Doctors know more and more about the ways of saving lives. They have new machines and medicines to help them. Now they can save many people who are dead or almost dead. During the past ten years, there were many people who died. Doctors brought some of them to life again. It is interesting to ask some of them about their deaths.
Raymond Moody is a doctor. He has heard many stories from people who died or almost died. He has asked 150 of them about their deaths. They have told very interesting stories. He was surprised because the stories were almost all the same. Here is one of the stories:
A woman is dying. Her body feels very bad. The doctor says, ”She is dead.” Then she begins to hear a very loud noise in her ears. She feels that she is moving or falling very quickly through a long, dark place. After this, she thinks that she is outside of her real body. She is standing far away and looking at her own body. People can't see her outside of her body. From far away, she watches the doctors and nurses. They are trying to save her. She tries to get back into her real body, but she can't. She tries to speak to the doctors, but they can't hear her. She feels very much alone.
Then she sees the faces of her family and friends who died before her. They look very happy. They come to help her. They tell her, ”Don't worry.” She begins to feel better.
Then a person in a bright light comes to the woman. The person in the light asks the woman about her life. ”Are you ready to die?” ”What did you do with your life?” She thinks about these questions. She quickly remembers all of her life.
The woman comes to a door. She can go through it to death or back to her body and life. Now she doesn't want to go back because she feels happy. She feels love and peace with the person in the light, but the doctors do something to save her. She doesn't go through the door. Suddenly she is back in her real body. She wakes up and she is alive. She doesn't understand why.
Later, she tries to tell other people about her death. It is difficult to find the words to tell the story. Other people don't understand, so she doesn't tell it any more. She thinks that it is the most important thing that ever happened to her. It changed her life. She knows that it wasn't a dream. After that, she tries to learn many things and to love other people. She is not afraid of death now. She knows that many things go on after death but in a different way.
There are many stories about death from all over the world, from different people and different times. Many of the stories are the same. Perhaps the stories are true. What do you think? If we know about death, will we change our way of living?