Death and Afterlife 13 - What Happens at the Moment of Death?

 

We can learn from some authentic after death accounts. 

One is from a Russian named Mr. K. Uekskuell, whose account of death and experiences after death and later return to this world were deemed authentic by an Archbishop of the Russian Church, Archbishop Nikon of Volga, a member of the Holy Synod. 

His description of the moment of Death 

Separation from worldly sensations

He was clearly conscious of himself, but developed a feeling of indifference to himself.

He lost the capacity for perceiving physical sensations

Realization of two separate beings

One part was concealed somewhere unknown and deep within. This was now the main part of him and clearly superior.  

The other part was external, and now seemed less significant and he was becoming indifferent to it.

He began to feel an alienation with regard to everything associated with his earthly existence.

It was like his doctor who was attending to him at this moment was concerned with that part of him which has lost all meaning, and with which he felt he now had nothing to do with. 

Struggle of separation 

Suddenly the external half reasserted itself and he was drawn somewhere downward with irresistible force.

He said it was not not only him as a whole, but "every member, every hair, the thinnest tendon, each cell of my body, was separately being drawn somewhere with such irresistibility, as a strong magnet attracts pieces of metal to itself."

He was still thinking and fully conscious of everything. 

No pain but a struggle

He felt no physical pain whatsoever, but he felt that he was suffering.

He felt an insurmountable striving towards somewhere, an attraction towards something, but realized that he as a whole could not unite, that something had to separate.   

There were two intense forces pulling him. One pulling back to earthly sensations and the other toward an unknown existence.

It was this struggle that caused him weariness and suffering.

The Bible explains this struggle

God made us out of dust and pronounced, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3: 19)

It was the earth drawing and  pulling him down, while another force was pulling him away. A separation of these two beings had to take place.

He said, "That which previously seemed so natural and true, and namely, that after death I should turn completely to dust, now appeared unnatural and impossible."

What insights do you gain from reflecting on this struggle that occurs at the moment death? The key thing to learn from this account is that we will experience a struggle when the soul separates from the body at the time of physical death.