Death Brings Context to Life | Dr. Mary Neal | TEDxJacksonHole

[Music] good evening and thank you for being here I'm dr. Mary Neal and I'm gonna talk to you tonight about death because how you understand death directly determines how you experience life my own understanding of death changed in 1999 when I died while kayaking in South America I was pinned under 8 to 10 feet of water at the base of a waterfall and that was without oxygen for 30 minutes before CPR was initiated and when I regained consciousness I was in a state of shock not because I just drowned not because of my multiple broken legs and not because I was on the side of a remote river with no access to medical care now I was in an absolute state of shock because I could not believe that I've been sent back to my body from a place I will call heaven it was peaceful underwater and I was held and comforted by Christ and no I didn't just think or hope it was Jesus I know it was Christ just as I would know my husband of 30 years if I had seen him in the grocery store and I was taken through a life review that had little to do with judgment and everything to do with understanding and compassion and grace and I was shown the beauty that came out of every heartbreak every challenge and every disappointment of my life and then I was released of heavens my spirit rose up and out of the river and I was immediately greeted by a group of people or spirits who had known me and loved me as long as I have existed and even as they took me down this beautiful pathway woven together with fibers of God's love and exploding with color and flowers and the aroma of flowers I could look back at the river and I watched as my purple bloated body was pulled to the shore and my friends started CPR and I recognized my body and I knew that I was dead but despite having a magnificent life with a wonderful husband and these four young children who I loved more than life itself I felt like I was home and I really had absolutely no intention of returning and then I was told it wasn't my time that I had more work to do on earth and that I'd have to go back to my body and when I objected I was given a laundry list of work yet to be done none of which was desirable and all of which would challenge me in one way or another especially challenging was news of the coming and unexpected death of my oldest son who as many of you know was hit and killed by a car ten years later now of course I did go back to my body and I spent many of the subsequent days and weeks moving between the two worlds one that contained my past and my future the god of the universe and all that is love and one that contained my present with the family I cherished in the life I enjoyed now I knew I would never be the same again but at the time I wondered if it was just you know figment of my imagination maybe it was a death experience I had always expected but the problem is I hadn't had any expectations like most of you I'd never really thought much about my own death and I certainly hadn't heard of near-death or after death experiences in 1999 and if I had I would have discounted them out of hand because although I'd been raised in the church I readily traded my religious beliefs for intellectual ones when I went off to college in medical school and by 1999 I was a well trained scientist doctor surgeon I was accomplished self-confident smart certainly didn't think I needed God I was probably some mix of humanist rationalist material scientist may be a cultural Christian I don't really know but what I did know is that my experiences underwater had certainly seemed real and God not only seemed real but was the only real that mattered so I needed answers I spent the many months of my hospitalization in rehab searching for scientific ones and first I looked to my medical records and people had been at the river and then really fueled by a desire to discount everything I'd been told I then read extensively about drowning about the physiology of a dying brain about anoxia dreams hallucinations seizures neurotransmitter dumping but all of these conventional explanations fell short and the scientific gaps were really unbridgeable and nothing could account for my unscathed survival or for my profound spiritual experience eventually I realized I'd had a near-death or after death experience and I discovered I wasn't alone in this almost 20 million people in this country alone have had these profoundly transformative experiences and a continuation of the soul or consciousness after death is described in every culture every faith tradition and every age group even very young children who have never been exposed to religion recount near-death experiences and we all talk about the same things we talk about this purity of divine love and interconnectedness with all living creatures and regardless of what our prior beliefs were God becomes the only truth in fact 75% of atheists encounter being that they identify as either Jesus or God and our understanding of death forever changes fear disappears and we all look forward to going home again one day now maybe you understand death as a resurrection or a day of judgment or a spin into another lifetime or maybe just the dissolution into the energy of the universe or maybe you think it's just a hole in the ground waiting to be filled but what you think about death is important and I'm here tonight to tell you that death is nothing more than the doorway to home and it is the very existence of this home that brings context purpose and meaning to our time here on earth now to help you understand this idea I'm going to tell you a story about my childhood home now when I grew up I loved my home I loved everything about it I love my family my friends my neighborhood my local dog the trees the stream behind the house I love fresh-cut grass when I was home I felt comfortable and content I felt safe and secure and loved and I really never wanted to leave but then one day I went off to summer camp now I knew I'd be challenged I was a little nervous I'd never been away from home didn't know what to expect I assumed that I would learn and grow and maybe become a better me and I did it was great I learned to swim and sail and water-ski I learned about kindness and humility I made friends we made bonfires it was great but of course it wasn't all good the breads were hard and I really didn't like the food my sandals are stolen one day and I was pretty angry but I actually felt compassion for the little girl when I learned of her plight and I ended up giving her most of my clothes and I hated hated hated the time I spent in the nurses cabin after being stung by a bee but I was able to find humor in all of this because I knew that my time at camp was temporary and before long I'd be going back to my comfortable and familiar home sure enough the camp bus came took me home and my friends were sad and they cried a little bit but really I was looking forward to going home and sleeping in my own bed and I knew my family would be waiting for me and they'd be overjoyed by my return now the point I'm making with this story is that it was the existence and reality of my childhood home and the knowledge that I'd be going back there again that brought a context to my time at camp that allowed me to experience it as a great adventure and since 1999 that's exactly how I experienced my life here on earth the reality and existence of our true and permanent spiritual home the one I discovered on the other side of death and the knowledge that I in you will be going back there one day brings a context to my time on earth that allows me to experience it as a great adventure with great meaning and purpose and it changes the way I experience both good times and bad now what another way of understanding this concept is with this next slide many of you will immediately see the white cup and some of you will see the blue faces and which you see as a matter of focus and perspective if you focus entirely on the cup you'll miss the blue faces that give it context and if you focus entirely on the faces you'll miss the beauty and the purpose of the cup now imagine for a minute that this white cup represents our lifetime here on earth and the blue faces represent the people and the love and the reality of our home without the background of our home and the phases within it this white cup of life becomes nothing but potential now the relationship between my childhood home and camp or the faces and the cup is the same relationship that exists between our true spiritual home and our time on earth now many of you may not want to believe this spiritual home exists and you may not want to talk about or even think about your own death but that does not change the truth and the reality of this relationship and I encourage you to wake up wake up to the potential of your life and I'm not talking about choosing to live differently or more intentionally I'm talking about experiencing the profound transformation of your daily life of who you really are how you live and why you live that occurs only when you live in the context of our true spiritual home metaphysical questions become important problems become opportunities love becomes the only thing that really matters and the door to experience in God's presence in your daily life begins to open and most profoundly joy joy that transcends circumstances will become a state of being I can honestly tell you that even in my deepest darkest days of sorrow and grief after the loss of my son I still experienced great joy because that is the power of this transformation and that is why I encourage you now I challenge you tonight to put aside your excuses put aside your complacency get rid of your intellectual barriers and sit with your thoughts actually question your current beliefs go home and do some research collect your own data and try to prove what I'm saying wrong because I know you can't and I know that even without your coming close to death if you honestly undertake a process of spiritual exploration and discovery your daily life will change for the better in ways that you have no ability to even imagine thank you for listening

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 252,299

Rating: 4.816278 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Life, Death, Personal growth, Purpose, Religion, Spirituality

Id: C-M9zR17egA

Length: 12min 50sec (770 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 09 2018