The Soul's Upward Yearning: Clues to Our Transcendent Nature From Experience and Reason (Happiness, Suffering, and Transcendence-Book 2) by Fr. Robert J. Spitzer

Author:Fr. Robert J. Spitzer [Spitzer, Fr. Robert J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781586179557
Amazon: 1586179551
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2015-10-02T22:00:00+00:00

This experience of overwhelming love by those who encountered the “being of light” may legitimately provoke the intuition that this being’s intention is not only transitory benevolence, but to give unconditional and eternal love—which corresponds to the fulfillment of our greatest desire.

Furthermore, the reports about the loving being of light, the presence of Jesus, the love and joy of the deceased, and the presence of a paradise closely parallel the revelation and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and this revelation does indicate the intention of an unconditionally loving God to bestow an eternal life of love upon all who are willing to accept and abide by that love.

Moving from the domain of empirically verifiable data to the domain of Christian revelation might seem to be stretching too far, but the close parallels between both approaches to life after death may reveal a justifiable complementarity worth investigating. The empirical investigation of transphysical survival (from near-death experiences) corroborates and complements the historical investigation of Jesus’ Resurrection and revelation,95 and vice versa. Each approach has its own distinct methodology and source of evidence, but they find a confluence in three areas.

First, we will continue to possess some elements of our embodiment after physical death (e.g., vision, hearing, extendedness, and a recognizable bodily form). The transphysical features enable the deceased to transcend physical laws and structures (e.g., to pass through walls, to go upward, to move to a transphysical domain, etc.). Though there are some similarities between the descriptions of postmortem embodiment (reported in near-death experiences) and Jesus’ glorified body (reported by Saint Paul and the Gospels),96 Jesus’ glorified body goes far beyond human postmortem embodiment; it is transformed and glorious—Godlike (see Volume III, Chapter 4). The ethereal embodiment in near-death experiences is more “ghostlike” and not really glorious or divine. According to Christian revelation, our bodies will be like that of Jesus (transformed in glory) when we reach the fullness of our salvation in the heavenly kingdom (see 1 Cor 15:49).

Second, the essence of eternal life is love (both the capacity to love and to receive the love of others). This is the central part of Jesus’ revelation and is manifest in near-death experiences by the loving white light (associated with God), the love of Jesus, and the love and joy of deceased relatives.

Third, there is a dimension of beauty, joy, and paradise in many accounts of near-death experiences as well as Christian revelation (see Volume III, Chapter 4 of this Quartet). When we put the two sources of evidence together, they complement each other. Near-death experiences give directly corroborateable evidence of a transphysical life that the Resurrection appearances cannot give (since they are historically remote). Alternatively, the Resurrection and revelation of Jesus show that this transphysical life is eternal, glorious, and destined for unconditional love and joy. When this is combined with the seven dimensions of our transcendent nature (discussed in Chapters 1-4), they converge upon a single conclusion: that we are created by an unconditionally loving Deity who calls us to an eternal life of unconditional love through an invitation embedded in our psyches.

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