Barbara Harris Whitfield: The Meaning of Life… and the Energy of God
Excellence Reporter: Barbara, what is the meaning of life?
Barbara Harris Whitfield: I had a near-death experience many years ago in 1975. The highlight was what is called “The Life Review.” There I saw a cloud with thousands of bubbles and in each bubble was an event from my life. Time seemed to flow in a linear sequence and at the same time I seemed to be bouncing around in each bubble. I don’t think I could have survived this amazing experience if it wasn’t for the incredible Energy holding me.
The Energy moved through me and became me too. It let me see my life from It’s eyes and even more amazing I felt my life through It’s heart. As my and others feelings floated through me I could hear my own voice saying, “No wonder. No wonder!” And as I heard and said that, this Energy held me tighter.
The No Wonders were about my suddenly understanding that I was a 32-year-old atheist who was confused and wounded from a traumatic life. I could see these painful experiences that came from the repeated abuse and neglect that I suffered as a child. For the first time I realized the connection between my constant traumas in my childhood and my constant pain as an adult. I married a man who had continued to emotionally abuse and neglect me.
At the same time, this Energy’s Intelligence let me in on It’s view of my life. And suddenly I realized that my relationship with this Energy (that after several years I can now finally call “God”) was the meaning of my life. I had that relationship when I was very young ─ but as I grew up in a severely dysfunctional family, It seemed to disappear. I dried up spiritually.
The outcome was my inability to experience any peace or joy.
When I realized all this, I started to heal and at age 37 I went back to school and became a Respiratory Therapist. My joy came from taking care of seniors who were waiting to transition back to God. I wasn’t afraid of death. From my own experience and witnessing my dying patients, I realized that death is not the Grim Reaper. It’s a trip into the Light.
One synchronicity led to another and I was interviewed by several University professors who were in “Near-Death Studies.” I became a key subject in Professor Kenneth Ring’s seminal books Heading Toward Omega and Lessons From the Light. Then I spent 6 years at the University of Connecticut Medical School interviewing other Near-Death Experiencers (NDErs).
I started writing about all this and to my surprise, I was easily published.
I believed, and still do, that what I was really doing was God’s work. I never tired. I could work a full shift with my dying patients and then cook dinner and enjoy my family. I had endless energy.
I didn’t tire because I felt like this Energy, with a capital E was flowing through me. My energy was and is endless because my relationship with God is endless. I thought I lost God when I grew up. I thought I was an intelligent atheist. God was out of my life because evolved people didn’t “believe” in a God.
In my NDE and through my meditations, prayers and service, God showed me that God never left me. I needed to open my heart to God and to anyone I can serve. My own compassion for others and myself showed me that a part of each and every one of us is God. We need to heal ourselves from our traumas to uncover this. The more I do this, the more humility and gratitude I feel and the more I am aware of God surrounding me and in me. And in you too.
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~Barbara Harris Whitfield is loving her “elder” years with her second husband, physician and bestselling author Charles Whitfield MD. They have a private practice in Atlanta Georgia helping adults who were repeatedly traumatized as children. They also assist people with opiate and psych drug problems. She is the author and co-author of 12 books. Barbara has appeared on numerous tv talk shows and documentaries all over the world.
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