My conviction that departed loved ones are guardian angels to those left behind is based on years of scholarly research into the literatures on after-death communication (ADC) and the near-death experience (NDE). A thorough examination of the ADC literature reveals that thousands of bereaved people have received ADCs from departed loved ones conveying that they are happy in heaven and yet they are always with the bereaved, watching over them. The NDE literature also corroborates these conclusions. People who have had NDEs have met departed loved ones in the spirit realm who told them that they are always watching over them. The reason I refer to departed loved ones as “angels” is that a careful study of the ADC and NDE literature reveals that there is no difference between spirits who have reached the Light and angels, contradicting archaic religious beliefs that angels and people are different kinds of beings. For those unfamiliar with the literature on spiritually transformative experiences—such as ADCs, NDEs, and death-bed visions (DBVs)—I have included appendices which define these phenomena and discuss how these experiences (and other phenomena) confirm the reality of the spirit dimension.
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For those who have never felt angelic protection or guidance and never received spirit communications, it is important to remember that most people cannot perceive the majority of spirit phenomena and yet they exist. Swiss doctor Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a leading researcher on death and dying, has drawn a parallel to a dog whistle that humans cannot hear but we readily acknowledge that dogs can hear it. She has written that similarly most people lack the ability to perceive higher vibrations from the spirit world but in fact they are all around us and it is wise to recognize this.
Unusually open-minded for a religious leader, catholic monsignor Jean Vernette mentioned in an interview that ADCs have been reported throughout history and that studies on ADCs have been conducted since the early 1880s. Possibly arising from personal experience, Vernette is convinced that our departed loved ones are close to us and watch over us. But he recognized that many people do not understand this fact, and pointed out that just as artistic inspiration cannot be repeated in a lab, and yet we know it still exists, ADCs and testimonies of NDErs are not reproducible in a lab but are “knowable...through the heart.”
