I have always been sensitive to energy.  And by energy, I don't mean energy in the material sense (as in thermal or electrical) I mean the invisible spiritual essence of things - a quality more easily sensed than defined.

This kind of energy, while frequently subtle, is not always so.  Some people, I am sure, sense the energy of everything they approach, while others seems oblivious to the strongest of influences. I fall in between but well toward the sensitive end of the spectrum.  

I sense the energy of the living (and sometimes the dead) as well as most spaces to varying degrees.  Positive places such as forests, gardens, sanctuaries, libraries and certain homes affect me strongly.  Their resonant energies have a fine but palpable vibration which speaks to me spiritually, emotionally and even physically in a language which is not far removed from that of music.

Negative spaces and people affect me in a very different way.  Generally speaking I find that dirty, cluttered areas, large groups of people, some small groups, institutions, anger, resentments and general negativity cause variable but almost always unpleasant reactions in me.  And it seems that I am getting more instead of less sensitive to this type of dissonance.

Case in point, my trip to the New York and New Jersey on Sunday.  We traveled into the city, had lunch at a wonderful vegan Chinese restaurant and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the many beautiful medieval exhibits as The Cloisters Museum (pictured above and below).  There were a fair amount of people around all day but I held up well until the way back, when halfway through the city, the energy clobbered me.

All at once, I was exhausted.  Bone tired.   And more than a little demoralized.  Even though my daily at home to do list is far more demanding on multiple levels.  Today, back in Northeast PA, I got hit again as I spent the afternoon trying to work my way through the mess left behind after moving out of our old house.  By the time I got home, I felt nauseous, jangly and very discouraged.

I am disappointed in myself for not handling things better on a personal level but I also acknowledge how difficult all of this can be.  Something I did not do back when I was trying to be as oblivious to all of this as everyone else apparently was!

Dealing with all of the energies and pressures of everyday life can be overwhelming and is sometimes particularly so for those of us who are sensitive by nature.  Some can be avoided and I, for one, intend to think long and hard about any future trips to NYC. 

PMH Atwater is one of the original researchers into Near-Death Experience and a pioneer in the field. She is a noted authority on NDE, after-effects of NDE, reality shifts and transformations of consciousness. She has experienced three NDEs herself and interviewed over 4000 NDE experiencers. Her work has been sited in the respected medical journal The Lancet.

Atwater has authored numerous books on spirituality and NDE including "Children of the Fifth World," "Near-Death Experiences: The Rest of the Story," "The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences," "Beyond the Indigo Children" and many more.  What makes "We Live Forever" different is that it is Atwater's own story.  In she describes her own Near-Death experiences and the life events which shaped her research and philosophy.

Surprisingly, "We Live Forever" is the first PMH Atwater book I have read even though I have read more than a few books on NDE.  How I missed Atwater's I cannot say, except that perhaps "We Live Forever" was the book I was meant to start out with.

Atwater is a respected research writer but she is also a gifted, sometimes poetic and highly quotable story teller.  Her accounts of her personal psychic experiences, her grand daughter's Myriam death, and the events of Atwater's own death are both convincing and moving.  What I loved most about "We Live Forever" however was the wealth of spiritual information it contained.

Drawing from decades of Near-Death research as well as the direct experience of three NDE's, Atwater provides highly compelling and detailed information about spiritual realms, the soul, opportunities for soul growth, Near-Death events and their aftermath and the reason why we are here.  

Of particular interest to me, and something I intend to explore through Atwater's book "Future Memory," are Atwater's ideas about time.  

I have never, I believe, conceived of time as linear and even as a child I suspected that people think of time as a straight shot only because our physical life follows that same apparent trajectory.  Cycles were everywhere in my observation and I conceived of time as cycling or possibly spiraling like an infinite slinky.  This model was not linear but did not include any sort of backwards or forward motion either - which made things like precognition (which I still see in terms of possibilities) very hard to explain.

The idea of simultaneous existence as portrayed in Jane Robert's Oversoul Seven always struck me as an interesting but impossible idea.  Reading Atwater's description of her third NDE and the strange synchronicity between that experience and the work of Stanford physicist William Tiller made me think about time and the possibility of layered dimensions in a different way.  And I am appreciative of books which generate that kind of thinking.

I am also very interested in exploring Atwater's new book "Children of the Fifth World: A Guide to the Coming Changes in Human Consciousness" which discusses the apparent leap in the intuitive, creative and abstract thinking in children, increases in autism spectrum disorder's and Cayce's fifth root race. 

Sadly my interview with PMH Atwater is no longer hosted on line. But you can check out her book: We Live Forever: PMH Atwater on Near-Death Experience.