I thought that D&C 130:18 is implying something we rarely speak about, that our knowledge and memories of this earth will not be immediately accessible to us in the Spirit World, but only after the Resurrection. In the Spirit World, we will have a recollection of all our guilt, however, which implies that some sort of Aura, Alignment, or “wear and tear” is present on or with our Spirit.

In addition to these quotes, I remember reading a sermon from Brigham Young, although I cannot find it at the moment, where he basically said that it is almost impossible for a Spirit to repent, compared to how it is in this life. Not having our knowledge would really make that true, because we would not know a thing about Churches, Religion, Afterlife… It would be like we are born as a baby again, essentially.

The vail we passed through on entering this mortal life also took away a “brain” or a set of memories, so why wouldn’t the vail at the end of this life do the same? And doesn’t Resurrection reunite our spirit with our body, brain, and our premortal memories as well?

Those are my thoughts, at least. I enjoyed your post, thank you!

From the NDE perspective, it’s not *poof* you’re in the end-state. Most NDE’s are just hanging around locally, until they get ’summoned’ to be sorted out. That’s where the whole ‘tunnel to the light’ part comes in. The far end of the tunnel, which is not here on this world, is to the person evidently the outskirts of Heaven. People mingling, coming and going, etc. Sooner or later everyone get’s sorted out, whether reunions or judgements.

The case that this researcher expounded on was that of a woman who was blind from near birth, and who thus had no mental comprehension of visual substance or logic. On the Heaven side, she described the communications between people as unusual, but instinctive. Queries and thoughts existed within the beings, and flowed freely without constriction. She recalls large amounts of complex technical knowledge ‘flowing’ into her and ‘existing’ inside her. She was told that she would not be permitted to take that back, but she distinctly senses ‘blanked out’ or ‘inaccessible’ memories.

Also common to NDE cases is the understanding that there is a ‘point of no return’. Their understanding is once they have crossed the threshhold into heaven, there’s no chance to return to mortality. In their travels and communications however they do sense and observe the constant visitations and communications, primarily spirit to spirit.

NDE’s are essentially the only useful non-canonical sources of information we have about the afterlife, and they are nearly all silent about the activities and ministries of those who have crossed the threshold into heaven permanently.

From NDE experiences, generally there is no sensation of the restoration of all knowledge. They are blessed with the opportunity to gain a brief glimpse of the current state, but obviously since they are destined to return to mortality the veil must still be in place. Also relevant to that argument is how although Joseph Smith and Moses could part the veil almost on command, by default it still applied to them, and their parting of the veil enabled them still only tiny glimpses of eternity.

There’s a couple interesting lessons I’ve learned from all this. First is a greater understanding of the communication of intelligence, and the self-existance of intelligence. Second is a better glimpse of the transcendence of spiritual awareness. Sometimes people use the term ‘plane’, really it’s not practical to use classically mortal external references to measure something that is self-existant.

This reminds me of one thing I once heard my old Elder’s Qurom President say: (I don’t remember if this was in Elder’s Quorum or Gospel Doctrine class… but he’s also a Seminary Teacher) we should not feel that there are any “second chances” after we die. “This life is the time to prepare to meet God…” (Alma 34:32)

But whether saying after we die is a second chance - or part of this “chance” - I really don’t know. But I would like to work it out here