Again... if Mary doesn’t have eternal life via the promise contained in John 3:16, I don’t know what chance you and I have any theology that holds her to be deceased.
Just use the scriptural examples.
Afterall, is there any record of souls, of the deceased, being conscious and having interaction with anyone other than God (i.e. the transfiguration), except the sad King Saul/spirit of Samuel event?
Jesus said that Jarius’ daughter was asleep, while everyone present knew that she had died.
He told his disciples that deceased Lazarus was asleep.
A sidenote: The unrelated rich man/Lazarus parable is spiritual instruction on righteousness and faithfulness, and pointing out the hardness of hearts that won’t believe ‘though one rise from the dead’. And notice, ‘Lazarus’ (who was carried by angels to ‘Abraham’s bosom’) does not respond, nor is there any indication that he hears the plea of the rich man; there is only the response from ‘Abraham’.
After the Christ died, some of the ‘saints which slept arose’ and came out of their graves (just WOW! and I bet they looked perfectly healthy, not like ‘night of the living dead’ or ‘thriller’).
“...we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep........the dead in Christ shall rise first”. 1Thess. 4:15,16
My personal belief is that, just like deep sleep, or a coma, there is no knowledge of time passing. When a saint dies, though a thousand years go by, the next conscious moment (which will seem like the same day) will be the uniting with other saints and meeting the Lord in heaven.
As far as visions by those that have ‘died’ and been brought back to life; when the brain goes short on oxygen, halucinations can result. Physically, you’re dead when your blood is dead.