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1. Human Origins and the NDE
Across thousands of near-death experiences (NDEs) runs a remarkably consistent thread: we are beings of light temporarily learning in a world of matter. The following NDEs speak in harmony about human origins from God, a purposeful descent into embodied life, and an eventual homecoming to the love from which we came. Their message is an invitation to remember who we are while we are here.
Taken together, these perspectives frame Earth as a school where forgetting is part of the curriculum and remembering is the work of the soul. Like the prodigal son, humanity leaves heaven for soul growth, to exercise the “laws” of love, and to expand the light we carry. These NDEs insist that our essence is immortal and safe, that our choices matter, and that even our smallest acts of goodness become passports for the return journey.
This sets the stage for the reflections that follow: how love initiates our sojourn, how veiled knowledge ripens through experience, how spiritual laws guard our freedom, and how the reunion with God is not just a destination but the measure of what we’ve learned. NDEs act as signposts – reminders that humanity’s story is a round trip: from Light, into Life, and back to Light again, wiser and more whole.
“From the light we have come, and to the light we all shall return.” (Josiane Antonette)
“Upon receiving the plan of creation, we [as spirits] sang in rejoicing and were filled with God’s love. We were filled with joy as we saw the growth we would have here on Earth and the joyous bonds we would create with each other.” (Betty Eadie)
“It is God’s love for us that sends us on our journey and it is our love for God that allows us to return to God’s loving arms again.” (David Goines)
“We are all-knowing. But we have chosen to forget most of our knowledge in order to come to Earth and have human experiences.” (Laurelynn Martin)
“Jesus‘ parable of the prodigal son is the cosmic tale of each and every human being. We have all forgotten that we are children of God and that our spiritual side needs to return to God.” (Dr. George Ritchie)
“We are like babies crawling around, trying to learn how to use the forces within us. They are powerful forces and are governed by laws that will protect us from ourselves. But as we grow and seek the positive all around us, even the laws themselves will be revealed. We will be given all that we are prepared to receive.” (Betty Eadie)
“We are immortal and indestructible. We have always been alive, we always will be, and there is no way in this world that we can ever be lost. It is impossible for anyone to fall into a crack in the universe somewhere and never be heard from again. We are utterly safe and we have always been forever and ever.” (Jayne Smith)
“The reason we need to experience a separation of our total reality when we take a physical body is because in order for us to appreciate, benefit, and learn all we can from our physical life, we must re-discover what we knew before – now in physical ways. We must also discover how to return to God. By the good that we do to each other here, by the ways we improve our minds, and by the ways that we learn to cope with a physical body and physical life, we earn our right of safe passage back to God; and in so doing, we likewise honor God.” (David Goines)
“Earth is not our natural home and we did not originate here. Earth is only a temporary place for our schooling and everyone has cultivated a certain degree of light (knowledge) here.” (Betty Eadie)
“We are to make the most of our opportunity for ourselves and God. We will return to God with the knowledge and experience we have gained and God is enhanced by it.” (David Goines)
2. Humanity Within The Matrix
Across NDE testimonies runs a single, insistent theme: we are not isolated beings sealed inside our body, but beings of light with strands in a living web of light. Experiencers describe a “Higher Self matrix” – a circle or grid of consciousness that links every person to every other and, through that unity, to the Source called God. In their words, individuality is not erased but illuminated: each life is a luminous thread in a planetary tapestry, distinct in color and purpose yet inseparable from the whole.
This matrix is seen as filaments, golden cords, nets of radiance, or a vast fabric pulsing with intelligence and love. Within it, love is not merely an emotion but the architecture of connection: it organizes information, heals, and reorients purpose. People return with the conviction that our choices “brighten” or “dim” the spaces between threads; free will is real, and so are the consequences that echo through the network we share.
Many NDEs also hint that humanity is approaching a threshold. As our technologies knit the world together – consciously through communication and subconsciously through unseen waves – we mirror a deeper spiritual interconnection that NDEs unveil. The implication is both intimate and global: every act of kindness strengthens the weave; every injury tugs on more than one life. Health, meaning, and even society’s next evolutionary step may depend on remembering what the light reveals – that we already belong to one another.
“Each person’s Higher Self is connected to each other to form a single matrix around the planet which is called the Higher Self matrix. It a sacred circle of human souls that exists within everyone. It is a direct connection to God that makes us all one being.” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
“We sailed towards a beautiful nebulous network of interconnected consciousnesses emanating a purple glow that pulsed with the essence of human existence. The Fabric of Humanity, as it was revealed to me, was a tapestry of linked souls, each thread intertwined in a symphony of emotions and knowledge, a testament to the unity of all life. In that fleeting moment, I knew that I had been granted a glimpse of an underlying truth that binds us all, a revelation that transcended the boundaries of human comprehension.” (Mindy Tautfest)
“A cosmic matrix of rainbow light exists around the Earth. This matrix provides souls with a number of earthly destinies from which to choose from. Then, before we are born into the world, we are required to forget these memories.” (Plato)
“Everyone has a light connection to their Higher Self which is an extension of our lives. Everyone is interconnected, forming a light grid. We are all one. Our oneness is interconnected by love and this love is connected to the grid. Our love connection to each other is available for us to access.” (Linda Stewart)
“Everything is united by a transparent net, or web, and each thread shines with great radiance. Everything pulses with the same luminosity a magnificent light of unparalleled brilliance.” (Josiane Antonette)
“Within the light, I knew that everyone and everything is connected to the light. God is in everyone, always and forever. Within the light is the cure for all diseases.” (Dr. Dianne Morrissey)
“Humans are actually different aspects of the same being. This being consists of love – the kind of love that cures, heals and regenerates. This is the core of our being. We are all beautiful in our essence, our core. We are very beautiful creations.” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
“We all have the innate ability to heal ourselves, if only we have the desire and determination to enable this gift. Life has meaning and we are all connected. It is in finding those connections that we find the secret to good health and a long life.” (Dr. Melvin Morse)
“Everyone’s gain or loss affects everyone else to some degree because we are all connected.” (P.M.H. Atwater)
“We are all connected and we know each other. All things are of the LOVING light.” (Kathy Oros)
“We are all collectively bonded to each other while on Earth, united in this one supreme purpose: to learn to love one another.” (Betty Eadie)
“I was being told that the meaning of life is to love others more than yourself. I was then told and understood that we are all connected as in a chain, and from the eternal point of view, mankind is only viewed from its weakest link.” (Peter)
“He (God) showed me the golden threads, interwoven, that made me, me. But that I did not exist alone. My golden energy threads extended throughout the universe, and they were not ‘mine’ at all. We, humanity, are all woven together and we are part of God’s tapestry, of sorts. (There really are no words that can adequately describe this.) In between the golden threads, however, He leaves each of us empty spaces. The way he showed me is that we can fill up these empty spaces between the weave of threads with light or with darkness during our lives. We are made of God, but we are given free will.” (Loni C.)
“The new, growing technology affects humanity much more than you can assume initially. It is going to affect you consciously and subconsciously. Consciously, through the advanced communication and computerized technology, and subconsciously through the growing of unseen radio, TV and other wave transmissions which are actually energy links among all people on Earth, thus creating an enormous netlike energy around the planet Earth, bonding even further all humanity into a single subconscious and superconscious mind. This stage is the prerequisite for the next major evolutionary step.” (Israel)
“In the other dimension, I knew everything all at once about the universe, humanity, existence, and that we are all connected mentally to each other.” (Teri)
“When we die and realize a universal connection to all mankind.” (Ron K.)
3. Humanity as a Fractal of God and the Universe
NDEs reveal how humans are expressions of a living Whole. Experiencers describe a cosmos in which each soul is a “branch” on a shared, luminous pattern – a fractal of God – where individuality flowers without severing its Source in the One. In this view, humanity is a group soul unfolding through families, cultures, and nations, each life a distinct iteration of a deeper design. What we think, feel, and choose ripples across the web of being because, at bedrock, we belong to one another.
This cosmic belonging is not abstract. It is felt in the temple of our body: the endocrine “chakras” where spirit impresses itself into mind and matter, tuning our awareness to subtler realms. As these centers awaken, people report a widening field of perception – guidance, love, and an unmistakable sense that Earth, Sun, Moon, planets, animals, and people all arise from the same Source. Free will remains the engine of our evolution: we work through personal and collective lessons across lifetimes until harmony becomes our native tone, and then, say many experiencers, we range farther – other worlds, systems, and dimensions.
To call humans “children of the cosmos” is to remember our true scale: our local solar system is the larger body we inhabit; Earth is the part of that body that knows it is alive. In lucid glimpses – dreams, OBEs, NDEs – some touch the scaffolding behind appearances and find a hierarchy devoted to balance, a universe that is, finally, a dream of God awakening to itself through us. The following points to that recognition: you are a unique pattern of the Whole, and the Whole is alive in you.
“Humans are really children of the cosmos – not just children of this world. The deeper part of us travels the entire universe and we chose to dwell in this solar system.” (Edgar Cayce)
“We affect each other because we are all a part of each other. We affect all parts of the universe because all parts of creation interweave and interrelate with all other parts.” (P.M.H. Atwater)
“The fact that we are here on Earth, shows that we are on the path to developing an individual consciousness that is part of the group consciousness of humanity. There are racial personality clusters, national personality clusters, municipal personality clusters, family personality clusters. Our individual identity is evolving like branches of a fractal. This is the group soul exploring in our individuality.” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
“I was part of the universe itself, one point in the web of humanity.” (Keely S.)
“So the problems of individuals, groups, races, and nations, are dealt with from one lifetime to the next through a person’s free will until they are solved. Then the soul is free to move on to other worlds, other solar systems, other universes, and other dimensions.” (Edgar Cayce)
“No matter who we are, we are all joined under one God. Our souls are all one. All living things in the universe are connected to one another.” (May Eulitt)
“There is a hierarchy in the universe that is dedicated to preserving the harmony of the universe. Humans are an integral part of this harmony.” (David Oakford)
“We are multi-dimensional beings. We can access our other dimensions through lucid dreaming. This universe is God’s dream.” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
“The solar system we live in is our larger, local body. This is our local body and we are much bigger than we imagine. The solar system is our body. The Earth is this great created being that we are, and we are the part of it that knows that it is.” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
“The Earth, the sun, the moon, the darkness, the light, the planets, and all forms of life plants, rocks, animals, people are interconnected; they come from the same source of light.” (Josiane Antonette)
Everyone is influenced by their body and, in many ways, the influence of the body determines a person’s level of spiritual development. Our body is a temple for the divine spirit. We can find God within us by awakening the spiritual centers of our body to higher spiritual dimensions and realms. (Edgar Cayce)
The spiritual centers within our bodies are known by science to be the endocrine glands (also known in the East as “chakras“) which are the emotional and motivational centers of the body. They serve as points of contact between the spirit and the body and are the transformers of the divine spirit into physical consciousness and manifestation. Our endocrine glands are the pituitary, the pineal, the thyroid, the thymus, the adrenals, the lyden, and the gonads. (Edgar Cayce)
Through our spiritual centers, our spiritual force finds a means of expression. It is through these spiritual centers that the physical, mental and spiritual forces all come together. They are the organs of perception through which we can become aware of the spirit realms in the same way that our five senses are organs of perception of the physical realm. These spiritual centers with us are influenced by astrological forces that represent and correspond to the spirit realms. The highest spirit realm we can inhabit after death is determined by the highest spiritual center activated within our body by the spiritual force within. (Edgar Cayce)
4. Humanity’s Imperfect Nature
Human beings are works-in-progress – unfinished, learning creatures whose very imperfections are part of the design. NDErs repeatedly describe a universe organized around love, not condemnation; growth, not final judgment. In their NDE testimonies, mistakes are not proof of failure but catalysts for learning, the raw material through which conscience matures and love deepens. We are seen as participants in a self-correcting cosmos: souls invited to choose, to err, to understand, and to try again.
What follows gathers voices from NDEs that speak to this hopeful anthropology. They testify that love is the measure, forgiveness the method, and freedom the arena where we learn to align the personal self with the greater Whole. These witnesses insist that no one is finally lost; rather, we are continuously called to remember who we are, to release guilt once we have learned its lesson, and to let our everyday choices – however small – tend toward kindness. In acknowledging our flaws without fear, we become teachable. In choosing love over separation, we become more human.
“There is no evil in any human soul. We seek love to sustain us and it is the lack of love that distorts people. We were designed by God to self-correct, just like the rest of the universe. No one is lost because everyone is already ‘saved.'” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
Howard Storm was given the following insights from beings of light after his life review when he was fearful of returning to Earth life and afraid he would make mistakes again: “Mistakes are an acceptable part of being human. We are here to make all the mistakes we want because it is through our mistakes that we learn. As long as we try to do what we know to be right, we will be on the right path. If we make a mistake, we should fully recognize it as a mistake, then put it behind us and simply try not to make the same mistake again. The important thing is to try our best, keep our standards of goodness and truth, and not compromise them to win people’s approval. God loves us just the way we are, mistakes and all. When we make a mistake, we should ask for forgiveness. After that, it would be an insult if we don’t accept that we are forgiven. We shouldn’t continue going around with a sense of guilt, and we should try not to repeat our mistakes. We should learn from our mistakes. God wants us to do what we want to do. That means making choices – and there isn’t necessarily any right choice. There are a spectrum of possibilities, and we should make the best choice from those possibilities. If we do that, we will receive help from the Other Side.” (Howard Storm)
“God knew we would make mistakes. Life is all about mistakes. It is constant change and growth. Our greatest challenges in life will one day be known to us as our greatest teachers.” (Betty Eadie)
“Humanity saves, redeems and heals themselves. We always have and we always will.” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
“I now see all the great people in my life as a part of overall humanity. Beforehand my relationship with people was ‘You’re great while humanity sucks,’ it became ‘You’re great, because you are a part of humanity,” and now I feel much more at ease, knowing that the best of people will always come out on top.” (Zhenya T.)
“I understood humanity but can’t describe it. It was like layers of humanity and what makes us human. To love. To laugh. To find humor. To value small things.” (Melanie J.)
“I came back with only one question: is it possible for humanity to love and accept each other without judgment? That’s what I got out of this.” (Thomas D.)
“[ I ] seemed to understand that we are not meant to always be happy, but that accidents, like mine, serve a purpose, for all humankind, even as small as we feel or as insignificant as we believe we are, just being nice to a person passing on the street, and love.” (Kevin E.)
“The more we exercised our individual consciousness and free will for self-interest, self-gratification, self-glorification, and self-consciousness, the more we heightened our sense of self apart from the Whole.” (Edgar Cayce)
“The greatest enemy we can face is ourselves.” (George Anderson)
“The conquering of self is truly greater than were one to conquer many worlds.” (Edgar Cayce)
5. Humanity’s Divine Nature
Countless NDErs say that humans are not strangers to God – we are God’s human expression. What many NDErs met in afterlife realms was not a distant God but an intimate Presence already nested at the center of the self: a love that feels original, unconditioned, and inexhaustible. In such encounters, separation gives way to belonging. People return speaking of oneness with God, of being”extensions” or “portions” of the Source, and of life on Earth as a participatory creation in which God is continually unfolding through humanity.
From this vantage, love is not merely an ethic; it is our very substance and shared identity. Such NDEs reframe purpose as service, creativity, and growth – each act an avenue for God to know and express itself in the world. They also soften judgment: behind our visible failures and disguises, they insist, shines a magnificent soul. Even suffering and limitation become contexts for learning how to embody the love we already are.
The voices gathered below – NDErs and researchers – tune to a single theme: God is not elsewhere. God is within and among us, calling us to remember our kinship with all life, to create with love, and to hear again the “celestial song” that threads every atom and every heart.
“Within every human being is perfect love. That is our core – this love, this perfection, this God-ness.” (Jayne Smith)
“God is within us and we are an inseparable part of God. We are perfect love as a creation of God. We and God are one – Creator and created.” (Linda Stewart)
“We must stop trying to become God because God is becoming us.” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
“Humans are the true essence of God. We are God creating God. God lives within us and through us. God experiences it all, right along with us.” (Sherry Gideon)
“We were conceived in love spiritually, and love is the center of our beings. It is the energy of our souls, the spark of our divine nature. Being made of love, we cleave to it and seek it in all that we do. When we do not have it, or when we have lost it, we grieve. Its presence or absence colors our every action. It is life. It is happiness. It is salvation itself.” (Betty Eadie)
“We are the human part of God.” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
“The human soul has the same power as God. We have exactly the same intensive power as God. We have the same potential as God within the human condition. The oneness of the Whole, or the wholeness of the One, being God, is ultimately powerful and unconditional love.” (Thomas Sawyer)
“God is expanding through us.” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
“We call ourselves children of God and co-creators made in the image of God. But it would be closer to the truth if we called ourselves extensions of God or thoughts in the Mind of God.” (P.M.H. Atwater)
“We are an individualized portion of God who has attained a perfect oneness with God – which is also our goal.” (Arthur Yensen)
“God is exploring Self through us in an infinite Dance of Life by every way imaginable, in an ongoing exploration through every one of us, through every piece of hair on our head, through every leaf on every tree, through every atom.” (Mellen-Thomas Benedict)
“Shining down upon this sea of humanity was a blindingly beautiful light, pink, golden and white-brilliantly luminous. A sort of ‘voice’ or realization arose within me and spoke. Although nobody appeared, I felt the presence of something immense and eternal standing to my right. It informed me that the people I was seeing, were all those who had ever lived. Yet here they were alive! It told me that all of them were me! Not only that, but I was each of them! I understood this presence was ‘God.’ Then God made it clear that all these people and I were God and that He was us… I was seeing life’s continuance, a never-ending flow of humanity, moving within the stream of Life. It was a beautiful, eternal flow, which we’re forever part of. I was stunned, amazed, and filled with wonder at it all.” (Denise V.)
“The only redemption we have on Earth is love. Love is what makes us. We ARE love. It’s what we are made of, not something we do. I encountered information that we are literally Jesus’ brothers and sisters like he tried to tell his followers in his time. I learned his message was very much simpler than mankind has since made it. We are God. We come to this Earth in human form and then begin to mold ourselves in to human likeness, taint ourselves with human habits.” (Jennifer J.)
“The message I got was for me to be of service to my fellow mankind and since I was being given all this love, to share that with everyone, no matter how difficult the situation might be and to not give up hope. It taught me that being on this planet is a rare privilege and one must strive to rise above any adverse situation and strive to see good even in that. It taught me that nothing is impossible; that we are divine beings and can accomplish anything we desire, provided we did it with good intentions and that there is nothing really good or bad; it just is potential.” (Padma)
“We, mankind, are part of a larger life force built on a big heap of love and knowledge all for one purpose: to praise the Creator.” (Caan S.)
Betty Eadie had an interesting lesson learned from her NDE spirit guides about not judging others. “The heavens scrolled back, and I saw the Earth again. This time my vision focused on a street corner in a large city. There, I saw a man lying in a drunken stupor on the sidewalk near a building. One of my guides said, ‘What do you see?’ “Why, a drunken bum lying in his wallow,’ I said, not understanding why I had to see this. My guides became excited. They said, ‘Now we will show you who he really is.’ “His spirit was revealed to me, and I saw a magnificent man, full of light. Love emanated from his being, and I understood that he was greatly admired in the heavens.” Betty Eadie was told that this great man came to Earth to sacrifice his time for the benefit of teaching people to care about the needs of others. (Betty Eadie)
“Everyone has within them a unique ‘celestial song’ – an inner melody wanting to burst forth. The inner vibration within us connects us to the deep, modulating, harmonious music of the ‘celestial orchestra.’ This cosmic orchestra is the collective energy of everything that’s ever lived and everything that’s ever going to live. It is the life force. It is the power of the universe. It is ecstatically happy. The culmination of this energy is love. Love abounds with its feelings of ecstasy and deep bliss. It is the love holding every atom, every sparrow, every galaxy, everything together. Everyone has forever been a part of this life force and always will. We are already familiar with this at a deep level. We know it. The problem is we bury it under so much apprehension and worry. Don’t worry. Be happy and feel good. There are an infinite number of levels of existence and each level adds to the hum of the cosmic orchestra. It’s as if we’re always spiraling upward until we reach a state of atomic bliss. Life continues. The show goes on in ever varied and unfolding settings.” (Larry Hagman)
6. Humanity’s Divine Freedom of Will
Humanity’s deepest encounters with the Light repeatedly return to one core revelation: we have freedom – radically, lovingly free – and that freedom is sacred. NDErs describe a cosmos in which God’s Presence saturates everything yet does not overrule our free will. We are invited, not coerced; helped when asked, not handled from above. Within this spacious mercy, life becomes a workshop of the soul – a field of possibilities where choices, large and small, are the tools by which we shape identity, character, and destiny. NDEs portray karma as context, not a cage, and the future as a branching lattice of potentials that bend toward the decisions we make, especially the ones made in love.
Because we are eternally connected to God, our freedom is never isolated or trivial. What we think, say, and do ripples through the human family and the wider universe; even one person’s courage or love can tilt the whole. Thus the gift of free will is also a calling: to co-create reality with God, to ask for guidance and then act, to choose truth over fear and care over indifference. When we align our freedom with love, the ordinary becomes luminous, and “Heaven on Earth” shifts from a distant hope to a lived possibility – one decision, one moment, one heart at a time.
“The greatest gift we were ever given was the free will to create our own reality and experience the biggest, grandest version of ourselves.” (Sherry Gideon)
“God made a promise not to intervene in our lives unless asked.” (Betty Eadie)
“God does nothing to curb human freedom. However humans act, it is within God’s reality. By whatever path, humans return to God.” (Edgar Cayce)
“We are supposed to do whatever we want to do. That means making choices where there isn’t necessarily any right choice. There exists a spectrum of possibilities, and we should make the best choice we can from these possibilities. If we do that, we will receive help from above.” (Howard Storm)
“I know that we are all one creation and if we knew who we are and how much we are loved and valued by our Creator, life here on Earth would be Heaven on Earth. There would be no illness, pain, death, hatred or war. We would love and care for all others as much as we have ever loved anyone in our life.” (Kathy K.)
https://www.nderf.org/Experiences/1kathy_k_nde_6694.html
“My view of [NDEs] tells me that it is a supremely important tool given to us by Nature, for the evolution of humanity. It provides us with a better understanding of reality and of the Universe itself.” (Celso)
“I know this [NDE] information would grant [humanity] peace of mind and heart. I feel it is vital awareness meant for all humanity to benefit from and set them free. I also know it is my divine Intention that I share onward and not keep what I know to myself.” (Sharon Q.)
“I was shown mostly my future with shadowy, potential futures of the world and humanity. I was told no one is actually qualified to see the hard future facts, as free will can change destiny to an extent. I was shown potential realities of where things were headed; not predestined, but close!” (Scott S.)
“I knew I would have plenty of [future] opportunities to make choices that would impact humanity, that it would be best to act instead of not act, and to act with love.” (Katherine L.)
“An important purpose for mortality is to help us learn to recognize and to choose the positive even though the negative more fully surrounds us. We make this choice consciously or unconsciously in every moment of the day, and these millions of tiny choices create the foundation of our identity. We are what we think. We are what we say, what we do, what we fill our lives with. Ultimately, every being creates himself by these countless, crucial choices.” (Betty Eadie)
“The freedom of one person is enough to change the whole universe.” (David Oakford)
“Everyone’s life is shaped to some extent by their karma. But karma is not greater than free will because with free will, anything is possible.” (Edgar Cayce)
“Our ability to accept truth, to live by it, governs our progress in the spirit, and it determines the degree of light we possess. Nobody forces light and truth upon us, and nobody takes it away unless we let them.” (RaNelle Wallace)
7. Humanity’s Struggle With Imperfection
NDErs often describe our lives on Earth as a workshop for love. Their testimonies don’t deny human imperfection; they reinterpret it. The “hell fire” isn’t a punishment but a refining energy that “burns away” what no longer serves the soul. We are apprentices between two forces – the body’s habits and the spirit’s calling – and the friction between them becomes the location where love, courage, and clarity are strengthened. Again and again, the message is remembrance: we born into material forgetfulness, then awaken to who we really are and why we came to Earth – to learn how to love and to grow in wisdom.
These NDE testimonies also widen the lens beyond the individual. They speak of missions and callings, of being sent back to witness that death is transition, not annihilation. They challenge our collective blindness, inviting forgiveness and self-forgiveness, and even suggest a startling reciprocity – God’s gratitude for humanity’s willingness to learn in a difficult world. In this light, women and men reflect the divine equally, as complementary facets of one image. Love is framed not as sentiment but as the only power strong enough to heal what divides us – an “infection” of goodness meant to overrun despair. Suffering, they say, persists where we withhold love; growth comes as we balance our inner dualities, open our eyes, and choose – imperfectly but earnestly – to return to the Light together.
“The hell fire of purification mentioned in many traditions is symbolic of the divine energy that dwells within the seven chakras of human beings. The struggle between our higher and lower selves grows until finally the destructive elements are completely overcome.” (Betty Bethards)
“Our body is constantly in opposition to our spirit. The flesh is weak but persistent. Although the spirit must battle constantly to overcome the flesh, this battle strengthens the spirit’s influence over the body.” (Betty Eadie)
“In order to return to God we have to come to ourselves and realize that our lower nature is leading us down the road of materialism and of living only for ourselves. This causes us to turn away from God and our divine destiny. This caused us to forget who we are and it caused our spiritual death.” (Dr. George Ritchie)
“We have been called back to teach and to share our experiences with others. By all rights, one might wonder why so many of us have been brought back while others remain on the Other Side. This is mainly due to the fact that we were needed to fulfill and complete something significant in our own lives… as well as to honor a special mission to help humanity finally come to the realization that there is indeed no death. We simply ‘move on’ and continue to evolve in our journey back toward the Light.” (Rev. Juliet Nightingale)
“I saw how all of humanity has walked with eyes cast low to the Earth, not opening wide to the beauty of the one loving presence of Golden peace. This peace is one in which we truly live, yet do not see. I saw how sadness overcomes those who cannot forgive themselves or others; and on their day of an awakened mind, they too shall be ashamed and slowly sink to a lower experience.” (Yazmine S.)
“In this (the Being of Light) Presence, I simply stood there. I felt love everywhere. It was thick and heavy and it had a literal physical presence. This Presence was exquisite and magnificent. I also felt its gratitude for all of humanity and for all who must suffer in this place. It had weight, presence, and form. It is one thing I have never heard spoken of; that God is grateful to us and for us and for all that we are and do.” (Sandi T.)
“Our Father in Heaven created man in his own image — which is that of a perfect and multifaceted man. Women, too, are in the image of God and are multifaceted. Women’s bodies are co-creators of mortal life, and this makes us Godlike in a literal sense. In heaven, women and men are perfectly balanced in their roles and are equal. Standing side by side, they are perfect complements of each other.” (Betty Eadie)
“All are here for the same reason — unconditional love — we pick our own goals on how to achieve that. We are far from it as humankind goes.” (Tara B.)
“The light then told me, ‘You are here to learn how to love and to gain knowledge’. When I was told this, all the implications of the word ‘love’ and ‘knowledge’ were imparted to me. With the word ‘love’, it wasn’t just about physical love but the love of nature, accepting all people as the same, everything that pertained to love. The same was with knowledge. It wasn’t just about book knowledge but about learning about different cultures, histories of the world. I felt when I was told this that it wasn’t just my reason for being on Earth, but all of our reason for being here: mankind.” (Barbara S.)
“He (God) conveyed to me that if humanity were to survive, the only way would be through love. He explained that love was like an infection that would be able to take over and consume the darkness that was prevalent on Earth. I could feel the love he had for me and for every soul. He told me that I was part of him, and that he was part of me and every soul on Earth. We were all one and connected.” (Emily W.)
“Why does God allow so much suffering in the world?… He doesn’t. I was informed that we are the ones who allow so much suffering. Humankind does it to itself. What about things like the tsunami which killed so many people? We all have to die, but we all put too much emphasis upon its happening. Death is not the tragedy that many of us perceive it to be, but an awakening.” (Tim E.)
“I want to add here, though, that perhaps the way the world is structured right now, it’s just not ready to know the whole truth. Humankind is not ready for the ‘illusion’ to be shattered. Everything is held in place by everyone believing and thinking a certain way.” (Anita Moorjani)
“During my experience, I learned that there are two parts to every person. They can be described in various ways: male and female, intellectual and emotional, protective and nurturing, right brain and left brain. Often we go through life being one way or the other, but we can learn to balance both parts. Being off balance, too far one way or the other, keeps the spirit away from where it needs to be to achieve its greatest growth.” (Betty Eadie)
8. Conclusion
If these NDE testimonies agree on anything, it is this: humanity is not an accident struggling toward meaning, but higher light beings choosing to learn as humanity. We come from the Light, enter the density of life to grow, and return to the Light carrying what love has made of us. Along the way we are never alone; we are strands in a living matrix, a fractal of the One, each thread distinct yet inseparable from the Whole. Our freedom is real, our errors instructive, and our essence – however veiled – divine.
To live by this knowledge is not to escape the world; it is to see it rightly. Earth remains a workshop where forgetting gives choice its dignity and remembering gives choice its aim. The body’s limitations and the spirit’s influence do not cancel each other – they collaborate to strengthen love, honesty, courage, and mercy. Every moment becomes a school lesson. Every relationship, however ordinary, becomes a chance to brighten the human matrix we share.
NDEs do not ask us to abandon reason or deny suffering. They invite us to widen the frame: to see that conscience is guidance, forgiveness is healing, and love is both law and lifeblood. Karma is context, not condemnation; destiny is co-authored. When we ask for help, help arrives. When we align freedom with love, probabilities bend toward healing – not just for us, but for those bound to us in the luminous fabric of being.
So the assignment is simple and demanding: remember who you are, and act from it. Ask for guidance, and listen. Choose truth over fear, love over indifference, service over self-absorption. Let mistakes teach without naming you. Let gratitude be your atmosphere. Create beauty. Repair what you can. Bless what you cannot fix. And keep going.
In the end, the journey we call “human” is a round trip: from Light, into Life, and back to Light – returning not as we left, but wiser, kinder, more spacious in love. What we learn here does not stay here; it becomes part of the Whole. And the Whole, through us, learns how to shine.
