[Rob Wood]

Hi, new here. I'm here because I had a NDE so much like Mellen-Thomas Benedict's that the two experiences could be said to be virtually identical. I've carried this experience around in my head for over 40 years. I've tried talking about it with a few trusted friends, but I always run out of words. I just discovered Mellen's website last night, and now I feel less alone, and able to attempt to speak about it in public.

The problem with making sense of a personal NDE is that the experience is beyond intellect and logic. It's not the product of a mathematical or philosophical "Eureka!" moment that can be imparted to someone else, using language. Because it's an experience outside the normal frame of cognitive reference for conscious volition, and it happens completely within the mind of the person who has the experience, it isn't until after returning from whatever place one journeys to that the intellect takes over, and language and imagination begin to play a role in interpreting the experience.

To me, that's the biggest problem in talking about it, or trying to explain it, or even trying to understand just where it was that I went, or what I actually experienced. After returning, intellect, logic, imagination and language - with all of their inherent limitations - take over. Suddenly you may find yourself able to weave a tale that enthralls the listener, but how much of it is true? I don't mean how much of it is true, and how much of it is deliberate deception. An analogy would be the difficulty in relating any journey one might take - even a vacation to some exotic location. The more exotic it is, the more it expands your consciousness, and the less like everyday life it becomes. But what happens when you get home? Friends see your tan, and that's about it. The rest is in your head, and trying to explain your experience meets with little success. As time passes, memory takes its toll, and the story begins to evolve.

At any rate, I'm not sure we are even meant to talk about these things, so I'm feeling a little trepidation about it. This is how religions are born, and I have a sneaking suspicion that starting a religion is its own reward. What I mean is that I suspect that as soon as someone experiences a moment of enlightenment, he or she immediately must make a choice between humility and taking the next fork in the path, or stopping to enjoy the power that one can have by capitalizing on this knowledge. I also suspect that if one chooses to stop, the temptation to deceive oneself with embellishments on the NDE may be too strong to resist, and imagination and intellect may take over completely. If that happens, there is no longer a spiritual aspect to it, and it's all human. It may have all the trappings of spirituality, but it's all invented, and the experience of enlightenment fades away, to be replaced by man-made theology and dogma.

I don't know if I'm making any sense at all, and if all of this sounds drearily familiar, my apologies.

Rob Wood