If Spiritual Experiences Were Pills, They Would be Prescribed in Hospitals Everywhere

Betty Eadie writes in the forward to my book Parting Visions of how premonitions and visions have the power to prepare us for the loss of loved ones.  The loss of an infant or child can render life meaningless; the knowledge that premonitions are real and not inventions of the mind can restore meaning to what is otherwise a senseless tragedy and descent into an abyss of grief.
           I was the Eadie's Pediatrician and cared for Betty's grandchildren. Here is what she wrote about her own premonition when her daughter died of sudden infant death (SIDS) at age 3 months. "Usually I would just hold her until she fell asleep and then put her to bed. I had several children already, and as any parent in that position knows, I needed all the spare time I could get. When I got her to sleep, I finally had some time to myself to rest.
            This particular night was different. When Cynthia fell asleep, I held her in my arms for several hours, even though I had other things to do. I felt deeply compelled on this particular night to just hold her in my arms and rock her".  Betty told me that she had a sense of great sadness, yet peace. Cynthia died later that night.
           Betty writes: Parents have a special bond with their children. I have heard many parents tell of knowing that their children were in trouble, even when they are hundreds of miles away. There is a psychic bond that most parents admit to without hesitation.
         I did a scientific study of SIDS with the Southwest SIDS Institute that we published in the medical journals. We documented that frequently parents have vivid dreams, premonitions, visions or strong intuitions prior to their infant's passing. We did a control group of parents who reported on their dreams and fears of SIDS for infants that did not pass, and we showed that there was a provable difference between the two groups. Sadly, the premonitions did not prevent any infants from dying, even when the parents would take their infants to doctors to have them evaluated.
          Betty writes: "I believe that premonitions are God's way of telling us about difficult events before they happen so that they will not come as such a surprise to us. God tries to not give us more than we can handle, and one of his ways of doing that is by gracing us with visions that foreshadow events.
         He did that with me just a few days before my father died. The visions I had took place in a dream. I was puzzled by them, but after my father died, there was no mistaking what it meant. The vision prepared me for my father's death. Although I was deeply saddened by his death, I realized that the gentle beauty of my dream was to make me understand that my father would soon be gone.
          Visions and spiritual experiences happen frequently to those who are dying. Unfortunately these experiences are often ignored or even ridiculed. This is too bad as they have great power to ease the dying experience and heal grief in the living. In fact the healing benefits of these experiences are so great that, as Dr. Melvin Morse points out, if they were a pill they would be prescribed in hospitals everywhere.
           It is clear to me that Melvin Morse has followed his spirit in researching this topic. Like many important medical researchers, he is being led in his work by faith, the subconscious knowledge that his work is beneficial to the body, mind and spirit of mankind.
          Being led by faith is far more difficult than being led by knowledge." (Thank you Betty for these amazing words of support)
          It has not been easy making the transition from the rational logical world of critical medicine to learning to listen to those same patients and learning about their spiritual intuitions. Often the healings I have seen from spritual visions and intuitions is far greater than any medical interventions by our team of doctors and nurses.  I recently met the neuroscientist Mona Sabhani who told me she made a similar transition. She says "the old me would have hated the new me". I can relate to that, as I started out my research to prove that Elizabeth Kubler Ross and my to be brother in law Raymond Moody were wrong when their research showed that the dying experience is vibrantly spiritual. My team at Children's Hospital in Seattle thought that we would prove that medications or a lack of oxygen to the brain were the causes of NDEs.
          It has often been a hard lonely even painful path. I am guided by the fact that I had personally witnessed experiences that I strongly feel grieving parents need to know. I also want parents to know that science validates their spiritual intuitions, rather than debunking them as is often erroneously believed.
          My Mom, who had a powerful near death experience before she passed, always told me that there are no coincidences. I was privileged to be at her bedside while she was in a coma and the doctors were considering stopping her life support. She suddenly opened her eyes and turned to me and said "Incredible".  She lapsed back into coma, but then made a full recovery and lived for a few more months, From then on she constantly admonished me "Melvin, there are no coincidences. Pay attention to your life".
             It was not a coincidence that I was Betty Eadie's Pediatrician for her grandchildren. Every day I am encouraged and inspired by her words of support for me.