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 In this new section of the newsletter, Dr.
P.M.H. Atwater will answer questions submitted to her from subscribers to this free newsletter. If you have a question that you would like her to answer, just email your question to http://www.near-death.com/contact.html for consideration.
Dr. P.M.H. Atwater's next book, entitled
The New Children and
Near-Death Experiences, will be released on December of 2003.
You can order your copy now through Amazon.
Dr. Ken Ring had this to say about her book: "This book is the richest, most probing, and most comprehensive available of NDEs in children."
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 QUESTION:
We often hear of how terminally ill children are
a spiritual inspiration to their families, friends, and even their
communities. Upon reading some of their stories, they most often seem to
have a great maturity and sense of self (a self-created personality),
which is partly why people are drawn to them. Typically, what is their
purpose (and place) in the afterlife realms, as well as during their
very short time on earth? I know that it is probably different for each
person, but, in general? Are some of them spirit guides? Thank you for
reading this --
Adam |
 P.M.H.
Atwater's answer:
Adam, you asked a complicated question no one can really answer, not even
psychics and mediums - for there is always more to the story of our lives than
anyone can know. But, there is a long and respected tradition in mystical
teachings that addresses this. From this treasure of knowledge and from my own
research and "witnessing" on the other side of death's door, I can offer you
some ideas and suggestions you may want to consider.
It has oft been said that terminally ill children can see through "the veils" of the spirit world. For this reason, people would gather at their bedside when death was near to hear anything they might say. The tradition for such gatherings is part of every culture known to have existed that recorded their spiritual/religious rituals. In many areas of our world, people still do this - even modern folk. Although bedside visitations and visions are equally common with teenagers and adults about to die, it is the innocence of children, their lack of worldly exposure and knowledge, that lends importance to whatever they might say. "Out-of-the-mouth-of-the-innocent" catches us, any one of us, and we listen....intently.....with our heart, not our head. There is no other source of information from the realms of spirit that is as pure, we are told, and, for that matter as true. (It is also true that anyone who "returns to life" from a sudden, impactual, transformation of consciousness, especially near-death states, and regardless of age, go through this "return to innocence," this touch-in with the purity of true wisdom, and remain there until they begin to readjust to the
earth plane.)
A dying child's incredible maturity is unique. Perhaps it is because of what the child witnesses, senses, or hears "from beyond" before he or she dies, that is the cause of this. But, maybe, there's another way to view this. Consider the following:
 (1) An unusual number of children today are being born with handicaps
and terminal illnesses that complicate their lives greatly and cause much
pain. Yet they behave and talk as if they chose their health problem as a
soul, so they could come to earth to help others by providing them with
opportunities to serve and learn to be more forgiving and loving through
the act of service, or by being exposed to the inspiration they could
receive. These kids were born with a mature perspective that flowered early
and they died as if an "angel" to those lucky enough to hear what they had
to say. Thanks to our new technologies, many of these children are writing
books, composing poetry, and, in general, getting their message out to the
masses in ways unimaginable just five years ago.
(2) Newborns, infants, and toddlers who undergo near-death states imprint, I believe, with otherworldly realities and go through long periods of confusion and/or curiosity about why where they are doesn't match "where
they were." These particular children simply grow up abstracting, are
highly intelligent and intuitive, and just "know" life is different than what they are forced to learn about in school or are told by their parents. Be sure to pre-order my book "The New Children and Near-Death Experiences" due
out this December from Inner Traditions. I dwell at length about this
puzzle and even more startling findings in the book.
(3) Esoteric traditions tell us what near-death experiencers of any age
are now confirming - that all children, in every culture and country, can
see the invisible. They can see and hear spirit beings, disincarnates,
angels, guides, demons, monsters, all manner of "invisible" things, as a
matter of course - automatically - simply because this ability is part of
childhood, part of what enables children to protect themselves or learn
faster or be guided and aided when in need. It is our job as adults to help
them handle this ability and not be misled or controlled by it. Poking fun
at children, saying "it's all your imagination," helps no one and can cause
the young to seriously doubt the integrity of their own perceptions.
 (4) What impresses me, however, is the extent to which the dying of any
age can and oft times do merge into their own soul as they cast aside the
physical body in death. This merging, this becoming more of what we really
are, a soul, is one of the higher goals of any spiritual calling or religious ritual. It's what undergirds the practice of prayer and meditation. It's a large part of what makes the sacred, sacred. Our goal, as near as I can tell, is to link more with that perfect part of us, that Higher Self, True Self, that is still connected to God in the sense that it never separated from The Godhead, and to do this while alive and actively engaged with our fellows. As we become more spiritual in our lives, make better choices, are more responsible and caring and loving, we open ourselves to the energy of the soul - its reality and its power - and its goal of carrying out God's Greater Plan. The soul, our soul, encourages us to become more of what we really are in the truer sense, divine beings here to learn, grow, discover, experience, and transform - so what we project (who we think we are) matches more closely with our true identity (what we really
are). Again and again, near-death experiencers, when describing their scenario, actually depict that mergence, and they certainly talk long and lovingly about their true self, their true identity, their soul. At the deathbed, merging
into our soul, joining with the divine, becomes primary.
There is the clear sense, when you spend as much time as I have at
the edge of death (either as an experiencer, witness, or
researcher), that
"the way of things" is quite different than what most of us were taught or
have come to believe. Time has no meaning to the soul; only to us as human
beings. So the idea of a child coming here for a short time and then
leaving has a very different connotation. The soul is ongoing, eternal.
For the soul to choose or be guided to take on form in the earth
plane seems
never to address a single lifetime, or what we earthly folks consider "the
new kid on the block." The soul's reasons appear to be much broader and
bigger than that, formed around a purpose or goal. If this is true, and I
feel it is, then we all must pay more attention to those near-death
experiencers, and others like them, who tell us that they chose to be born
and that they chose their genes, their parents, and the major events that
would occur in their life - so that they could accomplish a specific goal or
mission.
 Few of us have any memory of anything so lofty, and as children we
haven't yet the language skills we need to say anything meaningful. By the
time we've reached kindergarten, most of our memory of the realities beyond
the earth plane, are gone. Thus begins the challenge of first being taught
to follow your head and then later on learning it is our heart that is the
truer guide. When asked about our "mission," the job we each have come to
earth to accomplish (why we are here), most kids in my research of child experiencers
of near-death states said something like: "Well, if you just ask God to help you
and say your prayers, you'll be shown what to do. God has a job for us. We don't
have to know what it is. We just have to trust and follow our heart. That's
'cause our heart knows more than our head does."
Are some children spirit guides or angels in disguise? I know a lot of people who would give you a resounding yes to that question. I rather
suspect that anyone who inspires you, lifts your spirit, and speaks directly
to your heart, is indeed an angel. That means we all have the capacity to
become angels, once we "awaken" to that greater truth of our divine nature -
and then act accordingly.
Many blessings,
P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D., Ph.D.
www.cinemind.com/atwater
& www.pmhatwater.com |
