Dreams and nightmares

Death generally does not appear how it is shown in the media. It does not approach with noise. It does not come with a band. What I have heard from my friends in elderly care tells me a different story. Death approaches silently. It lurks in the shadows and walks in a stealthy manner. It is like a tiger in the jungle who had locked its eyes on the pray. It will not roar but silently approach and take the life out in a split second.

Another messenger of the death are dreams and nightmares. In elderly care my friends had narrated the experience from the patients and the elders under their care who were on the death bed. The dreams and the nightmare were narrated by them had a few similarities. They see their dead relatives and friends often visiting them in their dreams.

My friend who was taking care of a patient in an elderly care centre. This patient asked my friend to give them medications to cure the nightmares. My friend asked more details to the patient. The patient had provided chilling details, "I saw my mother a couple of days ago in my dreams. She died in my youth. We were having a meal together. She was crying while sitting next to me. I asked her the reason but she did not say anything and continued to cry. Later in my dreams I saw my father. He too had died several years ago. We were watching television. I saw him crying. Let me tell you, I had never seen him crying in my whole life. Yesterday I saw that I was working in my office. I retired 25 years ago but still I was working in the office. I saw my friends around. They suddenly turned to me, gathered at my desk, and started crying. Most of those friends are dead and for few others I don't know whether they are still alive. But I am seeing a lot of people in my dreams and all of them are crying. I want these nightmares to end. I do not want to see weeping people anymore. Please give me a medicine so that these nightmares do not occur". The patient had been pleading.

For my friend this had not been the first experience where a patient had reported seeing their dead relatives and friends in the dreams who appear cry. She had heard these stories before. She had heard these stories from her own patients as well as patients who were under her colleagues. She knew exactly what these nightmares meant. She knew that her patient had a very short time on the mortal plane. She knew she would need to be prepared for what was going to happen next. Though she did not tell the patient what was going to be the outcome.

A lot of experience is around death are mysterious. Not every time science could provide a justification. The consistency of experience is narrated by various patients is not easy to be ignored looking at the volume. Each and every day with each patient we uncover many mysteries and secrets towards death. If some phenomenon could not be explained by science does not mean they do not exist. Mostly the death works in mysterious ways and we have no way other than surrendering to it.