Question and Answer Interview
with Kevin Williams
The
following questions were emailed to me by Suprina Walvekar,
a college student who is interested in the near-death experience
and who wrote a term paper on the subject. Her questions
were very good so I spent a considerable amount of time
answering them. What started out to be a simple reply to
an email message, turned out to be a good interview of my
own opinions concerning NDEs. So I decided to post them
for anyone wanting to know my personal opinions about the
NDE. Feel free to use this information in any way you wish.
My responses will be updated from time to time as my opinion
on this subject evolves. These answers are only my own 2
cents worth. Although I live, eat, breathe, and sleep NDEs,
I don't claim to be a NDE expert on the subject. There are
many experts in this field who are far more qualified than
I am. I have never had a NDE - at least not in this lifetime.
We have all died and been reborn numerous times throughout
history. This is perhaps one reason why NDE research is
so popular - it reminds us of the afterlife knowledge we
already know at a deeper and higher conscious level. And
although I am no NDE expert, I am a NDE
fanatic
whose computer skills and manic depressive permanent disability
allows me to express my NDE mania twenty four hours a day
and seven days a week if I desire. This obsession I have
for NDE research has helped me keep my sanity while incorporating
this higher knowledge into my life. A person doesn't need
to have a NDE to have the life-changing effects that comes
by actually having one. NDE research has certainly brought
together my scientific, religious, and metaphysical knowledge
and made them compatible. It is my desire that others can
find the satisfaction I have had from studying NDEs and
NDE research. With this in mind, here is the interview questions
and answers I shared with Suprina Walvekar.
Suprina Walvekar: What are you hoping
to learn from researching NDEs?
Kevin Williams:
Foremost, I would like to find hard scientific proof of
life after death. Specifically, I hope to learn for certain
that consciousness survives well after bodily death. There
is
a mountain of circumstantial evidence
that this is the case, but very little scientific evidence.
But, it may be asking too much to obtain scientific evidence
of life after death. Existence of the consciousness after
death may not be scientifically quantifiable. I also would
like to go beyond proof of life after death and discover
exactly what life after death like? Is there some kind of
divine plan for us? What does it mean to experience God?
These are some of the questions I want to learn from near-death
research.
Suprina Walvekar: What kinds of NDE
reports intrigue you the most?
Kevin Williams:
The experiences that interest me the most are those where
people witness events while out
of their bodies and
are later verified to have occurred. I already have a few
such experiences documented on my website. While experiences
have been documented, they still only provide circumstantial
evidence and not hard scientific evidence. The experiences
of
people born blind
interest me tremendously. Studies suggest that people born
blind do have vision while out of their bodies. For them,
it is the first time in their lives they have vision. Experiences
revealing the
reality of reincarnation
fascinate me. Experiences that bring back
information about the future
are extremely interesting to me. Finally, I am also interested
in experiences that do
not fit the typical profile.
Such experiences suggest that the spirit realms are dynamic
and not static.
Suprina Walvekar: What do you think
is the most important information you learned from researching
NDEs?
Kevin Williams:
By far, the most important fact I have found from these
experiences is how critically important love is. The NDE
appears to be an encounter with the Source of all the love
in the universe. It is as
Dannion Brinkley
was told, "Love is the difference that God makes."
Many experiencers have learned that love, the spirit of
unlimited and unconditional compassion, is God. They suggest
that this love is the highest form of religion there is.
They also suggest that the way to these higher spiritual
conditions of afterlife bliss is through practicing unconditional
love here on Earth. Those who do not practice love in the
physical will have difficulty experiencing it in the spiritual.
This is because the spiritual realms are experienced within
us. Another important
fact I have learned from NDEs the idea that we are currently
dwelling in the afterlife right now. The physical universe
is only one of many realms in the afterlife. Some experiences,
such as that of
Edgar Cayce,
suggest that our physical universe is a realm that is roughly
half-way between the lowest afterlife realm and the highest.
In a real sense, we may actually be half-way to heaven.
We are working our way upward like a grade school student
working toward high school and graduation. This is what
I have learned from these types of experiences.
Suprina Walvekar: How would you describe
a typical NDE?
Kevin Williams:
A typical NDE would have some of the
common aspects
found in many other NDEs. It begins when people
leave their physical body.
Sometimes they see their bodies trying to be resuscitated
or hear someone declare them
dead.
They may
hear the thoughts
and experiencing the feelings of the living people around
their
physical body.
They may be sucked into a vortex or
tunnel
that appears to connect the
physical realm
to
another realm.
They may come into contact with
a being made out of extraordinary
light emanating
tremendous love.
This being
knows everything
about them yet holds no judgment at all. They may be
reunited with loved ones
and friends who have already died. They may then have their
entire life instantaneously replayed
- every thought, feeling, and act. Then, they may find themselves
before some kind of barrier that is a point of no return.
They may then be told their
mission is not complete
or their
time to die has not yet come
or some variation of this. Eventually, they will find themselves
back in their body. After having a NDE, the person may discover
that he/she is not the same anymore. There are some reported
common
after-effects
that many people have after having a NDE. They may also
be in need of
information
or even
support.
The
internet
also provides a wealth of information on this subject.
Suprina Walvekar: What aspect of
a NDE catches your attention the most?
Kevin Williams:
The
life review
is said to be one of the most amazing and enlightening aspect
of the NDE. This is because your life is revealed in a reality
that leaves no question about yourself.
During a life review, every question
you may possibly have is ultimately answered. You don't
merely witness your life flash before your eyes, you actually
relive your entire life on Earth instantaneously - every
thought, emotion and deed. And it is not only your thoughts,
emotions, and deeds you experience. You experience every
thought, feeling and deed of everyone you have ever come
in contact with - even brief encounters with strangers.
Some have described it as instantaneously becoming everyone
in your life. You see your life from every possible perspective
and angle: your own perspective, other people's perspective
and God's perspective. Every possible thing you want to
know about your life is there for you to review and study
from a dimension where time doesn't exist. The life review
is for educational purposes - not for judgmental purposes.
Some people, namely very strict religious people, may feel
the life review is some form of judgment; but these people
usually realize at the end of it that it is only self-judgment.
Sometimes the life review is not limited to just one life,
but many lifetimes. One experiencer,
Dr. George Rodonaia,
reported instantaneously living in the minds of everyone
throughout history who ever lived. He was able to live in
the mind of Jesus and his disciples.
I enjoy
the
tremendous emotions of love and
happiness that people
feel during these experiences. Although these experiences
have similarities to each other, each one is unique because
each person has a unique perspective and perception. But,
love is the universal factor.
These experiences can be highly
emotional. These emotions can run the full range of expression
throughout these experiences. It can begin with the initial
fear of dying. Then it can transform into curiosity when
the person leaves their body. Then they might experience
a profound peace they cannot express. When the light appears,
the emotions change to that of experiencing a homecoming
of love that one believes they have never before known.
Then complete satisfaction, understanding and awe can come
as a result of the life review. The ecstasy of being one
with all things and God can be incredible. But then disappointment
comes from discovering you must leave and return to your
body. Then the pain returns once you are in your body again.
The frustration about the inability to tell others about
it can arise. Also, a tremendous depression can come - along
with a profound homesickness for heaven. It appears that
every possible human emotion - in its rawest and magnified
form - can be found in these experiences. These are very
powerful emotional experiences that forever changes people.
No other experience even comes close.
Suprina Walvekar: Did the NDE reports
you have read and researched take away your fear of death?
Kevin Williams: Very
much so. It is very difficult to read these kinds of experiences
and not have them take away your fear of death. These experiences
show that death is actually an illusion and that we are
already living in the afterlife right now. Death is just
a brief transition from one dimension to another. In fact,
reading these accounts has only made me eager to return
home.
These experiences are contagious.
The deeply profound, enormous unconditional love described
by them, can overwhelm those who read about them. They speak
to my heart in ways that I feel I have already known, but
just forgotten.
The complete
lack of the fear of death which experiencers have as a result
of their NDE is a strong testimony that there is nothing
to fear about death. Madame Marie Curie once said, "Nothing
in life is to be feared, only understood." Once we
understand the nature of death by reading about these experiences,
there is nothing to fear about them. Of course, everyone
fears the pain that can occur during the dying process.
But once this door has been crossed, and if you are generally
a good person, there is nothing to fear about death. As
one little girl stated after her NDE: "Life is the
hard part. The light is for later." For those who practice
hatred, murder, and harm to others, however, it is the afterlife
that may be the hard part and may be feared.
Suprina Walvekar: Did you look at
life differently after you first read some of these NDE
reports?
Kevin Williams:
Very much so. Before I knew about NDEs, I was a
fundamentalist Christian
who was absolutely certain that when I die, I would be carried
to the highest heaven to be forever before the very throne
of God. But, after reading several NDEs, such as that of
Dr. George Ritchie,
I realized that merely believing in Jesus is not enough
to attain heaven. I learned that one must become as Christ
himself practicing unconditional love for others to reach
this level of bliss. It means we get to heaven by emulating
the love of Jesus rather than by worshipping him. Reading
NDEs cracked my rigid religious mindset and made my religious
beliefs to be completely ridiculous at best.
From reading
NDEs, I discovered a spirituality and understanding I could
never get through religion alone. The great thing about
these experiences is that you don't need to have one to
benefit from them. All that is necessary is to read what
others have experienced and put what they have learned into
practice. Reading what they have learned will give you a
larger understanding, the big picture, of reality. This
includes the nature of God, life, love, and the afterlife.
No other way, short of having an experience yourself, can
give you this understanding.
Suprina Walvekar: If you could tell
us one important lesson in life, according to your NDE research,
what would it be?
Kevin Williams:
Without a doubt,
the most important lesson NDEs
teach us is the supreme importance of unconditional love.
Love is where we all came from and love is where we will
all eventually return. Love is what life is really all about.
Learning and growing in unconditional love is why we are
all here on this blue marble called Earth. Life itself is
God. Love itself is God. Everyone and everything is a part
of God. All things are held together by the power of love.
Love is the way to eternal bliss and the way to overcome
the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. There is no greater
force in the universe than unconditional love because it
is universal and divine. The more love we cultivate within
ourselves and the more love we give to others and the more
we evolve towards embodying unconditional love, then the
closer we come to our goal - liberation from death. True
love can never die. Love and knowledge are the only things
we can really take with us when we die. Death doesn't change
much of anything. I like how one particular experiencer,
Chuck Griswold, put it. He said death is merely a body problem.
This is so true. We are also continually born into this
world and subjected to death until we have evolved and embodied
unconditional love as Buddha and Jesus did. We don't go
to heaven. We grow to heaven to become permanent citizens
of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is within us. When it becomes
fully manifested within ourselves and the world through
unconditional love, then we are no longer the prodigal children
away from God. To manifest our higher spirit of love within
us into conscious reality is the way we return to our origins
- to the Source of All Things. Then wherever we find ourselves,
heaven will always be manifested within us and we will always
be in heaven - never to die again. This is the evolutionary
goal of humanity.
Suprina Walvekar: What do you believe
is the ultimate meaning behind NDEs if you could tell us
in one or two sentences?
Kevin Williams: Everything
is a part of God because God is life, light, and love. Practicing
unconditional love is the evolutionary key for humanity
to obtain eternal life (no more death) and death is just
a threshold that we briefly cross over to another way of
life.
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