The conscious half, then, would lose all its memory, all its emotion, all its subjective sense of
connectedness and relationship, all its sense of pattern and form and context, everything it had
previously received from the unconscious. But it would continue to possess its own objective
perspective, rational intellect, verbal communication skills, and independent free will volition.
Meanwhile, the unconscious would lose the ability for objective, rational, independent thought,
the ability for verbal communication skills, and the free will ability to make fresh new choices and
decisions. It would, however, still retain its subjectivity, emotions, memory, receptiveness,
responsiveness, and the ability to perceive forms, patterns, context, connectedness, and
relationships.
Many of those ancient cultures held that, if they divided apart, the conscious-like soul (the one
possessing intelligence and free will) would reincarnate after death, while the unconscious-like
soul (the one having the emotions and the memory) would find itself in a dreamlike
netherworld-type experience after death. The amazing thing is - these scenarios are uncannily
close to what modern science would seem to predict for the conscious and unconscious if they did
divide apart after death. In fact, such a division would account for the vast majority of reports
emerging from modern research into life after death phenomena.
Two Stages of NDEs
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 (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. In short, the first stage seems to be
experienced through the eye of the conscious mind, while the second stage seems to be
experienced through the eye of the unconscious mind.
Stage One: Peace in the Dark Void
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. 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 unforseen development. On the
contrary, subjects often mention a deep sense of peacefulness, calm, and serenity during this
phase, all of which seems to point more towards an absence of negative feelings and emotions
than the presence of any positive ones (this is sharply contrasted by the second phase of NDEs, in
which subjects commonly describe the presence of extremely intense emotions). The celebrated
"peace" of this first stage, then, seems to be the interpretation subjects give to the sudden loss of
all subjective emotion and feeling, understandably equating the total absence of anxiety and
distress with the presence of deep calm and inner peace. Jenny McMillan's description of this first
stage NDE is a typical example of this phenomenon:
"I realized that I must be dying and ... I didn't mind in the least. I remember being very
interested in the experience in a very unemotional academic way and feeling that it was quite an
adventure - no regrets at all. [...] My husband and two-year-old son were everything to me, and
I was shocked and amazed at myself for not minding the thought of leaving them, yet I was
overwhelmed by a feeling of peace.... I knew how devastated they would be at my death but even
this did not really move me. I ...felt free of any cares at all. ...it was just peaceful and interesting
and detached." (Fenwick, p. 52-53)
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. But for some reason, one of the most consistently mentioned features of Near-Death
Experiences is this flat emotional state immediately after leaving the body.
Almost as common are reports of increased clarity and swiftness of thought 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)
What is being reported during the first stage of NDEs seems to be a dramatic reduction of
subjective emotion with a corresponding increase in objective analytical logic, which does seem
like a very unusual reaction to one's own death. But all these details are exactly the sort of
experiences one would expect to be reported by a conscious mind that had suddenly become
divorced from its unconscious half. Without the unconscious, it would feel that all its feelings and
emotions had disappeared. Without the unconscious, the conscious mind would no longer be able
to experience or appreciate any subjective sense of belonging, relationships, or personal
connections of any kind; it would feel unconnected to anything. Without the emotional
perspective of the unconscious, it would experience utterly no distress or anxiety on any level of
awareness. And since normal life always contains some degree of anxiety, some underlying
awareness of one's vulnerabilities, needs, limitations, failings, and other stressors, the sudden
unanticipated dropping away of this angst-ridden underlying mental context would be experienced
as a profound state of peacefulness.
And without the unconscious, the conscious mind would be unable to recognize shapes, patterns,
forms, or images of any kind - it would see only nothingness. On its own, the conscious mind
would have no memory of any forms or images, nor any ability for form-, pattern-, or
relationship-perception. This would leave the conscious mind completely lacking any orienting
sense of context, leaving it just like a newborn baby, unable to see any patterns in anything around
it. Without any sense of context, everything it observed around it would seem to be just random
meaningless chaos, and this would perfectly explain why subjects often report floating in
nothingness during the first stage of NDEs (as also do some Past-Life Regression subjects when
regressed to a point in time in-between lives).
Yet despite all these lost abilities, the conscious mind would still remain fully conscious and
aware. It would also still possess its own objective rational intellect and analytical curiosity,
abilities that would seem to have been powerfully enhanced and heightened, by virtue of the
conscious mind no longer being diluted with the unconscious and its 'illogical' emotions and
subjective impressions.
In many respects, this dark emptiness resembles the "Clear Light of the Void" mentioned in
Buddhist teachings. Buddhist tradition holds that if one can manage to stay in this first stage, and
avoid slipping along into the second stage of NDEs, one will have achieved "Enlightenment", and
will no longer be subject to reincarnation. But if one does slip into the second stage, Buddhist
doctrine declares, one will thereby return to the universe of form and manifestation. This dovetails
nicely with the theory that the first "dark void" stage of NDEs is the experience of the conscious
and the second "realm of light" stage is the experience of the unconscious, for the unconscious is
assigned the task of form-recognition in the human psyche (Jung, Sagan, Ornstein), and without
it, no form (and therefore no manifestation) would seem to be possible. Yet if this is so, one is
then impelled to question the Buddhist wisdom of purposely remaining in the dark void, thus
remaining ever divided, always experiencing the conscious without the unconscious, always
experiencing but half of one's full being.
Stage Two: Joy in the Realm of Light
The second stage of NDEs, in which subjects report leaving the dark void to (usually) enter a
realm of brilliant living light, tends to be characterized by the presence of tremendously powerful
and moving emotions, deep emotional connection to and investment in the subject's own past life
(via the legendary Past-Life Review), and a suddenly renewed and enhanced sense of
connectedness and community with others (indeed, with the entire universe).
These are precisely the experiences that science would predict for an unconscious that found itself
no longer united to its conscious mind. Its experience of feeling and emotion would seem greatly
enhanced, to the point of seeming absolute and overwhelming. The emotionally-based mental
input of the unconscious would, for the first time in the person's entire life experience, no longer
be capable of being denied, ignored, rejected, repressed, or rationalized away by the conscious
mind (which is always the case to at least some degree, usually to a very great degree, during
normal adult life). Unbound at last, all the repressed emotions, denied feelings, forgotten
memories, rejected insights, and unacknowledged self-judgments that had piled up within the
unconscious over the course of the person's life would spring fully forth en mass, finally free of
the restrictive, repressive, and controlling influence of the conscious mind. All the natural
characteristics of the unconscious - emotion, memory, conscience, receptiveness, responsiveness,
aesthetic awareness, and form-, pattern-, and relationship- recognition, would define the nature
of the experience. But subjects in the second stage would also exhibit a pronounced loss of
certain abilities, which would correspond with the characteristics of the conscious mind. Without
the conscious mind, the unconscious would lose its reason, logic, objective perspective, free will,
and verbal communication ability. No longer having any critical, analytical, or discriminative
faculties whatsoever, it would be condemned to accept as unquestionable truth virtually all
thoughts, suspicions, and impressions passing across the mind's eye. And without its verbal
communication ability, communication would have to take place without words, using gestures,
symbols, metaphors, analogies, and direct intuitive awareness instead. And without the conscious
mind's objective perspective, one would have a diminished sense of one's own distinct
independence, autonomy, and unique identity - the normal defining boundaries between oneself
and others would seem diminished, even nonexistent. And these are, as it turns out, precisely
what most subjects report during the second stage of NDEs.
Increased Emotion
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).
This, as it turns out, is precisely what one would expect if the unconscious was operating
independently of the conscious mind. With the conscious mind out of the picture, the unconscious
would no longer possess any discriminative capacity; it would no longer be able to distinguish
differences between things, or degrees of difference. The unconscious is designed to perceive the
similarities between things, not the differences, and so is constitutionally blind to degrees of
difference. So if the unconscious was experiencing fear, it would know that fear in its purest, most
absolute and undiluted form. Similarly, if the unconscious felt love, that love would be
experienced as infinite, unlimited in any way, shape, or form. And that is precisely the character
of the emotions that NDErs tend to report during the second stage of these episodes.
Diminished Reason
If the unconscious was divorced from the conscious mind, it would no longer possess any logical
reasoning ability, and second stage reports often do seem to suggest a lack of normal deductive
logic and analytical reason in subjects' thought processes. Without the conscious, the unconscious
would have no objectivity whatsoever, and a complete lack of objectivity would mean a complete
and utter inability to tell the difference between truth and falsehood. The objective conscious mind
is what throws seeds of doubt in the human psyche; without it, no doubt can be experienced. The
objective conscious mind discerns differences and distinguishes between them, accepting one
thing while rejecting another. But without the logic and objectivity of the conscious mind, all
thoughts running across the screen of the unconscious mind would be accepted equally, each
impression seeming to be equally obvious, compelling, and true. And this is precisely the dynamic
that seems to take place during the second stage of NDEs.
"The Knowledge Was Given To Me that..."
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 attribution of
certainty to one's perceptions is exactly the way the unconscious processes information. It does
not critique it, or analyze it, or question it, but just accepts it without dispute or hesitation as
absolute and obvious truth. The dreamer who dreams that he can fly, or that he is walking naked
into his place of business, or that his uncle has asparagus stalks for eyebrows, does not for a
moment question the reality of these impressions at the time, but takes them all calmly in his
stride, for there is no logic available in his thought processes at the time, no discriminative
capacity to raise the red flags of doubt. Similarly, the hypnotized subject who is told she is a
rooster does not argue or even consider questioning the fact, but instead commences to express
her "roosterness" with the sort of conviction that is seldom seen outside a traveling revival tent.
In much the same way, 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).
This loss of one's critical and analytical functions also seems highly evident in second stage reports
of addictive behavior. 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). 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. Such behavior points strongly to a loss of objective rational intellect,
quite possibly coupled with a lack of independent free will.
Increased Sense of Connections and RelationshipsNDErs commonly report feeling a profound
sense of oneness with the whole universe (Fenwick), and this too is exactly what one would
expect if the unconscious was operating independently of the conscious mind. The unconscious is
geared to recognize the connections and relationships between things, and the patterns those
relationships form. Seeing only connections but never any differences, the unconscious would
instinctively see the whole universe as a perfectly interconnected, synchronized and harmonized
singularity. Having lost all ability to distinguish between things, it would only see the connections
and similarities and relationships between things, which would cause it to identify things together
that the conscious mind might have otherwise distinguished from one another.
This is the way the unconscious processes information, and the effects of this natural process can
easily be observed in dreams. Perhaps the most familiar product of the unconscious, dreams are
well known for blurring and melding the identities of multiple individuals into a single dream
character (Freud); it would be nothing unusual for one's Uncle Arthur to also seem to be one's
high school Spanish teacher in a dream, even though in real life they had been entirely distinct
individuals. In normal life the conscious and unconscious operate together, one pointing out the
differences between things, the other highlighting their similarities; only together can they provide
us with a balanced and realistic perspective. But without the distinguishing, objective perspective
of the conscious mind, the unconscious is blind to all distinctions, divisions, and inequities. On its
own, the unconscious would be unable to distinguish between oneself and the rest of the universe,
and so, it would identify the two together ("I and the universe are one") forced to do this by the
same inner programming that causes separate identities to blend together in dreams.
Diminished Appreciation of Objectivity
Just as the unconscious is polarized more towards the subjective than the objective, so too 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).
Increased Receptivity and Inclusiveness
Because the unconscious does not have any innate ability for perceiving details or distinguishing
the differences between things, it must accept all thoughts equally. If it was operating
independently of the conscious mind as the Binary Soul Doctrine suggests would be the case, the
right brain unconscious would find itself in a state of complete and total acceptance, rejecting
nothing.
"The right hemisphere has no equivalent of no."
(Ornstein, p. 93)
This, as it turns out, is precisely the 'mind set' found to be in operation in most 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). The unconscious would have no choice but to do this; its own design
would force it to accept everyone and everything, not necessarily due to any objective analysis of
their actual value and worth, but due simply to the way the unconscious is designed to function.
Diminished Separateness and Autonomy
If the unconscious was divorced from the conscious, one would also expect to see a lessening of
one's sense of the distinctions between all things, including the distinctions between one person
and another, and this too does seem to be a regular feature of the second stage of NDEs. Subjects
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).
"I had no sense of being separate.
I was in the light and one with it."
(Grey, p. 58)
In short, there no longer seems to be any such thing as separateness, which is precisely what one
would expect to experience if the conscious mind, which provides our ability to perceive
separateness and distinctness, was no longer functioning.
Increased Aesthetic Sensitivity
The Right Brain unconscious, modern neuropsychology informs us, is oriented towards
recognizing and appreciating life's more artistic and aesthetic qualities (Ornstein). Because of this
orientation, if the unconscious was separated away from the conscious mind, its aesthetic
appreciation and artistic sensitivities would seem to have been greatly magnified. And this is, as it
turns out, perfectly consistent with the reports of second stage NDEs. 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.
Diminished Verbal Capacity
If the unconscious became alienated from the conscious mind, it would lose all ability for literal
linear thought, and thus all ability to communicate verbally, and again, the weight of the reports
does suggest 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 cliche; 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).
Increased Sense of Form and Pattern (The Big Picture)
The fact that the conscious mind has no capacity for perceiving form, while the unconscious does, seems to explain why the first stage of NDEs includes no perception of any forms (even one's own self seems to be formless) (Boldman) while the second stage is filled with forms of all sorts. But the form-perception of the unconscious would also seem to be responsible for another very notable characteristic of the second stage - the feeling that one has 'total understanding', perceiving the full scheme of things (Fenwick) :
" Everything fitted in, it all made sense ... It almost seemed, too, as if the pieces of a
jig-saw all fitted together. You know how it is with a tapestry and all the interwoven parts, then when the tapestry's turned over you see how it all fits in place."
( Ring, p. 183)
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.
This would seem to simply be form- and pattern- awareness on the grandest scale.
Diminished Memory of NDE Revelations
While the unconscious is the repository of memory, such memories are primarily the records of
the data it receives from the conscious mind while the person was awake. The unconscious fares
far worse at retaining memory of its own activity than it does at retaining the memory of what the
conscious mind experiences; the memory of what one did while awake is far more readily
accessible than the memories of what one dreams at night. Also, while the unconscious is always
active, always busy with its own tasks, one generally has no memory of this activity of the
unconscious, either. In much the same way that one has trouble remembering these activities of
the unconscious, NDErs 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. This would make sense from the perspective
of the Binary Soul Doctrine; second stage NDE memories would behave like dream memories if
both experiences had originated from the same source - the unconscious.
Increased Memory of Earthly Life (The Life Review)
If the unconscious found itself separated from the conscious mind, it would seem likely to
automatically experience a full life review much like that reported by NDErs. Without the
conscious mind in the way, it would no longer be possible for the emotionally-based mental input
of the unconscious to be denied, ignored, rejected, repressed, minimalized, rationalized, or diluted
in any way. Unbound at last, 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 would spring fully forth en mass, finally free of the restrictive
and repressive influence of the conscious mind.
The conscious mind is the half of the psyche that holds the power of autonomous volition, the
power to decide and choose and move and change. Without that conscious mind, the unconscious
couldn't choose to do anything. It would find itself totally unable to initiate change in any way. It
would have nothing to do but fall back deeper and deeper into itself, deeper and deeper into its
own levels, deeper and deeper into its own emotions and its own memories. Being cut off from
its own conscious mind, the unconscious would be completely non-reasoning, emotional,
subjective, inward-looking, and running on full automatic. As it was looking inward, it would
encounter its own stored - up memories, including its own long-forgotten (or never fully
acknowledged) feelings and self-judgments about those memories.
While people are alive, even though their unconscious minds are usually hidden well out of sight
in the background of their awareness, those unconscious minds remain constantly active, or rather
reactive, constantly reacting and responding to all their different conscious choices and decisions.
It is constantly whispering within, constantly comparing those choices and decisions with one's
own inner sense of right and wrong. That's its job. But, at least while a person is still alive, one
can consciously choose to block out those 'nagging' whisperings from that unconscious soul.
People can, and often do, choose to ignore them, pushing these messages back down, repressing
them out of our awareness entirely (Freud).
But if our unconscious found itself cut off from the conscious mind after death, that conscious
mind would no longer be there to repress those memories, feelings, and self- judgements. One
would not be able to hide from those judgments any longer. One would suddenly find oneself face
to face with ALL of them, a whole lifetimes' worth of repressed self-judgments, swimming in
them. With no discriminating intellect, one could no longer ignore, deny, rationalize away, or
otherwise reject those memories, feelings, and judgments. So, one would suddenly find 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. And this dynamic would seem to explain the
sudden, immediate, and total life review and self-judgment that so often occurs during the second
stage of NDEs. Just as the Binary Soul Doctrine would predict, these Life Reviews occur
suddenly and en mass, during the second stage of the NDE, simultaneously releasing into full
glaring view all the memories of one's life experiences, even one's most private thoughts and
feelings.
The Self-Judgment
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), just as the Binary Soul
Doctrine would anticipate. The dynamics of human psychology suggest that this judgment,
although experienced during the NDE, would not actually have its origins in that moment,
although it would certainly seem like it at the time. Rather, during the flood of memories, one
would suddenly realize that one's own unconscious mind had been reactively judging one's choices
and actions all along, during every moment of one's life. During the Life Review, one would
finally come face to face with the sum total of all those past judgments about one's own behavior
that one's own unconscious had generated over the course of one's life, judgments which were
originally refused recognition by the conscious mind. People tend to keep many such
self-judgments repressed, never allowing them to fully enter into their conscious awareness during
life, causing these self-judgments to build up over the years, producing the psychological
equivalent of a logjam (unless, of course, a person exercises extreme self-honesty, recognizing
instead of repressing those self-judgments). But after death, when the repressive conscious mind
was taken away, all those judgments would be unbound, allowing the entire logjam to finally rise
to the surface of one's awareness in a single great convulsion, finally being acknowledged as they
had been intended to do from their very inception. This would explain why the Life Review,
which finally makes all these unconscious thoughts, feelings, and self-judgments starkly apparent,
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).
Increased Reactiveness: Genesis of Heaven and Hell Experiences?
If those memories, feelings, and judgments were primarily positive, the unconscious, being
automatically responsive and emotional, would automatically respond to them by generating
positive feelings and emotions. Now, since it is well known that the unconscious is also very
creative, constantly generating images, dreams, and fantasies, the unconscious could then be
expected to automatically (and possibly quite unconsciously, without ever realizing it was doing
it) spin images, dreams, and fantasies to give shape to all those feelings, emotions, and
self-judgments. If those memories, feelings, and self-judgments were primarily positive, it would
generate positive images, dreams, and fantasies to give them shape and manifestation. And if the
unconscious was in a truly closed system, completely cut off from its conscious half such that no
decision-making ability was available to make changes, this process would be likely to continue
forever, compounding upon itself. The good feelings and dream images generated by the
unconscious would grow ever stronger and more intense, and in the unconscious'
self-manufactured dreamworld, it would experience itself to be in heaven. But if those memories,
feelings, and judgments were negative, the unconscious would then generate negative feelings, a
process which would also continue and compound, becoming ever stronger and more intense, and
in that unconscious' self-manufactured dreamworld reality, it would feel itself to be in hell.
Caught in a circular pattern of automatic behavior, such an unconscious soul would review its
memories, react to them emotionally, and react to those reactions emotionally as well, all
automatically, squeezing every last drop of emotional content from its life memories. This
process, however, would not necessarily seem to occur slowly or sequentially in a normal
cause-and-effect, before-and-after pattern, since time is said to not function normally during
NDEs (Moody). Instead, this entire sequential process could easily seem to occur instantaneously,
moving directly from the Life Review to the final effect - experiencing the heaven or hellish
dreamworlds, without any sense of the psychological processes that led from the one to the other.
These predictable processes, based on nothing more esoteric than the findings of modern science
about the nature and workings of the human psyche, would seem to virtually duplicate the classic
afterlife scenario of an eternal heaven and hell that is always becoming ever-more intensely felt
and experienced. The pains of hell would grow ever more horrible, the bliss of heaven, ever-more
delicious.
The "Realm of Bewildered Spirits" Explained?
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. And again, these souls seem to display the very sort of
characteristics one would expect of separated unconscious souls that no longer have access to
their rational conscious minds. 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). Have the souls in this realm lost all access to their own conscious minds? At least one
NDEr seems to have thought so, feeling as if his own conscious mind was too deeply buried
within for him to successfully access it during a hellish experience (Fenwick).
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). This strongly suggests the absence of
the conscious human spirit during these experiences; 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. Such behavior suggests a scenario much in keeping with
the Binary Soul Doctrine - beings with a complete absence of independent free will and rational
intellect.
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).
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. It seems as if the inhabitants of this realm are all
wrapped up inside their own private dream fantasies, which causes them to experience these
intensely distressing emotions. But the outside observers watching from the Realm of Light
apparently cannot see those privately experienced fantasies, but only perceive the anguished
emotions being experienced by those bewildered souls.
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). One can only wonder whether, if the bewildered dead could also peer into the realm of light, would they also see those souls just shuffling about as well, each of them also wrapped up in its own private dream, the only difference being that in the realm of light each soul was experiencing intensely joyful feelings instead of distressing ones? If so, then the NDErs observing the Bewildered Souls from outside were using an objective perspective, which suggests that the division of objective conscious and subjective unconscious was not a full and total division, at least not yet. If they had been in a state of full and total division, they would have been unable to view anything objectively at all.