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Spirituality
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NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES Bruce Goldberg The best scientific evidence of the soul's survival beyond the physical death of the body comes from near-death experiences (NDEs). Depictions of NDEs have been around for a long time. Dr. Raymond Moody, in his ground-breaking book "Life After Life," coined the term "near- death experience." As a society we have become more aware of this phenomenon since Dr. Moody's book first appeared in 1975. Researchers may differ somewhat in their specific conclusions about NDE, but their studies reveal a similar picture of this phenomenon. the typical encounter is described as being in a dream. Surprisingly, this experience seems more real than ordinary waking consciousness. The five senses are heightened; thought processes are rational and crystal clear. The main difference noted is a disconnectedness from your physical body. A floating sensation ensues, and the soul views the lifeless body from a corner of the ceiling. A sense of calm and serenity dominates now, and time has no meaning. The soul feels drawn to a dark tunnel with a brilliant white light at its end. As you enter the white light, a loved one or a religious figure greets you. At this time, you become aware that you will return to your physical body. Prior to this, however, you have perceived in the form of flashbacks an instantaneous panoramic review of your former life. Most people do not remember these events when they are resuscitated. Some people report becoming aware of discomfort or being propelled uncontrollably back into their body. Reports prevail of a greater appreciation of life, an increase in the importance of personal relationships, and a determination to maximize the opportunities afforded to them. In summary, the core experience of a NDE includes:
It must be pointed out that any NDE represents only the early stage of death. "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" would classify this as the first bardo after death. What is interesting is that the death process, like life, involves choice. These choices form the basis for learning as well as the initiation of personal experience. Children also report NDEs, but their experiences differ. They have more vivid recollections and see the brilliant white light twice as often as adults. Children have shown a tendency to temporarily forego their childhood identities and become "ageless and wise beyond their years." In addition, the panoramic memory life review is absent in a child's NDE. Kenneth Ring's book, "Life at Death," reports that forty-eight percent of the people he interviewed who had an NDE described the core experience. Prior religious beliefs had no effect on these observations. In fact, more NDE experiencers than non-experiencers previously felt that death resulted in the end of consciousness. None of Ring's subjects experienced anything hellish. Eighty percent of the subjects reported that they now had little or no fear of death. Nearly twice as many of those who had no NDEs were aware of this phenomenon and, through the media, of the work of Elizabeth Kubler Ross and Raymond Moody's work. this defeats any argument that the experiencers were culturally conditioned to have this result. Another qualifying factor to these reports being accurate comes from the reports of Michael Sabom, an Atlanta cardiologist. He interviewed thirty-two patients who claimed to have had an NDE. None of them made any major mistakes in describing the resuscitation procedures applied to them while they were out of their body observing these procedures. Sabom noted that twenty-three of twenty-five patients who did not have an NDE, but made "educated guesses" as the procedures involved, made major errors in their reports to him. Moody reported that a woman was able to accurately describe the instruments that were employed in her resuscitation following a heart attack - right down to their colors. What makes this case especially significant is that this elderly patient had been blind for fifty years! Moody, among others, also reports a reluctance to return among NDE receivers. Some of these patients even express anger toward their doctors for bringing them back. One rather interesting observation from some NDE reports is that of precognition. Ring reports a "life preview" and "world preview" as a component of these futuristic depictions. The life previews were glimpses of the patient's future, and unique to each individual. However, there was considerable consistency of global events, both in timing and content. the life previews are presented as a vivid memory rather than a forecast, and are highly detailed. They seem to occur as an extension of the panoramic life review. There is documentation for many of these futuristic projections, according to Ring. One man described the Three Mile Island incident to his wife just two days before it happened. Another patient described the eruption of Mount St. Helens to her husband. He mocked her until a few hours later when this event was shown on their local television news. Since 1977 my work with age progression through hypnosis most definitely demonstrates the accuracy of the mind's ability to see the future. I refer you to my first book, "Past Lives - Future Lives" for a detailed discussion of progression, along with case histories. Ring also noted that NDEs resulting from illness were more likely to contain the core experience than those from accidents. On the other hand, the accident experiencers were more likely to experience the panoramic life review as compared to the victims of illness or attempted suicides. The decision to return is often related to some unfinished business that the patient feels must be completed prior to his or her death.
I am fortunate in having had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Raymond Moody since 1983. We were both conducting workshops at an Association of Research and Enlightenment Conference in Washington, D.C. Ray is also the first person to document the core experience of an NDE. As the father of the field of NDE, his work has added significantly to the field of conscious dying, even though an NDE is an example of unconscious dying. What most people are not aware of is the first case Dr. Moody investigated. This case was responsible for his devoting his entire life to the investigation of NDEs. If you read Moody's "Life After Life," you will note that the book is dedicated to George Ritchie, M.D. In December 1943, the 20-year-old Ritchie had been pronounced dead by two doctors. He lay cold, covered from head to toe, for nine minutes. He was traveling through another dimension of life. His guide was Jesus Christ. Miraculously, Ritchie returned to his body, shocking everyone present. He would never be the same again - neither would those whose lives he touched. Only minutes had passed between Ritchie's death and his miraculous revival, but somewhere beyond time he was absorbing the love and wisdom of Jesus Christ. "Here stood a Being that knew everything that I had ever done in my life, for the panorama of my life surrounded us, and yet he totally accepted and loved me," he wrote. What Ritchie saw convinced him of the existence not of a rigid judgmental God, but of a God whose love for his creatures is ever ascending. He saw that a person's learning did not stop with physical death. Endless levels of attainment await us. EXPLANATIONS FOR NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES The classic psychoanalytical explanation for an NDE is that when a person's life is threatened, the ego activates a psychological defense mechanism creating the elements of the core experience. Others feel that the "happily ever after" stance toward death may represent a form of denial when what is really needed by the dying is a demonstration of real concern and real caring in their present experience. This notion of a protective response provided as an escape for the ego when confronted by death, along with laboratory-induced afterlife visions, fails to account for the overnight permanent personality changes that are observed. Included among these changes are healthier eating habits, improved self-images, and a greater zest for life. These people are not just saying they are different, they are acting empowered. Cross-cultural studies of NDE have been conducted by the well-respected researchers Karlis Osis and Erlender Haraldsson. Their conclusions are that the evidence from NDEs is highly suggestive of life after death. Apparitions that are contrary to the expectations of the experiencer are especially significant. children surprised at observing angels without wings and patients seeing people they assumed to be alive, but were in fact dead, support this hypothesis of life after death. Neither cultural conditioning nor medical nor psychological theories can explain these. Recent Gallup polls show that about sixty percent of Americans believe in hell. Yet no Euro-American NDE report indicates a judgment procedure. The life reviews always have love and comfort as the theme. Another interesting fact about NDE is that there is such a similarity between the consciousness at death and that of life that the patient has difficulty in recognizing that he has shifted realities. This is supported by the Tibetan Buddhist belief that all of the bardos, including life, dying between lives, rebirth, hypnosis and dreaming are basically identical in the dualistic structure and appearance. My medical colleagues are quick to point out the biological effect of cerebral anoxia, or the effect of general anesthetics and narcotics used in a hospital. In order for this strictly neurophysiological explanation to carry weight, it would have to account for the entire core experience, but it most certainly does not. In addition, amnesia is a result of cerebral anoxia. NDE reports would not exist if cerebral anoxia were in effect. the presence and/or the "voice" often encountered during an NDE is most likely the Higher Self, not an extension of the personality. SUMMARIZING NDE
RELATING NDE TO CONSCIOUS DYING An NDE is an example of unconscious dying. This is a prelude to many of the circumstances that a soul will encounter in conscious dying, with one great difference. That difference is related to the disorienting forces of the lower planes or karmic cycle. The advantage of maintaining contact with the Higher Self at the moment of death is that the soul can avoid the need to come back again to the earth plane, or any of the other lower planes. If these souls must return, their new life will be far more fulfilling and empowered than if they died unconsciously. We can learn from NDEs what not to do. In addition, the phenomenon provides us with a glimpse of what death will be like. This should remove the fears commonly associated with this transition. It is this fear that disorients the soul upon death and creates many of the problems the transitee experiences when he or she dies unconsciously. >From "Peaceful Transition," by Bruce Goldberg. Copyright 1997 by Bruce Goldberg. Printed with permission from Llewellyn Publications. (Reprint, Personal Transformation, Winter/Spring 1998 edition) Copyright © 1996. The Light Party. |