On today’s program we’ll speak with accomplished actor, director, and author - Mr. Alexandre Ferran, of Paris, France. Through his thorough research, he has also become a renowned expert in understanding the ability of plants to communicate through music and words. “At the beginning of the 20th century there was an Indian called Mr. Bose who created a device called the crescograph, which made it possible to read in an accelerated way the movements of plants.” “In fact, in science, what we notice is that all the people who are plant lovers are able to demonstrate that they have a conscience, and emotions, and the capacity for understanding, of intelligence, etc.” Plants can also understand and respond to what people say. As Mr. Ferran shows us how plants can use the communication device to communicate through the language of music.

On today’s program, we’ll learn more about Ms. Tricia Barker’s lessons from Heaven. Ms. Barker believes that overcoming fear is one of life’s greatest challenges. In the classroom, she teaches students one technique for doing so. “And it’s generally fear that prevents us from being in that flow of God. And I just began to show them, ‘You have other options.’ So, I could teach them how to be different, how to look at this world differently.” Through her near-death experience, Ms. Barker came to understand the inter-connectedness of all beings on Earth. She shares how, in each moment, we can help make the world a better place. “And I think that’s maybe one of the most important things we can do is to spread that love and that light across this planet. You can help in more situations than you think you're capable of helping.” “I think near-death experiences help people have greater faith in god. But I wish everybody could every day feel the love of God, feel the energetic experience of God, because there's nothing better.”

Through her near-death experience, Ms. Barker came to understand more clearly how to live a happier, more fulfilling life. She generously shares these concepts with her students, including an insightful technique for overcoming depression. “When you focus on the self, you’re not happy. When you’re focused on giving love to the world, you are happy. When you’re in the flow of God, when you’re giving love to this world, you’re connected to that love again. And sometimes people are hurting so deeply that just meditation is a place to begin to connect a little bit of that peace and that love of God. There’s so many ways to begin that practice. But if you take that time, and you ask for that loving energy of God to come into your life, in that moment, in that meditation, in that prayer, sometimes it does flow through you, and it does take away that fear and that pain.” After 20 years of integrating her phenomenal experience into her life, Ms. Barker wrote a book about her near-death experience and has been grateful about how her book is able to touch others, awakening something within them as well.

On today's program, Ms. Barker continues to share some of the many insights from her near-death experience. She begins by explaining how time is very different in Heaven. "It was only two-and-a-half minutes that I was dead. That realm is eternal, and that realm is without time." While in Heaven, God taught Ms. Barker many lessons about her life. One important lesson was to be kinder toward others. "I saw how I could have been nicer to people at work. I could have been kinder." Previously Ms. Tricia Barker told us that during her near-death experience she saw several angels, whose light helped to heal her. Since then, she has maintained a connection with the angels. "So, I remembered to call on God, to call on the angels and to use their guidance. I'm not 100% sure, but I do think that we have guardian angels. When I call on them for help, then they're there. So, they're certainly on my path with me."

On today’s program we’ll hear from Ms. Tricia Barker, an English professor at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. A near-death experiencer, Ms. Barker is the author of “Angels in the OR.” During her college years, Ms. Barker had a serious car accident and nearly lost her life. While out of her body, Ms. Barker realized that she could observe normal events, an experience that scientists call veridical perception. While in Heaven, Ms. Barker learned many lessons, including a very important one: “See people’s hearts, know their goodness and be different in that way.” Next, Ms. Barker shares her incredible experience communicating with God as she learned about her life’s purpose. “I saw that I had to be a teacher. And I had to return, and I had to teach others to live and love, and not in fear.”

After her near-death experience, Ms. Sharp could see or feel the presence of angels. "Yes, everybody has what we call guardian angels. And I see them in places where comfort is needed: hospitals, libraries. So sometimes the angels come to us because we need comfort, sometimes we need guidance, sometimes we need to be tripped and fall so that we learn how to get up on our own. They have assignments. It's fascinating. I love it." When Ms. Sharp had her near-death experience, she learned that the purpose of her life on Earth was to be of service to others. "Everything in terms of how to live one's life boils down to love, actually.There are many forms of love. Sometimes it's opening the door for someone who's struggling. Sometimes it's helping someone cross the street. Sometimes it's listening to someone very boring on the phone, but you're doing a kindness."

On today's show, Ms. Sharp explains some of the profound effects these near-death experiences had on her life. "When I came back, nothing made sense. And so, it's been very easy. So, another after effect of my near-death experience is that I understood death so well and I had no fear of it. So, I could be around people dying or their families or loved ones and be very calming and very sincere." According to one study, about 70% of the people who have had a near-death experience report meeting their loved ones who have already passed over. "But the effect it has on the near-death experiencers who have that experience is such peace because they know that they will be with their loved ones again. And so that ache and longing goes away. And they know that now at some point it will happen. And so that’s a comfort that is precious."

Ms. Sharp is the author of “After the Light: The Spiritual Path to Purpose,” and the Founder of Seattle International Association for Near-Death Studies. On today’s program, Ms. Sharp describes her own near-death experience, which occurred when she was a 22-year-old college student. “In the emergency room. I then found myself in another place entirely. And then something showed up. That “something” I don’t have words for. Many people would say God. Many people would say ‘source.’ For me, it was a big bright light. It was just thunderous power and a light brighter than our Sun, brighter than anything. And I realized everything in Heaven and Earth is alive. And it’s wonderful; it’s all energy. And I saw myself, if I chose to live, being of service to others. I went, ‘Cool!’ And I was back. It was like I’d made the decision.”

Where does that come from? Is the thought coming from the individual? So, an analogy I like to use is the Sun and clouds. So, the Sun being consciousness and clouds being our mental state or our brain, things that are blocking the rays of consciousness to come in. And when we do things like meditate or a near-death experience is maybe the best example where all the clouds go away. There are ways of removing clouds so that more rays of consciousness come in. But I think methods like meditation, sensory deprivation, yoga, these are ways to remove some of the clouds and then maybe we get a spark of creativity and we don't know where it came from, but it's kind of that ray of consciousness getting in.

Does consciousness exist beyond the body and brain? Mr. Gober has found considerable scientific and anecdotal evidence suggesting that consciousness exists beyond the brain. Perhaps the most compelling support comes from near-death experiences. “In the life review, the example of Dannion Brinkley, after he relived his life four times, he saw the pain that the inflicted and he saw the joy that he gave to people. So, when he came back from his near-death experience, his life changed dramatically. He was much less materialistic. He became a hospice volunteer. And he understands the accountability that we all have, that our actions matter beyond what happens in this body.”

On today’s program, we’ll hear from Mr. Mark Gober, author of “An End to Upside Down Thinking” and host of the new podcast, “Where is My Mind?” In addition, Mr. Gober is on the Board of Directors at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), a research center dedicated to exploring and expanding human capacity. “What is the relationship between the brain and consciousness? Does the brain create consciousness? Let’s think about the philosophical implications.” “And the thesis that I arrived at is it’s not that consciousness comes from the brain, but it’s the other way around. That consciousness is the basis of all reality existing beyond space and time. And the material world is an emergence or an experience within consciousness.”

Today we’ll hear some accounts of near-death experiences from renowned heart surgeon, Dr. Lloyd Rudy, interviewed by Dr. Michael Milligan, president of the American Academy for Oral Systemic Heath. And all of a sudden! Nobody spoke. Because everybody in that room felt a ‘presence.’ And he stopped bleeding just like that. What is your take on that, Dr. Rudy? Oh, there’s something out there that people with faith, believers, is there. Some people call it God, some people call it other things, Buddha, or (Prophet) Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him), or whoever. It has convinced me there is something out there.

Twelve-year-old Aviral Pokhrel of Nepal has an unusual ability. He can see colors and objects through his senses of touch and smell. I try to feel using my hands, and if I’m unable to identify things clearly with my hands, then I try to smell them. And based on their smell, I can tell what they are. Sometimes it just comes to me, then based on that I say what it is and it matches, too. And when we practice even more and more deeply, and go even deeper, we may be able to just hold a book in our hands, just shake it to even figure out what’s there on which page number of the book.

For centuries, reincarnation remained a mystery, leading to questions about human existence and the nature of previous lives. Nowadays, however, many individuals are coming forward to share detailed memories of their past lifetimes. Dr. Jim Tucker, a renowned past-life expert from the US, has recorded 2,500 cases of children remembering their previous incarnations. Oscar winner, AFI Life Achievement Award recipient, and legendary Hollywood actress Ms. Shirley MacLaine has long been sharing her past-life memories in media interviews, including on the TODAY show.

People who undergo near-death experiences realize that there’s a greater form of love than the worldly variety. You realize the importance of love, perhaps to a much greater degree than before. Quite often you don’t know how to set about it. Now the kind of love God’s looking for, that really teaches us is not the kind of self-development love, but it’s developing other people, helping other people and so forth. Whichever way you look at it, your consciousness, or your spirit continues after death, and that you will meet with God, in one way or another again. You will find that God is a God of Love, and that He is concerned for you as an individual, and that I think is the main message I would like to communicate.

Mr. lvan Rudolph is a world-renowned author whose latest book, “Living beyond: Making Sense of Near-Death Experiences,” details near-death experiences he compiled over 40 years, since hearing of his father’s case as a young child. (In) a real near-death experience, the body is left behind, and the spirit comes out of the body. And the spirit can see the body there and the medical people working on the body perhaps. If you go far enough in this experience, you go into what’s called a Life Review. During this Life Review, you can actually see other people’s thoughts. So, we tend to think we live a very private life inside our heads. But it’s not quite like that.

So, one of the first lessons in the search for God material is to learn how to cooperate with God. And I think that the Cayce information emphasizes the fact that we are really Divine emissaries. Mr. Kevin Todeschi often prays to the Divine for guidance on how he can be of service to others. Cayce recommended every morning getting up, and after your meditation, to sit there quiet and just become very centered and say aloud or quietly to yourself three times, “Lord, what would you have me do today?” And then listen. And from that you can get insights into what you should be about, what you should be doing.

Cayce would say dreams can give you insights into your physical health, your emotions, and your spirituality. Your dreams have your best interests at heart. They come from your Higher Self, your spiritual self. Cayce would say that people are always trying to get guidance, and that the subconscious mind, the superconscious mind is trying to give you guidance. All you have to do is watch your dreams. I think dreams can give us insight into things we need to work on for our own growth and development. We might get insight into things only our Divine Self knows about.

If we pay attention to our dreams, they can play a beneficial role in our lives. Mr. Kevin Todeschi tell us why. Dreams are important even if we don’t pay attention to them. So, for example, many people have had the experience where they go to bed and they’re anxious or they’re worried or they’re upset and they wake up feeling fine. And basically, what has happened is the dreams have contrasted and correlated the events of the day, and made some resolutions for you. And so subconsciously the process is helpful even if we don’t remember. But if we remember, then we can get insights into what it is our subconscious mind has figured out. And Cayce would say that you could get insights for everything, that your dreams can give you answers to anything.

He tells how, as his soul returned to Earth, he learned many lessons. I saw how people affected one another and how every tree and every plant and every butterfly and every bee, are souls or spirits and that they affect everything around them. If you’re filled with light and love and kindness and joy, then your love and kindness and joy are going to go around you like in a wave. Everybody is blending together into this plant that I call Earth. It’s almost like a plant. The Earth is just one being itself and we’re parts of it. People think of love kind of like a girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, love, but it’s not like that. Love is our kindnesses towards one another.