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A Deeply Inspiring Near-Death Story by Mellen-Thomas Benedict

www.wanttoknow.info/neardeathexperience


I thought you would be interested in the following truly extraordinary narrative by a man whose Near Death Experience cured him of terminal cancer. He was certified clinically 'dead' for an hour and a half and effectively toured the universe in that time , and came back to his life afterwards, cured of cancer . Kenneth Ring (transpersonal psychologist who studies such things) calls it the most remarkable of such experiences he's encountered.




THROUGH THE LIGHT

Mellen-Thomas Benedict's near-death experience


Mellen-Thomas Benedict is an artist who survived a near-death
experience in 1982. He was dead for
over an hour and a half and during that time, he rose up out of his
body and went into the Light.
Curious about the universe, he was taken far into the remote depths of
existence, and even beyond,
into the energetic Void of Nothingness behind the Big Bang. Concerning
his near-death experience,
Dr. Kenneth Ring has said, "His story is one of the most remarkable I
have encountered in my
extensive research on near-death experiences."

THE ROAD TO DEATH

In 1982 I died from terminal cancer. The condition I had was
inoperable, and any kind of
chemotherapy they could give me would just have made me more of a
vegetable. I was given six to
eight months to live. I had been an information freak in the 1970's,
and I had become increasingly
despondent over the nuclear crisis, the ecology crisis, and so forth.
So, since I did not have a
spiritual basis, I began to believe that nature had made a mistake,
and that we were probably a
cancerous organism on the planet. I saw no way that we could get out
from all the problems we had
created for ourselves and the planet. I perceived all humans as
cancer, and that is what I got. That
is what killed me. Be careful what your world view is. It can feed
back on you, especially if it is
a negative world view. I had a seriously negative one. That is what
led me into my death. I tried
all sorts of alternative healing methods, but nothing helped. So I
determined that this was really
just between me and God. I had never really faced God before, or even
dealt with God. I was not into
any kind of spirituality at the time, but I began a journey into
learning about spirituality and
alternative healing. I set out to do all the reading I could and bone
up on the subject, because I
did not want to be surprised on the other side. So I started reading
on various religions and
philosophies. They were all very interesting, and gave hope that there
was something on the other
side.

On the other hand, as a self-employed stained-glass artist at the
time, I had no medical insurance
whatsoever. So my life savings went overnight into testing. Then I was
facing the medical profession
without any kind of insurance. I did not want to have my family
dragged down financially, so I
determined to handle this myself. There was not constant pain, but
there were blackouts. I got so
that I would not dare to drive, and eventually I ended up in hospice
care. I had my own personal
hospice caretaker. I was very blessed by this angel who went through
the last part of this with me.
I lasted about eighteen months. I did not want to take a lot of drugs,
since I wanted to be as
conscious as possible. Then I experienced such pain that I had nothing
but pain in my consciousness,
luckily only for a few days at a time.

THE LIGHT OF GOD

I remember waking up one morning at home about 4:30 am, and I just
knew that this was it. This was
the day I was going to die. So I called a few friends and said
goodbye. I woke up my hospice
caretaker and told her. I had a private agreement with her that she
would leave my dead body alone for six hours, since I had read that all kinds of interesting things
happen when you die. I went
back to sleep.

The next thing I remember is the beginning of a typical near-death
experience. Suddenly I was fully
aware and I was standing up, but my body was in the bed. There was
this darkness around me. Being
out of my body was even more vivid than ordinary experience. It was so
vivid that I could see every
room in the house, I could see the top of the house, I could see
around the house, I could see under
the house.

There was this Light shining. I turned toward the Light. The Light was
very similar to what many
other people have described in their near-death experiences. It was so
magnificent. It is tangible;
you can feel it. It is alluring; you want to go to it like you would
want to go to your ideal
mother's or father's arms. As I began to move toward the Light, I knew
intuitively that if I went to
the Light, I would be dead. So as I was moving toward the Light I
said, "Please wait a minute, just
hold on a second here. I want to think about this; I would like to
talk to you before I go."

To my surprise, the entire experience halted at that point. You are
indeed in control of your
near-death experience. You are not on a roller coaster ride. So my
request was honored and I had
some conversations with the Light. The Light kept changing into
different figures, like Jesus,
Buddha, Krishna, mandalas, archetypal images and signs. I asked the
Light, "What is going on here?
Please, Light, clarify yourself for me. I really want to know the
reality of the situation." I
cannot really say the exact words, because it was sort of telepathy.

The Light responded. The information transferred to me was that your
beliefs shape the kind of
feedback you are getting before the Light. If you were a Buddhist or
Catholic or Fundamentalist, you
get a feedback loop of your own stuff. You have a chance to look at it
and examine it, but most
people do not. As the Light revealed itself to me, I became aware that
what I was really seeing was
our Higher Self matrix.

The only thing I can tell you is that it turned into a matrix, a
mandala of human souls, and what I
saw was that what we call our Higher Self in each of us is a matrix.
It's also a conduit to the
Source; each one of us comes directly, as a direct experience from the
Source. We all have a Higher
Self, or an oversoul part of our being. It revealed itself to me in
its truest energy form. The only
way I can really describe it is that the being of the Higher Self is
more like a conduit. It did not
look like that, but it is a direct connection to the Source that each
and every one of us has. We
are directly connected to the Source.

So the Light was showing me the Higher Self matrix. And it became very
clear to me that all the
Higher Selves are connected as one being, all humans are connected as
one being, we are actually the
same being, different aspects of the same being. It was not committed
to one particular religion. So
that is what was being fed back to me. And I saw this mandala of human
souls. It was the most
beautiful thing I have ever seen. I just went into it and, it was just
over-whelming. It was like
all the love you've every wanted, and it was the kind of love that
cures, heals, regenerates.

As I asked the Light to keep explaining, I understood what the Higher
Self matrix is. We have a grid
around the planet where all the Higher Selves are connected. This is
like a great company, a next
subtle level of energy around us, the spirit level, you might say.
Then, after a couple of minutes,
I asked for more clarification. I really wanted to know what the
universe is about, and I was ready
to go at that time. I said "I am ready, take me." Then the Light
turned into the most beautiful
thing that I have ever seen: a mandala of human souls on this planet.

Now I came to this with my negative view of what has happen on the
planet. So as I asked the light
to keep clarifying for me, I saw in this magnificent mandala how
beautiful we all are in our
essence, our core. We are the most beautiful creations. The human
soul, the human matrix that we all
make together is absolutely fantastic, elegant, exotic, every- thing.
I just cannot say enough about
how it changed my opinion of human beings in that instant. I said,
"Oh, God, I did not know how
beautiful we are." At any level, high or low, in whatever shape you
are in, you are the most
beautiful creation, you are. I was astonished to find that there was
no evil in any soul. I said,
"How can this be?" The answer was that no soul was inherently evil.
The terrible things that
happened to people might make them do evil things, but their souls
were not evil. What all people
seek, what sustains them, is love, the Light told me. What distorts
people is a lack of love.

The revelations coming from the Light seemed to go on and on, and then
I asked the Light, "Does this
mean that humankind will be saved?" Then, like a trumpet blast with a
shower of spiraling lights,
the Great Light spoke, saying, "Remember this and never forget; you
save, redeem and heal yourself.
You always have. You always will. You were created with the power to
do so from before the beginning
of the world."

In that instant I realized even more. I realized that WE HAVE ALREADY
BEEN SAVED, and we saved
ourselves because we were designed to self-correct like the rest of
God's universe. This is what the
second coming is about. I thanked the Light of God with all my heart.
The best thing I could come up
with was these simple words of totally appreciation: "Oh dear God,
dear Universe, dear Great Self, I
love my Life."

The Light seemed to breathe me in even more deeply. It was as if the
Light was completely absorbing
me. The Love Light is, to this day, indescribable. I entered into
another realm, more profound than
the last, and became aware of something more, much more. It was an
enormous stream of Light, vast
and full, deep in the Heart of Life. I asked what this was.

The Light responded, "This is the RIVER OF LIFE. Drink of this manna
water to your heart's content."
So I did. I took one big drink and then another. To drink of Life
Itself! I was in ecstasy. Then the
Light said, "You have a desire." The Light knew all about me,
everything past, present and future.
"Yes!" I whispered.

I asked to see the rest of the Universe; beyond our solar system,
beyond all human illusion. The
Light then told me that I could go with the Stream. I did, and was
carried through the Light at the
end of the tunnel. I felt and heard a series of very soft sonic booms.
What a rush!

THE VOID OF NOTHINGNESS

Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away from the planet on this stream
of Life. I saw the earth fly
away. The solar system, in all its splendor, whizzed by and
disappeared. At faster than light speed,
I flew through the center of the galaxy, absorbing more knowledge as I
went. I learned that this
galaxy, and all of the Universe, is bursting with many different
varieties of LIFE. I saw many
worlds. The good news is that we are not alone in this Universe!

As I rode this stream of consciousness through the center of the
galaxy, the stream was expanding in
awesome fractal waves of energy. The super clusters of galaxies with
all their ancient wisdom flew
by. At first I thought I was going somewhere; actually traveling. But
then I realized that, as the
stream was expanding, my own consciousness was also expanding to take
in everything in the Universe!
All creation passed by me. It was an unimaginable wonder! I truly was
a Wonder Child; a babe in
Wonderland!

It seemed as if all the creations in the Universe soared by me and
vanished in a speck of Light.
Almost immediately, a second Light appeared. It came from all sides,
and was so different; a Light
made up of more than every frequency in the Universe. I felt and heard
several velvety sonic booms
again. My consciousness, or being, was expanding to interface with the
entire Holographic Universe
and more.

As I passed into the second Light, the awareness came to me that I had
just transcended the Truth.
Those are the best words I have for it, but I will try to explain. As
I passed into the second
Light, I expanded beyond the First Light. I found myself in a profound
stillness, beyond all
silence. I could see or perceive FOREVER, beyond Infinity.

I was in the Void.

I was in pre-creation, before the Big Bang. I had crossed over the
beginning of time - the First
Word - the First vibration. I was in the Eye of Creation. I felt as if
I was touching the Face of
God. It was not a religious feeling. Simply I was at one with Absolute
Life and Consciousness.

When I say that I could see or perceive forever, I mean that I could
experience all of creation
generating itself. It was without beginning and without end. That's a
mind-expanding thought, isn't
it? Scientists perceive the Big Bang as a single event which created
the Universe. I saw that the
Big Bang is only one of an infinite number of Big Bangs creating
Universes endlessly and
simultaneously. The only images that even come close in human terms
would be those created by
supercomputers using fractal geometry equations.

The ancients knew of this. They said Godhead periodically created new
Universes by breathing out,
and de-creating other Universes by breathing in. These epochs were
called Yugas. Modern science
called this the Big Bang. I was in absolute, pure consciousness. I
could see or perceive all the Big
Bangs or Yugas creating and de-creating themselves. Instantly I
entered into them all
simultaneously. I saw that each and every little piece of creation has
the power to create. It is
very difficult to try to explain this. I am still speechless about
this.

It took me years after I returned to assimilate any words at all for
the Void experience. I can tell
you this now; the Void is less than nothing, yet more than everything
that is! The Void is absolute
zero; chaos forming all possibilities. It is Absolute Consciousness;
much more than even Universal
Intelligence.

Where is the Void? I know. The Void is inside and outside everything.
You, right now even while you
live, are always inside and outside the Void simultaneously. You don't
have to go anywhere or die to
get there. The Void is the vacuum or nothingness between all physical
manifestations. The SPACE
between atoms and their components.

Modern science has begun to study this space between everything. They
call it Zero-point. Whenever
they try to measure it, their instruments go off the scale, or to
infinity, so to speak. They have no way, as of yet, to measure infinity accurately. There is more of
the zero space in your own body
and the Universe than anything else! What mystics call the Void is not
a void. It is so full of
energy, a different kind of energy that has created everything that we
are. Everything since the Big
Bang is vibration, from the first Word, which is the first vibration.
The biblical "I am" really has
a question mark after it. "I am - What am I?"

So creation is God exploring God's Self through every way imaginable,
in an ongoing, infinite
exploration through every one of us. Through every piece of hair on
your head, through every leaf on
every tree, through every atom, God is exploring God's Self, the great, "I am". I began to see that
everything that is, is the Self, literally, your Self, my Self.
Everything is the great Self. That
is why God knows even when a leaf falls. That is possible because
wherever you are is the center of
the universe. Wherever any atom is, that is the center of the
universe. There is God in that, and
God in the Void.

As I was exploring the Void and all the Yugas or creations, I was completely out of time and space
as we know it. In this expanded state, I discovered that creation is
about Absolute Pure
Consciousness, or God, coming into the Experience of Life as we know
it. The Void itself is devoid of experience. It is pre-life, before the first vibration. Godhead is
about more than Life and
Death. Therefore there is even more than Life and Death to experience
in the Universe!

I was in the Void and I was aware of everything that had ever been
created. It was like I was
looking out of God's eyes. I had become God. Suddenly I wasn't me
anymore. The only thing I can say,
I was looking out of God's eyes. And suddenly I knew why every atom
was, and I could see
everything. The interesting point was that I went into the Void, I
came back with this understanding
that God is not there. God is here. That's what it is all about.

So this constant search of the human race to go out and find God ...
God gave everything to us,
everything is here - this is where it's at. And what we are into now
is God's exploration of God
through us. People are so busy trying to become God that they ought
to realize that we are already
God and God is becoming us. That's what it is really about.

When I realized this, I was finished with the Void, and wanted to
return to this creation, or Yuga.
It just seemed like the natural thing to do. Then I suddenly came back
through the second Light, or
the Big Bang, hearing several more velvet booms. I rode the stream of
consciousness back through all
of creation, and what a ride it was! The super clusters of galaxies
came through me with even more
insights.

I passed through the center of our galaxy, which is a black hole.
Black holes are the great
processors or recyclers of the Universe. Do you know what is on the
other side of a Black Hole? We
are; our galaxy; which has been reprocessed from another Universe. In
its total energy
configuration, the galaxy looked like a fantastic city of lights. All
energy this side of the Big
Bang is light. Every sub-atom, atom, star, planet, even consciousness
itself is made of light and
has a frequency and/or particle. Light is living stuff. Everything is
made of light, even stones. So
everything is alive. Everything is made from the Light of God;
everything is very intelligent.

THE LIGHT OF LOVE

As I rode the stream on and on, I could eventually see a huge Light
coming. I knew it was the First
Light; the Higher Self Light Matrix of our solar system. Then the
entire solar system appeared in
the Light, accompanied by one of those velvet booms.

I saw that the solar system we live in is our larger, local body. This
is our local body and we are
much bigger than we imagine. I saw that the solar system is our body.
I am a part of this, and the
earth is this great created being that we are, and we are the part of
it that knows that it is. But
we are only that part of it. We are not everything, but we are that
part of it that knows that it
is.

I could see all the energy that this solar system generates, and it is
an incredible light show! I
could hear the Music of the Spheres. Our solar system, as do all
celestial bodies, generates a
unique matrix of light, sound and vibratory energies. Advanced
civilizations from other star systems
can spot life as we know it in the universe by the vibratory or energy
matrix imprint. It is child's
play. The earth's Wonder Child (human beings) make an abundance of
sound right now, like children
playing in the backyard of the universe.

I rode the stream directly into the center of the Light. I felt
embraced by the Light as it took me
in with its breath again, followed by another soft sonic boom.

I was in this great Light of Love with the stream of life flowing
through me. I have to say again,
it is the most loving, non-judgmental Light. It is the ideal parent
for this Wonder Child. "What
now?" I wondered.

The Light explained to me that there is no death; we are immortal
beings. We have already been alive
forever! I realized that we are part of a natural living system that
recycles itself endlessly. I
was never told that I had to come back. I just knew that I would. It
was only natural, from what I
had seen.

I don't know how long I was with the Light, in human time. But there
came a moment when I realized
that all my questions had been answered and my return was near. When I
say that all my questions
were answered on the other side, I mean to say just that. All my
questions have been answered.
Every human has a different life and set of questions to explore. Some
of our questions are
Universal, but each of us is exploring this thing we call Life in our
own unique way. So is every
other form of life, from mountains to every leaf on every tree.

And that is very important to the rest of us in this Universe. Because
it all contributes to the Big
Picture, the fullness of Life. We are literally God exploring God's
Self in an infinite Dance of
Life. Your uniqueness enhances all of Life.

HIS RETURN TO EARTH

As I began my return to the life cycle, it never crossed my mind, nor
was I told, that I would
return to the same body. It just did not matter. I had complete trust
in the Light and the Life
process. As the stream merged with the great Light, I asked never to
forget the revelations and the
feelings of what I had learned on the other side.

There was a "Yes". It felt like a kiss to my soul.

Then I was taken back through the Light into the vibratory realm
again. The whole process reversed,
with even more information being given to me. I came back home, and I
was given lessons on the
mechanics of reincarnation. I was given answers to all those little
questions I had: "How does this
work? How does that work?" I knew that I would be reincarnated. The
earth is a great processor of
energy, and individual consciousness evolves out of that into each one
of us.

I thought of myself as a human for the first time, and I was happy to
be that. From what I have
seen, I would be happy to be an atom in this universe. An atom. So to
be the human part of God ...
this is the most fantastic blessing. It is a blessing beyond our
wildest estimation of what blessing
can be. For each and every one of us to be the human part of this
experience is awesome, and
magnificent. Each and every one of us, no matter where we are, screwed
up or not, is a blessing to
the planet, right where we are.

So I went through the reincarnation process expecting to be a baby
somewhere. But I was given a
lesson on how individual identity and consciousness evolve. So I
reincarnated back into this body. I
was so surprised when I opened my eyes. I do not know why, because I
understood it, but it was still
such a surprise to be back in this body, back in my room with someone
looking over me crying her
eyes out. It was my hospice caretaker. She had given up an hour and a
half after finding me dead.
She was sure I was dead; all the signs of death were there - I was
getting stiff.

We do not know how long I was dead, but we do know that it was an hour
and a half since I was found.
She honored my wish to have my newly dead body left alone for a few
hours as much as she could. We
had an amplified stethoscope and many ways of checking out the vital
functions of the body to see
what was happening. She can verify that I really was dead. It was not
a near-death experience. I
experienced death itself for at least an hour and a half. She found me
dead and checked the
stethoscope, blood pressure and heart rate monitor for an hour and a
half. Then I awakened and saw
the light outside. I tried to get up to go to it, but I fell out of
the bed. She heard a loud
"clunk", ran in and found me on the floor.

When I recovered, I was very surprised and yet very awed about what
had happened to me. At first all
the memory of the trip that I have now was not there. I kept slipping
out of this world and kept
asking, "Am I alive?" This world seemed more like a dream than that
one. Within three days, I was
feeling normal again, clearer, yet different than I had ever felt in
my life. My memory of the
journey came back later. I could see nothing wrong with any human
being I had ever seen. Before that
I was really judgmental. I thought a lot of people were really screwed
up, in fact I thought that
everybody was screwed up but me. But I got clear on all that.

About three months later a friend said I should get tested, so I went
and got the scans and so
forth. I really felt good, so I was afraid of getting bad news. I
remember the doctor at the clinic
looking at the before and after scans, saying, "Well, there is nothing
here now." I said, "Really,
it must be a miracle?" He said "No, these things happen, they are
called spontaneous remission." He
acted very unimpressed. But here was a miracle, and I was impressed,
even if no one else was.

LESSONS HE LEARNED

The mystery of life has very little to do with intelligence. The
universe is not an intellectual
process at all. The intellect is helpful; it is brilliant, but right
now that is all we process
with, instead of our hearts and the wiser part of ourselves.

The center of the earth is this great transmuter of energy, just as
you see in pictures of our
earth's magnetic field. That's our cycle, pulling reincarnated souls
back in and through it again. A
sign that you are reaching human level is that you are beginning to
evolve an individual
consciousness.

The animals have a group soul, and they reincarnate in group souls. A
deer is pretty much going to
be a deer forever. But just being born a human, whether deformed or
genius, shows that you are on
the path to developing an individual consciousness. That is in itself
part of the group
consciousness called humanity.

I saw that races are personality clusters. Nations like France,
Germany and China each have their
own personality. Cities have personalities, they are local group souls
that attract certain people.
Families have group souls. Individual identity is evolving like
branches of a fractal; the group
soul explores in our individuality. The different questions that each
of us has are very, very
important. This is how Godhead is exploring God's Self - through you.
So ask your questions, do your
searching. You will find your Self and you will find God in that Self,
because it is only the Self.
More than that, I began to see that each one of us humans are
soulmates. We are part of the same
soul fractaling out in many creative directions, but still the same.
Now I look at every human being
that I ever see, and I see a soul mate, my soulmates, the one I have
always been looking for. Beyond
that, the greatest soul mate that you will ever have is yourself.

We are each both male and female. We experience this in the womb and
we experience this in
reincarnation states. If you are looking for that ultimate soul mate
outside of yourself, you may
never find it; it is not there. Just as God is not "there". God is
here. Don't look "out there" for
God. Look here for God. Look through your Self. Start having the
greatest love affair you ever had
... with your Self. You will love everything out of that.

I had a descent into what you might call Hell, and it was very
surprising. I did not see Satan or
evil. My descent into Hell was a descent into each person's customized
human misery, ignorance, and
darkness of not-knowing. It seemed like a miserable eternity. But each
of the millions of souls
around me had a little star of light always available. But no one
seemed to pay attention to it.
They were so consumed with their own grief, trauma and misery. But,
after what seemed an eternity, I
started calling out to that Light, like a child calling to a parent
for help.

Then the Light opened up and formed a tunnel that came right to me an
insulated me from all that
fear and pain. That is what Hell really is. So what we are doing is
learning to hold hands, to come
together. The doors of Hell are open now. We are going to link up,
hold hands, and walk out of Hell
together. The Light came to me and turned into a huge golden angel. I
said, "Are you the angel of
death?" It expressed to me that it was my oversoul, my Higher Self
matrix, a super-ancient part of
ourselves. Then I was taken to the Light.

Soon our science will quantify spirit. Isn't that going to be
wonderful? We are coming up with
devices now that are sensitive to subtle energy or spirit energy.
Physicists use these atomic
colliders to smash atoms to see what they are made of. They have got
it down to quarks and charm,
and all that. Well, one day they are going to come down to the little
thing that holds it all
together, and they are going to have to call that ... God.

With atomic colliders they are not only seeing what is in here, but
they are creating particles.
Thank God most of them are short-lived milliseconds and nanoseconds.
We are just beginning to
understand that we are creating too, as we go along. As I saw forever,
I came to a realm in which
there is a point where we pass all knowledge and begin creating the
next fractal, the next level. We
have that power to create as we explore. And that is God expanding
itself through us.

Since my return I have experienced the Light spontaneously, and I have
learned how to get to that
space almost any time in my meditation. Each one of you can do this.
You do not have to die to do
this. It is within your equipment; you are wired for it already. The
body is the most magnificent
Light being there is. The body is a universe of incredible Light.
Spirit is not pushing us to
dissolve this body. That is not what is happening. Stop trying to
become God; God is becoming you.
Here.

The mind is like a child running around the universe, demanding this
and thinking it created the
world. But I ask the mind: "What did your mother have to do with
this?" That is the next level of
spiritual awareness. Oh! my mother! All of a sudden you give up the
ego, because you are not the
only soul in the universe.

One of my questions to the Light was, "What is Heaven?" I was given a
tour of all the heavens that
have been created: the Nirvanas, the Happy Hunting Grounds, all of
them. I went through them. These
are thought-form creations that we have created. We don't really go to
heaven; we are reprocessed.

I asked God: "What is the best religion on the planet? Which one is
right?" God said with great
love: "I don't care." What an incredible grace. It does not matter
what religion we are. Religions
come and they go, they change. Buddhism has not been here forever,
Catholicism has not been here
forever, and they are all about to become more enlightened. More light
is coming into all systems
now.

Many will resist and fight about it, one religion against the next,
believing that only they are
right. When Godhead said, "I don't care," I understood that it is for
us to care about, because we
are the caring beings.