Me: Okay, so one thing we didn’t really cover in detail is what happened after you died, Erik. I know you went to see your friend, Valentin, then you went to Norway to see your grandfather and then to see Denise, but can you give me more blow by blow specifics?

Erik: You mean after I got to see everybody?

Me: Yeah.

Erik: Well, it felt like I got to say hello for a long time, and, uh, I guess you could say it calmed me down.

Me: Okay.

(Long pause)

Jamie: Erik, I don’t know how to describe that. (pause) Sometimes he’ll give me a picture, but I’m making him say everything verbally, because I, uh, it’s a really pretty grey—I normally think of grey as being dull, but if you can imagine a pretty grey, almost like a bright, silvery grey—

Me: Oh, yeah, okay.

Jamie: —it would be like you were standing in a room with 50-foot ceilings.

Erik: I know I’m not in a room, but I can’t see far into the distance. It’s like being in a fog, but there’s no fear or worry that something’s going to pop out of the fog.

Me: Oh, okay.

Erik: Cuz it sorta seems like you’re in a room and nobody is gonna pop through a wall to get you. (Laughing) That’s what you think if you hold on to those earthly beliefs.

Me: Exactly.

Erik: But really, that whole “life flashes before your eyes”…I get it. You get it. Everyone gets it. Sometimes it happens right at the moment of death.

Me: Uh huh.

Erik: Commonly if you’re getting it right away, that means you’re going to get right back into your body.

Me: Oh, really? Wow!

Erik: Yeah, cuz that’s the whole big, “Wow! Holy shit! Look what just happened! My life flashed before me; now I know how I want to be; now I know who I want to be.”

Me: Like with near death experiences! I see that same thing happening in those NDE accounts. Yeah, exactly. They immediately go through the life review.

Erik: Yeah. That’s the real power punch kick in the ass, but if you’re expected, if you know you’re arriving and that this is it, often you’re greeted by family, and then the life review begins to happen. It’s like I am in everybody else’s body looking at me. I feel what the people around me got to feel when I behaved a certain way, when I did something specific.

Me: Wow!

Erik: So you feel overwhelming joy, sorrow, regret, but by seeing it from someone else’s perspective, that’s how you know who you are! You experience it from an outside source.

Me: Yeah, fascinating!

Erik: Think about it, Mom. That’s how God is learning who She/He is—by learning from outside sources, which is us!

Me: Wow, that’s interesting. Very interesting. And then what happened?

Erik: I realized how awful I was.

Me: Oh no!!! You weren’t awful, Baby!

Erik: C’mon, Mom, Mom, I know you’re my mom, but I was pretty mean.

Me: No. I disagree. You got angry sometimes, but 99% of the time you were very kind and sweet. Oh my gosh, Erik. I mean obviously you were troubled and had those moments of anger, but most of the time you were so, uh, I looked at all of your Facebook messages the other day and so many of your friends were so shocked. They never knew you hid any darkness inside. Monica P. was so upset. She said you were always so happy and sweet; you always said hello and always stopped to talk, and—most people did not know you were sad and angry inside. That was the disease talking, not the real Erik. Plus I read your messages to some of your friends who were in pain. You told them you wanted to be there for them, to be a kind ear for them. Who does that? You were very giving and special. I mean, you are
.
(Long pause)

Erik: Wow! Hmm. I’m surprised, cuz I felt like I was an open book.

Me: Hm. Maybe people just didn’t bother really seeing.

Erik: But during the life review, you see it, you experience it, and you judge yourself. No one is there to judge you but you. You think there’s this guy on a golden throne with a staff pointed at your heart, you know, telling you to do twenty push-ups.

Me (laughing): I SMITE YOU!!!

Erik (laughing): Yes! But that’s not it. When it’s over, you’re left with yourself. You’re left to think for yourself. I don’t know if I sat with my head in my hands for days or hours. All I know is that’s the only place I was. (pause) And when it was all over, when I was done understanding who I was and what I did, then I could go back and engage with—well, I didn’t really go back. It’s just like this silvery grey fog went away, and I found myself in a different place. I didn’t feel like I was in control or like I was asking for certain things. I was just witnessing a process. I was just part of a process.

Me: What was that other place you found yourself in?

Erik: That’s when it turned into gardens and paths and my family was there. That’s when it became social, like, “Let me show you around.”

Me: Oh, yeah!

Erik: And they’re like, “Let me show you what you’re capable of doing. Let me help you.”

Me: Wow! Who’s the one that helped you the most? Was it somebody we know, or was it a guide, or—

Erik: There were a few, and it’s hard to say who helped me most.

Jamie: He’s talking about an aunt.

Me: Yeah, that’d be my younger sister, Denise.

Jamie: A grandmother.

Me: Bestemor, Rune’s mom.

Jamie: And a man who’s not related to him.

Me: Okay.

(Long pause)

Jamie: Tell me about that man, Erik. (pause as she listens to Erik) The man. (pause) I keep hearing a name like Simon. It sounds so simple.

Me (laughing): Simple Simon!

Erik: That’s when I was able to make new friends, where I was able to understand the dynamics of the place where I was.

Me: And all during that, you felt very comfortable, I guess?

Erik: Yeah, Mom. It was weird. If that would have been happening on earth, I would have felt like I was being kidnapped.

Me: Oh my God, yeah!

Erik: I would have been freaked out.

Me: Um hm.

Erik: But it was like, I felt warm all over. I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t cry if I wanted to. There was so much joy, silent joy around me.

Me: Wow.

Erik: And when you feel that, you definitely don’t wanna go jump back into your body!

Me: Yeah. Do you have spirit guides over there? Do you have your own personal guides, like guardian angels that take care of you over there too?

Erik: Sure, but they’re more like teachers.

Me: Oh, okay.

Erik: You know, because they do want you to learn for yourself, take care of yourself. We’re not seen as helpless, but on earth, we are.