What really happens after we die? Such is life, it would seem as though we can never
truly know until we’ve actually passed away. However, there are some people that are still
alive today in the belief that they have clear evidence of what will happen next.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re taking a closer look at real stories that prove life after death.
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When it comes to the prospect of life after death, everyone has an opinion. But, in general,
we tend to view the problem from one of two angles - in a spiritual sense, or a scientific
one - and it’s quite rare that those two meet. Every so often, though, they do come together,
and the result is an intriguing and captivating portrayal of what it really means to die.
Dr. Mary Neal is a qualified spinal surgeon. She’s also a devout Christian. And she claims
to have truly come back from the dead. She has written two books about what happened to her,
given countless interviews, delivered a TED Talk,
and featured as part of a Netflix series, “Surviving Death”. For many,
her experiences rank among the surest evidence out there that, perhaps, death isn’t the end.
Her story starts in 1999, along an isolated stretch of a river in Chile, South America.
Neal had been kayaking as part of a group when she got into trouble, got pinned under the water,
and was separated from everyone else. Seconds turned to minutes, but she was still entirely
submerged… and Neal says that her physical body changed color as she actually died. She says it
was thirty minutes between when she was first submerged and when she eventually received CPR.
And yet, she lived to tell the tale. Initially, when she regained consciousness, Neal recalls how
those who had been trying to save her - the others in her kayaking group - were shocked. So much had
happened, and so much time had passed, that no one thought she’d make it. And yet, she did. And,
what she experienced in the time in between would ultimately shape her from that point forward.
Neal claims to have ascended to a place that she calls “Heaven”. She recalls there being an
apparent path leading the way; that it was as though her surroundings were woven with love;
and that she quickly encountered various spiritual beings. There was an indescribable
feeling of energy and color. She says that she held a conversation with Jesus Christ,
and wholly felt as though she had returned home. So much so that Neal
didn’t actually want to be sent back to her body on Earth. In interviews,
she’s explained that although she has a family who she loves, she only returned here because
she had to; because the spiritual beings that she met insisted that it wasn’t her time yet.
Given the choice, she’d have stayed. That’s how apparently good this other place was.
Meanwhile, Neal remembers being able to witness all that was happening to her physical body,
while she drowned beneath the surface of the Chilean river. She had turned purple and bloated,
but was still trapped right up until her seeming spiritual essence returned to the scene. Then,
her body was freed and, somewhat miraculously,
was floated downriver towards the rest of her group. Now was when they could recover
her from the water and begin CPR, before eventually bringing her back to life.
But the apparent miracles didn’t end there. In her books and, again, during interviews and speeches,
Neal tells of how two young, Chilean men appeared as soon as she was brought back around. This,
in itself, was incredible, given that she and the rest of the kayakers were now in
an extremely isolated location; on the side of the river, surrounded by dense bamboo forest,
and miles away from the nearest towns and even roads. It should have been highly unlikely to
meet anyone at any time, let alone meeting exactly who you needed precisely when you
needed them. Neal says that the two men loaded her body onto one of the kayaks, and helped
carry her away. One even happened to have a machete on them, to cut through the thicket.
Still, when they reached the road, the odds should really have remained against them. Neal
had just been revived from literally drowning; she also had multiple broken bones. Her body
had been put through an intense, incomparable ordeal, and she was in urgent need of medical
attention. It was unfathomably fortunate, then, that she (and the group transporting
her) happened across an ambulance parked at the side of the road at just that moment. Again,
they were otherwise stranded in the middle of nowhere… so it was immensely lucky that this
ambulance was there. Some might call it a godsend… while Neal, herself, has before referred to the
two Chilean men as angels. From this point, Neal was successfully taken to a hospital,
where she spent weeks before recording a full recovery. Having been under the water and deprived
of oxygen for so long, all predictions were that she should’ve sustained major brain damage… but,
in reality, she didn’t suffer anything like that. According to her testimony, she had
certainly died… but she came back unscathed and, if anything, was changed for the better.
In 2018, Neal presented a TED talk explaining how “Death Brings Context to Life”. In it,
she refers back to an experience from her childhood when she went to a summer camp but,
despite all the many happy memories she made there, she was glad to return to her family
home once the camp had ended. For Neal, ever since her near (or after) death experience,
this is much like how she has come to view life in general. As though, at the end of
life, we’re all set to return back to some higher, spiritual, more comfortable place.
In the meantime, there are memories to be made and, as Neal directly attests to,
there are challenges to be faced. Because there’s one final and somewhat unsettling element to her
story; the seemingly foreseen early death of her oldest son. At some point during her
transcendental experience - while her body was still stuck at the bottom of the river - Neal
says that she learnt that her oldest son would die. Upon returning to this life,
this was the one part that she reportedly didn’t reveal to anyone else. Of course,
she had hoped that it would somehow change over time, and that her son would survive. However,
around a decade after what happened in Chile, her son did die in a car accident.
So, what do you think of the case of Dr. Mary Neal? As her public profile has risen in recent
years, there are many who have cast doubt over the claims that she has made. Perhaps significantly,
there’s also a more recent message below her official TED talk upload on YouTube,
a “note from TED” which reads; “We've flagged this talk… because it appears to fall outside
TEDx's curatorial guidelines. This talk only represents the speaker’s personal
experiences”. Of course, one counterargument asks; can the experience of death ever be
anything other than a personal experience? That talking about death arguably has to
be this way because there’s no other way to make sense of it. Again, what do you think?
Today, Neal is certainly more well known as a successful author writing about her
near death experience, than as the specialist surgeon that she had initially trained to be.
Her life headed in an all new direction after that fateful trip to South America. As such,
she often refers back to her previous mindset, as a way of suggesting that she understands how
her claims could be questioned or dismissed by some (perhaps even most) people. But for
those who do follow and believe what she says, the consistency of her story is often widely
commented on. The key parts have never really changed or been embellished. And, given that she
had been with others when the kayaking incident happened, there seemingly are people and witnesses
who can confirm her account - or, at least, the parts of it that happened down here, on Earth.
What really happens after we die? If you’re prepared to accept Mary Neal’s experience,
then there’s some kind of heightened state, bathed in love, waiting for us when our time runs out.
A walk with God? Perhaps. An ascension to Heaven? Apparently so. But, if you find yourself there and
your time actually hasn’t run out... you’re sent back with just a little bit more life to lead.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.