Is it possible to leave your body and travel with a loved one as they moved from this life to the next? According to Glimpses of Eternity: Sharing a Loved One’s Passage from This Life to the Next, it is.
In this thought-provoking book, authors Raymond Moody Jr. and Paul Perry share stories of people whose lives were forever changed because of shared death experiences. The experiencers of this phenomena — typically caregivers, loved ones, and sometimes even bystanders — reported witnessing the dying person transition from this physical world to the spiritual realm.
Glimpses of Eternity Basic Synopsis
This book focuses on shared death experiences — specifically what they are and how they are experienced.
While each experience was unique, those affected reported some common themes including seeing the dying person’s soul raise from their body, and ascend to a brilliant, all-encompassing light.
Oftentimes, the experiencers were able to take part in the dying person’s life review. During this process, they became privy to details they would have otherwise not known.
In one such case, a woman recounts witnessing her long-term husband’s life review as he was passing. She said, “Everything we did was there in the light. There were these things Johnny did before we were married. I saw him with girls from when he was very young. Later I searched for them in his high school yearbook and was able to find them, just based on what I saw during his life review during his death.“
Many experiencers also reported a changing shape of the room they were in, almost inexplicably as though the veil between the physical and spiritual world was being lifted. One woman sitting at her brother’s deathbed saw and felt the room change shape.
She said, “All of a sudden, I felt the room change shape, almost like it filled with air and inflated. Then I felt myself lift out of my body and join my brother in midair! We literally swirled around the room as spirits and then I felt myself return to my body and the perspective I always had. While we were flying around the room, I could see myself (physically) sitting next to my brother and I could see my brother in the air with me. When I returned to my body the room returned to its shape, which was all right angles.”
How shared death experiences are different than near-death experiences
Unlike a near-death experience, also known as an NDE, where the experiencer is sick or has temporarily died but lives to tell others about what happened (such as walking through a bright tunnel, having a life review, being given insights on events that have not yet happened and later do, etc.) a shared-death experience involves a dying person and a healthy experiencer. In essence, two or more people are sharing in and witnessing the soul’s transformation from the physical to the spiritual body.
Furthermore, the experiencer does not need to be in the same room as the person dying. Instead, the shared experience can occur in separate rooms, states, or even countries. In one such event, an identical twin shared in his brother’s death experience even though they were in different states at the time of death.
“One weekend my brother went to another state for a high-school football game and I stayed here at home. He drove there with friends, and on the day he was returning, I was lying on the couch watching sports when I suddenly had the sensation of leaving my body and moving toward a bright light. As this happened I flashed back on events that had taken place with my brother. I relived several events from our childhood including some things that were insignificant that I had forgotten them. They were so vivid I really thought I was reliving them.”
Although he didn’t realize at the time what was happening when the experience ended he felt deeply shaken. He immediately told his mom about his vision. An hour later she received a phone call that her son had been killed in an automobile accident.
Thoughts on Glimpses of Eternity
This book combs together decades of research, historical accounts, and author Raymond Moody Jr.’s personal experience during his mother’s transition, to create a basic premise of what a glimpse of eternity looks (and feels) like. Filled with vivid stories of hope, inspiration, and love — Glimpses of Eternity illustrates the connection we all have with each other here on earth… and in the life beyond.
The structure of this book makes it easy to read and grasp. Each case study and section is outlined in a short, easy-to-read manner. At the end, the reader will be guided through a section of questions — all of which are answered in detail.
Here are a few questions to illustrate this example:
- How do you know people aren’t lying about their shared death experience? (Spoiler alert: people do lie. Dr. Moody has a system to separate fact from fiction).
- Do you have to be religious to have these experiences? (Spoiler alert: No.)
- Do people in other cultures have these experiences? (Spoiler alert: Yes.)
Personally, I found this book fascinating and consumed it quickly. For me, hearing about these mystical experiences is comforting and showcases the importance of the choices we make while on earth. We are all connected on a deep, soulful level… and while I know this to be true, it certainly doesn’t make the death of a loved one any easier to accept.
In reading and learning about shared death experiences, I see death from another lens. One where the relationship between the deceased and the living does not need to end at the moment of death. Instead, it can live on through eternity — regardless of what’s happening in time and space.
Do I recommend Glimpses of Eternity?
Yes! Absolutely. This book was profound and riveting. Regardless of religious affiliation, culture, gender or any other divider — you can read this book and extract powerful, spiritual insights from it.
Glimpses of Eternity takes us through a journey to the beyond and allows us to imagine fragments of the afterlife while we’re still living. In turn, we can confidently conclude that death isn’t an end, but rather a continuation.
Have you read Glimpses of Eternity? Let me know in the comments below!
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