The Wisdom of Jacob's Ladder

The following is excerpted from The Wisdom of Jacob's Ladder by Jacob Cooper. It was released in January and is currently the #1 Amazon bestseller in Near Death Experiences.

In it, Jacob uses the lessons from his childhood near death experience to help readers learn, grow, and increase their understanding. He frames each lesson or piece of wisdom as a rung on the ladder. 

It has received advance praise from Suzanne Giesemann, Alison DuBois, Gary Schwartz, PhD, and many more. We hope you enjoy!

INTRODUCTION

My life changed forever on a warm September morning in 1993. I was just three years old and was going to a playground with family and some friends. When I ran happily toward the playground that day, I had unknowingly contracted pertussis, otherwise known as whooping cough, a contagious and dangerous virus. If left untreated for infants, children, or even adults, it can lead to serious physical damage, and, in my case and many others’, passing on.

I climbed the rungs of a ladder toward the top of a slide. Suddenly, I wasn’t able to breathe. I began to lose all control over my bodily functions. I was struck with intense panic, trauma, and felt powerless over my own physical demise and despair.

My body was no longer able to function, and yet part of me was able to go on. I stepped out of my body, or “vehicle” as I call it, and began to become aware of my own body and its functions, and I had a clear under standing that all made sense. I was able to see the physical through a much deeper lens of awareness.

^{Photo by Giovanni Miccio}

I last became aware that my brain was being deprived of oxygen. Moments later, I felt a gigantic crack, like the sound that you hear when thunder strikes. My brain felt as if it literally split in half. I then was able to let go of what felt like an eternity of panic, pain due to my suffocation, and uncertainty. I surrendered to the light of what many know as the higher spirit realm or what is commonly referred to as the other side.

It was an experience that had the intensification of the highest of highs. I became fully aware of the source of all there is and was, otherwise referred to by many as God, awareness of Christ consciousness, angels, spirit guides, soul family, past lives, and my own soul’s purpose and more to describe to put properly into words. Later, I learned that this was called a near-death experience (NDE). The term was coined by a world-renowned and brilliant pioneer named Dr. Raymond Moody. My NDE took me to a place that was foreign to my life as a three-year-old to some degree but was near and dear to my own soul.

I became aware of the power of choice. Many NDE-ers report having autonomy over if they stay on the other side or that it is not their time. Within this choice, I became aware of some of the work that I would be doing in my current life and the lives impacted by it. I was very moved and had a clear knowing of what to do.

I chose to continue my mission to help people remember who they are and where they come from. I knew in those moments that I would be a gentle reminder to others of who they are on this earth temporarily but not of it. There is a higher intelligence and infinite source weaving through life, no matter how much one forgot on the journey or little they saw or heard from these unseen force fields of higher awareness.

I wrote my last book Life After Breath as a way to give back what I was given. You see, in moments when I experienced the most intensified despair and had my own breath taken, I was able to surrender to the breath of eternity. In the Jewish faith that I was raised in, spirit is translated as Ruach, or “Wind of God.” This is one of the few points that I have grown to accept and agree within the faith.

I knew that despite losing my own breath, there was a breath that can never be taken from my soul. Life After Breath to me was my story or karma of my near-death experience and how I was able to take ownership of it in my life 

I decided to write The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder for many different reasons. The first reason is that while I believe that we all have a story or a karma, we also have the ability to not be defined by our stories. We can learn to define them and create a meaning and a purpose. The narrative of my own near-death experience never changed. As I grew and evolved as a human and soul, I was able to find was to express it and learn from it differently.

I believe life is like a canvas. Each and every day we have the opportunity to create a different outlook and viewpoint. Perception and our awareness of it becomes our reality. The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder is a book that goes into the beautiful tapestry and wisdom that I have been able to learn from my near-death experience...

With this book, I am here to make a change. I invite you to come with me on a story-based transformative experience in my near-death experience. It is a catalyst for our times. It is a resilient piece in having a different set of sources running and governing our lives. This is not sourced in ego, division, or the narratives played out in our worlds. It is a source that goes far beyond this. A source that never left our own backyard of our inner being. At our core and deepest essence, we are this source and solution to everyday problems.

Plenty of clients and people I interact with on a daily basis search for happiness and God, turning away from their own source within and looking thousands of miles away. It’s as if the notion that we are not good enough has governed lives and answers, with beauty and wisdom coming from something else.

I learned in my NDE that all one has to do is turn inward and change their direction. To let go of the pain and suffering that exists temporarily in the body and human condition and embrace one’s true foundation of source of life. I learned that our thoughts, bodies, emotions, and states come and go as well as even dire pain and suffering. I am living proof through my own NDE. What lasts is the soul. How we remember our soul can lead to the life that we live and the ability to nurture and embody our essence.

On the following pages, I have divided different lessons into different chapters. I had my own NDE on a ladder like Jacob from the Bible who saw angels floating up and down after fleeing from his brother Esau. This book provides different tenets and wisdom of each rung of the ladder. Upon applying to some of these tenets, one can begin to remind themselves that they do not have to wait to get to heaven to see the light that this light, this inner light, never left them.

Every step in our experience is focused on our own true being, not the doing of the world, which changes temporarily. Being presence with each step on the ladder of growth, expansion, and guidance can assist seekers reading this book to remember that they are all spiritual beings not defined by this human experience but here and able to define and share this human experience. 

You can read more and purchase The Wisdom of Jacob’s Ladder on Amazon.

Jacob Cooper

Based on his near death experience and past life regressions, Jacob L. Cooper, LCSW, shares insight about the mystery of life on the other side of the veil. Jacob’s experience provides the guidance for others to experience past-life memories by assisting in the development of self-awareness and finding meaning in their experiences.

Jacob is a sought-after speaker on grief, wisdom, and consciousness, and offers meditation and mindfulness seminars to individuals and groups.

He is the best- selling author of Life After Breath, a memoir on his near-death experience (NDE) published by Waterside Productions, with literary agent is William Gladstone. Jacob resides and practices in Long Island, New York.

You can contact him and learn more about his life and work on his website JacobLCooper.com.