The Bhagavadagita describes that there are two ways of leaving this world—one is in light and the other is in darkness. If we pass from this dimension in light we will not come back, but if we pass in darkness we will return.[i] The near-death experience gives testimony of people passing in both ways, and we find evidence of a clear border or point of no return. Therefore, also near-death researchers claim that the entry into Paradise is not automatic.[ii]

   Jung told us how we can lose ourselves in this passing over to the other side by either a positive or negative inflation of the ego:

If the individual identifies himself with the contents awaiting integration, a positive or negative inflation results. Positive inflation comes very near to a more or less conscious megalomania; negative inflation is felt as an annihilation of the ego.[iii]

   The content is what Margot Grey refers to as “unfinished business,” and she explains that it is this attachment that becomes trapped in the psyche, or soul, which then continues to cause problems until recognized and overcome. There is an emotional charge behind this content which creates the attachment, and thereby our energy is blocked along with our progress.[iv]

   She further explains that the way to free ourselves from this blockage is by realizing that, “heaven and hell are not places to which we ‘go’ when our earthly life is ended, but rather a ‘state’ which we create ourselves and which can be changed by us at any moment.”[v]

   Freeing our energy from blockage is what Jung calls the “supreme aim.” To make oneself conscious of the contents that have been projected within our mind—conscious realization—is the supreme aim.[vi] And therefore the dividing line between the light and the darkness becomes the key to passing from this world into the next.

   The Tibetan Book of the Dead calls this the “border line between going up and going down,” and reveals that at this border it is “the time when by concentrating for an instant you will enjoy constant happiness.”[vii] In the Buddhist tradition the key to concentrating the mind is to focus on non-attachment, or emptiness, which is reached through a mind in equilibrium. This state is our true nature and the absolute nature of reality. This is who we truly are, and by concentrating on our true identity—remembering who we are—the door to eternal happiness is open to us. 

   Buddhism uses meditation to train this state of mind as we discussed in chapter six.  Dream Yoga is also practiced to heighten awareness by cultivating mindfulness in the dream state as a practice of awareness in dying. According to Buddhism, dreams come from the same karmic patterns that control our mind when we are awake. And therefore the dream state is used as a practice for entering the state of dying when we leave the body.

   Many of us are familiar with lucid dreaming, which is the awakening within a dream. I have had many lucid dreams, and I believe that practicing mindfulness in dreams is a good way of training awareness of dying. But in crossing the dividing line from this dimension to the next, I am also convinced that the power of love can take us very far. 

   When I was going through my negative life-review in my near-death experience, it was clearly when I connected to love that I was liberated from this negative state. As I went through all the pain that I had caused others and all the pain and suffering of the world we live in, it was the change to a loving and compassionate state of mind that got me out of it.  

   Another experiencer, Howard Storm explains the same in the movie The Search for Heaven:

 In my desperation I yelled out into the darkness: Jesus, please help me. With that a tiny light appeared in the darkness and became very bright. It was the most brilliant and beautiful light that lifted me up and filled me with ecstasy. And I knew absolutely that this was the Jesus that I knew as a child. He took me out of that horrible place that I now know is hell. And we began to approach heaven…The most profound moment in my near-death experience was when Jesus came to me in that darkness, and all my hopelessness, and unbelief, and disappear, and self-pity was replaced by love and acceptance and joy.[viii]

   Near-death researcher, Nancy Evans Bush, who has been investigating negative experiences for more than two decades, agrees with this. Her conclusion is that either to ”surrender” or “call for help” is what liberates a person from the negative experience and opens the door to the light.[ix]

   This makes sense from a Buddhist perspective because non-attachment does not mean that the true nature of reality is actually empty—it is filled with love and compassion. The ultimate reality is “emptiness with a core of compassion,” and so enlightenment can be reached even without vast learning. If we either remember our true nature or think of its quality as love and compassion, we will end up in the same place—in “the unity of emptiness and compassion.”[x]

   The Buddhist guide to liberation reveals that, “Because the essence of these disturbing emotions is wisdom, it is possible to be liberated by recognizing their nature.”[xi] This is also where the teacher or master comes in as a helping guide towards enlightenment. The devotion towards a teacher has a profound purpose because of “the connection between the blessings of the master’s enlightened mind, your own openness of faith and the truth of dharmata which is the natural state of wakefulness.”[xii]

   In short, the faith and devotion towards a teacher connects us to the enlightened energy of the true nature of reality. What this means is that if we have developed a habit or reflex of praying during difficult times in our lives, these prayers can now lead us into the light when we die. By remembering our teacher, or any great holy person like for example Christ, with all our heart and devotion, we will connect to the enlightened energy of love and compassion by the power of their blessing.

   The true nature of reality is behind many different paths, and whatever tool we use to get there is not important. All we have to remember is that its essence is love and compassion. It loves us as a mother loves a child and we become unified in the Supreme Union by remembering the love that shines from the essence of this source.    

   We can learn the same from the Sufi tradition. Here Rabi’a Adawiya tells us about a secret that will scare hell away: “O Lord, if you send me to hell on the morrow of the resurrection, I will reveal a secret such that hell will flee from me, not to return for a thousand years.”[xiii]

   This is also what we find in the Bible. In Psalm 138 we are told that God is always present: “If I ascend into heaven, thou will be there. If I lay down in Hell, thou are there!”

   The true nature of reality is love, and thereby God’s love is always there with us even behind our own creation of hell. So, to get out of hell, all we have to do is remember this and think of love. This is also what we learn from the near-death experience where the love and compassion of the light is always present behind whatever we might project in it. The homecoming of feeling absolute love, peace, and joy is the essence of the light that lies at the heart of the experience. This is the secret that will make hell flee from us.

   My brother Native American Chief, Sonne Reyna shared with me a deep insight of how to deal with the demons of hell. He said; when you meet the demon—“Love the demon.” This insight is the same secret that will make the demons flee from us, because the demons are our own creation and ultimately there are no demons. There is only love. God is love, and God does not know fear. When we fear, we are separated from God because fear is the absence of love.  

   Also Dante told us about entering the gates of heaven: “the only way to pass is through the heart center.” In The Dreamers Book of the Dead, Robert Moss explains that, “If you are not yet ready to trust yourself to the saving power of love, you are not prepared for death—or for life.”[xiv] This is ultimately true and at the same time the reason, that love is the only win/win situation. By choosing love while we live in this world, we win in both this dimension and the next.