Near Death Experience Life Review and Judgment

      In listening to the testimonies of people that have Near Death Experiences, there are many, many common features among all of them. So much so that it really can't be considered coincidence, or just the delusions of a dying brain (one experience in fact was reported by a neurosurgeon who was, for all intents and purposes, brain dead for a week; Eben Alexander, M.D., really interesting stuff). Among these common features is what is referred to, somewhat understatingly, as a "life review." Notably, this life review doesn't appear to occur for those who have a hellish Near Death Experience until they literally cry out for help from God and are rescued. Howard Storm's NDE is a prime example of this.
     This life review frequently takes place with Jesus Christ Himself, or some other friendly, empathetic deceased relative or loved one standing right there next to the person, though not acting as a judge, but rather a friend or comforter, and it is wholly unique in that you experience your entire life again but through the eyes and senses of everyone else you've ever interacted with; every single person you've been kind to, every single person you've hurt in some way. Suddenly, you become that person who is on the receiving end, and then you become the judge of your own actions from the perspective of that person.
     During these NDE life reviews, one's condemnation or even forgiveness by God is never in question. This too is an interesting feature, even though it flies in the face of many belief systems. It exists, in some way, as a kind of trial by fire, a purification of sorts if the results are anything to go by. And according to those NDE testimonies, it is the most difficult thing they've ever had to experience reliving all the pain and suffering they caused other people exactly as the other person experienced it. Many if not most break down in tears and have to pause for a while before it continues, and it does continue until it finishes. They have to face every kind or unkind word they've ever spoken. Every time they've hurt or injured another person, and feel the pain from that hurt or injury. Everything they've ever done is laid bare for them from the perspective of the receiving party.
     Honestly, I think this terrifies me more than if it were a courtroom determining my eternal fate.
     As I began again recently to sketch out my life in a potential memoir or confession, I noticed there were a lot of things which I did that I just couldn't type out. I didn't want to see them in front of me, even though they occurred some forty years ago. I am so ashamed of many of the things I've done in my life, and the ways I've hurt other people, that the thought of even writing it out brings on a panic attack that threatens to nearly shut me down. My mind, my ego, my identity doesn't want those things brought into the light and exposed for everyone to see. It wants to forget that they ever happened. Some days it succeeds, until it doesn't and something triggers a memory which makes me shudder and cringe in horror at my own actions. The thought of having to relive every moment from the perspective of the receiving end is absolutely terrifying to my ego/mind/identity even if there is no eternal punishment to go with it. The reliving of it and exposing all of it is enough.
     Nearly every person who has undergone such an NDE and life review has come back changed. They are never the same person again. Every atheist that goes into it comes back proclaiming the existence of God and the absolute importance of loving one another. Howard Storm was one such man. He was an atheist professor who died on the table after a heart attack. He returned from that NDE a Christian man, and became a pastor in the United Church of Christ. The experience is so profound, and so transformative that most of the people who come back bring with them the mandate of loving other people and teaching that love to other people regardless of what religious tradition they end up in.