Open Writing

There are many books and websites dealing with after-death experiences. A friend recently told me about one such website. One particular story was impressive and very well written. Having been asked to comment, I analysed it thoroughly. Without going into details, here are my main conclusions:

1 There was no real evidence or confirmation that he died, in terms of the internationally recognized medical definition of death.

2 His memory remained functional.

3 His spiritual experiences were perfectly valid for him.
I have Romani (Gypsy) blood. Years ago, the president of a Theosophical Lodge told me that I am a very highly evolved soul. Perhaps I can list a few psychic and spiritual experiences I’ve had over the years:

— Leaving and floating above my body, while lying in bed.

— Feeling the presence of a distant past and its mysteries when standing in a Celtic stone circle in northern England.

— Hearing the devas of the water chattering in a small waterfall in central Africa.

— Holding an item from someone’s collection of ornaments, ignorant of its provenance, and giving him a perfect description of its original owner, his grandmother.

— Being absorbed into a natural rocky outcrop on which I was lying, and feeling the lichens and mosses growing over me.

— Communing with Gaia, the spirit of Earth, while standing beneath and stroking a great tree, which I call the Dragon Tree.
There is a rational explanation for each of these but that does not detract from their validity in my personal experience. In other words, I can explain why they happened and I can also describe what they meant to me in emotional and spiritual terms. On one side, logic. On the other side, enrichment.
Nevertheless, there are some experiences which I cannot explain. I had no reason to doubt the honesty of the folk who told me about:

— A pale young woman, dressed in white, who appeared through the wall on one side of an old English cottage and disappeared through the opposite wall, several times.

— Ghostly white dancing horses seen by a cousin, her husband, and her son, on an island off the northern English coast.

— Movement of household objects, when nobody had touched them, in the home of a friend in Melbourne.

The Romani blood? Well, it doesn’t mean I’m psychic. Gypsies are certainly sensitive to other people and have a way with words. Their dukkering, fortune-telling, has much in common with the methods of many so-called psychics: they elicit clues from clients and tell them what they want to hear. Rather like good counsellors and psychotherapists, when you come to think of it.

A ‘highly evolved soul’? A simple answer to that one. By the age of about 21, I had read more than the much older Theosophist, about a wider range of spiritual and occult matters.

I had a chat with a stranger outside a ‘New Age’ bookshop. Chatting to strangers is one of my outdoor interests — how did you guess? We discussed clairvoyance and auras. She seemed to be impressed by what I was saying, and asked, ‘Can you read auras?’ I answered truthfully, ‘I can see more than what most other people can see’.

We interpret our experiences in the way we wish to, or on the basis of our innate traits, upbringing, beliefs and values. We can be gullible when hearing or reading about other people’s psychic and occult experiences. It seems to me that we should keep an open mind and be sensitive to their beliefs, but at the same time apply a strong dose of scepticism, reason, and logic, all in good spirit.

© Copyright Brian Barratt