Jaitea said:

My mother died whilst giving birth to me but was brought back by the hospital staff, she died again the next day but was brought back again.

As a child she told me again and again that she talked to Jesus on the second time she died and he told her that she had to return to her body to look after her new-born.

My mother and her side of the family were/are VERY religious

My mother did eventually die with complications connected to my birth 9 years later

As an adult I understand that with her strong belief in Christianity that that's what her mind wanted her to see, her consciousness

This does not effect my non-belief

J

Thank you for sharing this, these experiences are very important to the people who have them and this should not be trivialized. I agree with you that her Christian faith is probably the reason she experienced what she did; everyone sees life through the lens of their beliefs.

But if you want my personal opinion on the matter of what belief system is "true", I don't think any of them have sole claim to the truth. That's not to say that every belief system is therefore valid, quite the opposite. Just imagine how a Christian would feel if they were told by the Buddha during an NDE to return to Earth! People like to think that their minds are as logical as physical reality. I believe that without a constant stream of input from the physical senses, the untrained mind will default to its core beliefs and very little "true" information will enter unchanged by these beliefs. This is probably why there are so many religions, not because spirituality is false, but because the mind usually cannot see beyond itself, even when free of the body.