Glimpsing Heaven by Judy Bachrach

Several years ago, if one asked Judy Bachrach what her greatest fear was, the answer would be swift and sure.  Death, not being, the end of existence.  Her mother had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and she knew her time was short.  Bachrach volunteered in a hospice center, but it didn't give her the answers she sought.  As an investigative reporter, she decided to research the subject of death and went to the prime source, those who had clinically died and returned.

These individuals don't use the term 'near-death experiences'.  Instead, they call themselves Experiencers.  They weren't near death, they had died.  Some were in hospitals and declared clinically dead.  Some drowned or were hit by lighting and stopped breathing.  Some were old, some young.  Some were religious, others were atheists.  There was a common experience among them.

The overwhelming experience each experienced was bliss; the realization that everything in the universe is connected, that we continue as ourselves after this life, and that everything has a purpose.  Some reported seeing a wonderful light; others reported meeting those they loved who had died before them or meeting someone wise and full of all knowledge.  Some underwent a life review.  All were glad to be in this new place, and hesitant when they were told they must return.  When they returned to their bodies and life, many could recite details of things they could not have seen or heard but somehow had. 

The Experiencers were changed by their journey.  Many left jobs they had loved and strived in before, as what was important to them changed.  Many divorced as their mates could not accept their new reality or the changes they underwent.  A significant percentage returned with unexplained powers such as healing or the ability to see things or know things without being told.  The one commonality was that none returned with any fear of death.  They don't want to die before their time but are sure that they will be ready and that it will be a new experience when their time comes.

Judy Bachrach is an investigative reporter on international affairs, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.  She spent several years interviewing the Experiencers and those in the medical field who are working on this field of study.  There are respected doctors and tenured professors who study this common experience and the feeling is that humanity is about to peel back the layers of death to find what really occurs.  For example, brain cells are alive for hours after death has been declared.  Glimpsing Heaven is a fascinating overview of the subject, and those searching or grieving will find comfort in its page.  This book is recommended for anyone interested in the human experience and what it means to be human.