User:Chuck Smith~metawiki/The Vision of Knowledge
As an encouragement for those of you working on the Wikipedia, I wanted to add an excerpt from Reflections on Life after Life by Raymond A. Moody, Jr., M.D. which describes one "experienced" phase of the afterlife (taken from people who have been legally dead and revived). I'm not trying to propagandize any particular world view here, but just trying to give something to make people think.
The Vision of Knowledge
[edit]Several people have told me that during their encounters with "death," they got brief glimpses of an entire separate realm of existence in which all knowledge -- whether of past, present, or future -- seemed to co-exist in a sort of timeless state. Alternately, this has been described as a moment in which the subject seemed to have complete knowledge. In trying to talk about this aspect of their experience, all have commented that this experience was ultimately inexpressible. Also, all agree that this feeling of complete knowledge did not persist after their return; that they did not bring back any sort of omniscience. They agree that this vision did not discourage them from trying to learn in this life, but, rather, encouraged them to do so.
The experience has been compared in various accounts, to a flash of universal insight, institutions of higher learning, a "school," and a "library." Everyone emphasizes, however, that the words they are using to describe this experience are at best only dim reflections of the reality they are trying to express. It is my own feeling that there may be one underlying state of consciousness which is at the root of all these different accounts.
One woman who had "died" gave the following report during an extended interview.
- You mentioned earlier that you seemed to have "a vision of knowledge," if I could call it that. Could you tell me about it?
- This seems to have taken place after I had seen my life pass before me. It seemed that all of a sudden, all knowledge -- of all that had started from the very beginning, that would go on without end -- that for a second I knew all the secrets of all ages, all the meaning of the universe, the stars, the moon -- of everything. But after I chose to return, this knowledge escaped, and I can't remember any of it. It seems that when I made the decision [to return] I was told that I would not retain the knowledge. But I kept being called back by my children....
- This all-powerful knowledge opened before me. It seemed that I was being told that I was going to remain sick for quite awhile and that I would have other close calls. And I did have several close calls after that. They said some of it would be to erase this all-knowing knowledge that I had picked up ... that I had been granted the universal secrets and that I would have to undergo time to forget that knowledge. But I do have the memory of once knowing everything, that it did happen, but that it was not a gift that I would keep if I returned. But I chose to return to my children .... The memory of all these things that happened has remained clear, all except for that fleeting moment of knowledge. And that feeling of all knowledge disappeared when I returned to my body.
- It sounds silly! Well, it does when you say it out loud ... or it does to me, because I've never been able to sit and talk to someone else about it.
- I don't know how to explain it, but I knew .... As The Bible says, "To you all things will be revealed." For a minute, there was no question that didn't have an answer. How long I knew it, I couldn't say. It wasn't in earthly time, anyway.
- In what form did this knowledge seem to be presented to you? Was it in words or pictures?
- It was in all forms of communication, sights, sounds, thoughts. It was any- and everything. It was as if there was nothing that wasn't known. All knowledge was there, not just of one field, but everything.
- One thing I wonder. I've spent a lot of my life seeking knowledge, learning. If this happens, isn't that sort of thing rather pointless?
- No! You still want to seek knowledge even after you come back here. I'm still seeking knowledge .... It's not silly to try to get the answers here. I sort of felt that it was part of our purpose ... but that it wasn't just for one person, but that it was to be used for all mankind. We're always reaching out to help others with what we know.