienced clinical death were studied. The descriptions common to all of them are hovering over and near the physical body, and clear knowledge of everything going on around them. Most of them describe being in a lit environment of inner beauty and passing toward a bright light through a dark tunnel. Many witnesses tell of a voice speaking to them. And many say that they were feeling so wonderful that they did not want to return to earthly life.
Disabled people spoke of a sense of liberation from their constraints, and almost all of them mentioned the disappearance of human fear. Researchers of the phenomenon suggest that the same elements can not keep coming up in the testimonies of millions of people, unless they all had experienced something real.
A fascinating book that captivated the hearts of young and old alike, called “Life” which was released in Germany, argues that while modern man asks himself questions like: “Where did I come from?”, and “Where am I going”, because his perspective on life is materialistic, he tends to avoid the subject of death and even develops fears and anxieties on the issue. The book states that life on earth is only one part of one’s life, and is just a stopover in the soul’s journey. It is a learning period for the soul. The Earth is a school. The soul enters the physical body at the moment of birth and is bound to it until death, which is like removing a garment from a body. Sometimes the soul leaves the live body, especially during deep sleep or in a state of unconsciousness. But unlike death, in these situations it is still attached to the body through a thin energetic cord. The soul is similar to our physical body and is built of trillions of tiny energy particles.
The soul provides the life energy to the body, and thereby allows its existence. Life energy comes from seven energy centers located in the body. A lack of energy in a certain center energy causes harmful disturbances to the organs linked to it. If the shortage lasts a long time, an illness may occur. Today it is possible, by a technique developed by Dr. Paul, to measure the energy level of the various body organs.
Joha Schnell, a therapist from Germany, says that she witnessed many dying processes over twenty years, and always was able to see the energy field taking shape over the dead physical body.
The psychiatrist-researcher Kubler-Ross herself had an experience of clinical death: “There is a big difference between believing twenty thousand cases and actually having the experience yourself and knowing it. And I say jokingly that my experience was more beautiful than the twenty thousand cases I collected.
“Once you have been in this light and seen this light and experienced this light at the end of the tunnel, it is such peace and such love that when you come back it changes all of your values. It changes the quality of your life and they can hang you by your toe nails and you still know that death is not the end but a transformation into a different form of life.”