Visions, Trips, and Crowded Rooms
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Authors: David Kessler
Tags: #Visions, #Trips, #and Crowded Rooms
Praise for
Visions, Trips, and Crowded Rooms
“
David Kessler writes of a world that is rarely talked about,
much less examined with such sensitivity. His stories reveal
dimensions of the death experience that are anything but
depressing, and at times absolutely joyful. In a book filled
with intriguing and inspirational tales, Kessler makes a
compelling argument that death is not the end.”
—
Marianne Williamson,
the
New York Times
best-selling author of
The Age of Miracles
“I so remember David Kessler in the old days of The Hayride,
a support group I started in West Hollywood. He and his work
were so vital and so heartwarming to our group, who shared
those frightening moments of crises in the early days of the
AIDS epidemic. His very presence with those approaching death
was like being enveloped in a safe, cozy space. No harm could
come to you if David was around. In fact, I recently asked
him to be there when it is my time to go. This book
shares David’s wisdom and his love, and helps all
of us who enter unknown waters.”
—
Louise L. Hay,
the
New York Times
best-selling
author of
You Can Heal Your Life
A
LSO BY
D
AVID
K
ESSLER
ON GRIEF AND GRIEVING: Finding the Meaning of Grief
Through the Five Stages of Loss
(co-authored with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross)
LIFE LESSONS: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach
Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living
(co-authored with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross)
THE NEEDS OF THE DYING: A Guide for Bringing Hope,
Comfort, and Love to Life’s Final Chapter
Please visit:
Hay House USA:
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®
Hay House Australia:
www.hayhouse.com.au
Hay House UK:
www.hayhouse.co.uk
Hay House South Africa:
www.hayhouse.co.za
Hay House India:
www.hayhouse.co.in
Copyright © 2010 by David Kessler, Inc.
Published and distributed in the United States by:
Hay House, Inc.:
www.hayhouse.com
•
Published and distributed in Australia by:
Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.:
www.hayhouse.com.au
•
Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by:
Hay House UK, Ltd.:
www.hayhouse.co.uk
•
Published and distributed in the Republic of South
Africa by:
Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.:
www.hayhouse.co.za
•
Distributed in Canada by:
Raincoast:
www.raincoast.com
•
Published in India by:
Hay House Publishers India:
www.hayhouse.co.in
Editorial supervision:
Jill Kramer •
Project editor:
Lisa Mitchell
Design:
Nick C. Welch
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use—other than for “fair use” as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews—without prior written permission of the publisher.
The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual wellbeing. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kessler, David.
Visions, trips, and crowded rooms : who and what you see before you die / David Kessler.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4019-2542-0 (hbk. : alk. paper) 1. Deathbed hallucinations. 2. Death-Psychological aspects. 3. Terminally ill--Psychology. I. Title.
BF1063.D4K47 2010
155.9’37--dc22
2009050707
ISBN:
978-1-4019-2542-0
13 12 11 10 4 3 2 1
1st edition, May 2010
Printed in the United States of America
For Richard, David, and India
CONTENTS
This book is the result of personal experiences of healthcare professionals and clergy members, as well as those who have lost loved ones. The contributors have not received any pay or recognition; rather, they have shared their stories in the hope that readers will come away less afraid and with a deeper understanding about what happens in our final moments of life. These firsthand accounts suggest that deathbed visions are normal and actually common, and they were culled from believers and skeptics alike, with no agenda. This book is simply a report from the front lines, featuring stories of average people, in their own words, experiencing extraordinary events.
(
Editor’s note:
All stories have been edited
for length and clarity.)
When people ask me what I do, I pause and cringe a little. Do I tell them that I write books on death and dying? Or do I tell them that I was first trained as a nurse and now I run a highly regarded and unique end-of-life program at the fifth-largest hospital system in Los Angeles? Do I explain that I’m a specialist police reserve officer on the trauma team, as well as being a member of the Red Cross disaster team? Or that I trained for a pilot’s license and worked on two aviation disasters?
I know it can be confusing, so I often say that I’m a hybrid of all those things. Unlike my mentor, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, who mostly worked with death in the hospital setting, I’m trained as a modern-day thanatologist; in other words, I don’t only deal with death in the hospital or hospice, but also at crime scenes, plane crashes, and even bioterror attacks. I follow death wherever it calls me. When I look back on my reasons for following this unusual path, I see that my career choices weren’t random. It was my destiny to become who I am because of one particular day when I was 12 years old.