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  • The Final Word

He Stood on a Ring of Light, Waiting for Me

7/12/2017

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Kirsten Cox shares this account of the final words of her father, Gerald Adams.
 
She described her dad as a kind man who made others feel important. “He always cared more about listening to what you had to say, rather than being concerned about what he wanted to say.”

Kirsten explains that her father was not religious, so the words she heard on his deathbed very much surprised her:
 
“My father passed away in 1998. My brother and sister had already flown down to the hospital in Florida while I was a day later in arriving. My dad was somewhat lucid when I arrived at his bedside and once I arrived, he told the nurse ‘I'm ready to go now.’
 
The nurse looked puzzled and told him, ‘Mr. Adams, you know we can't do that.’ My dad was on no pain medicines, and only on a mild relaxant, valium.
 
Shortly after I arrived,  all the other family members left the room, and left me alone with my father. He looked at me and I took his hand, and he told me:
 
‘I was waiting for you to come, I was standing at the edge of a ring of bright light. You were way over on the other side of the ring of light and my father, and mother and brother Dean were standing on the side with me, welcoming me to come with them. When you came, I knew it was okay then and I was ready to go with them because they had been waiting for me to be ready.’
 
My dad’s mother, father and brother Dean had all passed before my Dad. I believe that he held on until he could see me and be with me once more before he left. It really floored me because my Dad was not known to be "religious" in nature. He said he believed in a higher power, but didn't believe in worshiping in a church. He was the most honest person I know, and he never exaggerated anything for attention, no drama, just a real down to earth kind of guy."

 ****                                                 *****                            *****                                *****
​
This story has so many of the elements we have heard and recorded through FWP and also commonly appear in near-death accounts: images of light, deceased relatives waiting , a clear boundary between the living and the dead/dying , staying alive long enough to say good bye to the people who matter to us and a sense of being at peace.

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NEW FINAL WORDS FROM THE FINAL WORDS PROJECT

7/10/2017

8 Comments

 
Four months have now passed since the publication of Words at the Threshold.
 
Among the blessings of getting published are the many people I have met and the abundance of final words we have recently received through the FWP website.             (We are still collecting accounts and transcriptions. Every one we receive is a precious gift. Thank you!)
 
I have decided to share many of these with you—with participants’ consent of course—to build upon the examples and ideas published in Words at the Threshold.  I will blog three times a week with a different account each post.  Nothing complicated. Mostly just the stories. They speak for themselves.

Sometimes I will say a word or two about how the specific account relates to the patterns and themes we have discerned or how they may represent a new pattern.     But mostly just hearing the words of the dying speaks of the ineffable mystery of the threshold.

 
Right now I am reading Of the Light by Dr. David Lerma. The book  was recommended to me by my colleague at Cohearence, Dr. Melvin Morse, author of  several books, including Parting Visions in which he talks about the dreams, premonitions and visitations of end of life. There are so many great books out there.  I will continue to let you know about the ones that I am reading, that  nourish my deep curiosity.

So here is the first in a series of 100 blogs with 100 accounts of last words. I  hope you receive them with the same sacred wonder that we do.  Please feel free to comment or ask questions.

From Robert B.  : Is it Time?
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“My brother was in his death bed. He was dying of pancreatic cancer. The whole family was around him. We knew it was close to his time, but of course nobody, especially our mother, wanted to see him go. He was quiet for several days. Did not say much.

But then at this moment as we were all around him, he looked up toward the ceiling and asked out loud, 
“Is it time to come now?”
​
We, of course, did not hear the answer. But it seemed he did.  He then closed his eyes and died.”
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    Lisa Smartt is the founder of The Final Words Project and is the author of ​Words at the Threshold. She co-leads workshops and classes about language and consciousness with Dr. Raymond Moody.

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