Finally, I've managed to scribble some long-promised thoughts on a notable ADC. I've had trouble find the right context to the experience, something that bedevils most writers of this topic: How do you contextualize an experience that transcends physical reality? And then, the answer came to me today.
The ADC in question happened, like most after-death communications, in the middle of a dream. But also like many dream ADCs, it transcended the dream. The dream was obviously used as a launching pad to a projection of consciousness, in response to a prayer to God. Bobbie prayed for one last visit to her sole caretaker, a beloved grandfather. The account is short and is worth quoting in full:
The man who raised me most of my life was my grandfather and he passed away in May of 2014. He was everything to me. Friend, grandpa, grandma, my mom and dad. He would always joke about death since he had no faith what so ever. Told me " once you're dead, you're dead. Nothing but darkness." He would always joke about if there is anything on the other side he would come back and tell me. In July of 2015 I missed him so much. I got up in the middle of the night to go the bathroom then I returned to bed. I was crying and I prayed to God. I asked God if I could see my grandfather one last time. I instantly fell to sleep. Next thing I know I am in front of my childhood home. I walk up the long driveway and notice some things are not the same as they use to be. My grandfathers truck had this metal trim the was flat but shined like diamonds. Never seen anything like it ever. The sky was this bright white light that came from everywhere it seemed. It was so bright I could hardly stand it. I moved on to the front door and walked right in. At this point my mind is clear and I have no thoughts in my head.
The inside of his house was not the 70's mobile home I saw on the outside...rather a brand new house on the inside. Pictures on the walls of people I have never seen before. Then there he was. reading his news paper in his wooden chair. I say " hey!!" feeling so happy ! he shot up and gave me the biggest smile....then his face was not happy. he had the look of horror on his face. like he saw a ghost or I died. I said "I'm still on earth alive. don't worry!" he gave me a big hug. I could still smell his old spice on his neck. He was very confused on how I came to be there. he wanted to know how I snuck up on him without him knowing. I told him what I just told you and he laughed and smiled. we sat and watched some TV (history channel) and then he showed me his truck. we sat inside it for a while. I told him a problems I was having on earth with a friend and he told me " don't worry kiddo, things will work out. don't stress over such things." After my visit I left the driveway and started walking down the road. The streets seemed to end in a fog or mist about two country blocks both ways. I kept walking towards the fog/mist and I woke up with the best feeling in the world. It felt like the biggest high/rush ever. For two days straight I had so much love and warmth inside my body. It was the most amazing experience. Oh, he was right about my problem. I didn't worry and it worked it out two months later.
Despite its brevity, there are several notable qualities of this experience that stand out from other ADC accounts. Foremost is the emphasis on the physicality of the experience. Although most ADC accounts are described as being "real" (and occasionally "realer than real"), it's difficult to top the description of physically walking into her childhood mobile home, observing pictures on the wall of people she had never seen before, smelling her grandfather's Old Spice, and noting that the television was tuned to The History Channel. Her grandfather, at first happy to see her (he perceives her as physical, too), suddenly realizes: if Bobbie is here, she must be dead also. He is horrified... a very different reaction than found in most ADCs, where the experiencer is politely but firmly told, "Go back; it's not your time yet."
So what accounts for the difference? It's apparent that the grandfather died with the firm belief that death is the end, or, as Bobbie puts it, "No faith what so ever." The general consensus of ADC accounts is that those who pass on with a firm belief that consciousness will be extinguished, encounter a different after-death environment than "most" (loosely applied, since such experiences can't be quantified). The grandfather has been placed in a reassuringly physical environment, surrounded by tokens of his physical existence. He is, essentially, still physical--apparently to teach him that the existence that he is primarily focused in--the physical one--still continues.
Many ADC (and many NDE) accounts describe an entirely physical existence on "the other side"; this contrasts with other descriptions of ethereal realms, angels, crystal cities of more heavenly areas. (I've always believed that the 1939 film "The Wizard Of Oz," with its Emerald City and good versus bad witches--not to mention the tunneling tornado--is an allegory of an NDE.) My non-scientific reason for these differing accounts is that these are literally different places. The NDE is the gateway; the ADC is a glimpse of the destination. We enter the "afterlife" through different gates and ultimately end up in different destinations.
The Twilight Zonish mirror earth location, with houses, roads, and (alas) television, is simply a destination for many who would probably be disoriented anywhere else.
Coming in Part 2--other accounts of earth-like physical realms, and a theory
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