Near Death Experience
The Near-Death Experience (NDE) is a powerful argument for the existence of the afterlife. As medical resuscitation techniques are being improved more and more people are being brought back from the border of clinical death. A number of them recount an intense profoundly meaningful experience in which they seem to be alive and functioning outside their body. For many, a near death experience is an extremely powerful emotional and spiritual experience.
Scientific Reductionism
Providing a scientific explanation for the phenomenon of near-death experience has been a difficult challenge for scientists ever since data in the form of NDE testimonials started appearing in the mid 1970s.
Personal Near Death Experiences
One most extraordinary aspect of NDE's is that the underlying pattern seems unaffected by a person's culture or belief system, religion, race, education, or any other known variable, although the way in which the NDE is described varies according to the person's background and vocabulary. There is no evidence that the type of experience is related to whether the person is conventionally religious or not, or has lived a "good" or "bad" life according to his/her society's standards (although an NDE often strongly affects how life is lived after the experience).
Science
The fear of death has given rise to a host of speculations about an afterlife. Religions, philosophies and cults have multiplied over the millennia, all trying to answer our need for comfort about this seemingly absurd fate that awaits each of us. And now science has turned its gaze toward the matter of death.
Spirit and the Near Death Experience
Almost all near-death survivors tell of stories of out of body experiences, spiritual awakening, and a movement toward the light. Whatever their religious beliefs, the occurrence for people who have had this near death experiences (NDE) is very similar. And those who have experienced a NDE come away from it totally changed-they come away with an awakened spirituality and unconditional love.
The perception of most people is that this kind of spiritual awakening must be associated with religiousness. So when a 'common' person, a person without any significant religious background has an experience like this, it can be a profound awakening. It can also be frightening and fascinating.
Research and the Near Death Experience
Researchers, such as Bruce Greyson, Kenneth Ring, and Michael Sabom, helped to launch the field of Near-Death Studies, and introduced the study of Near-Death experiences to the academic setting. The medical community has been somewhat reluctant to address the phenomenon of NDEs, and grant money for research has been scarce. However, both Greyson and Ring developed tools that can be used in a clinical setting. Major contributions to the field include the construction of a Weighted Core Experience Index in order to measure the depth of the Near-Death experience, and the construction of the Near-death experience scale in order to differentiate between subjects that are more or less likely to have experienced an NDE. The scale is also, according to the author, clinically useful in differentiating NDEs from organic brain syndromes and nonspecific stress responses.
Children and the Near Death Experience
Near-Death Experiences could perhaps be dismissed as people's conscious imaginations. This is less readily so in the case of children's NDEs. P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D., Ph.D. (Hon) and Dr. Melvin Morse who are pioneers in the field of childhood NDEs. Dr. Morse is a pediatrician and neuroscientist.
In hundreds of interviews with children who had once been declared clinically dead, Dr. Morse found that children too young to have absorbed our adult views and ideas of death, share first-hand accounts of out-of-body travel, telepathic communication and encounters with dead friends and relatives.
Grief and the Near Death Experience
"Been there, done that, came back." Dr. Judy Long of the Research Foundation devoted to the study of 'near death' testimonies reported that the majority of people who came to her web site were dealing with grief and the loss of a loved one. Many people find comfort in the testimony of those who have visited the other side in an effort to help them invision what and where their loved ones may be.
After life Communications - Featured Book
Josie Varga has assembled an incomparable collection of what she terms visits from heaven from around the globe and backed up by testimony from some of the world s leading experts on afterlife communication. This groundbreaking book will lead you to question your own mortality with the realization that we are all eternal energy beings, and energy can neither be created nor destroyed. When you reach the end of this book, you will find that the most prudent explanation is that there is nothing final about death. You always were, and you always will be. "
Books about the Near Death Experience
Moving accounts, including deep insights about the mind and the nature of reality. Contributions to the research on near-death experiences have come from several academic disciplines, among these the disciplines of medicine, psychology and psychiatry. Interest in this field of study was originally spurred by the research of such pioneers as Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, George Ritchie, and Raymond Moody Jr. Moody's book "Life after Life", which was released in 1975, brought a lot of attention to the topic of NDEs.
Movies about Near Death Experience
Dorothy becomes unconscious, travels through a tunnel, finds herself in an enchanted wonderland, meets unusual beings, is taken to an "Emerald City" to see a powerful God-like being, and eventually returns to Earth. The Wizard of Oz, contains elements of the near death experience including, ineffability, the separation of consciousness, encounters with loved ones, the being of light, the life review, approaching the boundary, the return to physical body and the transformation of values and attitudes toward life. Many movies explore the NDE metaphorical as well as directly.
Documentaries about the Near Death Experience
Pare Lorentz defines a documentary film as "a factual film which is dramatic." Others further state that a documentary stands out from the other types of non-fiction films for providing an opinion, and a specific message, along with the facts it presents. Research documentaries about the afterlife from offer a scientfic point of view as well as a faithful point of view.
YouTube and the Near Death Experience
With the popularity of YouTube, many people are on line in the cyber community sharing their testimony of the near death experience. Check out some amazing Youtube confessions of Near Death Experiences. Get a glimpse of the other side, and how those visits enlighten us as to what we're supposed to be doing over here.
Spiritual Forums
Topics include the 'near death experience,' after-death communications, reincarnation, soul mates, twin souls, prophetic insights, books and movies with a spiritual theme, death bed visions, PSI, and many other spiritual themed discussions.
Gay Near Death Experiences
NDEs are “equal opportunity” experiences. NDEs have been reported by males and females, people from all levels of education, of all religions as well as people not involved in any religion or spiritual practice, people of all social/wealth levels, heterosexuals and homosexuals, people with a life history of “good” or “bad” actions, and people with and without mental illness.
Featured Book
Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience
As a cardiologist, Pim van Lommel was struck by the number of his patients who claimed to have near-death experiences as a result of their heart attacks. As a scientist, this was difficult for him to accept: Wouldn't it be scientifically irresponsible of him to ignore the evidence of these stories? Faced with this dilemma, van Lommel decided to design a research study to investigate the phenomenon under the controlled environment of a cluster of hospitals with a medically trained staff.
New!! - Prophetic Visions for 2010 from a Near Death Experience
In 1978 - an 18 year old teenager woke up after a NDE and followed instructions to write down prophetic headlines shown to him in visions. The headlines related to news stories for the first decade of the new millennium. (2000 – 2010) He was instructed to hand the written pages over to elected officials of small townships to be buried in ‘time capsules' to be unearthed in the year 2010 after Christmas. He was then instructed to ‘forget’ the prophecies until the future. He has recently started recalling vauge recollections of the headlines predicted in the visions for the year 2010 prior to the events coming to pass. He is journaling his recall on a blog at:
Featured DVD
Infinity: The Ultimate Trip.. Journey Beyond Death
What happens after we pass from this world? Is there a life after this one? Or do we just disappear forever? These are the questions asked in this powerful and poignant feature documentary, Infinity: The Ultimate Trip. Many may be surprised by the answers. Using vital and beautiful imagery, along with personal accounts of near-death experiences, reincarnation and more, Infinity brings forth the story of our own infinite nature, what to expect after death and the magic and beauty that awaits us on the other side.
