RD BK RAYMND MOODY

In short, we are faced with two contrasting answers to our original question about the nature of Death, both of ancient derivation, yet both widely held even today. Some say that death is annihilation of consciousness; others say with equal confidence at death is the passage of the soul or mind into another dimension of reality. In what follows I do not wish in any way to dismiss either answer. I simply wish to give a report on a search which I have personally undertaken. 

All the faculties of spirits . . . are in a more perfect state, as well their sensations as their thoughts and perceptions. The dying man may meet with other departed spirits whom he knew while in life. They are there to help him during his passage into the beyond. The spirit of man recently departed from the world is . . . recognized by his friends, and by those whom he had known in the world . . wherefore they are instructed by their friends concerning the state of eternal life .... His past life may be shown to him in a vision. He remembers every detail of it, and there is no possibility of his lying or concealing anything

Have you ever interviewed anyone who has had a near - death experience in association with a suicide attempt? If so, was the experience any different? I do know of a few cases in which a suicide attempt was the cause of the apparent "death." These experiences were uniformly characterized as being unpleasant. As one woman said, "If you leave here a tormented soul, you will be a tormented soul over there, too." In short, they report that the conflicts they had attempted suicide to escape were still present when they died, but with added complications. In their disembodied state they were unable to do anything about their problems, and they also had to view the unfortunate consequences which resulted from their acts. 

A man who was despondent about the death of his wife shot himself, "died" as a result, and was resuscitated. He states: I didn't go where [my wife] was. I went to an awful place . . . . I immediately saw the mistake I had made . . . I thought, "I wish I hadn't done it." Others who experienced this unpleasant "limbo" state have remarked that they had the feeling they would be there for a long time. This was their penalty for "breaking the rules" by trying to release themselves prematurely from what was, in effect, an "assignment"-to fulfill a certain purpose in life. Such remarks coincide with what has been reported to me by several people who "died" of other causes but who said that, while they were in this state, it had been intimated to them that suicide was a very unfortunate act which attended with a severe penalty