{"id":63034,"date":"2018-07-17T23:31:34","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T05:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=63034"},"modified":"2018-09-05T09:53:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:53:00","slug":"light-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html","title":{"rendered":"Light (A)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Cloud<\/a>
A cloud, with sunlight (Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

From one of my manuscripts:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another famous element on Moody\u2019s list is his eighth, the \u201cbeing of light.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 This, says Moody, \u201cis certainly the element which has the most profound effect upon the individual.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Similar apparitions seem to have a similar effect in deathbed visions, too.\u00a0 Osis and Haraldsson pass on a nurse\u2019s report of the experience of a \u201csimple miner.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI see God,\u201d he suddenly said to her.<\/span><\/p>\n

He started to cry and moan that he was going to die.\u00a0 He just stared out into space as if he were really seeing God.\u00a0 When I returned half an hour later, he was a changed man\u2014radiant, a very happy countenance.\u00a0 He said that God told him it was not yet time for him to go.<\/strong>[3]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Experiencers tell of a light that, when they first notice it, is relatively dim, but which rapidly grows to an indescribable, and unearthly, brilliance.\u00a0 It is, says one woman, \u201cten thousand times brighter than the sun.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 \u201cIt was,\u201d commences the account of another woman, \u201cas if a bright light descended from above and entered my being.\u00a0 It became brighter and brighter until it seemed like it might consume me.\u00a0 I heard a voice.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Yet another woman told simply of being \u201ccompletely immersed in a flood of heavenly light.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Seventeen of those who participated in the Atlanta study \u201cdescribed a brilliant source of light which signaled the end of the dark region or void and the beginning of a transcendental environment of great beauty.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 (Those who have seen this often note with surprise, however, that the light does not hurt or dazzle their eyes.)\u00a0 There is \u201ca beautiful and intense luminescence that seems to permeate everything and fill the person with love. . . .\u00a0 Some say it\u2019s almost like being drenched by a rainstorm of light . . . warm, vibrant, and alive.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 An Indian man reported a \u201cvery bright light, super white with glow\u201d above him.\u00a0 \u201cI traveled to a space of brilliant light where I was being loved, the love I had never experienced before . . . nor am experiencing after that event.\u201d \u201cFor hours together I was away from this world enjoying being with the light.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>\u00a0 $Moody, Life after Life<\/em>, 58-64.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0 $Moody, Life after Life<\/em>, 58.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Cited at $Osis and Haraldsson, At the Hour of Death<\/em>, 150.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> $Sharp, After the Light<\/em>, 128.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> $Nelson, Beyond the Veil<\/em>, 3:109.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> $Nelson, Beyond the Veil<\/em>, 3:131.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Sabom, Recollections of Death<\/em>, 43.<\/span><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Moody, The Light Beyond<\/em>, 12; compare $Ring, Life at Death<\/em>, 48, 56, 60; $Sharp, After the Light<\/em>, 70; K\u00fcbler-Ross, On Life after Death<\/em>, 16.\u00a0 I suspect that this very light is not infrequently observed in other contexts, as well.\u00a0 For example, Edward Hunter, having asked for guidance on a vital religious matter in 1839 or 1840 (and, thus, long before electricity or similar methods of illumination), reported that, \u201cInstantly, a light came in the room at the top of the door, so great that I could not endure it.\u201d\u00a0 (See Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia<\/em>, 1:228 [see original].)\u00a0 Lindley Baldwin, Samuel Morris<\/em> (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1942), tells the story of a nineteenth century African chieftain\u2019s son (later given the name Samuel Morris<\/em> at his Christian baptism) who was saved from execution by torture at the hands of another tribe by a brilliant light that blinded all around him, and by an audible voice that directed him to flee, while he was simultaneously cured of his serious injuries.\u00a0 This same light guided him intermittently for several weeks in the jungle.\u00a0 Upon his subsequent conversion, he connected his experience with that of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus (see pages 11-16).\u00a0 Apparently others also saw the light and heard the voice (see pages 12, 22).\u00a0 An exactly parallel case is mentioned in the same source, concerning a Chinese hostage being held for ransom:\u00a0 \u201cGing-Hua was lying bound with ropes and surrounded by his captors when, suddenly, a golden light shone around him, and he recognized that it was of heavenly origin.\u00a0 By its illumination he was enable to untie his ropes and to escape from the camp.\u201d\u00a0 As in the case of the young African man, the light then guided his return to safety.\u00a0 (See pages 90-91).\u00a0 In a very high proportion of NDE accounts, the light is described as \u201cgolden.\u201d\u00a0 I have little doubt that a systematic search for this phenomenon would reveal many more such instances.\u00a0 Norman Vincent Peale (The Power of Positive Thinking<\/em>, 210) reports an account from a missionary among South Pacific cannibals.\u00a0 When the cannibal chief converted to Christianity, he told the missionary of a time when the natives had planned to attack and kill him, but were afraid to do so because of the \u201ctwo shining ones walking on either side of you.\u201d\u00a0 Such stories, too, could be multiplied indefinitely.\u00a0 A five-year-old boy drowning in murky water saw a shaft of light coming down toward him just prior to his near-death experience.\u00a0 See William J. Serdahely, \u201cLoving Help from the Other Side: A Mosaic of Some Near-Death, and Near-Death-Like, Experiences,\u201d Journal of Near-Death Studies<\/em> 10\/3 (Spring 1992): 175.<\/span><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Susan J. Blackmore, \u201cNear-Death Experiences in India: They Have Tunnels Too,\u201d Journal of Near-Death Studies<\/em> 11\/4 (Summer 1993): 213.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 From one of my manuscripts: \u00a0 Another famous element on Moody\u2019s list is his eighth, the \u201cbeing of light.\u201d[1]\u00a0 This, says Moody, \u201cis certainly the element which has the most profound effect upon the individual.\u201d[2]\u00a0 Similar apparitions seem to have a similar effect in deathbed visions, too.\u00a0 Osis and Haraldsson pass on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLight (A)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    From one of my manuscripts:   Another famous element on Moody\u2019s list is his eighth, the \u201cbeing of light.\u201d\u00a0 This, says Moody, \u201cis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Light (A)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    From one of my manuscripts:   Another famous element on Moody\u2019s list is his eighth, the \u201cbeing of light.\u201d\u00a0 This, says Moody, \u201cis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-18T05:31:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-05T15:53:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2017\/06\/800px-Cloud_in_the_sunlight.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html\",\"name\":\"Light (A)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-18T05:31:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-05T15:53:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    From one of my manuscripts:   Another famous element on Moody\u2019s list is his eighth, the \u201cbeing of light.\u201d\u00a0 This, says Moody, \u201cis\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Light (A)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Light (A)","description":"    From one of my manuscripts:   Another famous element on Moody\u2019s list is his eighth, the \u201cbeing of light.\u201d\u00a0 This, says Moody, \u201cis","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Light (A)","og_description":"    From one of my manuscripts:   Another famous element on Moody\u2019s list is his eighth, the \u201cbeing of light.\u201d\u00a0 This, says Moody, \u201cis","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2018-07-18T05:31:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-05T15:53:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2017\/06\/800px-Cloud_in_the_sunlight.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html","name":"Light (A)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-07-18T05:31:34+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-05T15:53:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    From one of my manuscripts:   Another famous element on Moody\u2019s list is his eighth, the \u201cbeing of light.\u201d\u00a0 This, says Moody, \u201cis","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/light-a.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Light (A)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}