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Betty:
I have no idea. I guess it is going to go on unanswered forever.
I wish I knew. Perhaps it's my commitment to it. I don't know.
I've thought about it. I have no answer for it.
Veronica:
What do you mean by your commitment?
Betty:
My commitment to the experience, to what I received. I am
totally committed and I am the type of person who follows through
with her commitments. So, I guess I am just roughly looking
for an answer and there is none, except to look into my personality,
perhaps to find out. The answer is obviously there somewhere
and I'm too close to it to see.
Veronica:
You mention the three men in robes that appeared to you just
after your death. You refer to them as your monks and ministering
angels as opposed to guardian angels. What is the difference?
Betty:
Ministering angels are angels that administer to your spiritual
needs. Guardian angels are those that are there for more of
a protection, keeping you out of harms way.
Veronica:
During your experience you said that you wanted to learn the
purpose of life on earth. Just why are we here then?
Betty:
To learn to love unconditionally, as close as possible. I don't
think we'll ever achieve that, but I do think we are to learn
to love as close as the Christ's like love as is possible, to
learn to love under the most unlikely circumstances and deepest
tragedies. To learn to love even those people who are unlovable,
to learn to love and accept them unconditionally, and not be
judgmental. Love is very healing. I think the one thing that
we lack the most here on this earth is that kind of love and
yet we can only give what we have received and so we often have
a difficult time with that. Perhaps because we haven't received
love during our childhood and we don't know how to show love
or we don't know how to receive love.
Veronica:
Do you think your own capacity for love increased after your
experience?
Betty:
Oh, there is no doubt.
Veronica:
Would you elaborate on the spiritual, physical and universal
laws you talk about in your book.
Betty:
The spiritual laws are the things that pertain to God, that
which is spiritual because of our divine nature. The physical
laws pertain to our physical selves, our mortal selves. The
universal laws are those that govern the universe and the world.
All three are separate yet very much connected.
Veronica:
Would you tell us about the humour that you experienced in the
spirit world?
Betty:
At first they used the same form of communication that we would
use here on earth, until I could develop enough of an understanding
of what I felt was the more natural way of communication, which
is almost heart to heart, not really telepathy, but yet again
that is a way to explain it. So, the humour they used was similar
to the humour that we use here. In order to communicate with
me they often used the same words and phrases. The humour was
natural to me. It's a loving humour. It is very much like the
humour that we feel as parents when our little children do something
that is so obviously wrong and yet to them it isn't. So, we would
smile at them and humorously guide them in the right direction.
Veronica:
How would you explain the difference between heaven and earth?
Betty:
As it was explained to me, like comparing a 35 millimeter print
to its negative.
Veronica:
Would you talk about your experience with the rose? I was particularly
moved by that.
Betty:
The rose seemed to be very symbolic of something I felt. I
don't know that I completely understand the symbolism. I wasn't
particularly attracted to roses before I experienced my death.
But, when I saw this rose, I was in a very unusual way drawn
to it. I went to the rose and I entered into the rose. I actually
became a part of it, in that I was looking from within it, looking
out and seeing through the petals, seeing the light in each little
particle and becoming a part of the music, the melody that seemed
to flow from it. It was a beautiful experience.
Veronica:
And are you more attracted to roses now, because of that experience?
Betty:
Not only am I more attracted to roses but I later learned that
when I was a child (unknown to me though) one of my school principals
had written a little story about me in which he had referred
to me as his prairie rose. How ironic really, because my native
name is Rose as well. Ever since, I have absolutely been attracted
to roses and daisies also. I don't know the purpose of the rose,
except that I enjoyed it and appreciated it and I have a great
love for them now.
Veronica:
Often when someone has a spiritual experience, the intensity
of the feelings diminish over time. Has this been the case with
you?
Betty:
Not at all. In my deepest times of despair I look back on this
experience and it balances me. I can sense and feel it even
as I now talk about it. I give hundreds, probably thousands,
of presentations of my experience and when I become focussed
on the experience, I relive it. I can feel this great desire
and longing for where I was taken to and the spiritual beings
that surrounded me. I can relive those moments there in the
garden. Everything just comes back to life. I don't know if
that's all a part of it, if that is something that was imprinted
before I came back. I don't understand it. I just know that
I have this vivid recall of the entire experience. I taped all
of this after I had the experience, but I never had to listen
to it. The memory of it never left me. It was always there.
And even though I had not written the book in those 19 years,
I always used the experience to help other people. So this book
wasn't new to the people that surround me, the people that I
worked with, in my volunteer work and my work also as a counselor.
I just felt so limited. I felt there were so many people that
needed to know about this and I felt that as soon as my spirit
knew that it was the right time that I would write the book.
And not just the book, I knew there would be a video, I knew
there would be a movie. I just knew all of these things.
Veronica:
You mention in the book that your mother died of cancer. Did
you see her during this experience?
Betty:
I didn't mention seeing her because I believe that that was
taken from my memory. I do believe that not only my mother,
but my daughter, were a part of the grieving party. After I
came back, I went into depression for quite a few years. Looking
back on it and trying to understand it, I think that had I remembered
them, with vivid recall, having visited with them, I don't think
I would have overcome my depression because I wanted to be back
there, not here. I was told that those who we love would be
there and so I know that the ones that I love were there, I just
couldn't remember them.
Veronica:
Our most severe challenges will one day reveal themselves to
be our greatest teachers. Can you give an example of that in
your own life?
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