I'm awake! Did I die?
I'm here. I know this ... I need to get up and pee. It's cold in the house; I feel it, and remember that my wife likes warmth when she gets out of bed. She's a school teacher and it is her day to be early at school for playground duty. I walk to the thermostat and turn the furnace on; it rumbles into action.
Did I die? I ask again because something sure feels different. What is it? I know I am functioning in this physical body. In this sense nothing changed. What I just wrote is not quite the truth. I am here; true ... yet I am at the same time standing somehow apart, close by, but feeling that I am observing me. I feel myself standing here but also there.
Is it possible to exist in two places at the same time? Here I am feeling present in our bedroom. This physical place feels so heavy and dense. But at the same time I feel I am existing further away, somewhere less dense, separate, lighter and feeling very happy.
And then I remember last evening, whispering a prayer to God: "Father, if possible, allow me if you please to visit during sleep brighter realms of the spirit world."
Is this the answer to why I feel the way I do this morning? Is this why I ask the question, "Did I die during my sleep?"
No; I did not literally die - but I did experience heavenly realms during my sleep. I know that I did; yet I cannot recall details of what I saw, experienced and did, and who it was that I spoke with. And yet, I know that the spirit part of who I am visited an extremely beautiful place during my sleep state.
Will this feeling be lost in the shuffle of today's activities? Will the memory evaporate just as the memory of the places visited during sleep disappeared? I suppose somewhat, but not altogether. The richness of the beauty of my sleep experience will not completely fade.
I am different. In some measure I did die last night. Part of my physical attachment to this world disappeared. A weight dropped from me. That is why I feel lighter, calmer and very relaxed.
After all, I am really soul, clothed in a spirit body and for a brief time, inhabiting a physical body.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this wonderFULL experience.
- Joseph