The following questions were emailed to me by Suprina Walvekar, a college student who is interested in the near-death experience and who wrote a term paper on the subject. Her questions were very good so I spent a considerable amount of time answering them. What started out to be a simple reply to an email message, turned out to be a good interview of my own opinions concerning NDEs. So I decided to post them for anyone wanting to know my personal opinions about the NDE. Feel free to use this information in any way you wish.

My responses will be updated from time to time as my opinion on this subject evolves. These answers are only my own 2 cents worth. Although I live, eat, breathe, and sleep NDEs, I don't claim to be a NDE expert on the subject. There are many experts in this field who are far more qualified than I am. I have never had a NDE - at least not in this lifetime. We have all died and been reborn numerous times throughout history. This is perhaps one reason why NDE research is so popular - it reminds us of the afterlife knowledge we already know at a deeper and higher conscious level.

And although I am no NDE expert, I am a NDE fanatic whose computer skills and manic depressive permanent disability allows me to express my NDE mania twenty four hours a day and seven days a week if I desire. This obsession I have for NDE research has helped me keep my sanity while incorporating this higher knowledge into my life. A person doesn't need to have a NDE to have the life-changing effects that comes by actually having one. NDE research has certainly brought together my scientific, religious, and metaphysical knowledge and made them compatible. It is my desire that others can find the satisfaction I have had from studying NDEs and NDE research. With this in mind, here is the interview questions and answers I shared with Suprina Walvekar.

Suprina Walvekar:  What are you hoping to learn from researching NDEs?

Kevin Williams:  Foremost, I would like to find hard scientific proof of life after death. Specifically, I hope to learn for certain that consciousness survives well after bodily death. There is a mountain of circumstantial evidence that this is the case, but very little scientific evidence. But, it may be asking too much to obtain scientific evidence of life after death. Existence of the consciousness after death may not be scientifically quantifiable. I also would like to go beyond proof of life after death and discover exactly what life after death like? Is there some kind of divine plan for us? What does it mean to experience God? These are some of the questions I want to learn from near-death research.

Suprina Walvekar:  What kinds of NDE reports intrigue you the most?

Kevin Williams:  The experiences that interest me the most are those where people witness events while out of their bodies and are later verified to have occurred. I already have a few such experiences documented on my website. While experiences have been documented, they still only provide circumstantial evidence and not hard scientific evidence. The experiences of people born blind interest me tremendously. Studies suggest that people born blind do have vision while out of their bodies. For them, it is the first time in their lives they have vision. Experiences revealing the reality of reincarnation fascinate me. Experiences that bring back information about the future are extremely interesting to me. Finally, I am also interested in experiences that do not fit the typical profile. Such experiences suggest that the spirit realms are dynamic and not static.

Suprina Walvekar:  What do you think is the most important information you learned from researching NDEs?

Kevin Williams:  By far, the most important fact I have found from these experiences is how critically important love is. The NDE appears to be an encounter with the Source of all the love in the universe. It is as Dannion Brinkley was told, "Love is the difference that God makes." Many experiencers have learned that love, the spirit of unlimited and unconditional compassion, is God. They suggest that this love is the highest form of religion there is. They also suggest that the way to these higher spiritual conditions of afterlife bliss is through practicing unconditional love here on Earth. Those who do not practice love in the physical will have difficulty experiencing it in the spiritual. This is because the spiritual realms are experienced within us.

Another important fact I have learned from NDEs the idea that we are currently dwelling in the afterlife right now. The physical universe is only one of many realms in the afterlife. Some experiences, such as that of Edgar Cayce, suggest that our physical universe is a realm that is roughly half-way between the lowest afterlife realm and the highest. In a real sense, we may actually be half-way to heaven. We are working our way upward like a grade school student working toward high school and graduation. This is what I have learned from these types of experiences.

Suprina Walvekar:  How would you describe a typical NDE?

Kevin Williams:  A typical NDE would have some of the common aspects found in many other NDEs. It begins when people leave their physical body. Sometimes they see their bodies trying to be resuscitated or hear someone declare them dead. They may hear the thoughts and experiencing the feelings of the living people around their physical body. They may be sucked into a vortex or tunnel that appears to connect the physical realm to another realm. They may come into contact with a being made out of extraordinary light emanating tremendous love. This being knows everything about them yet holds no judgment at all. They may be reunited with loved ones and friends who have already died. They may then have their entire life instantaneously replayed - every thought, feeling, and act. Then, they may find themselves before some kind of barrier that is a point of no return. They may then be told their mission is not complete or their time to die has not yet come or some variation of this. Eventually, they will find themselves back in their body. After having a NDE, the person may discover that he/she is not the same anymore. There are some reported common after-effects that many people have after having a NDE. They may also be in need of information or even support. The internet also provides a wealth of information on this subject.

Suprina Walvekar:  What aspect of a NDE catches your attention the most?

Kevin Williams:  The life review is said to be one of the most amazing and enlightening aspect of the NDE. This is because your life is revealed in a reality that leaves no question about yourself.

During a life review, every question you may possibly have is ultimately answered. You don't merely witness your life flash before your eyes, you actually relive your entire life on Earth instantaneously - every thought, emotion and deed. And it is not only your thoughts, emotions, and deeds you experience. You experience every thought, feeling and deed of everyone you have ever come in contact with - even brief encounters with strangers. Some have described it as instantaneously becoming everyone in your life. You see your life from every possible perspective and angle: your own perspective, other people's perspective and God's perspective. Every possible thing you want to know about your life is there for you to review and study from a dimension where time doesn't exist. The life review is for educational purposes - not for judgmental purposes. Some people, namely very strict religious people, may feel the life review is some form of judgment; but these people usually realize at the end of it that it is only self-judgment. Sometimes the life review is not limited to just one life, but many lifetimes. One experiencer, Dr. George Rodonaia, reported instantaneously living in the minds of everyone throughout history who ever lived. He was able to living in the mind of Jesus and his disciples.

I enjoy the tremendous emotions of love and happiness that people feel during these experiences. Although these experiences have similarities to each other, each one is unique because each person has a unique perspective and perception. But, love is the universal factor.

These experiences can be highly emotional. These emotions can run the full range of expression throughout these experiences. It can begin with the initial fear of dying. Then it can transform into curiosity when the person leaves their body. Then they might experience a profound peace they cannot express. When the light appears, the emotions change to that of experiencing a homecoming of love that one believes they have never before known. Then complete satisfaction, understanding and awe can come as a result of the life review. The ecstasy of being one with all things and God can be incredible. But then disappointment comes from discovering you must leave and return to your body. Then the pain returns once you are in your body again. The frustration about the inability to tell others about it can arise. Also, a tremendous depression can come - along with a profound homesickness for heaven. It appears that every possible human emotion - in its rawest and magnified form - can be found in these experiences. These are very powerful emotional experiences that forever changes people. No other experience even comes close.

Suprina Walvekar:  Did the NDE reports you have read and researched take away your fear of death?

Kevin Williams:  Very much so. It is very difficult to read these kinds of experiences and not have them take away your fear of death. These experiences show that death is actually an illusion and that we are already living in the afterlife right now. Death is just a brief transition from one dimension to another. In fact, reading these accounts has only made me eager to return home.

These experiences are contagious. The deeply profound, enormous unconditional love described by them, can overwhelm those who read about them. They speak to my heart in ways that I feel I have already known, but just forgotten.

The complete lack of the fear of death which experiencers have as a result of their NDE is a strong testimony that there is nothing to fear about death. Madame Marie Curie once said, "Nothing in life is to be feared, only understood." Once we understand the nature of death by reading about these experiences, there is nothing to fear about them. Of course, everyone fears the pain that can occur during the dying process. But once this door has been crossed, and if you are generally a good person, there is nothing to fear about death. As one little girl stated after her NDE: "Life is the hard part. The light is for later." For those who practice hatred, murder, and harm to others, however, it is the afterlife that may be the hard part and may be feared.

Suprina Walvekar:  Did you look at life differently after you first read some of these NDE reports?

Kevin Williams:  Very much so. Before I knew about NDEs, I was a fundamentalist Christian who was absolutely certain that when I die, I would be carried to the highest heaven to be forever before the very throne of God. But, after reading several NDEs, such as that of Dr. George Ritchie, I realized that merely believing in Jesus is not enough to attain heaven. I learned that one must become as Christ himself practicing unconditional love for others to reach this level of bliss. It means we get to heaven by emulating the love of Jesus rather than by worshipping him. Reading NDEs cracked my rigid religious mindset and made my religious beliefs to be completely ridiculous at best.

From reading NDEs, I discovered a spirituality and understanding I could never get through religion alone. The great thing about these experiences is that you don't need to have one to benefit from them. All that is necessary is to read what others have experienced and put what they have learned into practice. Reading what they have learned will give you a larger understanding, the big picture, of reality. This includes the nature of God, life, love, and the afterlife. No other way, short of having an experience yourself, can give you this understanding.

Suprina Walvekar:  If you could tell us one important lesson in life, according to your NDE research, what would it be?

Kevin Williams:  Without a doubt, the most important lesson NDEs teach us is the supreme importance of unconditional love. Love is where we all came from and love is where we will all eventually return. Love is what life is really all about. Learning and growing in unconditional love is why we are all here on this blue marble called Earth. Life itself is God. Love itself is God. Everyone and everything is a part of God. All things are held together by the power of love. Love is the way to eternal bliss and the way to overcome the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. There is no greater force in the universe than unconditional love because it is universal and divine. The more love we cultivate within ourselves and the more love we give to others and the more we evolve towards embodying unconditional love, then the closer we come to our goal - liberation from death. True love can never die. Love and knowledge are the only things we can really take with us when we die. Death doesn't change much of anything. I like how one particular experiencer, Chuck Griswold, put it. He said death is merely a body problem. This is so true. We are also continually born into this world and subjected to death until we have evolved and embodied unconditional love as Buddha and Jesus did. We don't go to heaven. We grow to heaven to become permanent citizens of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is within us. When it becomes fully manifested within ourselves and the world through unconditional love, then we are no longer the prodigal children away from God. To manifest our higher spirit of love within us into conscious reality is the way we return to our origins - to the Source of All Things. Then wherever we find ourselves, heaven will always be manifested within us and we will always be in heaven - never to die again. This is the evolutionary goal of humanity.

Suprina Walvekar:  What do you believe is the ultimate meaning behind NDEs if you could tell us in one or two sentences?

Kevin Williams:  Everything is a part of God because God is life, light, and love. Practicing unconditional love is the evolutionary key for humanity to obtain eternal life (no more death) and death is just a threshold that we briefly cross over to another way of life.