The Light and the Tunnel: A Look at the Belief in Life After Death

The argument over life after death has been around for centuries. Many truly believe that there is positively life after death. Others believe that it is just wishful thinking or imagination. Although there is no scientific proof of an after life, there are several points to be made that there is an existence. Life does exist after death, and there are several explanations as to why this is true.

For several years, people have reported what is called a near death experience. Near death experiences consists of people who are pronounced legally dead, but come back to life. Amazingly, a good number of people who have experienced near death almost always live to tell something that was never known to them before. Some may tell loved ones exactly what was going on in the hospital while they were being pronounced dead, while others may tell of a long lost brother that they never knew about. Later they find out that they indeed did have a brother who died very young, yet were never told about it. People who have experienced a near death experience seem to always talk about the famous tunnel and "white light" that so many of us have heard about. Rita S. Berkowitz, an ordained minister and psychological counselor, has spent many years researching near death experiences. "Many people describe a distinctive tunnel or corridor, usually darkened, that they find themselves in when their spirits leave their bodies. At the end of this tunnel they can see a bright, white, light, and they know that this is the portal to the other side" (Berkowitz 254). With all the first hand accounts and experiences of near death experiences, it is difficult for skeptics to say with absolute certainty that they are all false.