The Confusion of Worlds

Resurrection, the Kingdom of God, and Otherworld Experiences

Heiner Schwenke, Sarah Kühne

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781532656026
  9781532656033
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532656040
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The idea of the resurrection of the physical body and the eternal continuation of life with this body in a future paradisiacal kingdom of God on earth is one of the most enigmatic of religious ideas. It fully contradicts our knowledge of the transitoriness of all things in this universe. According to the author, the origin for this idea lies in certain forms of otherworld experiences, as, for example, reported by people who had near-death experiences: encounters with the dead in brilliantly beautiful bodies and the experience of paradisiacal, seemingly earthly landscapes. He observes that cultures with a pre-modern cosmology sometimes projected such otherworld experiences onto this world, to distant and unknown locations on earth. These experiences were the blueprint for an expectation of paradisiacal conditions on earth. The author establishes parallels between the reports of otherworld experiences and the eschatological ideas of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity. He shows that otherworld experiences can indeed foster the expectation of paradisiacal conditions on earth by referring to the Ghost Dance movement of the Lakota people in 1890. He presumes that the confusion of worlds proved fatal not only for the Lakota people but also for Jesus of Nazareth.

1

Otherworld Experiences

The Key to Belief in Resurrection and the Kingdom of God?

Otherworld journeys

Otherworld journeys are of special interest as an experiential basis for the concept of an eternal, paradisiacal life on earth. I understand otherworld journeys to be experiences in which those experiencing them have the impression of being and operating in a real world beyond this cosmos. For my argument it makes no difference whether or not the otherworld is real, only whether or not the experiencers consider it to be real, not only during the experience but also afterwards. There can be no scientific proof for the existence of another world, in the same way that there can be no such proof for the existence of this one.21 Otherworld journeys are a frequent element of near-death experiences, they are, however, albeit often less vividly and coherently, also experienced by people who are not close to death. By near-death experiences in the narrower sense I understand experiences in physiological proximity to death, for example, during cardiac arrest.22 They are often accompanied by an “enhanced mentation,” that is, an increased capacity for thinking and perception.23 This may be related to the fact that memories of experiences and perceptions during near-death experiences tend to be more detailed than memories of normal earthly experiences, and all the more so than memories of imaginations or dreams.24 Near-death experiences are often described as being more real than real. Even many years after the experience, the experiencer’s belief in the reality of the experience appears to remain unchanged.

Paradisiacal, earth-like landscapes

Particularly for those otherworld journeys in the context of near-death experiences, experiencers often move in heavenly landscapes that appear paradisiacal but that are very similar to earthly ones. Pim van Lommel writes: “People often find themselves in a dazzling landscape with gorgeous colors, remarkable flowers, and sometimes also incredibly beautiful music. Some see cities and splendid buildings.”25 Peter and Elizabeth Fenwick gained a similar impression from their analysis of accounts of near-death experiences: “surprisingly uniform vision of Paradise emerges. It is a picture of a heavenly countryside where there may be brilliantly coloured birds and flowers, wonderful scents, heavenly music, friends or relatives who have died.”26

In neurosurgeon Eben Alexander’s account of his own near-death experience in 2008, similarities between the otherworld and earthly sceneries and their realistic character are explicitly addressed:

[I] found myself in a completely new world. The strangest, most beautiful world I’d ever seen. Brilliant, vibrant, ecstatic, stunning [. . .]. Below me was a countryside. It was green, lush, and earthlike. It was earth . . . but at the same time it wasn’t. [. . .] I was flying, passing over trees and fields, streams and waterfalls, and here and there, people. There were children, too, laughing and playing. [. . .] A beautiful, incredible dream world. . . . Except it wasn’t a dream. Though I didn’t know where I was [. . .], I was absolutely sure of one thing: this place I’d suddenly found myself in was completely real. The word real expresses something abstract, and it’s frustrating ineffective at conveying what I’m trying to describe.27

Alexander’s report is of particular interest for our discussion because—due to similarities between otherworldly and earthly landscapes—he expresses his uncertainty about the nature and localization of the landscape he experienced. In the account that Dr A. S. Wiltse from Skiddy, Kansas gave of his near-death experience in the year 1889, the similarity becomes even clearer:

Underneath me lay a forest-clad valley, through which ran a beautiful river full of shoals, which caused the water to ripple in white sprays. I thought the river looked much like the Emerald River [in Arkansas], and the mountains, I thought, as strongly resembled Waldron’s Ridge [in Arkansas]. On the left of the road was a high bluff of black stone and it reminded me of Lookout Mountain [in Georgia], where the railroad passes between it and the Tennessee River.28

William Buhlman, who claims to have regularly induced out-of-body experiences at will without being close to death, writes that the first nonphysical dimension or world that he crosses in these journeys is “so physical in appearance that most people believe they are observing the physical world.”29

Sometimes also experiences had while sleeping are interpreted as otherworld journeys. I quote extensively from this account of a woman who lost a child while pregnant and then gave birth to a stillborn son, in order to make clear the realistic nature of these experiences and because of her description of the luminescence of the otherworldly deceased, which we will come to shortly:

For about six months after I lost my son, I was in very deep, deep sorrow. I didn’t understand why—why me? I was just miserable and very close to wanting to end it all. On night in a dream, I was where I envisioned heaven to be. I was in a beautiful pasture that was filled with beautiful flowers. An angel came to me and said he had something very special to show me. The angel was holding a six-month-old baby boy in his right arm and was holding the left hand of a little girl, who was walking like a toddler. The girl was tiny, but she could talk. She said, “Mommy, I am Serena, and this is my little brother, Carlos. We are fine. We are very happy. We love you very much, and we don’t want you to be sad anymore. We will all be together someday.” They were both dressed in white robes. Serena had tiny little sandals on her feet, and Carlos was barefoot. They had this beautiful glow, this perfect light around them that came from their heart center. I asked the angel, “Can I get close to them?” and the angel nodded “Yes.” It was like the angel was their babysitter for the time being. I remember sitting on the grass and putting Carlos on my lap, as Serena came close. I was crying and loving them both. I just wanted the children to know that I loved them and that their daddy loved them too. I wanted to be there and watch the children as long as I could. I was able to hug them and kiss them one more time. Then they walked away with the angel, a...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Otherworld Experiences
• Chapter 2: Resurrection and the Kingdom of God in Zoroastrianism
• Chapter 3: Resurrection and the Kingdom of God in Judaism
• Chapter 4: Resurrection and the Kingdom of God in Jesus of Nazareth
• Chapter 5: Resurrection and the Kingdom of God in Christianity after Jesus
• Chapter 6: The Lakota Ghost-Dance Movement
• Chapter 7: Did Jesus Have Transcendent Experiences That Might Explain His Eschatological Belief?
• Chapter 8: The Great Disappointment
• Epilogue
• Appendix: Miracles and Science
• Bibliography