Questions That Only DivisionTheory Answers

Many people object that today's afterlife reports don't seem anything like what DivisionTheory predicts. But actually, DivisionTheory does quite accurately describe the vast majority of conditions and experiences found in most afterlife reports.

According to neuropsychiatrist Peter Fenwick, President of the British Branch of IANDS, two very different stages of experience are commonly reported in NDEs - a dark stage followed by a light stage - and these two stages seem to be mirror opposites of one another in many respects.

In the first stage, when the subject has just left the body, the experience is typically described as floating alone within a black void or black tunnel, experiencing perfect calmness and peace, experiencing a loss of emotional investment in one's own past life, a loss of all sense of connection to anything else, and often, a sense of having hyperalert awareness with sharply enhanced logic and reason. This first phase of NDEs is often brief, sometimes coming and going so quickly it is often overlooked in the subject's passage to the more emotionally-intense and sensational second stage.

In the second stage, NDErs describe conditions that seem to be polar opposites of the previous stage - instead of being in total darkness with no light anywhere, they are now in brilliant light devoid of all darkness. Instead of floating alone in an empty void, they now seem to be enveloped in a living universe filled with forms of all types. Instead of being entirely unique, they are now interacting with many others like themselves. Instead of noticing a lack of emotion, they now feel intense emotion, usually either the sweetest of joys or the bitterest of miseries. Instead of being objective, they are now subjective. Instead of feeling unconnected to anything, now they feel an intimate connection to their past life, as well as to those they meet in this new realm, and indeed to the entire universe. And instead of experiencing a sharpened sense of logic and reason, they now often seem to exhibit just the opposite (without realizing it) - a diminished tendency to exercise critical analysis and discriminative reason.

DivisionTheory explains all these phenomena, which are so commonly heard within NDE reports they have become clichés. It also explains phenomena commonly reported by Past Life Regression subjects, by those who have encountered ghosts and apparitions, and by a variety of different psychics and seers who claim to be able to peer into the realm of the dead.

But rather than repeating how DivisionTheory is able to explain these phenomena, I invite any and all interested parties to offer any other ALTERNATE explanation that equally successfully accounts for all the questions listed below. I would ask readers to keep in mind, while reading these questions, the astounding fact that DivisionTheory explains all these mysterious phenomena with a single, simple hypothesis - that the conscious and unconscious halves of the human psyche can and sometimes do divide apart at death.

Being able to provide cogent explanations for these mysterious phenomena is but one of the many strengths of the DivisionTheory model of the afterlife. To my knowledge, no other explanation has ever been presented, here or elsewhere, that accounts logically for even a handful of these mysterious phenomena. DivisionTheory accounts for them all, all with the same simple model. In the spirit of "It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness", I have offered DivisionTheory as a solution to these mysteries, but am certainly willing to listen to and consider any alternate explanation that equally successfully accounts for these phenomena.

Now, as is commonly known, the simplest explanation is generally considered the best one (The "Law of Ockham's Razor"). DivisionTheory is able to explain virtually all reported afterlife phenomena with a single hypothesis. For any alternate explanation to be as good as DivisionTheory, that explanation would have to show how some other, different, single and no less simple cause could produce and account for all the different phenomena listed below. Such alternate explanations would have to specify an alternate cause that could logically produce all these effects, and would have to show precisely how that cause would have logically produced all these effects.

This is what DivisionTheory does quite successfully. To reject DivisionTheory's successful explanation without providing an equally successful alternate explanation is, it seems to me, very much like cursing the light and preferring the darkness. Here are the questions:

1. According to neuropsychiatrist Peter Fenwick, President of the British Branch of IANDS, two very different stages of experience are commonly reported in NDEs - a dark stage followed by a light stage. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

2. These two stages seem to be mirror opposites of one another in many respects. In the first stage, when the subject has just left the body, the experience is typically described as floating alone within a black void or black tunnel, experiencing perfect calmness and peace, experiencing a loss of emotional investment in one's own past life, a loss of all sense of connection to anything else, and often, a sense of having hyperalert awareness with sharply enhanced logic and reason

(Fenwick). This first phase of NDEs is often brief, sometimes coming and going so quickly it is often overlooked in the subject's passage to the more emotionally-intense and sensational second stage. In the second stage, NDErs describe conditions that seem to be polar opposites of the

previous stage - instead of being in total darkness with no light anywhere, they are now in brilliant light devoid of all darkness (Moody). Instead of floating alone in an empty void, they now seem to be enveloped in a living universe filled with forms of all types. Instead of being entirely unique, they are now interacting with many others like themselves. Instead of noticing a lack of emotion, they now feel intense emotion, usually either the sweetest of joys or the bitterest of miseries. Instead of being objective, they are now subjective. Instead of feeling unconnected to anything, now they feel an intimate connection to their past life, as well as to those they meet in this new realm, and indeed to the entire universe. And instead of experiencing a sharpened sense of logic and reason, they now often seem to exhibit just the opposite (without realizing it) - a diminished

tendency to exercise critical analysis and discriminative reason. Why do these two stages hold such opposite qualities? DivisionTheory explains it.

3. NDErs often describe stage one as taking place in an absolutely black nothingness, a realm totally devoid of forms or imagery of any kind. They often find that they can't see anything, including themselves, in this realm of unending emptiness. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

4. A strange loss of emotions and a sense of disconnectedness tends to take place during this stage, after leaving the body but before entering the realm of light. Subjects tend to characterize their psychological state during this phase as one of complete indifference and emotional

detachment; despite having just been ripped away from their body, as well as their family, friends, loved ones, career, and precious plans for the future, they inexplicably feel no distress or anxiety of any kind over this unforeseen development. Descriptions of the first stage of NDEs, using words such as "detached, calm, peaceful, serene, dispassionate, divorced from what was happening, release from care", are very common. In fact, this detached calm state is the single most common experience in NDEs, being reported by 82% of NDE subjects (Fenwick). Many have remarked how peculiar this initial reaction seems to be. It just doesn't seem to make sense that the average person would feel this way after just consciously experiencing one's own death, leaving one's body, loved ones, and career, being cut off from all his loves, dreams, ambitions, and precious plans for the future. It just doesn't seem logical that a person who had lost everything most dear would react with a flat emotional nonchalance. Why then is one of the most consistently mentioned features of Near-Death Experiences a flat emotional state immediately after leaving the body? DivisionTheory explains this.

5. Reports of increased clarity and swiftness of thought are common during the first stage. Subjects often mention a heightened sense of objective intellect, feeling far more alert, curious, logical, rational, and intelligent than normal during this phase (Boldman, Fenwick). While

subjects find themselves sharply interested in observing what is taking place during this phase, this seems to be more out of dispassionate academic curiosity rather than any sense of attachment or personal connection (Fenwick). During the first stage of his NDE, Elias Silver reported "My mind seemed terribly clear and alert - more so than ever. I felt I was all mind." (Fenwick, p. 70). And Audrey Organ declared "I... had great mental awareness. I had been given .... the magic key

to understanding pure logic." (Fenwick, p. 74) Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

6. The first thing that seems to be noticed about the second stage is the intense flood of feelings and emotions that instantly envelop NDErs; most reports describe extremely positive emotions, such as love and joy, but occasionally extremely negative feelings are reported instead. Besides the obvious contrast between the emotionally-void first stage and the emotionally-saturated second stage, it also seems significant that these second-stage emotions always seem to be abnormally extreme. No one seems to come back from NDEs reporting that they felt just "a

little bit good" or "a little bit bad"; no sliding scale measuring the relative degree of one's emotional experience during these episodes would be needed, for the feelings experienced during the second stage of NDEs always seem to be at extreme, maximum, absolute levels (Atwater).

Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

7. NDErs regularly report an experience that seems to be direct, pure, and certain knowing (Atwater); information received in this way is always felt to be 100% certain, despite having in no way been questioned, measured, analyzed, or independently verified (Fenwick). This information is not critiqued, or analyzed, or questioned, but is just accepted without dispute or hesitation as absolute and obvious truth. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

8. NDErs during the second stage regularly entertain thoughts and impressions which are never questioned. Yet later, when the cold light of objective logic is brought to bear upon these insights, one finds that some NDE reports sometimes contradict others - some NDErs insist, for example, that they received the "divine truth" that reincarnation is a false teaching (Eadie), while others return from their NDEs carrying the opposite message (Atwater). Similar contradictions have occurred over other issues as well, such as the existence of the legendary figure known as the devil (Fenwick, Williams). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

9. Inhabitants of second stage realms seem to remain frozen in whatever behavior patterns they held at the times of their deaths. Even though they now possess no physical bodies, they still seek to satisfy their physical cravings, seemingly unable to intellectually grasp the simple fact that these cravings can no longer be satisfied (Lundahl). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

10. And again too, one finds throughout the full body of afterlife research, report after report of the recently deceased who can't seem to figure out that they are dead, despite an abundance of glaring clues pointing in that direction (Brown, Van Praagh, Guiley, Monroe). The living no longer hear or see them, and their now-spiritual bodies pass right through the physical objects they try to grasp and the loved ones they try to embrace. Yet, despite all this rather compelling evidence, they remain unaccountably befuddled, seemingly unable to perform even the simplest logical deductions, unable to put two and two together and realize they are dead. This loss of analytical reasoning ability is perhaps most obvious in the reports of the other second stage world, the hellish Realm of Bewildered Souls (addressed in greater depth further on in this paper). The inhabitants of this grey netherworld have repeatedly been described as being trapped in unfortunate and unpleasant conditions of their own making, which they could get out of quite easily if only they tried. Yet they don't try (Moody), and they don't seem to grasp the fact that they could end their misery in a moment if only they tried. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

11. NDErs commonly report feeling a profound sense of oneness with the whole universe (Fenwick). They see the whole universe as a perfectly interconnected, synchronized and harmonized singularity. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

12. The reports from NDErs seem to emphasize and appreciate subjective interpersonal values such as personal relationships, family, love, and patience, while de-emphasizing or even outright ignoring more objective values, such as worldly and professional accomplishment. Yet it seems

disingenuous to value the one above the other in a world where both are inescapably interconnected. If centuries of scientists had not dedicated their lives to impersonal objective accomplishments in medicine, or if legions of soldiers had not dedicated their lives to the

very real, objective, impersonal task of halting the advance of Hitler, the world would be a far more angst-ridden and loveless place today. Yet we repeatedly hear, in the Life Reviews of NDErs, that their subjective emotion-based relationships with others are accorded far more meaning and significance than their objective worldly accomplishments, which, as one NDEr reported, "meant nothing in this setting" (Lundahl, p. 263). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

13. During second stage reports, all people are loved and appreciated and accepted equally, with none being rejected or turned away. Even during the legendary Life Review, when all one's worst thoughts and deeds are paraded in public, the person him- or herself is still loved and cherished and accepted unconditionally (Atwater), not necessarily due to any objective analysis of their actual value and worth. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

14. NDErs consistently report that the normal boundaries between themselves and others have faded, in some cases becoming nearly non-existent (Fenwick). Instead of retaining their own independent autonomy, they find now that their very psyches have become like a glass house, into which anyone and everyone can peer at will. All their thoughts and feelings are exposed to the universe, and nothing is hidden (Moody). In short, there no longer seems to be any such thing as

separateness. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

15. Descriptions of the Realm of Light always seem to include comments about how incredibly beautiful everything is. Whether the subject of discussion happens to be the buildings, the natural scenery, or even the inhabitants of the Realm of Light, they are always too beautiful for words, which is precisely what should be expected if one's aesthetic sense was turned up to full volume. In much the same way, observers of the Realm of Bewildered Spirits also betray a similar intensification of their aesthetic sense, but in the opposite direction. Instead of everything seeming impossibly beautiful, everything in that realm seems to be impossibly ugly or horrific (Lundahl). Either way, the aesthetic sense of the observer always seems to be registering at maximum

capacity. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

16. The weight of NDE reports suggests that verbal communication ability is often greatly diminished during NDEs. Words are seldom used during the second stage experience, communication more often occurring instead via gestures, images, and direct intuitive comprehension (Moody). And even long after the NDE is over, words are still then hopelessly

inadequate to describe the experience. The ineffability of the second stage of NDEs is so commonly repeated it has almost become a cliché; again and again, researchers have encountered comments like " no words were spoken" and "words were not necessary", and "the feeling was

indescribable". Even the Life Review is "more often in the form of pictures than verbal memories" (Fenwick, p. 116). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

17. The first stage of NDEs typically includes no perception of any forms (even one's own self seems to be formless) (Boldman) while the second stage is usually filled with forms of all sorts. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

18. Another very notable characteristic of the second stage is the feeling that one has 'total understanding', perceiving the full scheme of things (Fenwick). NDErs often return with amazing stories of seeing the big picture, instantly understanding the grand scheme of reality, understanding how all the pieces to the puzzle of reality all fit together. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

19. NDErs often report similar memory loss of second stage experiences. Again and again, NDErs have reported that momentous insights and revelations were received during the experience ("All knowledge was given to me"), but upon returning to normal consciousness, this invaluable data is found to be entirely missing from memory (Fenwick). As is so often the case with dream memories, one is left with very strong and compelling feelings and impressions, but often very little in the way of actual specific detail. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

20. During the life review common to the second stage of NDEs, all the repressed emotions, denied feelings, forgotten memories, rejected insights, and unacknowledged self-judgments that had built up within the unconscious over the course of the person's life spring fully forth en

mass. One suddenly finds oneself face to face with a whole lifetimes' worth of repressed self-judgments, swimming in them. One finds he or she can no longer ignore, deny, rationalize away, or otherwise reject those memories, feelings, and judgments. One suddenly finds oneself

totally, directly, immediately face-to-face with them, remembering all those memories at once, and feeling all the feelings connected with them as well. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

21. The judgment that occurs during this review is most typically experienced as being a self- judgment rather than a judgment that comes a second party (Moody). The Life Review often makes people feel as if they have finally been revealed to themselves as they truly are for the

first time (Boldman). This sense of having been 'exposed' is a very common theme in the second phase of NDEs; stripped of all one's illusions and denials and self-deceptions, one feels unaccustomedly exposed to oneself, as well as to others (Moody). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

22. Moody, Fenwick, Steiger, Atwater, Lundahl, and many other researchers have described a grey or hellish version of the second-stage NDE realm which seems to be home to hordes of very bewildered, confused, and distressed souls. Deeply unconscious and unaware, these

beings possess extremely low intelligence and vitality, appearing "washed out, dull, grey, dreary, and confused" (Moody). These "Bewildered Spirits" show utterly no intellectual curiosity about where they are, nor any inclination for communication, being entirely caught up in their own emotional misery (Lundahl) and unaware of the presence of others (Moody) .George Gallop paints much the same picture, describing these beings as suffering intense emotional unrest compounded by thick confusion (Gallop). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

23. The ghostlike souls in this grey realm seem to be trapped in easily escapable misfortunes (Moody), situations which they could get out of very easily if only they tried (Lundahl). But they don't try, and furthermore, they can't seem to figure out that they could get out if only they would try. The inhabitants of this realm seem so utterly convinced that there is no way for them to escape that they don't even try to look for one (Lundahl). During normal human life, no matter how desperate the situation, no matter how absolutely imprisoned a group of people might seem to be, the indomitable will of the human spirit refuses to let them give up entirely. Regardless of the circumstances, there are always a stubborn few who will never cease to actively seek

their freedom. But in the grey realm of the bewildered described again and again in NDE reports, where freedom is apparently right at hand, ripe for the taking, that indomitable will of the human spirit is apparently nowhere to be seen. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains this.

24. The heavenly and hellish realms visited during the second stage of NDEs seem, despite first appearances, to have much in common. In both, emotions and credibility predominate while reason and verbal expression seems diminished. In the Realm of Light, communication often takes place using gestures, symbols, and direct mental comprehension instead of words. In the hellish realm, communication often seems to be absent entirely (Lundahl). Words often don't seem to work in either place - both experiences are often found to be ineffable - unable to be described in words (Fenwick). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

25. NDErs have described what seems to be two very different perspectives of the hellish realm - one seen from the inside, and a very different one seen from the outside. Descriptions from inside the realm of bewildered souls can be acutely frightening, with horrifying visual imagery (Fenwick). But descriptions of this place as seen from the outside never seem to include this nightmarish imagery. Instead, NDErs in the Realm of Light who find they can peer into the Realm of Bewildered souls tend to describe this realm as simply being grey, dreary, and dull (Moody) , but then paradoxically describe the inhabitants of that realm as experiencing sharp emotional distress, "wailing and full of desperation" (Lundahl), emotions that seem strikingly out of sync with the bland dullness of their apparent surroundings. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

26. Moody noted that these bewildered dead did not seem to be aware of anything, either in the physical world or the spiritual world, but only shuffled about, each experiencing its own dreadful emotions (Moody). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

27. Right on down the list, the two stages of NDEs reflect the two halves of the human psyche, the dark stage bringing the enhancement of the characteristics of the conscious mind and the diminishment of those of the unconscious, while the light stage does the exact opposite. The

dark stage brings a decrease in emotion, connectedness, form-perception, and subjectivity, and an increase in autonomy, logic, reason, and objectivity, while the light stage brings the exact opposite. Why does this parallel exist? DivisionTheory explains it.

28. Why does there seem be diminishment of free will in the light stage? Those still obsessed with desires for food, drink, sex, or other addictions find themselves unable to break free of those yearnings even though they find themselves no longer able to satisfy them, according to

Lundahl. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

29. Why do NDErs insist that time does not exist in the "other world", and yet also insist that the Dark or Tunnel stage of their NDE occurred BEFORE (indicating a time-sequence) the "Realm of Light" stage occurred? DivisionTheory explains it.

30. Individuals who have undergone Past-Life Regression, being hypnotically regressed to a point in time in-between their past lives, have often reported spending time in an emotionless black void very similar to the dark void of the first stage of NDEs. Regression researchers such as Raymond Moody, Brad Steiger, Joel Whitton, Joe Fisher, Loring G. Williams, and many others have all reported regression subjects floating aimlessly in-between lives, peacefully, totally alone

in a calm empty void. Like the dark void in the first stage of NDEs, these subjects also often report a complete absence of feeling and emotion while in this void (Steiger). They seem to be in emotional absolute zero, feeling nothing, very calm and unperturbed, not feeling connected to anything or interested in anything or desirous of anything, as emotionally vacant as a computer on a desk. But unlike the reports of NDErs, who claim that the time spent in this black void was but a brief moment, the Past-Life Regression subjects claim to have spent years, even decades in this empty limbo. After this NDE-like void, the next thing many regressed subjects recall is reincarnating again into a new body, without ever experiencing anything like the classic "Realm of

Light" of the second stage of NDEs (Steiger). Why this discrepancy? DivisionTheory explains it.

31. For Past-Life Regression subjects, memory loss often seems to be a part of this experience - many subjects don't remember their own names or anything else about their previous life while they are floating in this void. All they can seem to remember ever doing is just floating quietly and calmly alone in this empty void. In the book "Life Between Life", Toronto physician Joel Whitton reported that regression subjects often forget who they are while in between lives, losing all sense of personal identity to become dispassionate observers floating in an empty limbo without any subjective sense of self. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

32. Haunting ghosts, which are by far the most commonly reported type of ghost, seem to act like mindless recordings stuck on automatic replay, repeatedly reliving their memories, often of some emotionally traumatic event. They seem to possess no objective awareness or rational intellect

at all, almost never noticing the presence of others, or for that matter even the presence of new walls and new floor-plans that have been erected in the building since they died (Guiley). Seeming to have lost all verbal communication ability, these sleepwalking ghosts usually can't be communicated with at all, and in the rare instances when they do communicate, it almost always takes the form of pictures, images, and symbolism. It is almost always a "Right Brain" kind of

communication, almost never using either spoken words or written language (Guiley). There is a very long history of the non-verbal nature of these entities; even the souls of the dead in Homer's Iliad are portrayed as being unable to speak properly (Bremmer). Why do ghosts have these characteristics? DivisionTheory explains it.

33. Psychic Sylvia Brown, medium James Van Praagh, and Out-of-Body-Experience pioneer Robert Monroe all describe souls of the dead who seem to be suffering from extreme confusion, often unable to perform the elementary deductive logic necessary to figure out that they

have passed on (Brown, Van Praagh, Monroe). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

34. Van Praagh and Brown also both maintain that entities in the other world tend to be nonverbal; in lieu of verbal communication, Brown insists, spirits as well as ghosts often communicate by pantomime (Van Praagh, Brown). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

35. Brown, like Cayce and Steiner before her, specifically identifies the unconscious as the "spirit mind", the mind used in the realm of the dead (Brown). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains it.

36. Van Praagh's reports that two personal elements survive physical death : an "emotional body" which contains all one's thoughts, emotions, feelings, yearnings, and desires (like the unconscious mind), and a mental body, which he associates with a person's data, logic, intelligence, and reasoning abilities (like the conscious mind). But right after declaring that the intimate union of these two elements makes one whole, "these bodies intermingle and are dependent on one

another, and make us whole beings", (Van Praagh, p. 33) he then describes that wholeness being irreversibly shattered after death - these two elements permanently divide apart, an event he identifies as the legendary "second death". The mental body continues on alone after this division, he reports, leaving behind the emotional body which then begins to deteriorate. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains this.

37. Robert Monroe, founder of the Monroe Institute, also taught that one part of a person would be left behind in the realm of the dead while another part went on to reincarnate, and placed tremendous emphasis on the importance of collecting up all these lost parts of the self,

reintegrating them back into one's present psyche. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains this.

38. An afterdeath division of the conscious and unconscious would provide a cogent scientific explanation for all of the most commonly reported afterlife phenomena. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains this.

39. Mankind has long held onto two incompatible afterlife scenarios (reincarnation vs. heaven/hell). Why is this? DivisionTheory explains this.

40. Why do some NDErs believe that death brings the end of the individual personality? "Identity ceases. The 'you' that you once were becomes only a memory." (Atwater, p. 182) . "No words were spoken but my predicament was completely understood. I loved my wife more dearly than

life itself and I could not leave here like this. I knew that we would never meet again because as individuals we would cease to exist. The concept is so very sad and it is utterly inadequate to say that it does not matter." - Allan Pring (quoted by Fenwick, p. 108). DivisionTheory explains this.

41. The souls in the "Realm of Bewildered Spirits" seem to be far less psychologically functional, integrated, and whole than those in the Realm of Light. Why is this? DivisionTheory explains this.

42. NDE subjects often return with enhanced psychologies, more balanced, healthy, and creative outlooks on life, and sometimes even with new psychic abilities (Morse). Men end up more in touch with their feminine sides, women with their masculine sides. After their NDEs, many

who had previously been more right-brained, intuitive, and unconscious-oriented find themselves becoming more left-brained, analytical, and conscious-oriented. And vice-versa (Atwater). Why is

this? DivisionTheory explains this.

43. Why does the Near-Death phenomenon seem to stimulate the brain hemisphere that was not previously dominant? DivisionTheory explains this.

44. Why do so many NDErs seem to enjoy a stronger, closer, healthier, more balanced and fruitful relationship between the two sides of their psyches than they had prior to their experiences? DivisionTheory explains this.

45. The vast majority of mankind's ancient descriptions of the realm of the dead seem to refer to the hellish Realm of Bewildered Souls, yet today the vast majority of NDE reports describe a heavenly realm, with only relatively few describing the hellish scenario. Why this

discrepancy? DivisionTheory explains this as well.