"I went through this dark, black vacuum at super speed.""There was a feeling of utter peace and quiet, no fear at all.""I was in a very dark, very deep valley. Later I thought, `Well, now I know whatthe Bible means by the valley of the shadow of death because I've been there.'""After I came back, I cried off and on for about a week because I had to live inthis world after seeing that one.""It opened up a whole new world for me . . . I kept thinking, `There's so muchthat I've got to find out."'"I heard a voice telling me what I had to do--go back-and I felt no fear."======================================AcknowledgmentsThere have been very many people who have given me assistance and encouragementduring my research and writing, and I could not have completed this projectwithout them. It was my good friend John Ouzts who talked me into giving my firstpublic talk on this subject. John Egle of Mockingbird Books first encouraged me tocommit my findings to writing, and has provided support and encouragementthroughout. Leonard, Mae, Becky, and Scott Brooks provided room, board, and taxiservice for me on many occasions when I needed them. Kathy Tabakian accompanied meon several interviews, and I benefited from long discussions of them with her.Russ Moores, Richard Martin, and Ed McCranie, all of the Medical College ofGeorgia, offered valuable suggestions and referred me to much relevant literature.My wife spent long hours editing the manuscript and typescript. Finally, I shouldlike most of all to thank all those who told me of their encounters with death. Ican only hope that this book is worthy of all the confidence that everyonementioned above has placed in me.======================================ForewordI have had the privilege of reading the pre-publication copy of Dr. Moody's LifeAfter Life, and I am delighted that this young scholar has the courage to put hisfindings together and make this new type of research available to the generalpublic.Since I have worked with terminally ill patients over the last two decades, I havebecome more and more preoccupied with looking into the phenomena of death itself.We have learned a lot about the process of dying, but we still have many questionswith regard to the moment of death and to the experience our patients have whenthey are pronounced medically dead.It is research such as Dr. Moody presents in his book that will enlighten many andwill confirm what we have been taught for two thousand years-that there is lifeafter death. Though he does not claim to have studied death itself, it is evidentfrom his findings that the dying patient continues to have a conscious awarenessof his environment after being pronounced clinically dead. This very muchcoincides with my own research, which has used the accounts of patients who havedied and made a comeback, totally against our expectations and often to thesurprise of some highly sophisticated, well-known and certainly accomplishedphysicians.
Leave a Comment