title: The Eternal Journey: How Near-Death Experiences Illuminate Our Earthly Lives
author:  Craig R. Lundahl 
description: Focusing on the "eternal" nature of our existence, Craig Lundahl and Harold Widdison share their quest to understand "the purpose of life and the meaning of death." <i>The Eternal Journey</i> incorporates near-death experience (NDE) case studies that reveal the afterlife with cases involving pre-earth life encounters, making this an up-to-date work on the entire journey of the human soul. Grounded in scientific research yet emotionally charged, this is a revealing look at where we came from, what we're doing here, and where we're going.
zlib_text: FOR BHR AND BGR
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Author’s Note
  
  
  Some names have been changed to protect identities. In a few instances
  timelines and events have been compressed.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Introduction
  
  
  > WE SHALL NOT CEASE FROM EXPLORATION  
  > AND THE END OF ALL OUR EXPLORING  
  > WILL BE TO ARRIVE WHERE WE STARTED  
  > AND KNOW THE PLACE FOR THE FIRST TIME.
  
  > —T. S. ELIOT, FOUR QUARTETS
  
  
  One day when I was sitting in the carpool line waiting to pick my son up from
  school, it occurred to me that I had been sleepwalking through my life. This
  realization wasn’t precipitated by some traumatic event. I did not have
  cancer. My parents had not abused me. I was in a good marriage to a kind man.
  But something wasn’t right. I felt empty—an unrelenting, existential kind of
  emptiness. By all markers I was living a happy enough existence, but somehow I
  wasn’t feeling it.
  
  
  I had the sense that darker times were coming—any fool knows an abundance of
  light casts a long shadow. Still, right now I was well. I knew exact