Light at Death

What happens when we die? What is light? How does our consciousness continue? William Peters, M.Ed., MFT, shares the role that light may play in life and death.

William Peters, M.Ed., MFT, is a licensed psychotherapist at the Family Therapy Institute in Santa Barbara, specializing in end-of-life counseling as a means toward psycho-spiritual evolution. He is author of At Heaven’s Door: What Shared Journeys to the Afterlife Teach About Dying Well and Living Better. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Shared Crossing Project where he and his research team collect and study extraordinary end-of-life experiences through the Shared Crossing Research Initiative. His website is sharedcrossing.com.

He explains that experiences with the light occur in about 75% of near-death experiences (NDEs) and 25% of shared death experiences (SDEs). The light seems to be a destination in the NDE. There are more presentations of light in the SDE. The light acts as a portal or bridge that come down as cylinders. Light beings may come out of the light to greet the dying. The SDE experiencer may accompany the dying up cascades of light or observe their loved one ascend into the light. He shares ways to have a SDE with a loved one or a pet. He says that the light is synonymous with love and consciousness and is a sacred unifying source found in spiritual traditions.