Can You Have an NDE Without Dying?

A look back at one of our favorite posts . . .

Originally published June 4, 2023

Eliot and I created Coming Home because we think near-death experiences (NDEs) have the ability to speak to our souls.

The first time I read an in-depth account of a NDE, I was hooked—immediately. It was a thin paperback of Betty Eadie's famous book Embraced by the Light, written in the 1970s (if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it). That firsthand account had me riveted until I turned the final page, some thirty-six hours later. Since then, I have read more books than I can recall and watched even more videos on YouTube.

Why is it so compelling? What is it about NDEs that are so incredibly addicting (there are healthy addictions, right?) and cause us to come back to them again and again?

My theory is that they speak to the heart of the matter—to the heart of the mystery we find ourselves in. These are stories of people hovering above their bodies, looking down on themselves and loved ones or doctors trying to bring them back to life.

They see angels, saints, beings of light, or loved ones long since departed.

They find themselves in fields and pastures of shocking beauty, with colors they have never seen before on Earth. They are suddenly in the vast depths of the cosmos, shown secrets of life, or taught the purpose of taking a human life.

They are told messages, instructed on how to live, and shown life reviews that illustrate which qualities to cultivate and which to avoid.

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Perhaps they are given a choice to stay or come back to Earth. Others fight to remain in the Light, only to find themselves thrown back down into their bodies like some heavy stone hurled back down from the heavens.

The whole thing is wild, even sci-fi-esque.

Some NDEs fit into certain religious narratives or teachings. Some defy all dogmas, standing completely alone in their uniqueness. What do we do with all these different stories, these different data points? There is an entire emerging field around near-death studies that is researching this.

But today I wanted to explore something slightly related, but adjacent.

I wanted to talk about whether people have to die in order to experience the wonder, bliss, and joy of the Other Side.

The emphatic answer is no.

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Accessing the Divine Without Dying

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All religious and mystical traditions teach a common truth: one can find God, the angels, and the Light within ourselves, if we know how.

Across the world and throughout history, there have been prophets, saints, mystics, and teachers who have shown humans how to connect consciously with the Divine. There have been ancient teachings, as well as techniques for finding God and communing with the saints. And in fact, it isn't just saints or mystics who can have these direct experiences, but ordinary people can too.

In a moment I will share a story of a Russian man from the early nineteenth century who had quite an epic NDE-type mystical experience while praying and contemplating in the forest.

The fact is, we don't have to die to have these types of experiences with what Carl Jung called the "numinous," that is, the Sacred.

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All religious and mystical traditions teach a common truth: one can find God, the angels, and the Light within ourselves, if we know how.

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NDEs are fascinating, but even more so to us in the modern secular age, where scientific materialism reigns and we feel we need concrete evidence.

Concepts like the soul and Spirit are too enigmatic and vaporous for the collective skepticism many of us live with. We need hard facts. Therefore, as a culture we are obsessed with people who have "coded" (hospital slang for people who have no heartbeat and no respiration for a number of minutes—dead, so to speak) as these stories feel easier to believe somehow.

But mystics in all the traditions have taught that all you need are certain ingredients to have these types of mystical experiences, while alive and well in one's body. Often these ingredients (spiritual practices) are things like devotion, prayer, fasting, meditation, contemplation, solitude, silence, chanting, even types of sacred medicine.

The final ingredients, these mystics and saints tell us, are heroic doses of determination, dedication, and persistence—not giving up, but continuing to knock at the door (or ring the doorbell) until the Other Side responds.

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Saints and mystics often have more access to direct experiential encounters with the Divine because they knew some secrets about biohacking (spirit hacking!): cold exposure, breathwork, fasting, prayer, chanting, and so on.

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Experiences of such intense euphoria and bliss—experiences of identification with the soul rather than the body—can blow people open and upend one's life.

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These practices, done long enough, put one into a flow state or trance state, altering the brain chemistry and making one more receptive to mystical experiences. And a core component of these practices is prolonged focus and concentration. When we hone our focus and attention one-pointedly on something, with determination and willpower, we can magnetize ourselves for divine or mystical experiences.

This is a tremendous and liberating truth—because it means we don't have to wait until we die to experience the joy and love that we all yearn for!

We can access it here and now, anytime we want.

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Elder Ambrose's Mystical Forest Experience

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Today I wanted to share the story of a Russian Christian saint in the nineteenth century. Relatively unknown, his name is Elder Ambrose of Optina. He was the model for Dostoevsky's character in his book The Brothers Karamazov.  He tells the story of wandering into the woods to do his prayer and contemplation, putting himself into a deep state of focused attention.

I will let him share his experience in his own words. It is a bit long, but I also feel it is a profound experience, so I don't want to cut it short:

All around me everything is so full of beauty. This life is so endearing . . . the way so endless. I am being swept across this limitless, clear space. My sight is directed upwards, does not descend anymore, does not see anything earthly. The whole of the heavenly firmament has transformed itself before me into one bright light, pleasing to the sight . . . But I do not see the sun. I can see only its endless shining and bright light. The whole space in which I glide without hindrance, without end, without fatigue, is filled with white light, just as are the light and beautiful beings here, transparent as a ray of sun. And through them I am admiring this limitless world. The images of all these beings unknown to me are infinitely diverse and full of beauty . . . I also am white and bright as they are. Over me, as over them, there reigns eternal rest. Not a single thought of mine is any longer enticed by anything earthly, not a single beat of my heart is any longer moving with human cares or earthly passion.

I am all peace and rapture. But I am still moving in this infinite light, which surrounds me without change. There is nothing else in the world except for the white, bright light and these equally radiant numberless beings. But all these beings do not resemble me, nor are they similar to each other; they are all endless varied and compellingly attractive. Amidst them, I feel incredibly peaceful. They evoke in me neither fear, nor amazement, nor trepidation. All that we see here does not agitate us, does not amaze us. 

All of us here are as if we have belonged to each other for a long time, are used to each other, and are not strangers at all. We do not ask questions, we do not speak to each other about anything. We all feel and understand that there is nothing novel for us here. All our questions are solved with one glance, which sees everything and everyone. There is no trace of the wars of passions in anyone. All move in different directions, opposite to each other, not feeling any limitation, any inequality, or envy, or sorrow, or sadness. One peace reigns in all the beings. One light is endless for all. Oneness of life is comprehensible to all.

My rapture at all this superseded everything. I sank into this eternal rest. No longer was my spirit disturbed by anything. And I knew nothing else earthly. None of the tribulations of my heart came to mind, even for a minute. It seemed that everything that I had experienced before on earth never existed. Such was my feeling in this new radiant world of mine. And I was at peace and joyful and desired nothing better for myself. All my earthly thoughts concerning fleeting happiness in the world died in this beautiful life, new to me, and did not come back to life again. So it seemed to me at least, there, in that better world.

But how I came back here—I do not recall. What transitory state it was, I do not know. I only felt that I was alive, but I did not remember the world in which I had lived before on earth. This did not seem at all to be a dream. Actually, about earthly things I no longer had the least notion. I only felt that the present life was mine, and that I was not a stranger in it.  In this state of spirit I forgot myself and immersed myself in this light-bearing eternity. And this timelessness lasted without end, without measure, without expectation, without sleep, in this eternal rest. Thus it seemed to me that there would not be any kind of change . . .

But then suddenly, the thread of my radiant life was cut off, and I opened my eyes. Around me was the familiar forest, and a beam of spring sunlight was playing on its meadows. I was seized with terrible sadness. “why am I here again?” I thought. And that radiant, light-emanating world, which I had just experienced with all its hosts of numberless visionary beings, vividly remained impressed before my mental eyes. But my physical vision did not see it any longer. This terrible and tearful sorrow I could not endure, and I began to weep bitterly.

Only after that experience did I believe in the concept of the distinction between the soul and the body and understand what the spiritual world was. But the question of what the meaning of life is still remained a mystery for me. And in order to penetrate into this mystery, I left this world into which I was born and embraced the monastic life.”

He said about this experience when asked by a visitor and student:

I do not know whether it was a dream or whether it occurred in reality . . . I still have not solved that problem for myself, but I believe that my spirit lives separately from my body; otherwise it could not have seen that which my physical vision does not know. After all, one cannot perceive the light of day with the tips of the fingers on one’s hand. So also, I think my soul cannot visualize that which is not in God’s world. And if the soul sees this world, which my eyes do not see, then it must be that it in truth exists as something real. And I believe in this absolutely.

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This experience that Elder Ambrose had bears a remarkable and striking similarity to classic NDEs. There was light, peace, and unconditional love. There were other beings and heavenly secrets that were shown to him. He was in such an ecstatic state of soul communion that he didn't want to return to Earth and felt sorrow, grief, and depression at again having to return to his human body.

Experiences of such intense euphoria and bliss—experiences of identification with the soul rather than the physical body—can blow people open and upend one's life. Indeed, after this experience Elder Ambrose decided to renounce worldly life and take monastic vows to live as a monk. He grew over the decades in the forest monastery to become one of the most famous and revered Russian spiritual teachers.

So remember, despite the fascination with NDEs—we don't have to physically die to bring us into a spiritual experience. We can also use our focus, attention, and a variety of time-tested spiritual practices to help us connect with our true natures, and even with the Other Side, any time we want.

And that's good news!

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