"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and science." - Albert Einstein
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Near-Death Newsletter Vol. 02, No. 12 December 1, 2003
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Table of Contents
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(1) A Christmas Carol Ghost Story
(2) Overview of my After-Death Contact with my Mother
(3) The Definition of Synchronicity
(4) Why Synchronicity Works
(5) Summary of my After-Death Contact with my Mother
(6) Conclusions and Analysis
(7) After-Death Communications Resources
(8) Odds and Ends

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(1) A Christmas Carol Ghost Story
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The December newsletter was delayed because of events that
occurred recently which I describe in this newsletter. My family
has been having after-death communications with my mother
since her death a little over two years ago. It is a wonderful thing
when you receive absolute proof that a loved one on the Other
Side is sending you a powerful message that they still exist and
are helping you understand your grief. This newsletter is the short
version of my family's after-death communications experience
with my mother limited to email size. The full version can be
read at: http://www.near-death.com/visions.html

While I am on the subject of Christmas, ghosts, and after-death
communications, did you know that one man's after-death
experience saved Christmas from fading away? It's true. Of course,
I am talking about Charles Dickens' 1843 classic "A Christmas
Carol." It is the best known example of a fictional after-death
communication in English literature. Dicken's ghost story is
credited for saving Christmas during a time when observing
Christmas in many places was dying out. Dickens was a major
social critic of his day. He grew up in poverty and went to work
in a factory at the age of 12. His father had been in debtors' prison
twice. Dickens was angry at the way Victorian society dealt with
the problems of the poor and how the labor conditions were so
unjust. His anger is reflected in his ghost story. It reinforced
the secular view of Christmas which is the idea that people
are supposed to be generous at Christmas time and have goodwill
toward all. In "A Christmas Carol," cold-hearted Ebenezer Scrooge
is visited by his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who died
seven years earlier. Marley's body is chained to money boxes
and other valuables. He must wander through the world, earthbound,
for having valued money more than mankind. Marley returns to tell
Scrooge that he has a chance to escape a similar fate, and will
be visited by three spirits, the Ghosts of Christmas' past, present,
and future, who will help him. Ultimately, Ebenezer is given an
intense spiritual "reality check" to rock him from his heartless
materialism. The three ghosts give him a life review which is similar
in its intensive effect as a near-death life review. Dickens ghost
story demonstrates how human hearts can be softened by a
life-changing life review and prophetic warning. And this is how
Charles Dickens' saved Christmas.

Although my family's after-death communications with my mother
won't save Christmas, it is a true story and it has changed people
such as myself, just as much as Scrooge's life review. So, with
this in mind, I present my family's story. And I wish you all a
very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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(2) Overview of my After-Death Contact with my Mother
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I dedicate this true story of my family's after-death communications
experience to my beloved mother Phyllis Scofield. After her death,
her loving spirit moved heaven and earth to contact my family and give
us indications of her continued survival. It is my wish that her successful
efforts and my family's successful detective work and experience will
benefit other families seeking reassurance after a tragic loss.

Since my mother's death in November 2001, my family has received
many wonderful indications of her continued existence. We've had
incidents of suddenly sensing her presence in a room, having lucid
dreams which she appeared in to tell us she's still alive, an experience
involving a profound spiritual visitation by her, and many meaningful
and highly unusual coincidences around the times of having very
special significance to my mother and centered around a favorite
song of hers called Moon River. After her death and beginning with
her memorial gathering when Moon River was sung in her memory,
Moon River has appeared by pure coincidence on several television
programs, on the radio, on the internet, in a music store, and all at
times of very special significance regarding my mother. Many of
these coincidences were so unlikely to occur by mere chance that
it became obvious that something supernatural was going on. The
odds of one coincidence that occurred in particular, of randomly
turning on the TV and having Moon River immediately play from the
beginning, was calculated to have the odds of occurring at random
at over 1 in 18 trillion chance. Virtually all of these incidents involve
facts that can be verified through such sources as cable television
listings, telephone records, radio program logs, email archives,
internet news articles, website update logs, and hospital records,
but more importantly, personal testimony from family members.
Altogether, this evidence does not meet the high standard of being
scientific proof of life after death, the circumstantial evidence is
strong enough to be upheld in a court of law.

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(3) The Definition of Synchronicity
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The actual term "synchronicity", was coined by psychologist
Carl Jung whose near-death experience I profile on my website.
His NDE was instrumental in his research in the phenomenon.
Synchronicity is defined as: "An occurrence of events which
have the following characteristics:

(1) The events are simultaneous -- The events can be either
internal (e.g., two people having a corresponding thought at the
same moment) or external (e.g., two people doing a corresponding
act at the same time.) or a combination of both.

(2) The events are very meaningful -- If we do not receive any
particular importance to the concurrence, then it was merely
a coincidence.

(3) The events are not connected by cause-and-effect.
(i.e., one event does not cause the other.)

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(4) Why Synchronicity Works
=============================================

Carl Jung theorized that synchronicity is a universal force,
like gravity, which somehow presents parallel occurrences
due to a quirk in the time-space continuum. This agrees
with the near-death concept concerning how all things are
connected together. There is an invisible network of connections
between everything which has been seen by many people during
a near-death experience. Here are some examples of those
descriptions:

(1) An invisible matrix that connects all human souls in a sacred
circle around a gigantic living entity called Earth of which humans
are the self-conscious part. (Mellen-Thomas Benedict's NDE)

(2) Everything is united by a transparent net, or web, and each
thread shines with great radiance. Everything pulses with the same
luminosity - a magnificent light of unparalleled brilliance.
(Josiane Antonette's NDE)

(3) A network or grid of light and love existing on the earth
connecting everyone's higher self to each other and to higher
beings of light through love. (Linda Stewart's NDE)

(4) Humans are globally linked which makes each of us
a part of a whole entity. (Rev. Howard Storm's NDE)

(5) We are all divinely connected with everything - the earth,
the planets, our solar system, our galaxy, etc. (Edgar
Cayce's NDE)

(6) I believe that in the future, the internet will become a
physical representation of this invisible matrix of light existing
around the earth. It will someday connect everyone to each
other in ways that we can only imagine today. Spiritual reality
will then become virtual reality. (Kevin Williams)

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(5) Summary of my After-Death Contact with my Mother
=============================================

On November 24, 2001, members of my family were involved
in a car accident which left several of them severely injured
and my mother dead.

Read about my transition through loss and grief here:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/visions01.html

Two days after my mother's death, my sister and I had a
dream on the same night where our mother suddenly appeared
in our dream to let us know she was still alive. In my dream,
I entered a room and discovered her sitting on a couch. It
was like a waiting room and sat there smiling and waiting for
me. The instant I saw her, I immediately became lucid. I exclaimed,
"Mom, you're not dead!" Her reply was, "I haven't told Glenn yet."
I immediately awoke and was elated because I knew that I
just had an after-death contact with my mother in a dream.
From her reply, I understood that she was going to contact
my younger brother Glenn the same way. A few days later,
I phoned my sister Debbie to tell her about my dream. To
our pleasant surprise, we had both had similar dreams on
the same night. In her dream, upon seeing our mother, her
response was the same as mine: "Oh Mom, you're not dead!"
This initial contact with my mother was a factor in helping
me cope with my grief. But, at the time, I didn't know
that this dream would play a significant part of solving this mystery.

My mother's memorial and internment of her ashes was
planned for June of 2002, about seven months after her death.
A few days before the memorial, my sister spontaneously
remembered Moon River as a song she used to hear as a child
being raised by our mother. It was unusual in that she hadn't
thought about that song since then. She couldn't remember
the lyrics to the song and could only remember the tune. By
coincidence, the lyrics would come to her a few days later at
my mother's memorial, when Glenn sang Moon River in our
mother's memory. Debbie noted the meaningful coincidence
which I would learn about later after having my own meaningful
coincidence with Moon River nine days later. Days after the
memorial, a meaningful coincidence occurred when my father
heard a news item on the car radio by Paul Harvey about the
real Moon River, the inspiration for the song, near Savannah,
Georgia.

As for myself, I decided not to attend my mother's memorial
because I had just gotten over a bout of depression and was afraid
of what attending such an emotional event would do to my mental
health. However, five days later, I watched the memorial on
videotape and saw my brother sing Moon River. It was the first
time that I had heard that wonderful song since my childhood.
Watching the memorial on videotape helped to remove me far
enough from the actual event that I was able to enjoy it. Then,
four days later, something happened to me that changed my life.
I was watching TV alone in my room one night when I suddenly
and strongly felt her presence in my room. None of my five senses
were involved. It was completely a spiritual and emotional reunion
with my mother's spirit which lasted around an hour. I felt her
presence and love magnified hundreds of times within me. She
filled the whole room and my heart with a level of love and
happiness that I have never experienced before or since. She
came to visit me and she brought heaven with her. Although it
was a reunion, I knew it was also a goodbye - until we meet again.

Read the full details of my after-death visitation with my
mother at this page:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/visions02.html

The very next morning, only hours after my visitation with my
mother, I awoke still ecstatic about my mother's visit. I got out
of bed and turned on the TV as I sometimes do. Then, it
seems that a real miracle happened. By pure coincidence,
when I turned on the TV, an old movie came on and immediately
began to play the song Moon River from the very beginning. I
was completely stunned. Time stood still for a moment it
seemed. It was a sign from heaven. I knew it was a physical
validation of a spiritual experience I had only hours ago. It was
synchronicity - a very meaningful coincidence of metaphysical
proportions. It was measurable circumstantial evidence of my
mother's continued existence. To me, it was the equivalent of
having an hour-long lucid dream with my mother and then waking
up and discovering she left her purse there.

Later, I calculated the odds of turning on a TV at random and
having Moon River begin playing on it. The odds are over 1 in a 18
trillion. You can look over the calculations at this page:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/visions03.html

It was at this point that I began documenting these
unusual meaningful coincidences happening in our family. I also
shared this experience with the rest of the family. At this time,
I learned about the other Moon River coincidences that happened
at the time of the memorial by my sister and father. Then, there
were no unusual meaningful Moon River coincidences reported
for about a year and a half. I assumed that it was over. I was wrong.

On November 5, 2003, I published this story on my website - the
events around the time of my mother's memorial. November is
the anniversary month of my mother's death. November 24th is
the day of the second anniversary of her death. I decided I was
going make her anniversary special by having our experience
on my website and letting everyone know about it. After I had
the pages up on the internet, I emailed my family to let them
know about it. The next day, I received a reply from Glenn
telling me about a new Moon River coincidence that had just
happened to him. The night before he received my email, he
and his wife were watching a cable TV program called "Sex and
the City." On that episode, the show highlighted the song
Moon River. Now, at this point in time, hearing Moon River on
TV is a coincidence - a rare sighting - but it was not synchronicity.
The synchronicity came the following morning when he checked
his email and read my message about our memorial Moon River
coincidences being on my website.

Then, he went to my website and read all about them. This
was tremendous synchronicity for him at the time. And it was
synchronicity for me as well. It made me begin to suspect
that something wonderful was going to happen again.

November 24th passed on a quiet and reflective note for me.
I had been working the whole month on this story for my
website, my newsletter, and my family. The next day,
November 25th, I discovered that I needed some information
from Debbie about the memorial coincidences. I phoned her
up and she gave me the information I needed to know. Then,
she told me that an A&E Biography of Andy Williams was
on cable TV on the anniversary day of our mother's death.
Andy Williams sang his signature song - Moon River. And
it was a coincidence that she even happened to see it. And
it was a coincidence that I even phoned her to begin with.
I was in complete shock and awe. I immediately phoned
my twin brother Steve to tell him about it. By coincidence,
he told me that only hours before I called, his wife Sandy
was shopping for music CDs in a music store. She selected
one of the CDs on the shelf to see who the artist was. It
was a new CD by Barbara Streisand. Out of curiosity, she
looked on the back of it to see the songs listed. By coincidence,
she saw that Moon River was listed on it. [Note: Sandy was
almost killed along with my mother during the accident two
years ago.]

After talking with Steve, I was so excited, I told me father
that I felt like a man sitting on a rocket ready to be shot into
space. The same kind of Moon River coincidences which
occurred around the time of my mother's memorial were
now happening again - only this time on the second anniversary
of her death. It felt like pieces of a giant puzzle were finally
coming together and there was only one piece to the puzzle
missing and I knew Glenn had it. I already knew it was an
old special song of our family's and especially our mother's.
But now, with another round of Moon River synchronicity, it
seemed as though there was something more I needed to
know about Moon River which was missing in this puzzle.
Moon River seems to be more meaningful than I ever thought.
And there were only two things of importance that I didn't know
about Moon River that I believed would solve it.

(1) What exactly inspired Glenn to sing Moon River at the
memorial.

(2) When was he was inspired to sing it or at what point did
he decide to sing it. I could sense that I was in for a big surprise.
I wasn't disappointed. Glenn replied to my inquiry by email
and filled me in on - the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey would say).

A few days after our mother's death, Glenn had a favorite
childhood memory of her that was helping him with his grief.
It was a memory of him as a child sitting together with our
mother on the living room couch. She would have her arm
around him and together they would sing Moon River. This
childhood memory has always stayed with Glenn his whole
life. Music has always been a very important part of his life.
Music has always been an outlet for him to express his emotions.
He developed a very beautiful voice for song at an early age.
In high school, he won the state championship title as a vocalist.
He eventually went on to become a professional stage performer,
actor and director. Our mother was very proud of him and
his talent. When she died, Glenn would find emotional release
by singing Moon River out loud to himself, at work, in the car,
and everywhere. He would sing Moon River out loud to our
mother to feel her presence and ease his grief. It was only
a few days after our mother died, that he decided he would
sing Moon River at her memorial. This fond memory of singing
Moon River with her as a child, combined with the tragic loss
of our mother, rekindled a love for the music he used to with
our mother. He bought an entire music collection of Andy Williams
songs so that he could hear all those beautiful childhood
songs again - but especially Moon River - the song he used
to sing as a child with our mother while sitting together on the
living room couch in our childhood home in Monrovia, California.

When I was finished reading his email, I could easily picture
him in my mind as a child in my mother's arms sitting on the
living room couch on Ivy Street singing Moon River with her
gently rocking him. Now, all the pieces of the puzzle were
in place and the connection was made. Here is the connection:

(1) Glenn's childhood memory -- Glenn as a child sitting on
a couch with my mother and singing Moon River.

(2) Kevin's dream two days after our mother died -- My mother
sitting on a couch waiting to give Glenn a message that she
is still alive.

This was a clear case of inner (mental) synchronicity. It is
also the message behind our synchronistic Moon River
coincidences. I have no doubt in my mind that the message
came through loud and clear.

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(6) Conclusion and Analysis
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By analyzing these events, one can see how interesting
it is that a seemingly minor family link, such as a song,
can be used by the powers-that-be to create extraordinary
meaning and to deliver a message. This use of a such a
link may lead us to wonder, "Why a song?" Every family
has a vast multitude of links connecting family members.
Why would our loved ones on the Other Side use what
appears on the surface to be a relatively minor link to
contact us, when an even more major link might be better
to create an even more meaningful message? For example,
a major link such as her name "Phyllis" or her nickname
"Sugar"? Such a question assumes that a relatively minor
link cannot create as meaningful of a message. Although
Moon River is certainly not the strongest connection my
family shares, it is not the weakest. Moon River connected
with our family when a special bond of love was established
between a mother and her children. I believe Glenn was
inspired to bring to my family's memory that special bond
of love from the past to the present, from our subconscious
mind to our conscious awareness, where that special bond
was made even more stronger - perhaps strong enough to
cause reverberations in the spiritual network that connects
my family.

Even if we assume that Moon River is a relatively minor link
compared to the rest of my family's connections, for the
Other Side to use a relatively minor link instead of a bigger
one to send a meaningful message, doesn't necessarily
mean that using the minor link will necessarily result in a
less meaningful message. For example, the Bible describes
how Jesus had an usually heightened awareness of how
things were connected. He told Peter that, before the rooster
crows, Peter would deny him three times. And according
to the gospel account, Peter did deny Jesus three times
just before a rooster crowed. Hearing the rooster crow reminded
him of what Jesus said previously and this synchronistic
event of denial-rooster-Jesus' words created the message
that Jesus intended to send. Thus, a stupid rooster, a minor
link in the chain, was able to create such a meaning message,
that it is recorded in the Bible. Jesus' psychic connective
powers have been compared to the powers which near-death
experiencers bring back with them from clinical death. During
clinical death, experiencers have reported having a clear
understanding of these connections on earth while on the
Other Side.

So, my point is that less can be more. A lesser link can be
used to create a very meaningful message. I believe another
reason this is true can be found in a basic principle I learned
in the Army:

"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link."

Using the analogy of a chain, suppose we want to
demonstrate that a chain remains unbroken when we
apply sufficient stress on it when we attempt to break
the chain apart. For the analogy, let the chain represent
a family (mine). A stress test is applied to the chain
(the death of my mother). We want to see if the chain
remains unbroken after the test (if my family's link
to my deceased mother is intact). If a family link
(Moon River) to my deceased mother remains intact
(Moon River synchronicity), to know if my mother is
still connected (exists after death). When a chain is
subjected to a stress test, one doesn't focus on the
strong links. It is the weakest link that breaks first. So, all
that is necessary is to demonstrate that the weakest
link remain intact. In other words, any family link that
survives death, whether weak or strong, is sufficient to
show that the family chain is unbroken. And because my
family's Moon River link passed the stress test when my
mother died through Moon River synchronicity, this
means that my mother is still linked to us in spirit.
And this truth does not just apply to my family. If my
family's connection to my mother remains intact after
her death, then this means there is life after death; and
this truth applies to everyone. So, in conclusion, we can
intuit this important message:

Our loved ones never die because our love for them never
dies. And love is the strongest link there is. Because
love is God.

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(7) After-Death Communications Resources
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(a) Bill and Judy Guggenheim's After-Death Communications website:
http://www.after-death.com/about/adc.htm

(b) Their excellent book "Hello From Heaven":
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553576348/neardeathexpe-20

(c) Examples from "Hello From Heaven" of their more unusual ADCs
http://www.near-death.com/guggenheim.html

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(8) Odds and Ends
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That's it for now. Stay tuned for the next monthly issue!

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Copyright (c) 2003 Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife
=============================================
Peace and Light,

Kevin R. Williams
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"Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife"
http://www.near-death.com
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"We are ignorant of the Beyond because this ignorance is the
condition of our own life. Just as ice cannot know fire except by
melting and vanishing." - Jules Renard