{"id":96838,"date":"2022-09-26T21:29:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T03:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=96838"},"modified":"2022-09-28T16:52:58","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T22:52:58","slug":"a-river-ran-over-her-conclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/09\/a-river-ran-over-her-conclusion.html","title":{"rendered":"A River Ran Over Her (Conclusion)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Gorgeous<\/a>
My adopted home, Utah, is in very many ways a pretty great state.
In the Uinta Mountains of Utah, looking south toward Kings Peak from above the Henry\u2019s Fork Basin. Taken by Hyrum K. Wright (Hkw2 at the English language Wikipedia) on 25 August 2004.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gee but it\u2019s great to be back home.<\/span>
\nHome is where I want to be.<\/span>
\nI\u2019ve been on the road so long my friend.<\/span>
\nAnd if you came along<\/span>
\nI know you couldn\u2019t disagree.<\/span>
\nIt\u2019s the same old story:<\/span>
\nEverywhere I go,<\/span>
\nI get slandered,<\/span>
\nLibeled,<\/span>
\nI hear words I never heard<\/span>
\nIn the Bible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paul Simon\u2019s lyrics actually apply remarkably accurately to me, although the slander, libel, and cursing that I received in California came via anonymous emails rather than from any face to face confrontations.\u00a0 Nothing new, though.\u00a0 Absolutely<\/em> nothing new.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The astoundingly prolific Jeffrey Mark Bradshaw<\/a> has produced an essay that many of you might find both helpful and interesting:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Is Isaiah 53 the Crown Jewel of the Old Testament? (Part 1 of 2): Reflections on the\u00a0Come, Follow Me<\/em> Study Selection for Isaiah 50\u201357\u2033<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Latter-day Saint writer C. D. Cunningham has written a lucid and clarifying essay that I commend to your attention:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhite.\u00a0 Christian.\u00a0 Nationalism.\u00a0 Is this really the greatest threat to American democracy, or is something else going on?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of you will also, I think, be interested in this timely essay that has been written by a Latter-day Saint friend of ours:<\/p>\n

\u201cStop Calling Concerned Parents Haters:\u00a0 Many parents have sincere concerns about sexually explicit and violent books in schools. A new open letter disregards these, perpetuating a dishonest narrative accusing these parents of being motivated by hatred and fear of minority groups.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the title of this blog post is intended to suggest, the material below is a sequel to an earlier entry that I published here as \u201cA River Ran Over Her.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Mary C. Neal, a UCLA-trained orthopedic surgeon, published a book some years ago in which she recounted the out-of-body and near-death experiences that she says occurred in the wake of a kayaking accident in a remote part of Chile.\u00a0 To Heaven and Back: A Doctor\u2019s Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again<\/em> seemed to me both honest and plausible when I read it shortly after its publication.\u00a0 So, coming across its sequel at the recent national meeting of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) \u2014 7 Lessons from Heaven: How Dying Taught Me to Live a Joy-Filled Life<\/em> (New York: Convergent, 2017) \u2014 I was curious to read it.\u00a0 I already shared some passages from it in that earlier blog entry.\u00a0 Here are a few more:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like everything else, the structure was brilliant but not blinding, nor did its radiance cast shadows.\u00a0 I wonder if these could have been the clich\u00e9d \u201cpearly gates\u201d?\u00a0 Although the bricks did not look to be literally made of pearl, I could imagine that someone might use that analogy to describe the lustrous play of iridescent light emanating from within each block, from the core of their existence.<\/span><\/p>\n

I looked beyond the arch and into the center of the dome, where I could see a great deal of activity and many, many beings bustling about.\u00a0 They were too many to count and were moving along different pathways, going in and out of other structures.\u00a0 Was I seeing the heavenly Jerusalem mentioned in scripture?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 These other buildings were tall and just as ethereal as the domed structure.\u00a0 They too seemed to radiate love from within their core.\u00a0 (17-18)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m struck by the heavenly \u201cbusyness\u201d that Dr. Neal reports.\u00a0 Many Latter-day Saint accounts are very similar on that score.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like those who had greeted and guided me, these \u201cpeople\u201d struck me as ageless, healthy, vibrant, and strong.\u00a0 (18)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I experienced a profound sense of universal understanding.\u00a0 Finally, everything just made sense.\u00a0 All I had to do was think of a question or subject, no matter how complex, and I immediately understood the answer.\u00a0 I not only understood the answer, but I understood the basis for the answer.\u00a0 I was able to observe the complexity of the universe, and yet I understood its truth.\u00a0 (18)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one point, Dr. Neal mentions a remarkable experience reported by \u201cKatie,\u201d who was sitting at the deathbed of her fianc\u00e9 only a few minutes before he actually passed away.\u00a0 A part of her experience was this:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the things he said was that it all makes sense in the end.\u00a0 (37)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here, though, is another comment from Mary Neal herself, regarding a brief second near-death experience that, she says, occurred during convalescence from the original drowning accident down in Chile:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As with my earlier experiences, these struck me as being more real than real.\u00a0 Colors were more intense than those found on Earth.\u00a0 Smells and sounds effortlessly filled my consciousness, and God\u2019s pure love infused everything.\u00a0 (47)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

While we talked, I asked Jesus a lot of questions, although I\u2019m unable to recall many of them now.\u00a0 In reply, I felt that I was receiving a complete understanding of the divine order of the universe and our interconnectedness.\u00a0 Everything struck me as logical, interwoven, and magnificent.\u00a0 (48)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Memories of having \u201cunderstood everything\u201d are not uncommon among accounts of near-death experiences.\u00a0 For an example that will perhaps be particularly significant for Latter-day Saints, see Jeff Bradshaw\u2019s \u201c\u201cOne Peep at the Other Side\u201d: What Did Hugh Nibley\u2019s Near-Death Experience Teach Him about the Purpose of Life?\u201d<\/a> which also picks up the commonly reported experience of heightened perception and sharpened mental acuity during a time when brain function should, if anything, be reduced.\u00a0 Compare\u00a0 Mary Neal\u2019s report on page 13, which I mentioned in my prior blog entry: \u201cI felt conscious and then\u00a0more<\/em> conscious.\u00a0 I had a heightened clarity and intensity of consciousness, and I felt more alive than I had ever felt.\u201d)\u00a0 And compare this:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I used to think of myself as a physical being capable of spiritual experiences, like feeling loved or feeling moved by \u201csoulful\u201d experiences.\u00a0 What I discovered when I stopped being a \u201cphysical being\u201d was that my capacity for experiencing everything around me \u2014 including and especially the profound love of God for me \u2014 radically expanded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Actually, I have never felt more alive than when I left my body far behind.\u00a0 (30)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more in 7 Lessons from Heaven<\/em>, of course.\u00a0 But that is as much of it as I feel allowed to share.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 Gee but it\u2019s great to be back home. Home is where I want to be. I\u2019ve been on the road so long my friend. And if you came along I know you couldn\u2019t disagree. It\u2019s the same old story: Everywhere I go, I get slandered, Libeled, I hear words I never heard In […]<\/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":[31567,31549,31552,31555,3859,4414,4417,2181,31570,6102,19412,31558,31564,31129,9586,900,9392,903,9916,3856,21899,6159,19076,31561,11480],"class_list":["post-96838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-7-lessons-from-heaven","tag-anne-palmieri","tag-ban","tag-banning","tag-books","tag-censor","tag-censorship","tag-christian","tag-cunningham","tag-hugh-nibley","tag-hugh-w-nibley","tag-isaiah-53","tag-mary-c-neal","tag-mary-neal","tag-nationalism","tag-nde","tag-ndes","tag-near-death-experience","tag-near-death-experiences","tag-nibley","tag-out-of-body-experiences","tag-parents","tag-schools","tag-to-heaven-and-back","tag-white"],"yoast_head":"\nA River Ran Over Her (Conclusion)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Gee but it's great to be back home. 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