GVdL’s American Digest is the only blog other than Neo’s that I read every single day. He’s planning to publish a collection of his essays in the near future– many of his “regulars” have already signed up for copies. (Maybe Neo would consider publishing a collection of her posts too?)
I am also a daily visitor to ‘American Digest’ and the mighty VANDERLEUN’s other site ‘KA-CHING !’ where I first discovered him. I was slightly aware of his rebirthday and he puts a nice perspective on life, sharing about his life.
As his blog entry currently has 99 comments I’m going to place mine here rather than there.
I do think that he was blessed with a miracle. History demonstrates that miracles come in many varieties.
I’ve never had a near death experience but I had a dear friend, now departed who did and I believe that she was sincere in her relating of her experience.
It happened on the operating table and she was told by the operating room doctors and nurses that she was clinically dead for a number of minutes.
She said that after going under from the anesthesia, she suddenly became aware that she was floating in the air above her body looking down upon her body and the others in the room. She then found herself rising up and entering a sort of light filled tunnel with a bright light ahead. As she traveled through the tunnel a feeling of peace increasingly suffused her.
As she neared the light she could make out human forms awaiting her but before she got close enough for their features to emerge she slowed and then received a sort of message that it was not yet her time and that she had to go back. She told me that she did not want to go back. But reluctantly accepted the feeling that it was for the best.
I detected no self-aggrandizement in her and by then, I’d known her for years. I believe that is what she experienced.
On an intellectual level, I think it unlikely that a common chemical reaction in the brain of the dying results in a shared “light filled” experience of that event. I think it far more likely that if this life is all there is, that upon life ceasing, Vanderleun’s absence of any sense whatsoever would be the norm.
PS I have yet to get used to having a preview function! Thank you neo, us old folks take time to adjust to changes 😉
PSS Inside I don’t feel old at all just possess a mostly more mature perspective.
Sir Vanderleun, you and I have not interacted (that I recall), but no matter. I just now read of your experience with great interest. Welcome back (I’m glad you’re here), and happy rebirthday to you!
M J R
Such an unlucky/lucky experience. Happy Rebirthday.
Happy Rebirthday!
You are all so very welcome and a tip of the hat to Neo for making your discovery of my page possible.
Gerard…you were at Harborview, eh? My wife (a native Seattleite) has many stories about that place.
Seems like yesterday! Long may he thrive!
Hard to pick my favorite GvdL post, but The Voice of the Neuter is right up there.
Mr. Vanderleun, I’d like to thank you for “The Name in the Stone,” the most moving thing I’ve ever read online.
If I ever make it back to Battery Park I’ll be sure to find his name.
Also there’s the evening tennis match under lights.
Gerard – a very merry rebirthday to you!
Bless your friend for being open to changing her plans “for obscure reasons.”
Thanks for reminding us that God doesn’t always bang the kettle drums when he only needs a soft violin at just that moment.
Happy Rebirthday! Good to have you back.
I have not personally had a near death experience, but I have had two dying men speak to me – or rather – one spoke and the other I heard his thoughts – from thousands of miles away.
My father told me of a similar experience my mother had.
So I am not worried about what happens at our (not) end because either I’ve had two psychotic breaks (!) or ‘There is more in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio’…
Glad you’re back!
Delighted you have felt the true weight of a miracle and how it has lifted your existence beyond the mundane.
May more miracles abound for you.
Eleven days? My best friend was in a coma for six weeks. The docs and staff at Omaha’s Nebraska Methodist Hospital called him “The Miracle Man.”
My buddy is a runner. He was out running on New Year’s Eve and his wife found him collapsed on their kitchen floor. She’d been out with my ex-wife, a doctor, and she called her after 911.
My ex-wife told her to have the squad to take him to Methodist and not the hospital they were going to take him. Reason? It was a holiday and the “right” docs weren’t on call.
My ex-wife (GI doc) and her sister (cardiologist) beat the squad to Methodist. The right docs come in and operate on him. He’s in a coma.
He came out of the coma through sheer will power. My buddy has a iron will; like no one else I know.
When he was coming out of his coma, one of his sons was in the room. They are in the landscaping/nursery business. His first words were, “Mick, I’m really unhappy with our perennials program.” They had been talking about that before his heart attack.
All of the above is true.
But for my ex-wife, he probably would have died.
Leave a Reply
HTML tags allowed in your
comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>
Wow! Happy, um, rebirthday.
What an absolutely amazing Tale from the Crypt….
GVdL’s American Digest is the only blog other than Neo’s that I read every single day. He’s planning to publish a collection of his essays in the near future– many of his “regulars” have already signed up for copies. (Maybe Neo would consider publishing a collection of her posts too?)
I am also a daily visitor to ‘American Digest’ and the mighty VANDERLEUN’s other site ‘KA-CHING !’ where I first discovered him. I was slightly aware of his rebirthday and he puts a nice perspective on life, sharing about his life.
As his blog entry currently has 99 comments I’m going to place mine here rather than there.
I do think that he was blessed with a miracle. History demonstrates that miracles come in many varieties.
I’ve never had a near death experience but I had a dear friend, now departed who did and I believe that she was sincere in her relating of her experience.
It happened on the operating table and she was told by the operating room doctors and nurses that she was clinically dead for a number of minutes.
She said that after going under from the anesthesia, she suddenly became aware that she was floating in the air above her body looking down upon her body and the others in the room. She then found herself rising up and entering a sort of light filled tunnel with a bright light ahead. As she traveled through the tunnel a feeling of peace increasingly suffused her.
As she neared the light she could make out human forms awaiting her but before she got close enough for their features to emerge she slowed and then received a sort of message that it was not yet her time and that she had to go back. She told me that she did not want to go back. But reluctantly accepted the feeling that it was for the best.
I detected no self-aggrandizement in her and by then, I’d known her for years. I believe that is what she experienced.
On an intellectual level, I think it unlikely that a common chemical reaction in the brain of the dying results in a shared “light filled” experience of that event. I think it far more likely that if this life is all there is, that upon life ceasing, Vanderleun’s absence of any sense whatsoever would be the norm.
PS I have yet to get used to having a preview function! Thank you neo, us old folks take time to adjust to changes 😉
PSS Inside I don’t feel old at all just possess a mostly more mature perspective.
Sir Vanderleun, you and I have not interacted (that I recall), but no matter. I just now read of your experience with great interest. Welcome back (I’m glad you’re here), and happy rebirthday to you!
M J R
Such an unlucky/lucky experience. Happy Rebirthday.
Happy Rebirthday!
You are all so very welcome and a tip of the hat to Neo for making your discovery of my page possible.
Gerard…you were at Harborview, eh? My wife (a native Seattleite) has many stories about that place.
Seems like yesterday! Long may he thrive!
Hard to pick my favorite GvdL post, but The Voice of the Neuter is right up there.
Mr. Vanderleun, I’d like to thank you for “The Name in the Stone,” the most moving thing I’ve ever read online.
If I ever make it back to Battery Park I’ll be sure to find his name.
Also there’s the evening tennis match under lights.
Gerard – a very merry rebirthday to you!
Bless your friend for being open to changing her plans “for obscure reasons.”
Thanks for reminding us that God doesn’t always bang the kettle drums when he only needs a soft violin at just that moment.
Happy Rebirthday! Good to have you back.
I have not personally had a near death experience, but I have had two dying men speak to me – or rather – one spoke and the other I heard his thoughts – from thousands of miles away.
My father told me of a similar experience my mother had.
So I am not worried about what happens at our (not) end because either I’ve had two psychotic breaks (!) or ‘There is more in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio’…
Glad you’re back!
Delighted you have felt the true weight of a miracle and how it has lifted your existence beyond the mundane.
May more miracles abound for you.
Eleven days? My best friend was in a coma for six weeks. The docs and staff at Omaha’s Nebraska Methodist Hospital called him “The Miracle Man.”
My buddy is a runner. He was out running on New Year’s Eve and his wife found him collapsed on their kitchen floor. She’d been out with my ex-wife, a doctor, and she called her after 911.
My ex-wife told her to have the squad to take him to Methodist and not the hospital they were going to take him. Reason? It was a holiday and the “right” docs weren’t on call.
My ex-wife (GI doc) and her sister (cardiologist) beat the squad to Methodist. The right docs come in and operate on him. He’s in a coma.
He came out of the coma through sheer will power. My buddy has a iron will; like no one else I know.
When he was coming out of his coma, one of his sons was in the room. They are in the landscaping/nursery business. His first words were, “Mick, I’m really unhappy with our perennials program.” They had been talking about that before his heart attack.
All of the above is true.
But for my ex-wife, he probably would have died.