Interpretations of Transcendent Experience

In Sunday's Parade magazine (6/10/2012), actor Larry Hagman said he isn't afraid of death: “I had a liver transplant 16 years ago and saw the white light, saw that we're all joined together. You don't forget that feelin of peace and love.”

I've read about near death experiences. People interpret the white light and feeling of peace and love according to their own religious beliefs They don't say they were told to try to convert others to their religion. They don't say they were told to go around talking about God to make people think well of them.

They are told to help others, and to learn, especially things that are helpful to humanity. Having been lucky enough to have had what Abraham Maslow called “peak experiences”, I would say we are connected to all life, not just human. But of course, the people who write about these things ask questions and interpret what people say in terms of their own beliefs. It would be interesting to know how people from other cultures and beliefs interpret such experiences, eg.
Hindus and Buddhist.

I've also noticed that it's now hard to find information on the part about how we should live our lives. It's all about the white light and feeling loved, and these experience ssupposedly proving life after death. I don't know how much of that is just that the people who write, blog, and read about such things don't want to know about this because it's uncomfortable. I have noticed thru the years that if research contradicts what is in the interests of the powerful, it often drops out of view. We know that tobacco companies deliberately supressed information about the health risks from being known to the public. And the fossil fuel companies are currently deliberately fostering disbelief in global warmiing.

It is in the interests of the powerful to suppress cooperative feelings among most of us, which prevents us from working together in our own interests. But it is also charactersitic of the cycle of history that we are currently in. And it is the interest of the powerful elites to encourage the belief in an afterlife. It makes others more willing to put up with unfairness if they believe they will eventually have a better life. And it lightens any guilt, if any, the fortunate have that they are taking advantage of others, if they think those others will eventually have a happier life.

Maslow and I both came independently to the expectation that conservatives might be capable of having a peak experience, but it would probably scare them so much they would quash it.