Encounters with the Dead: A Perspective from the Structure of Being

Introduction: The Rising Accounts of Contact with the Deceased

In recent years, reports of encounters with the dead have proliferated. Whether through mediumship, near-death experiences (NDEs), apparitions, premonitions, or personal intuitions, individuals claim to perceive or communicate with those who have passed. Traditional interpretations often frame these encounters within religious, spiritualist, or psychological paradigms. However, from the perspective of the Structure of Being, as articulated in the thought of Emanuele Severino, these experiences must be understood within the framework of eternity and necessity rather than becoming and contingency.

The Eternal Nature of All That Appears

The foundation of this perspective lies in the recognition that nothing truly ceases to be. In Severino’s thought, everything that exists is eternal and does not pass into nothingness. If an event, being, or experience appears, it is not a transient occurrence but an eternal necessity revealing itself in a specific horizon.

Encounters with the dead, therefore, do not represent the “return” of lost individuals from non-being. Rather, they indicate a shifting in the appearing of beings—a necessary manifestation of the eternal within a given experiential context. The deceased have not moved elsewhere; they have always been, and their reappearance follows the necessity of Being’s unfolding.

Mediumship and the Limits of Subjective Interpretation

Mediumship claims to provide direct communication with the deceased, often portraying them as continuing their journey, evolving, or offering guidance. While such experiences cannot be dismissed, they are frequently shaped by cultural and psychological filters that assume the deceased exist in a state of temporal progression.

From the perspective of the Structure of Being, the deceased do not “progress” in time because they have never truly ceased to be. The messages conveyed through mediumship might reflect necessary symbolic expressions of the unbreakable relation between beings rather than a literal continuation of an individual’s personality in a different realm.

NDEs and the Vision of the Departed

Near-death experiences often include encounters with deceased loved ones who appear to welcome the experiencer or offer guidance. These visions are shaped by the individual’s conceptual framework and expectations, yet they are not mere hallucinations or illusions.

Rather, NDEs can be understood as moments of intensified recognition, where the boundaries of conditioned perception weaken, allowing a deeper unveiling of the necessity of beings. The appearance of the deceased in these experiences suggests not their continued existence as progressing individuals but the eternal necessity of their being within the totality of Being.

Apparitions and the Shifting Horizon of Experience

Reports of apparitions—whether seen in moments of grief, in specific locations, or spontaneously—suggest a form of presence that transcends conventional understandings of space and time. These experiences are often interpreted as the return of the dead to the realm of the living, but from the perspective of eternity, they reveal something more fundamental.

Apparitions signify the necessary reappearance of a being within the unfolding of recognition. Rather than moving through different states, the deceased are eternally what they are, and their presence in certain moments reflects the necessity of their appearing in that context.

Premonitions and the Necessity of Recognizing Being

Some individuals report sensing the presence of the deceased before learning of their passing or receiving insights about events yet to unfold. These premonitions suggest that time is not a linear sequence of becoming but an unfolding of necessity. The recognition of a deceased person before confirmation of their death does not indicate foresight in the traditional sense but rather the alignment of awareness with the necessity of what is already so.

Intuition and the Unveiling of the Eternal Relation

Many people describe feeling the presence of the deceased—not as a sensory apparition but as a direct intuition. These moments often bring peace, understanding, or the resolution of unresolved emotions. From the perspective of the Structure of Being, this is not a psychological coping mechanism but an inevitable recognition of the indestructible relation between beings.

The relation between oneself and the deceased is not something that can be broken by death, because both exist within the eternal structure of Being. The feeling of their presence is not a return from absence but an unveiling of what is always necessarily so.

Rethinking Death and Presence Beyond Becoming

These various phenomena challenge the dominant view that death represents a final separation. Instead, from the perspective of eternal necessity, encounters with the dead reveal that beings do not pass into non-being but remain eternally within the appearing of truth.

The increasing frequency of such experiences in contemporary society may indicate a broader unveiling of Being, where the rigid materialist distinction between life and death begins to dissolve. These encounters are not supernatural anomalies but glimpses into the necessity that nothing is lost, nothing is contingent, and all that is, is eternal.

Conclusion: The Indestructibility of Being

Encounters with the dead, in all their forms, are necessary manifestations of the eternal relation between beings. Rather than interpreting them as proof of linear afterlife progression, they should be understood as moments of recognition within the unveiling of Being. The deceased do not move away or return; they are eternally what they are, and their appearing follows the necessity of truth.

In seeing this, the fear of loss dissolves, and the longing for reunion is understood not as a hope for future becoming but as the inevitable recognition of what has never been absent.