Even if the experience of death is simply a chemical reaction that lasts just a few seconds but where your consciencness is suspended in a state where it can no longer experience time and the perception of those few seconds seems eternal (which seems to be a common occurrence in many near death type experiences), you must have a rational belief in a life after death or in a power over death in order to experience those few seconds in a way that your mind does not come to the conclusion that there is no way out. If death comes upon you and your mind realizes it and loses hope of being revived or has no hope of a resurrection, then eventually the experience will be recognized as an illusion and as that happens your perception of a distinct self will soon begin to disintegrate as there will be no other thing outside of your own conscience control to validate your separate existence, which would be like hell, I'm sure. Only by the actual belief in a resurrection will your rational mind retain the hope necessary to experience the dying process as a temporary transition with an expectation of coming out of it in a real sense and thus maintaining the integrity of your self awareness. A well founded and thoroughly examined belief in Jesus Christ offers an objective and rational hope in such a resurrection.
If you have not "worked out your your salvation with fear and trembling" then any irrationality in your belief structure may serve as a fatal blow to your minds hope of being resurrected. The Bible also teaches that if a person has "become enlightened" but then falls away from belief, that it is impossible for them to be saved. Could this be because your mind now has a rational objection to Jesus Christ, the proof of the resurrection?
Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
Hebrews 6:4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
The thoughts that fill your mind now, while you are living, will be the entire means available to you by which to navigate the physical process of death. If there is anything real to seek in death, the only way you will be able to distiguish it from a hallucination of your dying brain, will be to have familiar knowledge of it prior to dying. If Christ appears to you in death, your prior knowledge of him will be the means by which you recognize and interact with him. If you have doubt, your mind will determine that He is an illusion and will not interact with Him in a real way, and He won't be able to lead you to His ressurection.
Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
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