Author Sarah Bullen had a near death experience. Picture Supplied.
From philosophers through to clergy, mystics and atheists to you and me. For as long as humanity has existed, the same question has hamster-wheeled throughout millennia: What happens after we die? Heaven, hell, the great void or expire and simply become compost. It’s the great existential question that never bears an answer. Near death experiences may hold the key.
The afterlife has been the stuff of mythology, legend, volumes of books and a stack of speculation and science fiction. But some people have been there. It’s called a Near Death Experience or NED, and former journalist Sarah Bullen has been there and then, as writers do, authored a book to share the experience. The Other Side is a spectacular exploration of the theme, and Bullen doesn’t only recount her own journey; there are fascinating accounts of other mystical experiences between the pages. All researched and validated.
While there is no hard and fast scientific evidence of what really happens when we die, Bullen said that her own experience cemented a conviction that there is something else in the beyond, and that we are part of it and it, a part of us.
Her own experience occurred during an extended period where she was in a coma. “I absolutely know what happened,” Bullen said. “I was lying on life support in a hospital bed, but I wasn’t there. Then I was somewhere else, moving through the universe, completely unaware of my body.” Bullen shared how she felt herself leaving the hospital, drifting through layers of existence, further and further away from anything she recognised.
“There was no awareness of the hospital room, no awareness of my loved ones. It was as though I had stepped outside of myself and was journeying into something much bigger,” she said. Her description of traveling through different worlds, with no concept of time or space, paints a picture of an experience that defies logic and the limitations of the human mind. “I was aware of being a being,” she explained, “but I wasn’t Sarah anymore. Now I wasn’t a mother, wife, or even a human. I had no identity in the way we understand it on Earth.”
This disconnection from identity is one of the most fascinating aspects of her story. Bullen talks about how, even when she woke from the coma, it took time for her to reorient herself to this life. “I didn’t immediately recognise the people around me,” she said. “My children were right there, and I had to intellectually remind myself that they were mine. It was as if I had to reattach to this life, but it felt distant, almost foreign.” This, she believes, is because in those moments of near-death, she wasn’t bound by the usual constraints of time, place, or identity.
After waking from the coma, it too Bullen some time to readjust to physicality. “When I first woke up, I was filled with this incredible sense of bliss,” she said. “It felt like I was still connected to something much bigger than myself.” However, as the days passed, the ordinary realities of life began to take hold. “The more time I spent doing mundane things like cooking, cleaning, raising children, the further I felt from that connection. Life pulls you forward, and it’s easy to lose that sense of divinity when you’re caught up in the daily grind.”
“It changes you in that you know there’s something more out there,” she said. “But at the same time, you still must live in this world. You still must pay bills, take care of your family, and do all the things that make up a human life.” One thing that has changed for her is the complete absence of fear surrounding death. “I have no fear of dying anymore,” she said. “I know what’s out there. It’s vast, and it’s not something to be afraid of. It’s just another step in the journey.”
Her near-death experience has also deepened her sense of spirituality. “I don’t consider myself religious in a traditional sense,” she explained. “But I absolutely believe in something bigger. I believe in a higher power, in the universe, in spirit. And I believe that we are all part of something much greater than these individual lives we’re living.”
In The Other Side Bullen not only shared her own mind-boggling journey but also the experiences of others who have ventured to the brink of life and death. “There are so many stories of people who leave their bodies and look down on themselves, or who report hearing conversations in the room they were never supposed to hear,” she said. “These experiences aren’t dreams or drug-induced hallucinations, they’re something else entirely.”
For Bullen, that something else is a glimpse into the nature of the soul. “It’s something that can’t be explained by science or medicine,” she said. “In many belief systems, there’s an idea that the soul reviews its life before moving on to the next,” she explained. “It’s a concept that appears in everything from ancient mythology to modern spiritual thought; that we live many lives, and in between those lives, we reflect on what we’ve learned and where we’re headed next.”
She also explores out of body experiences, astral travel and hallucinogenic drugs to step into the other side, humanity’s continuous pursuit of answers to the big question. Yet, Bullen said that when people read her book, she wants them to have a simple takeout. “Life is not just about what we experience in these bodies,” said Bullen. “it’s about something much bigger. And more importantly, I want people to enjoy the time they have. The message I was given during my near-death experience was incredibly simple: Have more fun. We get so caught up in the seriousness of life, and we forget that we’re here to experience joy.”
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