Near death[/caption]Carol Forsloff - People reflect on the meaning of symbols in the progression of death, especially as they age, if they are interested in the spiritual aspects of life or if they have had a near-death experience. Many traditions speak of the visions in traveling toward the Light, interpreted as the soul's journey after the soul has left the body.
The song The Water is Wide has its origins as a Scottish ballad written in the 1600's. In its original form it focused on the passion and longing of lovers; but over the centuries it has been performed in many venues, by many singers, each of whom has often presented a different lyrical version of this well-known and beloved song. With the song there are symbols used to facilitate one's contemplation of life's transitions, in human love and experiences and that movement towards death discussed in literature. It is the symbolism that often aids in bringing others to an understanding of the death experience. These symbols can be pictures of past memories of a person's life or the artistic renderings of the light streaming from the heavens as the person moves within in the passage to the Creator.
Have you seen the light? If you are, you are part of a large number of people who say they have had a near-death experience. Many people speak of going through a tunnel, seeing a light they move towards and hearing the message in some form that says "It's not your time yet." The Gallup organization found that 13 million Americans have reported to have had a near-death experience. The phenomenon is also studied by scientists and theologians, many of whom agree there are convergent details across the centuries that man has exchanged about death that seem to render a pattern. That pattern is continued in story form, in music and in art as a way to express the meaning of death and the religious belief that there is life after the soul leaves the body.
Symbolism, scientists remind us, helps to transmit emotion, with death a most provocative issue in most of our lives. Without it would there be more trust there is a God or less? While many Christian people focus on the cross or the shadowy figure of a man they believe to be Jesus, for others occult symbols have replaced some of the Christian symbols. So as religious beliefs diverge in some of the specifics of life and death, it is the symbolism which continues to promote that eternal belief, that something magical, especially mystical, occurs during the process of dying and that helps retain folks' faith in the hereafter.