How I Participate Vicariously in the Near Death Experience

Dan Wotherspoon has been kind enough to invite me on the Mormon Matters podcast to share my vicarious participation in the Near Death Experience.  I'm using this post to share resources I've found helpful for bringing the Near Death Experience into my life.

Kevin Williams has assembled a beautiful introductory collection of Near Death Experience accounts under "Notable NDEs" at http://www.near-death.com/.  This is a very good place to begin.  After 10 years, I still remember the stories of Beverly Brodsky, Howard Storm, Christian Andreason, and others shared there.

The International Association of Near Death Studies has assembled hundreds of anonymous first-person Near Death Experience accounts.  This is a very good place for continued reading and inspiration.  The volume is overwhelming.  Some of the accounts are short and simple.  Others are long and detailed.  I suggest simply beginning anywhere on this page http://iands.org/nde-stories/iands-nde-accounts.html and reading sequentially until satisfied, perhaps one to five accounts at a sitting, then resuming the same sequence at the next sitting.  I've linked some of the ones I appreciated most at this blog entry of mine.

Suggestions for vicarious participation:
1.  Rushing is not helpful.  Stopping (sabbath/meditation/not-doing/vacation/breaks) is a core spiritual practice.  In my experience, the closer I come to reading an experience at the pace of natural speech that is filled with awe and pauses, the more deeply I participate.

2.  Sharing is not often possible.  The accounts themselves often make clear the point that people in general are not prepared to participate in them vicariously.  Understanding this with acceptance helps avoid disappointment and bad feelings.

3.  The time must be right.  The first time for vicarious participation apparently arrives irrespective of human scheduling, or at least nearly untraceably or unpredictably.  In any case, premature attempts to participate vicariously may simply fizzle or even jade the heart and mind.  In any case, in my story, I ignored passing fancies about near death experiences until I had an overwhelming desire to inhale them on October 27, 2003.