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End-of-Life Dreams

commonwealmagazine.org

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Re: End-of-Life Dreams

#21

Post by tomohelix »

I am as irreverent as you can probably get, in fact, if I have to say what I really think about religions in general, I am probably a blasphemer in every sense of the word.

Yet I believe this article. Because even I had a spiritual experience too real for me to discredit or brush aside, and I meant it not just mentally but physically too. It didn't completely change my views about religions, but it did soften my stance regarding beliefs since I realized how much it can help someone to believe in something. Even if in the end, it actually isn't real or has any deeper meaning, all that matters is the believer receives some solace. And that is enough good reason for it to exist.

The article mentioned that none of these dreams involved religious figures like Jesus but overwhelmingly had family members and people with close ties. Perhaps that says something about the "real" spiritual world that each of us instinctively understand. Or maybe it is nothing. I don't know.

Re: End-of-Life Dreams

#22

Post by monero-xmr »

mlpinit wrote: post #18
monero-xmr wrote: post #13

One reason I love mystery so much, is that rooted in the human experience is the ultimate mystery, one we will all get to know for sure - what happens when you die. Even if we extend life by thousands of years with technology, eventually we will all experience this mystery. What happens upon death is unprovable, and one of faith or logic or whatever. It’s really about gut feeling. But we will all find out, one day.

The exact opposite is true actually. None of us will ever experience that. This is nicely captured in an episode of Orville if you're interested https://orville.fandom.com/wiki/Mortality_Paradox#:~:text=Mo... .

I’m a religious person so I disagree

Re: End-of-Life Dreams

#23

Post by mlpinit »

monero-xmr wrote: post #22
mlpinit wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The exact opposite is true actually. None of us will ever experience that. This is nicely captured in an episode of Orville if you're interested https://orville.fandom.com/wiki/Mortality_Paradox#:~:text=Mo... .

I’m a religious person so I disagree

The episode is still rather interesting if you're curious to understand a different perspective.

Re: End-of-Life Dreams

#24

Post by UncleOxidant »

tomohelix wrote: post #21

I am as irreverent as you can probably get, in fact, if I have to say what I really think about religions in general, I am probably a blasphemer in every sense of the word. Yet I believe this article. Because even I had a spiritual experience too real for me to discredit or brush aside, and I meant it not just mentally but physically too. It didn't completely change my views about religions, but it did soften my stan…

> Yet I believe this article. Because even I had a spiritual experience too real for me to discredit or brush aside,

I've had dreams about things that happened prior to them happening too many times for me to discredit this. For example: Early on the morning of 9/11/01 I had a dream that I was in some kind of large, room-sized elevator (probably some kind of service elevator) in a very tall building. Suddenly the elevator started to go into free fall and I was sort of floating above the floor of the elevator. When it hit the ground I woke up with a start - I remember thinking that it seemed unusually vivid. Went back to sleep and a few hours later the events of 9/11 were all over the news. It was a weird feeling. I've had dreams about earthquakes that happened hours later (even saw a map of the location in the dream), dreams about married friends getting a divorce that soon did (2 different couples), even a very quick dream about my mom dying... the night before she did (she had been ill, but she wasn't considered ill enough to be hospitalized, it was completely unexpected).

I don't know what to make of these dreams.

Re: End-of-Life Dreams

#25

Post by monero-xmr »

mlpinit wrote: post #23
monero-xmr wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m a religious person so I disagree

The episode is still rather interesting if you're curious to understand a different perspective.

I might or might not but you can’t possibly imagine that a TV show or anything else would convert me from my deeply held faith, or the billions of people around the world. I think saying “the exact opposite is true actually. None of us will ever experience that” is extremely arrogant and know-nothing. I’m not saying I’m right, I’m just saying you can’t say I’m wrong. Nothing is proven.

Re: End-of-Life Dreams

#26

Post by daniel-cussen »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #24
tomohelix wrote: post #21

I am as irreverent as you can probably get, in fact, if I have to say what I really think about religions in general, I am probably a blasphemer in every sense of the word. Yet I believe this article. Because even I had a spiritual experience too real for me to discredit or brush aside, and I meant it not just mentally but physically too. It didn't completely change my views about religions, but it did soften my stan…

> Yet I believe this article. Because even I had a spiritual experience too real for me to discredit or brush aside, I've had dreams about things that happened prior to them happening too many times for me to discredit this. For example: Early on the morning of 9/11/01 I had a dream that I was in some kind of large, room-sized elevator (probably some kind of service elevator) in a very tall building. Suddenly the ele…

[dead]

Re: End-of-Life Dreams

#27

Post by pazimzadeh »

tomohelix wrote: post #21

I am as irreverent as you can probably get, in fact, if I have to say what I really think about religions in general, I am probably a blasphemer in every sense of the word. Yet I believe this article. Because even I had a spiritual experience too real for me to discredit or brush aside, and I meant it not just mentally but physically too. It didn't completely change my views about religions, but it did soften my stan…

The phenomenon doesn't require a superstitious or spiritual explanation

Re: End-of-Life Dreams

#28

Post by daniel-cussen »

wishfish wrote: post #10

When my father died, he had a waking dream of this. Saw a river with all his dead family across the water. Smiling and waving. Coming to the banks. Waiting for him to cross. His last words were “Cover me in a blanket of sunshine.” He died two hours later. What’s a little remarkable to me is that he had these visions in this detail despite being lifelong blind. As I was reading the article, I kept wondering which came…

[dead]

Re: End-of-Life Dreams

#29

Post by mrelectric »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #24
tomohelix wrote: post #21

I am as irreverent as you can probably get, in fact, if I have to say what I really think about religions in general, I am probably a blasphemer in every sense of the word. Yet I believe this article. Because even I had a spiritual experience too real for me to discredit or brush aside, and I meant it not just mentally but physically too. It didn't completely change my views about religions, but it did soften my stan…

> Yet I believe this article. Because even I had a spiritual experience too real for me to discredit or brush aside, I've had dreams about things that happened prior to them happening too many times for me to discredit this. For example: Early on the morning of 9/11/01 I had a dream that I was in some kind of large, room-sized elevator (probably some kind of service elevator) in a very tall building. Suddenly the ele…

My first thought was that this is random mumbling, but didn't down vote you. Then again, if it offers any consolation, my mother dreamt the exact same dream, 3 times, exactly the night before her close family member would die.

Re: End-of-Life Dreams

#30

Post by tomohelix »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #24
tomohelix wrote: post #21

I am as irreverent as you can probably get, in fact, if I have to say what I really think about religions in general, I am probably a blasphemer in every sense of the word. Yet I believe this article. Because even I had a spiritual experience too real for me to discredit or brush aside, and I meant it not just mentally but physically too. It didn't completely change my views about religions, but it did soften my stan…

> Yet I believe this article. Because even I had a spiritual experience too real for me to discredit or brush aside, I've had dreams about things that happened prior to them happening too many times for me to discredit this. For example: Early on the morning of 9/11/01 I had a dream that I was in some kind of large, room-sized elevator (probably some kind of service elevator) in a very tall building. Suddenly the ele…

Yeah, me too. Many of us have had dreams that were strangely prophetic, powerful, or both. I often try to think of it as the subconsciousness of the pattern matching brain managing to piece together something that the waking mind missed or too busy or afraid to dig deeper into.

But of course, it cannot explain everything. Like you said, there are sometimes dreams preceding events that simply can't be expected or explained in anyway. Yet it happened. Maybe it is a selection bias and we tend to focus on those dreams that hit the mark and forgot all about those that didn't. But still, these dreams were always too vivid for me to forget and I often forget most dreams.

I can't help but think there might be something more to our dreams, even though the analytical part of my brain consistently shouts this idea down every time I think about it.

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