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Fraulein Zen's avatar

You are not alone. I took early retirement and suddenly all I could think about was death and what would end up getting me. Finally coming out of it a bit after a LOT of soul work. I was born in 1962, I loved Sam Kinison and that little sideways smirk with the chuckle. I also loved Andrew Dice Clay. Glad I lived in a time when humor wasn't so politically correct.

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Mr. Raven's avatar

You and me both! The world sure could use a Bill Hicks and a George Carlin about now.

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Ahmed’s Stack of Subs's avatar

1 John 4:18 (CSB)

There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.

Grace. Peace.

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Charlotte Pendragon's avatar

Physics confirms what the spiritual believes. We are all made of energy. Energy never dies. (First law of thermodynamics). Life here is a testing ground. I think we all go somewhere else. I’ve never believed otherwise and face death of my “people suit” with no fear. ✨💜🙏🤗

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John Mistretta's avatar

This made me smile. Thanks for the comment!

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© David's avatar

He was talking to a memory-induced hologram of Howard Stern. What a way to go.

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John Mistretta's avatar

😂

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Frater Seamus's avatar

I remember when Kinison came on the scene, he was like a cyclone ripping through the comedy world, absolutely loved his raging style. In regards to the death perspective, there is an interesting channel on YouTube that is all videos of NDE experiencers telling their stories, it is quite fascinating and a lot of their experiences are quite hopeful. Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/@TheOtherSideNDEYT/videos

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John Mistretta's avatar

Thanks for sharing!

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Christopher Cook's avatar

Who reported this amazing conversation? His wife, I presume?

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John Mistretta's avatar

It was his brother and another friend. They were driving to the same place, so when Sam’s car got hit they pulled over/turned around to help.

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Christopher Cook's avatar

Thanks!

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Erik Lewin's avatar

Hi, I'm actually a stand-up; I met Carl Labove (RIP) Kinison's best friend, who was with him when he died.

Anyway, Sam was one of the best to ever do it. He was truly an original.

BTW Joe List ain't no chopped liver either. I've also had the pleasure of working the cellar, in Vegas.

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John Mistretta's avatar

Thanks for reading! I failed to mention Carl who I had saw was also with Sam when he died. Joe List is awesome. If you ever do shows in NY would love to see one of yours!

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Erik Lewin's avatar

Great, John!

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OGRE's avatar

On that note, the only thing that is scary is going under anesthesia.

I've only gone under once. It was when I had my wisdom teeth removed.

It was a strange experience. I was laying in the chair, IV in my arm, the dentist said, "How much do you weight?" I said, "255 pounds." Then the dentist said, "Nighty night..."

Then I woke up and 2+ hours had passed. But I had no recollection of time -- at all! It was as if no time had passed.

It was a strange feeling, because I more or less, wasn't there for those 2 hours.

That being said, I wasn't dead either, so there's that., but it did make me think, because it was much different than sleeping. That was probably the strangest experience in my life so far as consciousness goes.

I'm a Christian, and I know that there's more to this existence after death. I can't possibly comfort you, because I don't begin to know how to do that. But I can tell you that there's no reason to believe that the lights just go out when we die.

I can't imagine that nearly every religion on the planet is wrong about there being an afterlife. That would require the work of a good "coincidence theorist" to make that plausible. 😉👉

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John Mistretta's avatar

Thanks for the comment. I went under anesthesia when I was 16 and it was one of the craziest moments of my life. Time stopped. I was suddenly on my couch watching South Park, and my mom was getting ready to take me to the hospital. I had time traveled back to the morning. Then I was back in the hospital bed, and suddenly felt myself get sucked inside of the bed and down into a terrifying place before finally coming to the hospital once more, finishing my countdown, and blacking out. I woke up a few hours later and told my mom I had gotten dragged to hell. she was horribly embarrassed since I said it in front of a room of nurses. What a trip down memory lane!

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That0neGuy's avatar

That sounds like results of a ketamine heavy anesthesia mix.

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OGRE's avatar

That's brutal.

My experience was that of “nothing” at least for those 2+ hours.

I've read a few interesting studies about what happens to people under anesthesia. It appears that people are not completely unconscious, but that they nearly always lose memory during the time that they are under.

However, it stands to reason that sometimes people remember what happens when they are under. After all, we sometimes remember dreams.

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Madjack's avatar

Maybe I’m bullshitting myself but for 99.999999% of time I haven’t been here and there will be A LOT of time after I’ll be gone. I’m a believer so I believe I will be hanging with Jesus playing hockey again(Jesus has a WICKED slap shot, we all have to ask him respectfully to tone it down) and having an otherwise awesome time forever. If I am wrong then it will be similar to getting propofol. Everything will be gone. Either way I just don’t think it will be bad. The problem is your autonomous brain(the brain that thinks its own thoughts and is out of your control) cannot stand the thought of YOUbeing gone.

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scott m's avatar

"Marlboro's. MARLBORO'S!

"You see this? THIS IS SAND!"

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Steven A Key's avatar

Read a few score more afterlife books. Meditate upon what is noted. Gather new experiences.

Peace and Health.

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Mondo John's avatar

Howdy, John Mistretta. Your middle name isn't Paul is it? Mine is. Statistically, there had to be another one, I guess. Curious where your grandparents landed from Italy. Mine from Sicily settled to Chicago on my mom's side and Tampa from my dad's.

After taking a class from some guy named Jeff Justice, I did standup a few times and it does share similarities to dying. Kind of an out of body experience as you stare glassy eyed at the faces in a dark room praying your memory doesn't fail.

Best of luck with your substack!

John Paul Mistretta

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John Mistretta's avatar

Hey, John! Thanks for finding our substack. My middle name isn’t Paul it’s Anthony, but still cool to find another John Mistretta here. Both sides of my family moved to NYC from their part of Sicily.

Good luck with your substack too!

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Eli's avatar

Since you mentioned bible....all have sinned. The penalty of sin is death.

The grave awaits us all 😔

John 3:13 kjv

Peace ✌️

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Chris Stanton's avatar

About Steve Jobs from someone who was there:

"Before embarking, he'd looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life's partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them.

"Steve's final words were: 'Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.'"

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John Mistretta's avatar

That’s awesome. I wonder what he saw

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Janet Boyer's avatar

Btw, ever hear of Dr. Michael Newton and his books Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls? Totally changed my views on death and the afterlife...

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John Mistretta's avatar

I havent, but I’ll definitely need to check it out.

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Janet Boyer's avatar

It's mind-blowing…and makes perfect sense to me. You might want to also check out Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss. 🙂

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Janet Boyer's avatar

Holy shit, that's crazy! I didn't know about his "conversation" after the accident. (As a former Pentecostal minister, myself, I remembered everything else... 🤭)

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