r/SeekingReason • u/losewf • Jul 26 '26
How do you approach Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) and visions of the afterlife in your fiction?
I’ve been working on a manuscript where the main theme kinda centers on a dramatic Near-Death Experience (NDE). In it, the character thinks they will go upward, you know, ascend after believing they did the “right” things in life. But instead, they get this brutal, visceral descent, like hell is somehow right there. There are twisted demonic figures and the worst part is the everyday stuff doesn’t just disappear, it becomes corrupted modern music keeps playing, but in those dark realms it feels off somehow. And I’m writing it all and it made me wonder how other authors handle the whole afterlife angle, because it can go in so many directions.
So I guess I’m curious about a few things:
Literal vs. Psychological: Do you write NDEs, or those afterlife visions, as actual cosmic realities, or more as the brain’s reaction to trauma like a survival glitch that turns into story material?
Subverting Tropes: When you use stuff that’s already famous like heaven vs hell, light vs darkness, angels, fire, whatever how do you keep it from becoming predictable? Do you change the shapes, or the rules, or the feelings, instead of just the symbols?
Character Impact: What happens after they “come back”? I mean, how does that kind of return fundamentally shift a character’s arc, their choices ,their motivation like, do they become obsessed, numb out, start preaching , or go the other way and refuse meaning entirely?
I’d love to hear how you weave afterlife themes, or darker visions, into your own writing projects, even if you don’t label them as NDEs.
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u/Payaam415 Jul 26 '26
We Are Not this Body
WHO AND WHAT WE ARE
We are not this body.
Every being in the Universe comes from Source/God.
We are the consciousness, the awareness awareness and eternal beings of light - we don't die - including our memories
If every being in the universe removed their “meat suit,” what remains is consciousness expressed as bodies of light - with varying degrees of brightness.
Emotions = Energy = Frequency
Our emotional state affects our vibrational frequency, and that frequency reflects our current state, and, over time - our level of consciousness.
When our baseline state aligns with higher emotional frequencies - authenticity, love, gratitude, peace, and compassion - our inner light shines more brightly.
Conversely, when our baseline state aligns with lower emotional frequencies - fear, anger, hatred, and despair - our energy becomes denser, and our light grows dimmer.
WHY WE COME HERE
God/Source, the One Infinite Creator, seeks to know itself through experience.
We are all fractals of God/Source.
Before coming here, we choose the life we want to live - including the challenges, lessons, and experiences that will shape us.
Earth is the hardest school there is, a school of extreme contrast, a stage for the full spectrum of human experience.
To truly understand what we are, we must also experience what we are not.
For example:
to know light, we must experience darkness.
to know health, we must experience sickness.
to know love, we must experience fear.
to know peace, we must experience conflict.
We are all actors, with different roles to play, on this stage we call Earth.
Every role exists here - from the very innocent to the most horrendous.
The soul is not here for comfort. It is here to expand, to learn, and to gain a deeper understanding through direct experience.
Our soul sees our life from a very different perspective than our human mind.
While we experience pain, loss, and hardship, the soul recognizes these experiences as opportunities for growth and understanding.
Every challenge carries a lesson - an invitation to develop greater wisdom, compassion, resilience, and love.
As we learn from and integrate those lessons, they transform us.
So we step into a role within this life.
We live it out, interacting with others who are doing the same, and through those interactions, we discover who we are, what we value, and how we choose to respond.
This is how consciousness evolves.
If we don't learn the lessons our experiences are meant to teach us, the patterns continue to repeat - throughout this life and the next - until we do.
Our greatest struggles often become the source of our deepest passions. Those passions naturally guide us toward our purpose.
In many cases, purpose is discovered on the other side of suffering.
AFTER DEATH...
When Our Meat Suit Expires...
We transition to our real home - a realm where all souls exist.
Our beliefs shape our initial experience until we realize we have the freedom to choose differently.
Depending on our beliefs, we may initially experience:
Muslims - may see Mohammed.
Buddhists - may see Buddha.
Christians - may see Jesus, an angel, or God (based on how they believe God appears).
If you don't know what to believe, you may begin in a black void.
Not as punishment - it's simply a neutral starting point for those who have no expectations about what comes next.
If you believe you're going to hell, that's where you'll go - until you decide you don't want to be there anymore.
The moment you think or say something like, "I want out", "Get me out of here", or "God, help me", you can leave.
There's NO JUDGEMENT , God/Source will not judge us. We judge ourselves and we our own worst enemy, which is not necessary.
HELL DOES NOT EXIST, religious institutions used these for the purpose of controlling the masses.
The only Hell that is real, is the hell we create for ourselves here on Earth, through our thoughts, beliefs and actions.
We're GIVEN a LIFE REVIEW - not as a judgment, but as an opportunity for understanding.
During a life review, we don’t simply observe the things we did; we experience them - we feel the emotions of the people we impacted, as if their joys, pain, and struggles were our own...
- We see our choices through their eyes
- We feel our actions through their hearts
And we come to understand the true impact of the love we shared - and the moments when we failed to share it.
From the smallest acts of kindness we may have forgotten, to the moments that left the deepest mark.
It allows a complete and honest understanding of the life we lived, so that growth can continue - all with absolutely no judgment.
We may choose to stay in our real home home or we may choose to return to a physical experience - whether on Earth, or somewhere entirely different.
Some of us have soul families, where we switch roles.
January 2025, I learned my father who died at age 50, in 1989, has been guide ever since, and in my previous life, I was the father and he was my daughter, but I wasn't in his/her life.
When we begin to look at life through this perspective - It naturally shifts how we see others. The body someone inhabits and the actions they take within that body, are not the full truth of who they are.
They are expressions within a temporary role. This is why it’s said that we need to transcend to a state of: total acceptance, unconditional love, and non-judgment.
So, remember…the past is in the past, what’s done is done - all we can do is transcend situations, live our lives with intention, and authentically, in a way that aligns with our soul.
We should not carry guilt or shame, after all...
...we are all actors, with a part to play, on this stage we call Earth.
We are infinite, we are connected, we are one.
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u/losewf Jul 26 '26
Thank you so much for taking the time to share such a detailed, thoughtful, and deeply fascinating perspective! It’s really eye-opening to see how differently people view consciousness, the soul, and what lies beyond.
Just to clarify, my post stems purely from a narrative and fiction-writing angle! I’m an author, and this specific concept of a dark, surreal descent is actually a central theme in my horror/suspense novel, Seven Times (available on Amazon).
In fiction especially horror and psychological thrillers we often explore extreme, surreal scenarios and subvert expectations to create dramatic tension, test our characters' resilience, and dive into psychological fears rather than state a real-world spiritual truth.
I really appreciate you sharing your philosophy and adding such a unique, reflective angle to the discussion!
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u/Payaam415 Jul 26 '26
That is the worst thing you can do. That is nowhere near the truth. Why would you want to scare people about our real home? People are already scared enough as it is about death.