The Great Encounter

- 35 - CHRIST HAD SUCH AN INSTRUMENT, A HUMAN BODY MADE OF FLESH AND BLOOD. BUT THE SOUL OF THE REDEEMER IS OF AN UNIMAGINABLE CLARITY, IT IS A LARGE, SHINING CONSTRUCTION MADE OF THE MOST DELICATE RAYS. THERE IS NO OTHER SOUL THAT COULD COMPARE ITSELF TO THIS NOBLE SOUL - THIS IS WHY IT IS DI- VINE. EVERY OTHER SOUL COULD ALSO BE MORE OR LESS DIVINE, IF IT COULD RE- SIST ALL EVIL - IF IT WERE SUGGESTION PROOF!” I preferred not to ask any further questions, because I didn’t want to give the impression that I doubted the divine quality of the SOUL of CHRIST. I said to myself that this GOD-SOUL had to be accepted unconditionally, because the words spoken denote the spirit and the words CHRIST spoke were words of the highest moral and brotherly love. Face to face with death I gradually began to observe that slowly advancing changes were taking place within my body.  My breathing became quieter and less pronounced and my heartbeat also beat in ever decreasing intervals. It slowed down second by second.  Above the top of my nose, in the middle of my forehead, a peculiar, cold spot developed on the surface. It was on the exact same spot that is indicated on all Buddha statues. My heartbeat and also my breathing slowed down considerably. I was aware that my heart was about to stop beating any minute now. It was a waning of all my bodily functions, a fully conscious dying without pain. This state was so uniquely new that I observed myself very closely out of pure curiosity. Not the slightest changes within my organism escaped my observations. There is nothing in my life that even remotely resembles such a condition. I wasn’t afraid anymore, but was in a state of apathetic peace and confidence. In any case, I was imperturbable convinced that my consciousness might go to sleep, but that it couldn’t die. Slowly I began to count, in long intervals, my last, hardly perceptible heartbeats. My breathing seemed to have stopped already. The intervals between my next, weak heartbeat were eerily long.  A choking feeling within my throat became noticeable. I was slowly choked by an invisible hand. I had to suffocate, even thou my breathing had ceased already. I didn’t feel any perspiration. My body seemed completely dry. The bulge on my forehead increased. It pulled away from my forehead with all its might, as if a cork was pulled out of an invisible orifice.  I suddenly felt that my heart had stopped! It had done its last silent beat. It was completely still. I couldn’t perceive the slightest movement any- more. - It was an indescribable feeling to sense for the first time in my life, that breathing and heart activity had ceased - and to know that death had set in. I’m not able to say what kind of death it was. It might have been suspended animation or an unusually deep state of trance.  My family doctor detected all the symptoms of suspended animation.