Lyall Watson - The Romeo Error

I agree that the religious figures seen in NDEs are not real religious beings. For example, many NDErs report seeing Jesus, but he looked exactly like the pictures of him (blue eyes etc.) and not like a real Middle Eastern man of his time would have looked like. Nevertheless, there are many NDEs and reincarnation cases with memories of the intermission period in which those people met some kind of guides. To me it seems that those beings appeared as themselves instead of having a false appearance. I also don't think that those beings were merely products of wishful thinking on part of the subjects of these cases. Therefore I think that at least some of these discarnate spirits are real and some of them are more advanced than others. Sometimes they have helped subjects of the reincarnation cases in choosing their parents etc. To me all this suggests that the dead relatives and other normal people met during these experiences are really themselves.

I think you might have misunderstood the point I was making. I wasn't suggesting that these welcoming spirits were figments of the imagination of the perceiver but that they are actual spirit guides (as you rightly say) who assume a persona which will be of comfort to the recently deceased. Many would be comforted by the appearance of Jesus and some might be reassured by being met by Albert Einstein. It is a guise that serves a purpose and not something that is maintained beyond that usefulness.

When it comes to already deceased relatives, I am somewhat troubled by how this might fit with other considerations. What if the parent has reincarnated? What if the parent has moved to a different level or spiritual environment? I can think of plausible explanations for all of these questions but I don't dismiss the possibility that specialist guides are employed and may well appear as a comforting figure such as a parent or a religious figure just to soften the transition.