|
 Visit
the NDE music CD section of this website at the
NDE Online Store. Read about my
NDE and music research conclusions on my website. The
following is Gilles Bedard's analysis of NDE music based on his
own NDE.
"Based
on my (Gilles Bedard's)
experience, I would say that people usually have a romanticized
view of the music heard during near-death
experiences. That's why most people think first of new age
music, harp or soothing music. From the outside, it would seem
like that, but the music experienced from within is deeper and
more profound than that. When I first heard the music of
Tangerine Dream
("Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares" from their
CD called "Pheadra") in 1974, I thought that was almost it.
But ten years later, when I heard
Structures from Silence from
Steve Roach, I recognized the sound I heard on the other
side. The music of Steve Roach is by far the most accurate and
closest to the real sound of the near-death experience. When you
go to the source of that sound, you then find yourself beyond
the emotional side that we usually associate with the music on
earth. In
my
twenty-five years of research, on the television and radio
programs I was invited to, I played that music and hundreds of
people "recognized" this particular sound. This happened also at
the IANDS conference.
"The
music of Constance Demby,
especially the piece "Celestial Communion" from her album
Set Free is the musical illustration of being bathed into the
light. For many of the people who assisted at my conferences, that
piece unfolded on many occasions, as a souvenir of the near-death
experience for those who lived one.
"If you
would like to explore the music of the near-death experience, here
are some suggestions. These are a part of my workshop
Sound Quest to Omega that recreates the near-death experience in
music. Each listening has that power, if I may say so, to unveil
forgotten memories. Each listening takes you beyond to the Source of
the light. Some people who have never had a near-death experience
and who came to my workshops, experienced a light experience through
this music similar to the near-death experience, but without dying."
Here is
a list of music that approaches the sound of the near-death
experience:
(1) To prepare yourself for the experience,
listen to
Structures from Silence by Steve Roach. It will convey to you
the light within.
(2)
For being in the presence of the light and feeling its energy,
listen to "The Other Side" by Steve Roach from the CD
Dreamtime Return.
(3) For being one with the light, listen to
"The Unfolding" from
Duality by L. Gerrard and P. Bourke.
(4)
For being bathed in the light, listen to "Celestial
Communion" from
Set
Free by Constance Demby.
(5)
For a glimpse of eternity, listen to "The Graceful Sky" from
Cavern of Sirens by Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana.
(6)
For remembering, listen to "Dante's Prayer" from
Book of Secrets by Loreena McKennitt.
"There
is much music available to give you this feeling but first you must
be aware of the cleansing and the sound quest to go beyond to the
Source of the light in Sound. You have to go beyond the esthetic
aspect of music to the source of the power of sound. This is what
I'm doing in the workshops. People surrendering to the sound will
themselves have a very deep experience.
"I hope that this
music will give you a glimpse of what I heard in my near-death experience."
Gilles
Bedard's Near-Death Experience
Gilles Bédard is a specialist in contemplative music. For fifteen
years
(1982-97), he has been a journalist, radio host/producer and
record producer with his own record label,
Rubicon, on both the
Canadian and the International New Age music scene. For the last ten
years, his research has been on the psycho-spiritual dimension of death
and dying.
Gilles Bédard says that doctors at Sacré-Coeur hospital in
Cartierville, Quebec, just north of Montreal, did not expect him to
live. Ravaged by a severe intestinal disorder for nearly five months,
the 19-year-old five-foot, eight-inch Bédard weighed just 75 lb. on
November 17, 1973, when he developed a 105º fever and lapsed into a
coma. A priest administered last rites, and Bédard's parents were at his
bedside. But he recovered, and in the months that followed he had vivid
recollection of his glimpse of what he calls an afterlife. Now 38 and
living in Montreal, Bédard told deputy Chief Researcher Sharon Doyle
Driedger that the experience has affected his life profoundly, leading
him to his present career, as a producer of New Age music. The following
is the account of his journey beyond death.
All day long, I
went in and out of a coma. Around 2 a.m., the doctors came and
put me on my back to examine me. Then I saw a round light at the
ceiling. I felt as if I were looking at the moon. Suddenly, I
couldn't see any walls. Then I saw myself from the ceiling. I
was nine feet higher than my body and I was looking down at the
people around me. It was very strange. I had never experienced
anything like it. I could see myself, the people around me, the
doctors, the nurse, my family, but I felt no emotion. It was
just like watching television.
In the blink of an eye, my vision expanded and I went into a
place like a cosmos where there were 12 people standing in a
half-circle. They were all pure white lights and they had no
faces. Beyond them was a tunnel. I wasn't afraid. I somehow knew
these people although they weren't family or people I could
recognize. It was as if they were waiting for me. I asked them
what was happening, and they told me, "You are not going to die.
You are going back to earth. You have something to do." I asked
them what it was, and as soon as I asked it was as if I knew the
answer. They said I would know what I had to do when the time
came. At that moment, I could sense the future and I realized I
had the choice to do what I wanted to do. I felt pure peace.
What I remembered most is the music I heard when I was out of my
body. It was fascinating.
It was hard to tell how long the experience lasted. It could
have been five seconds or half an hour. When I came back into my
body, it felt very small. But it was OK. I felt calm, very warm.
When I came to, around 5 a.m., I felt ready for a party. It was
as if nothing had happened to me. I didn't remember the
experience at that time. But a month after I left the hospital,
I had another one. During the night, I had a sensation of
falling into a tunnel. Going into it, I knew I was about to die,
but just before arriving at the end of the tunnel, I woke up. It
was not a dream. It was real. And it was then that I remembered
the earlier experience.
After I left the hospital I felt secure, as if I were in a large
protective bubble. I knew I could cross the street without
looking and not be hurt. During my convalescence, I began to
remember the special sound I had heard on the other side. It was
slow and calm, like very deep breathing. At this period, I had a
vision. I was with a sage in the mountains and we were looking
into a valley and he said, "You are going to bring this music to
the people". Then one day, a few years later, I heard the
special sound on an album by Steve Roach, a composer of
electronic music. I had always been interested in music. I
played the guitar and performed in a small rock group with some
friends, but after I discovered that album I turned to
electronic music. Later, in 1988, I met Roach at a New Age music
conference. There I found out that as a motorcycle driver, he
had had a near-death experience. He said that when he wrote
music, he tried to re-create the music he heard when he was in
the light.
I kept the experience to myself for a long time because I didn't
know who to tell and I didn't want to be considered a freak. I
am not afraid to talk about it now because people have heard
about near-death experiences and it isn't as shocking. I changed
my life and it happened to me. If people don't believe me,
that's OK. I'm not a salesman for near-death experiences.
I'm an ordinary guy. I'm into reality. The near-death experience
was not a mystical experience. It was a major step that helped
in my life. It opened a new dimension for me, a new way of
thinking. It changed my relationships with other people, with
friends, with people near me, because I realized that it's not
other people who create your unhappiness. My near-death
experience opened me to the possibilities of life. I know that I
am going to live a long time. But I am not afraid of death now
because I know what it is. People are afraid to die because they
don't know what's there. But now I know that life will continue
after death.
Be sure to read the
NDE research conclusions on music.
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