The notion that there is a life after this one on Earth is a widely held belief that predates recorded history. While cultures like that of the ancient Egyptians believed existence continued in "the Land of the Dead," the more modern Christian beliefs offer an afterlife in Heaven as a reward or in Hell as a punishment. Even more recent ideas suggest that life might continue in another dimension or plane of existence - perhaps even on another planet.

Perhaps the most intriguing "evidence" are the stories related by people who have gone through the "near-death experience." It's estimated that 9 to 18 percent of people who are near death have a near-death experience. Although mainstream science suggests that these experiences are nothing more than the result of certain brain activity under extreme stress or hallucinations brought on by drugs or medication, perhaps these accounts shouldn't be so readily dismissed. If they are real, after all, they hold the only clues we have as to what life in the hereafter might be like. From various cases of near-death experience (NDE), here is a glimpse of life after death.

One of the most common experiences at the beginning of an NDE is popping or floating out of one's body and then floating or flying down a long tunnel toward a bright, white light that many describe as "loving."

"In front of me I saw a small light in the vast distance. The light started to get larger. It became more brilliant and it stopped in front of me. I felt an intense love, which came from the Light. I know without a doubt that this beautiful intense loving Light was God. The Light started to communicate with me; but the communication was telepathic, it was not verbal. The Light asked me if I wanted to come with it. At this point I completely understood the nature of the question and the consequences of my answer. If I choose to continue with the Light I knew that I would die and never return to earth. I thought about this and replied that I thought that I still had important things to do back there (on earth). At that point the Light began to recede. I found myself waking up on the bed of my dorm room." [A Near Death Experience in 1964 - Anonymous]

I saw nothing but absolute, total blackness. In this capacity, though, I was looking at absolute nothingness or darkness, but my eyes were not straining. I had the desire to look around inquisitively. What is this place? Where am I? Instantaneously, this darkness took the shape of a tunnel. It was perfectly level, however slightly ambiguous in that it was straight before me and it was cloud-like. It was very vast, as opposed to small and confining, and was anywhere from a thousand feet to a thousand miles wide. I was very comfortable and inquisitive. It was cylindrical. If you took a tornado and stretched it out straight, it would be similar to that..." [Tom Sawyer: What I Learned by Dying]

"All was panic. The water was very cold. My heavy winter clothes were making it difficult to stay afloat. I continued to struggle mightily, thinking "I'm only nine. That's too young to die." The longer I was under the ice, the less significant time became. It was as if time had no meaning. Everything happened sequentially but simultaneously. I became very tired. I noticed that I could no longer feel the cold. My hearing was heightened. I could hear the movement of the water. I could hear the traffic on the bridge overhead and behind me. I could see clearly, even though it was dark and I was under the ice and moving downstream. Then, a complete calm and serenity overtook me. I was at total peace. I began to come into an awareness that all was not over. I could sense a light. It was brilliant, but caused no discomfort when looking at it. In fact, I gained strength by looking into the light. I then sensed a presence. I had the knowledge that this was Jesus, and he was assuring me that everything was fine. I felt total love from this presence. I was home. More so than I was ever home before. I was presented with a sense that all questions were to be answered if I stayed." [Near-Death Experiences - Rob]

"When I was a little girl, I thought I would really like to know what Heaven was like. I decided that I would pray to God very hard and maybe He would show me. I prayed very hard for quite some time, until gradually there came a buzzing sound in my ears. The sound got louder and louder until it was all I could hear, and then suddenly everything became very quiet. I couldn't even hear the sounds you usually hear when everything is "silent." I was in a velvety blackness, but it was not like being in a dark room (I sensed there were no walls or floor or ceiling). Even though I didn't know what was going on and it was dark, I felt perfectly safe and "stood" there wondering what was going on. Then I saw a pin prick of light far ahead of me. I tried to look at it more closely and see what it was and as I looked it got bigger and bigger. As it grew I felt better and better. I felt totally known, but totally accepted and loved. It was the coolest feeling; words can't even come close to describing how nice it felt. I was relaxed and very happy. Then I was inside the light, which was I guess what being inside a cloud would look like. I felt so loved! I loved it right back and also I felt that just beyond the light, which I sensed acted like a veil or curtain in this case, I was being observed by people who knew me or knew of me and were smiling. I wanted to see them, whoever they were. The light knew what I was thinking and so did the people, and I was aware of this and didn't mind. Then I thought that I could "get used to" how wonderful it felt to be there." [Body Death -

And then I saw, infinitely far off - far too distant to be visible with any kind of sight I knew of - a city. A glowing, seemingly endless city, bright enough to be seen over all the unimaginable distance between. The brightness seemed to shine from the very walls and streets of this place, and from beings which I could now discern moving about within it. In fact, the city and everything in it seemed to be made of light, even as the figure at my side was made of light." [Heaven and Hell: Dr. George Ritchie's Near-Death Experience]

"Gradually the earth scene faded away, and through it loomed a bright, new, beautiful world - beautiful beyond imagination! I stood in a glory that could only be Heaven. In the background were two beautiful, round-topped mountains, similar to Fujiyama in Japan. The tops were snowcapped, and the slopes were adorned with foliage of indescribable beauty. The mountains appeared to be about 15 miles away, yet I could see individual flowers growing on their slopes. I estimated my vision to be about one hundred times better than on earth. To the left was a shimmering lake containing a different kind of water - clear, golden, radiant and alluring. It seemed to be alive. The whole landscape was carpeted with grass so vivid, clear and green, that it defies description. To the right was a grove of large, luxuriant trees, composed of the same clear material that seemed to make up everything. I saw twenty people beyond the first trees, playing a singing-dancing game, something like 'Skip-to-My-Lou.' They were having a hilarious time holding hands and dancing in a circle - fast and lively. As soon as they saw me, four of the players left the game and joyfully skipped over to greet me. As they approached, I estimated their ages to be: one, 30; two, 20; and one, 12. Their bodies seemed almost weightless, and the grace and beauty of their easy movements was fascinating to watch. Both sexes had long, luxuriant hair entwined with flowers, which hung down in glossy masses to their waists. Their only clothing was a gossamer loin cloth with a loop over one shoulder and a broad ribbon streaming out behind in graceful curves and curlicues. Their magnificence not only thrilled me, but filled me with awe. The oldest, largest and strongest-looking man announced pleasantly, 'You are in the land of the dead. We lived on earth, just like you, 'til we came here.' He invited me to look at my arm. I looked, and it was translucent; that is, I could dimly see through it." [17 Near-Death Experience Accounts from Beyond the Light - Arthur E. Yensen]

"I hear a bark, and racing toward me is a dog I once had, a black poodle named Pepe. When I see him, I feel an emotional floodgate open. Tears fill my eyes. He jumps into my arms, licking my face. As I hold him, he is real, more real than I had ever experienced him. I can smell him, feel him, hear his breathing and sense his great joy at being with me again. I put my dog on the ground and step forward to embrace my stepfather, when a very strong voice is heard in my consciousness. 'Not yet,' it says. I scream out, 'Why?' Then this inner voice says, 'What have you learned, and whom have you helped?' I am dumb-founded. The voice seems to be from without as well as within. Everything stops for a moment. I have to think of what was asked of me. I cannot answer what I have learned, but I can answer whom I have helped. I feel the presence of my dog around me as I ponder those two questions. Then I hear barking, and other dogs appear, dogs I once had. As I stand there for what seems to be an eternity. I want to embrace and be absorbed and merge. I want to stay. The sensation of not wanting to come back is overwhelming." [17 Near-Death Experience Accounts from Beyond the Light - Bryce Bond]

"I noticed that as I began to discern different figures in the light - and they were all covered with light - they were light and had light permeating all around them - they began to form shapes I could recognize and understand. I could see that one of them was my grandmother. I don't know if it was reality or projection, but I would know my grandmother, the sound of her, anytime, anywhere. Everyone I saw, looking back on it, fit perfectly into my understanding of what that person looked like at their best during their lives. I recognized a lot of people. My uncle Gene was there. So was my great-great-Aunt Maggie, who was really a cousin. On Papa's side of the family, my grandfather was there. They were specifically taking care of me, looking after me." [Beyond Brain Death: Pam Reynolds

"Immediately I was in the most beautiful serene place I had ever been. My grandfather, another person whom I had known in a previous life and a guardian were ready to help me with the transition. They told me of the accident, showed me the site. It was my time to come home, they said. The overwhelming love and happiness of that place was so inviting." [Moving Heaven and Earth: Karen Schaeffer]

Apparently, folks don't just lie around on clouds all day in the afterlife. It could be a station where we gain more knowledge for personal growth.

"Learning and growing seem to be what it's all about there. And they are able to understand themselves, if they want to. I've been told by the other side that you have to make a prime decision over there. You have to face up to yourself and do something about it, otherwise you'll just flounder and you won't progress spiritually. That seems to be a very important issue, to recognize yourself, your positive qualities and your negative ones, and try to do something about it. I've also been told that they have tasks, jobs to do over there." [A Description of the Afterlife: George Anderson]

Enormous buildings stood in a beautiful sunny park that reminded me somewhat of a well-planned university. As we entered one of the buildings and doorways, the air was so hushed that I was actually startled to see people in the passageway. I could not tell if they were men or women, old or young, for all were covered from head to foot in loose-flowing hooded cloaks which made me think vaguely of monks. But the atmosphere of the place was not at all as I imagined a monastery. It was more like some tremendous study center, humming with the excitement of great discovery. Everyone we passed in the wide halls and on the curving staircases seemed caught up in some all-engrossing activity; not many words were exchanged among them. And yet I sensed no unfriendliness between these beings, rather an aloofness of total concentration. Whatever else these people might be, they appeared utterly and supremely self-forgetful - absorbed in some vast purpose beyond themselves. Through open doors I glimpsed at enormous rooms filled with complex equipment. In several of the rooms, hooded figures bent over intricate charts and diagrams, or sat at the controls of elaborate consoles flickering with lights. Somehow I felt that some vast experiment was being pursued, perhaps dozens and dozens of such experiments. And something more... In spite of His obvious delight in the beings around us, I sensed that even this was not the ultimate - that He had far greater things to show me if only I could see. And so I followed Him into other buildings of this domain of thought. We entered a studio where music of a complexity I couldn't begin to follow was being composed and performed. There were complicated rhythms, tones not on a scale I knew. 'Why,' I found myself thinking. 'Bach is only the beginning!' Next we walked through a library the size of the whole University of Richmond. I gazed into rooms lined floor to ceiling with documents on parchment, clay, leather, metal and paper. 'Here,' the thought occurred to me, 'are assembled the important books of the universe.' Immediately I knew this was impossible. How could books be written somewhere beyond the earth! But the thought persisted, although my mind rejected it. 'The key works of the universe,' the phrase kept recurring as we roamed the domed reading rooms crowded with silent scholars. Then, abruptly, at the door to one of the smaller rooms, almost an annex: 'Here is the central thought of this earth.' " [Heaven and Hell: Dr. George Ritchie's Near-Death Experience]

"I was shown a diagram. I could see that it represented choices. A choice led to other choices which lead to other choices. Basically, actions have consequences. I began receiving 'all knowledge' or at least that is what it felt like. They were there teaching me. This didn't come to me as words like you and I speak. More as complete thoughts. When I think, it is generally in words and pictures, this is how I received the information. As complete words and pictures in my mind. As I could form a question in my mind I had the answer. Not just the answer to that question, but the why and how and the answer to every other question that the answer would bring up. Everything in the entire universe fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Everything made sense. I remember thinking, 'I have to remember this.' "

"The Light gave me knowledge, though I heard no words. We did not communicate in English or in any other language. This was discourse clearer and easier than the clumsy medium of language. It was something like understanding math or music - nonverbal knowledge, but knowledge no less profound. I was learning the answers to the eternal questions of life - questions so old we laugh them off as clichés. 'Why are we here?' To learn. 'What's the purpose of our life?' To love. I felt as if I was re-remembering things I had once known, but somehow forgotten, and it seemed incredible that I had not figured out these things before now." [After the Light - Kimberly Clark Sharp]