The Grim Reaper
 

Does he really exist?If so,has anyone ever seen him....during near death experiences perhaps?

That's a great question. From what I've read about NDEs, it tends to be light, love and loved ones.

That's what I've read too Squatchit,one wonders where this image of a cloaked,hooded figure complete with scythe and tolling bells comes from.According to wikipedia,the modern image came about in England in the 15th century but the concept of personification of death has existed in many societies since the beginning of history.

I would tend to think that the "grim reeper" is just a medeival made up myth, to frighten the illiterate peasants,into accepting church dogma, and to tow the line ,as it were

I always assumed that the "Grim Reaper" referred to the Black Death of medieval times. Also called the Leveller - "the only true friend of the poor."

http://youtu.be/PHn9BGaU6Fc

i beleive in everything. also the grim reaper could just be the angel of death

When my mother had her time to go over my wife and I had just finished our meditation and laid down to sleep. We both heard someone come in the upstairs door calling her name and asking her to go. We both heard the same thing. That was the first time that I had heard spirit voices that clearly. It was her guide that had come for her. She chose to stay for a few more days, it was her choice and they let her stay a while longer.
Death is my friend. When I get to old or the pain gets to bad my friend death will come to take me back home. Hoka-Hay= It is a beautiful day to die!
For my mother it was her guide who came for her. For another good friend of mine his guide came and talked to him a few months before he passed. His guide brought him the peace that surpasses all peace. After that day my brother was ready to go. He would see his guide sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, waiting till it was time.

the grim reaper is misunderstood, we fear him, but he is the one that gives us mercy and releases us from hell; he is only one man, and is cursed to a life of the dentist, that who saves us but we think he causes us pain, he is eternally hurting and is definitely an angel who frees us to the after worlds.

there is an interesting story of krishnamurti's encounter with what he called a "personification of death" (not a person) during an operation he underwent without anaesthesia. whilst being aware that the body was in great pain he was able to detach from this and in so doing "death" assumed he was ready to pass over. it appears they had quite a chat of it.

http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en...gue-with-death

go to page 9 of this link...you put a "9" in where it says "1" in the top right corner and press enter. it's a curious read. (the main bits on page 10 but you 9 for context)

edit: here's part of it from elsewhere::

It was a short operation and not worth talking about, though there was considerable pain. While the pain continued I saw or discovered that the body was almost floating in the air. It may have been an illusion, some kind of hallucination, but a few minutes later there was the personification – not a person – but the personification of death. Watching this peculiar phenomenon between the body and death, there seemed to be a sort of dialogue between them. Death seemed to be talking to the body with great insistence and the body reluctantly was not yielding to what death wanted. Though there were people in the room this phenomenon went on, death inviting, the body refusing.

It was not a fear of death making the body deny the demands of death but the body realised that it was not responsible for itself, there was another entity that was dominating, much stronger, more vital than death itself. Death was more and more demanding, insisting and so the other interfered. Then there was a conversation or a dialogue between not only the body, but this other and death. So there were three entities in conversation.

He had warned, before he went to the hospital, that there might be a disassociation with the body and so death might intervene. Though the person [Mary] was sitting there and a nurse came and went, it was not a self-deception or kind of hallucination. Lying in the bed he saw the clouds full of rain and the window lighted up, the town below stretching for miles. There was spattering of rain on the window pane and he saw clearly the saline solution dripping, drop by drop, into the organism. One felt very strongly and clearly that if the other had not interfered death would have won.

This dialogue began in words with thought operating very clearly. There was thunder and lightning and the conversation went on. Since there was no fear at all, neither on the part of the body or the other – absolutely no fear – one could converse freely and profoundly. It is always difficult to put a conversation of that kind into words. Strangely, as there was no fear, death was not enchaining the mind to the things of the past. What came out of the conversation was very clear. The body was in considerable pain and not apprehensive or anxious and the other was discernibly beyond both. It was as though the other was acting as an umpire in a dangerous game of which the body was not fully aware.

Death seemed to be always present but death cannot be invited. That would be suicide which would be utterly foolish.

During this conversation there was no sense of time. Probably the whole dialogue lasted about an hour and time by the watch did not exist. Words ceased to exist but there was an immediate insight into what each one was saying. Of course if one is attached to anything – ideas, beliefs, property or person, death would not come to have a conversation with you. Death in the sense of ending is absolute freedom.

The quality of conversation was urbane. There was nothing whatsoever of sentiment, emotional extravagance, no distortion of the absolute fact of time coming to an end and the vastness without any border when death is part of your daily life. There was a feeling that the body would go on for many years but death and the other would always be together until the organism could no longer be active. There was a great sense of humour amongst the three of them and one could almost hear the laughter. And the beauty of it was with the clouds and the rain.

The sound of this conversation was expanding endlessly and the sound was the same at the beginning and was without end. It was a song without a beginning or an end. Death and life are very close together, like love and death. As love is not a remembrance, so death had no past. Fear never entered this conversation for fear is darkness and death is light.

This dialogue was not illusory or fanciful. It was like a whisper in the wind but the whisper was very clear and if you listened you could hear it; you could then be part of it. Then we would share it together. But you won’t listen to it. As you are too identified with your own body, your own thoughts and your own direction. One must abandon all this to enter into the light and love of death.

from The Life and Death of Krishnamurti by Mary Lutyens

About 6 years ago I had an experience with the reaper. An elderly lady across the street was the greatest friend at the time. I was about 10. She was sick, but no one expected her to get worse, actually she was on the mend. One night I had a dream that I was riding my bike around the neighborhood and a tall man in a black cloak was walking to the door. I guess my dream self figured out what was going on before I did. I jumped off my bike and started screaming at him. Then this crazy light appeared in my hands like an energy ball and I pushed it at him. It almost looked like a solar wave, like the ones that go off before the actual explosion. He just looked at me, and shot his own light at me. I fell to the ground and I guess got knocked out. When I stood up again I saw mrs. Rosemary walking hand in hand with him down the road. The next morning, the first thing I did was run to see her. But no one was there. When I saw the car there I ran over. Mr Jim was crying saying he had to take her to the hospital that night because she stopped breathing. She died before they got there.

I know it was a dream, but it taught me some things.. You can't stop or fight death. And Though it was a dream, I saw in deaths place, the grim reaper. I think it's all symbolic. Like I see the reaper (minus the actual scythe.) because that's what I expected. Angels have been known to change appearance based on who they are showing themselves to. And the reaper is an angel of death right? Or even the ferryman...