Have you ever visited a store for the first time and had it feel really familiar? Or maybe you're deep in conversation with a friend and you suddenly get the feeling that you've had the exact conversation before, even though you know that you haven't. If you've ever found yourself in either of these situations, you've experienced déjà vu. Sixty to 70 percent of us admit to getting this feeling at least once in our lives. The sight, sound, taste or even smell of something makes us think that we've experienced it before, although we know that we couldn't have.
There are more than 40 theories as to what déjà vu is and what causes it, and they range from reincarnation to glitches in our memory processes. In this article, we'll explore a few of those theories to shed some light on this little understood phenomenon.
Déjà vu is a French term that literally means "already seen" and has several variations, including déjà vécu, already experienced; déjà senti, already thought; and déjà visité, already visited. French scientist Emile Boirac, one of the first to study this strange phenomenon, gave the subject its name in 1876.
Déjà Vu: At a Glance
Since déjà vu occurs in individuals with and without a medical condition, there is much speculation as to how and why this phenomenon happens.
There are often references to déjà vu that aren't true déjà vu. Researchers have their own definitions, but generally déjà vu is described as the feeling that you've seen or experienced something before when you know you haven't. The most common misuse of the term déjà vu seems to be with precognitive experiences -- experiences where someone gets a feeling that they know exactly what's going to happen next, and it does. An important distinction is that déjà vu is experienced during an event, not before. Precognitive experiences -- if they are real -- show things that will happen in the future, not things that you've already experienced. (However, one theory about déjà vu deals with precognitive dreams that give us a "déjà vu feeling" afterwards. See the Déjà Vu and Precognitive Dreams section.)
Hallucinations that are brought on by illness or drugs sometimes bring a heightened awareness and are confused with déjà vu. False memories that are brought on by schizophrenia can be confused with déjà vu as well. Unlike true déjà vu, which typically lasts from 10 to 30 seconds, these false memories or hallucinations can last much longer.
Types of Deja Vu
Defining types of déjà vu is a very slippery area. Those who have studied it have applied their own categories and differentiations -- each usually tied to a specific theory about what causes déjà vu. Alan Brown, a professor of psychology at South Methodist University and author of "The Déjà Vu Experience: Essays in Cognitive Psychology," has three categories for déjà vu. He believes there is déjà vu caused by biological dysfunction (e.g., epilepsy), implicit familiarity and divided perception. In 1983, Dr. Vernon Neppe, Director of the Pacific Neuropsychiatric Institute in Seattle, proposed four subcategories of déjà vu, including epileptic, subjective paranormal, schizophrenic and associative.
Taking a very broad look at the research and resources available, we can put déjà vu experiences into two categories and then see the more subtle distinctions that researchers have placed on it:
* Associative déjà vu
The most common type of déjà vu experienced by normal, healthy people is associative in nature. You see, hear, smell or otherwise experience something that stirs a feeling that you associate with something you've seen, heard, smelled or experienced before. Many researchers think that this type of déjà vu is a memory-based experience and assume that the memory centers of the brain are responsible for it.
* Biological déjà vu
There are also high occurrences of déjà vu among people with temporal lobe epilepsy. Just before having a seizure they often experience a strong feeling of déjà vu. This has given researchers a slightly more reliable way of studying déjà vu, and they've been able to identify the areas of the brain where these types of déjà vu signals originate. However, some researchers say that this type of déjà vu is distinctly different from typical déjà vu. The person experiencing it may truly believe they've been through the exact situation before, rather than getting a feeling that quickly passes.
Déjà vu also occurs with some predictability in major psychiatric disorders, including anxiety, depression, dissociative disorders and schizophrenia.
Next, we'll look at how researchers have studied this phenomenon.
Chronic Déjà Vu
Recently, there have been studies of people who have what researchers are terming "chronic déjà vu." Four senior citizens in the United Kingdom have experienced déjà vu in a constant state. They refused to watch the news because they felt like they already knew what was going to be said (even though they really didn't). Or, they wouldn't go to the doctor because they felt like they had already been and didn't see the point.
Researchers have suggested that these individuals have experienced a failure in the temporal lobe. The circuits that are activated when you remember something have gotten stuck in the "on" position, so to speak. This has essentially created memories that don't actually exist
Studying Deja Vu
Déjà vu is extremely difficult to study because it occurs briefly, unannounced, only in certain people, and has no witnesses or physical manifestations other than the person saying, "hey, déjà vu!" Because of this, there is little firm research and no definitive explanations. Déjà vu studies must depend on personal descriptions and recollection for data. For two centuries people have tried to come up with reasons we experience déjà vu. From philosophers, to psychologists, to paranormal experts, they've all had their theories.
Emile Boirac was a French psychic researcher who was the first to use the term déjà vu in his book, "L'Avenir des Sciences Psychiques." He did not research the phenomenon in depth, however. Sigmund Freud theorized that these experiences resulted from repressed desires or memories related to a stressful event that people could no longer access as regular memory. Scientists used this theory, called paramnesia, to explain déjà vu for a large part of the 20th century.
Over the years, many scientists ignored déjà vu completely due to its frequent association with past life experiences, ESP and alien abductions. These associations gave the study of déjà vu a bit of a stigma. Recently, researchers have set aside some of those associations and have begun putting brain imaging technology to work. Firmly placing déjà vu within the study of memory, they hope to discover more about how memories are formed, stored and retrieved.
They have since determined that the medial temporal lobe is involved in our conscious memory. Within the medial temporal lobe are the parahippocampal gyrus, the rhinal cortex and the amygdala. John D.E. Gabrieli at Stanford University found in 1997 that the hippocampus enables us to consciously recall events. He also found that the parahippocampal gyrus enables us to determine what's familiar and what isn't (and without actually retrieving a specific memory to do it).
While about 60 percent of people say they have experienced déjà vu, the rates are highest among people between the ages of 15 and 25. The upper age varies among researchers, but most agree that déjà vu experiences decrease with age. There have also been higher reported occurrences among those with higher incomes, those who tend to travel more and those with higher education levels. Active imaginations and the ability to recall dreams has also been a commonality among people who report déjà vu experiences.
Some researchers also report that the more tired or stressed you are, the more likely you are to experience déjà vu. Other researchers, however, have seen just the opposite. They report that the more refreshed and relaxed you are, the more likely you are to experience déjà vu. Obviously, the jury is still out about a lot of things related to déjà vu.
One reported finding is that the more open-minded or politically liberal a person is, the more likely they are to experience déjà vu. However, this may also mean that the more open-minded you are, the more likely you are to talk about something potentially seen as "weird," like déjà vu.
Divided Attention (the Cell Phone Theory)
Photo courtesy Dragan Sasic / Stock.xchng
When we're on a cell phone and driving, our attention is divided. Déjà vu may work the same way.
Dr. Alan Brown has attempted to recreate a process that he thinks is similar to déjà vu. In studies at Duke University and SMU, he and colleague Elizabeth Marsh put the idea of subliminal suggestion to the test. They showed photographs of various locations to a group of students, with the plan to ask them which locations were familiar. Prior to showing them some of the photographs, however, they flashed the photos onto the screen at subliminal speeds -- around 10 to 20 milliseconds -- which is long enough for the brain to register the photo but not long enough for the student to be consciously aware of it. In these experiments, the images that had been shown subliminally were familiar at a much higher rate than those that were not -- even though those students who had actually been to those locations had been pulled from the study. Larry Jacoby and Kevin Whitehouse of Washington University did similar studies using lists of words with similar results using lists of words.
Based on this idea, Alan Brown proposed what he calls the cell phone theory (or divided attention). This means that when we are distracted with something else, we subliminally take in what's around us but may not truly register it consciously. Then, when we are able to focus on what we are doing, those surroundings appear to already be familiar to us even when they shouldn't be.
With this in mind, it is reasonable to see how we might walk into a house for the first time, perhaps while talking to our host, and experience déjà vu. It would work like this: before we've actually looked at the room, our brains have processed it visually and/or by smell or sound, so that when we actually look at it we get a feeling that we've been there before
More Deja Vu Theories
The Full Déjà Vu Experience
Below are names for some of the many ways in which the déjà experience may manifest:
* déjà entendu - already heard
* déjà éprouvé - already experienced
* déjà fait - already done
* déjà pensé - already thought
* déjà raconté - already recounted
* déjà senti - already felt, smelt
* déjà su - already known (intellectually)
* déjà trouvé - already found (met)
* déjà vécu - already lived
* déjà voulu - already desired
Neppe (in conjunction with Prof. B. G. Rogers, Professor of French, University of the Witwatersrand) in 1981 suggested the following additional terms:
* déjà arrivé - already happened
* déjà connu - already known (personal knowing)
* déjà dit - already said/spoken (content of speech)
* déjà gouté - already tasted
* déjà lu - already read
* déjà parlé - already spoken (act of speech)
* déjà pressenti - already sensed
* déjà rencontré - already met
* déjà rêvé - already dreamt
* déjà visité - already visited
Déjà rencontré appears preferable to déjà trouvé for the already met experience because it specifically relates to interpersonal situations.
Source: The Various Manifestations of Déjà Vu Experience
The Hologram Theory
Dutch psychiatrist Hermon Sno proposed the idea that memories are like holograms, meaning that you can recreate the entire three-dimensional image from any fragment of the whole. The smaller the fragment, however, the fuzzier the ultimate picture. Déjà vu, he says, happens when some detail in the environment we are currently in (a sight, sound, smell, et cetera) is similar to some remnant of a memory of our past and our brain recreates an entire scene from that fragment.
Other researchers also agree that some small piece of familiarity may be the seed that creates the déjà vu feeling. For example, you might go for a ride with a friend in an old 1964 Plymouth and have a strong déjà vu experience without actually remembering (or even being aware of the fact) that your grandfather had the same type of car and you're actually remembering riding in that car as a small child. Things like the smell and the look and feel of the seat or dashboard can bring back memories you didn't even know you had.
Dual Processing (or Delayed Vision)
Another theory is based on the way our brain processes new information and how it stores long- and short-term memories. Robert Efron tested an idea at the Veterans Hospital in Boston in 1963 that stands as a valid theory today. He proposed that a delayed neurological response causes déjà vu. Because information enters the processing centers of the brain via more than one path, it is possible that occasionally that blending of information might not synchronize correctly.
Efron found that the temporal lobe of the brain's left hemisphere is responsible for sorting incoming information. He also found that the temporal lobe receives this incoming information twice with a slight (milliseconds-long) delay between transmissions -- once directly and once again after its detour through the right hemisphere of the brain. If that second transmission is delayed slightly longer, then the brain might put the wrong timestamp on that bit of information and register it as a previous memory because it had already been processed. That could explain the sudden sense of familiarity.
"Memories" From Other Sources
This theory proposes that we have many stored memories that come from many aspects of our lives, including not only our own experiences but also movies, pictures we've seen and books we've read. We can have very strong memories of things we've read about or seen without actually experiencing, and over time, these memories may be pushed back in our minds. When in we see or experience something that is very similar to one of those memories, we might experience a feeling of déjà vu.
For example, as a child we may have seen a movie that had a scene in a famous restaurant or at a famous landmark. Then, as an adult, we visit the same location without remembering the movie, and the location appears to be very familiar to us.
Deja Vu and Precognitive Dreams
Some researchers, including Swiss scientist Arthur Funkhouser, firmly believe that precognitive dreams are the source of many déjà vu experiences. J.W. Dunne, an aeronautical engineer who designed planes in World War II, conducted studies in 1939 using students of Oxford University. His studies found 12.7 percent of his subjects' dreams to have similarities with future events. Recent studies, including one by Nancy Sondow in 1988, have had similar results of 10 percent.
These researchers also tied evidence of precognitive dreams to déjà vu experiences that occurred anywhere from one day to eight years later. The question has been raised about why the experiences themselves are typically mundane everyday things. One explanation from Funkhouser is that something more exciting is more likely to be remembered, making a déjà vu experience less likely.
Although déjà vu has been studied as a phenomenon for over a hundred years and researchers have advanced tens of theories about its cause, there is no simple explanation for what it means or why it happens. Perhaps as technology advances and we learn more about how the brain works, we will also learn more about why we experience this strange phenomenon.
Even if you've never seen the 1941 film "The Wolf Man," you probably know what it takes to kill a werewolf -- a silver bullet. That's because "The Wolf Man" did for werewolves what Bram Stoker's 1897 novel "Dracula" did for vampires. It set the rules for how werewolves are supposed to behave
According to "The Wolf Man," if a werewolf bites you, you have no choice but to become a werewolf yourself. At night, you'll transform into a part-human, part-wolf creature and prey on human beings. In the original film, this transformation took place in the fall, when some species of Aconitum, also known as monkshood or wolfsbane, bloom. Sequels to "The Wolf Man" tied the transformation to the full moon, a trait that many people associate with werewolves today. "The Wolf Man" also made it clear that once you become a werewolf, the only cure is death. Attempts to wish or pray your way out of it will do you no good, and all the chains in the world can't keep you from attacking other people.
Sequels to "The Wolf Man" established a link between werewolves and the full moon.
Like "Dracula," "The Wolf Man" is built on legends and stories that have existed for thousands of years. But silver bullets, the full moon, wolfsbane and the incurable curse of lycanthropy have more to do with Hollywood than with history. In stories and folklore, there are all kinds of ways to become a werewolf, and the process isn't always involuntary or even permanent. In spite of these differences, most werewolves in movies and old stories have something in common. They are dangerous, cunning and even evil, and they inspire fear and dread.
So what is it about the idea of turning into a wild animal that's so intriguing and alarming? Why do these stories exist in so many cultures around the world? Do werewolf stories have any foundation in medical or scientific fact, or are they simply the product of imagination?
In this article, we'll explore how people become werewolves and what happens during the transformation. We'll also look into what werewolves represent in different cultures, and we'll examine the medical conditions and historical events that have led some communities to believe that werewolves really exist.
Bane of the Wolf
Characters in "The Wolf Man" break off wolfsbane stems and attach the flowers to their clothing. This isn't a very good idea. Wolfsbane is extremely poisonous -- the word "wolfsbane" probably comes from people using it to poison wolves. Horticulturalists recommend wearing gloves while working with the plant and thoroughly washing your hands afterward.
It's hard to pin down the world's first reference to werewolves. One of the oldest known written works on the planet, "The Epic of Gilgamesh," is a likely candidate. In it, Gilgamesh refuses to become the lover of the goddess Ishtar because of her cruel treatment of her previous suitors. Ishtar turned one man, a shepherd, into a wolf, making him the enemy of his friends, his sheep and even his own dogs.
Although healthy wolves do not typically attack people without provocation, in Western culture they are often disliked and feared.
Although healthy wolves don't typically
attack people without provocation,
in Western culture they're often disliked and feared.
Ishtar isn't the only ancient god to change a mortal into a wolf. In Ovid's "The Metamorphoses," a traveler visits the home of King Lycaon of Acadia. Lycaon suspects that the visitor is immortal, so he devises a test. He serves human meat to his guest, who unfortunately turns out to be the god Jupiter. Jupiter immediately recognizes the meat's origin, and he transforms Lycaon into a wolf. Lycaon's name and the word lycanthropy both come from the same root -- the Greek word lykos, meaning wolf.
Both of these works are ancient, and they suggest that the idea of men turning into wolves has been around for about as long as human civilization has. On top of being old, the idea is widespread. For the most part, if wolves live or have lived in a particular region, that region's folk tales include werewolves. In regions where there are no wolves, stories describe people turning into other carnivorous animals. Stories from parts of Africa describe people turning into hyenas or crocodiles. In Chinese folk tales, people become tigers, and in Japanese stories, they become foxes. Some Russian stories describe people who turn into bears.
In all of these stories, shape-shifters tend to inspire fear. That fear comes from three basic sources:
1. The animal that the person becomes is a large, powerful carnivore -- it's frightening even without supernatural intervention.
2. In undergoing the transformation, the person becomes something he fears, and he has no way of escaping himself.
3. If lycanthropy is transmitted by a bite, a victim faces the threat of ongoing, perpetually terrifying transformations should he survive the encounter.
Being bitten isn't the only way to become a werewolf, though. Next, we'll take a look at other methods used to transform from a human into a wolf.
A Lycanthropic Note
The word "lycanthropy" originally referred to a mental illness -- a delusion of being a werewolf. Today, many people use "lycanthropy" to mean "the ability to transform into a wolf" and "lycanthrope" to mean "werewolf."
In the earliest literary mentions of werewolves, gods use lycanthropy as punishment. The idea of werewolves as punished men is also part of a number of folk tales, although gods aren't always part of the story. Sometimes, someone simply becomes a werewolf as a result of bad behavior -- or someone whose behavior is bad turns out to be a werewolf. The transgression often has something to do with sexual excess, and the culprit is usually male. In one tale, a woman suspects that her husband is a werewolf. One day, while he's at work in the fields, a wolf comes into her kitchen and attacks her. It bites her skirt or apron, which is usually red, and runs away. When the husband returns, his wife sees part of her skirt caught in his teeth. The double entendres abound.
Circa 1945: A werewolf chases a woman up the stairs and grabs her shoulder, from an unidentified film still.
When lycanthropy is a punishment, the transformation is sometimes permanent. The offender remains a wolf or transforms into a wolf at various times throughout his life. In other stories, the man becomes a wolf for a number of years, usually seven or nine. Then, he gets better.
But in other folk tales, becoming a werewolf isn't a punishment -- it's a gift and a source of power. Stories describe articles of clothing like belts or straps that allow the wearer to become a wolf. This has a number of perks, including a pantry perpetually stocked with chickens and wild game. In several German versions of this story, the belt is made from the skin of a wolf. If the belt is destroyed, the ability to transform disappears, too. In depictions like these, the transformation from human to wolf is voluntary -- it doesn't depend on the phase of the moon. A man can change from human to wolf and back whenever he likes, as long as he has the right clothing.
Such stories are common in several northern European countries, including Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. In a 13th-century Icelandic work, the "Völsunga Saga," men wear the skin of wolves to fight as wolves. This may also tie in to the Norse berserk warriors, who were named for the bear skin they wore in battle.
Breton Lai
A Breton lai is a love story written in rhyming verse. Most Breton lais were composed during the Medieval period in Europe and include mythological or supernatural elements.
In some folk tales, becoming a werewolf requires removing clothes rather than putting them on. The werewolf can only regain his human form by getting back into his clothes, although the stories don't typically explain how he does this without human hands or thumbs. In one tale, a man and his companions travel into the woods. The man removes his clothes, urinates in a circle around them -- causing them to turn into stone -- and runs off into the forest. Since his clothes are stone, no one can move them. The wolf has guaranteed that he can return to the human world. Another fictional werewolf isn't so lucky. In a Breton lai called "Bisclavret," a werewolf's adulterous wife steals his clothes, keeping him from becoming human. The next time the werewolf sees her, he bites off her nose.
In modern depictions, lycanthropy is often transmitted by the bite of a werewolf, but there are exceptions. In Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" novels, for example, werewolves are a race, much like dwarves or trolls. Pratchett's werewolves can change from human to wolf at any time. Some choose to spend most of their time in wolf form, while others, like Angua, an officer in Ankh-Morpork's Watch, change form whenever it suits them.
The transformation itself is generally more important in film than in written works. Next, we'll look at how people physically change into werewolves
Many works of literature don't spend a lot of time describing what happens when a person becomes a wolf. One minute, a man is human. The next minute, he isn't. Even in movies like "The Wolf Man," the transformation process happens largely off-screen -- the man himself, rather than his process of transformation, is the primary focus of the film. At the same time, the werewolf transformation in "The Wolf Man" is convincing, particularly considering when it was made. First, hair begins to grow from Larry Talbot's skin, and eventually he becomes a creature that resembles a very hairy man with claws and fangs.
In more recent films, though, the process of becoming a wolf is often the highlight of the show. It appears in great detail, and it's often depicted as being painful. Bones forcibly elongate and change their shape, sometimes moving so drastically that they rupture a person's skin. From beginning to end, the transformation can take several minutes, and the end result is a creature who is part human and part wolf, in varying proportions. Depending on the special effects available at the time the film was made -- and the techniques used to create them -- these transformations can range from absurd to grotesque to truly convincing.
Whether a werewolf transforms when he dies varies from book to book and movie to movie. Sometimes, if a werewolf dies in wolf form, he remains a wolf forever. But in other depictions, he immediately reverts to his human form. In these films, if you cut off a werewolf's paw, it can become a human hand before your eyes. In general, injuries sustained in wolf form appear on the werewolf's human body, making it much easier to determine which friend or neighbor is a lycanthrope.
In most modern portrayals, the only cure for lycanthropy is a silver bullet. But sometimes, potions, medicines or rituals can stop the transformation, or at least keep it under control. In the "Harry Potter" books, Remus Lupin can sleep off his time as a werewolf if he drinks a wolfsbane potion. In the movie "Ginger Snaps," an injected infusion of monkshood can cure lycanthropy.
Today's fictional werewolves grow primarily from folk tales, and in these stories, lycanthropy is often a metaphor. Next, we'll explore what werewolves represent in both old stories and modern movies.
The Good Werewolves
In many depictions, werewolves are evil -- they kill animals and innocent people, sometimes for fun. But in some books and films, werewolves are good, or at least sympathetic. They stir the audience's compassion, largely because of their struggles to accept or control their lycanthropy. This isn't entirely a recent invention. The story "Eena," by Manly Banister, was published in 1947. It broke with tradition by portraying a werewolf who is both sympathetic and female. Other characters, like J.K. Rowling's Remus Lupin, seem to be entirely benevolent. One werewolf, the impenetrable Oz from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," learns to control his lycanthropic impulses so he can be a better person and win back the heart of his ex-girlfriend, Willow.
As with vampires, there's a sexual element to werewolves. While vampires tend to be smooth and sexually charged, the typical werewolf is hyper-masculine. He's exceptionally muscular, exceptionally hairy and exceptionally violent.
These traits come not just from a werewolf's appearance, but from the folkloric history behind werewolves. In many stories, a man becomes a werewolf because of some sort of excess. His behavior may be too rough, or he may, by the standards of the community, be sexually deviant, usually in terms of wanton relationships with women. These traits may have even caused the word "werewolf" to apply to human behavior. In the 16th century in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of France, teenagers who roamed around at night, broke curfews and socialized outside the bounds of polite society were known as werewolves. In some cases, young people disguised themselves as animals to travel from one community to another. A common belief at the time was that outlaws would eventually become werewolves.
This connection to rough or coarse behavior also ties in to modern psychology. In psychological terms, you might think of a person's struggle with lycanthropy as a struggle to come to terms with -- or get rid of -- his more primitive nature. When a man becomes a werewolf, his primal instincts, which aren't necessarily considered to be appropriate, take over.
There are natural parallels between lycanthropy and puberty. During puberty, the human body changes dramatically. These changes can seem foreign, and they're definitely beyond a young person's control. Similarly, in some depictions, lycanthropy is a metaphor for menstruation. A woman's body changes according to a regular monthly cycle. In a lot of ways, these changes define who she is -- menstruation is a hallmark of being a woman, and physical transformation is the hallmark of being a werewolf. Because of its typical transmission through biting and frequently fatal outcome, lycanthropy can also be a metaphor for any contagious disease, particularly those that are transmitted sexually.
This is one of the reasons why people can identify with werewolves, in spite of their status as monsters. Teenagers and young adults can identify with the idea of sudden, seemingly inexplicable changes in their skin, hair and body. And just about everyone has experienced the struggle to keep control of emotions like anger and frustration.
Near-death experiences are real and we have the proof, say scientists
Written by Danny Penman
Jeanette Atkinson is surprisingly relaxed about the time she died and went to the edge of heaven.
“I do not want to die again in the near future because I still have too much to do,” she says. “But I have no fear of death.
“People see the pain and suffering of dying and equate that with death - but they’re not the same. Death is the progression of life.”
Jeanette, a 43-year-old student nurse from Eastbourne, had a near-death experience in 1979 when she was just 18-years-old. It was triggered when a blood clot in her leg broke up into seven pieces and clogged the main vessels in her lungs, starving her body of oxygen. The doctors were certain that she would die. She did – but then returned to tell the tale.
“The first thing I noticed was that the world changed,” says Jeanette. “The light became softer but clearer. Suddenly there was no pain. All I could see was my body from the chest downwards and I noticed that the time was 9:00pm.
“In an instant I found myself looking at the ceiling. It was only a few inches away. I remember thinking it was about time they cleaned the dust from the striplights!
“I then went on a little journey around the ward and along the corridor to see what the nurses were up to. One was writing on a notepad. It never occurred to me that I was dying. It was a lovely experience and very, very serene.”
Jeanette then began the journey that many others before her have reported – being drawn into a long dark tunnel suffused with light. “Everything went fuzzy,” she says. “I found myself being drawn into a tunnel shaped like a corkscrew.
“All I wanted to do was reach the beautiful lights at the bottom. The longing was so powerful but so gentle. I knew I desperately wanted to be there. But then a voice bellowed at me: ‘Come on you silly old cow it’s not your time yet!’
“I then shot back into my body – it’s all a little unclear – all I can say is that I remember seeing the clock again and it was 9:20pm. The next thing I was aware of was waking up a few days later, surrounded by equipment and feeling terrible. Later on I realised that the voice I’d heard was my grandmother’s. She’d died when I was three years old.”
For decades near-death experiences like Jeanette’s have been written off as delusions by scientists. They are dismissed as no more than the last twitches of a dying brain. Modern science has no place for mysticism and the paranormal. But now a group of British researchers are challenging the scientific establishment by launching a major study into near-death experiences. They hope to settle once and for all the question of whether there truly is life after death.
“We now have the technology and scientific knowledge to begin exploring the ultimate question,” says Dr Sam Parnia, leader of the research team at London’s Hammersmith Hospital. “To be honest, I started off as a sceptic but having weighed up all the evidence I now think that there is something going on.
“It’s not possible to talk in terms of ‘life after death’. In scientific terms we can only say that there is now evidence that consciousness may carry on after clinical death. Our work will prove one way or the other whether a form of consciousness carries on after the body and brain has died.”
Several scientific studies have suggested that the mind – or ‘soul’ - lives on after the body has died and the brain ceased to function. One study published in the prestigious Lancet medical journal found that one in ten cardiac arrest survivors experienced emotions, visions or lucid thoughts while they were clinically dead. In medical terms they were “flatliners” or unconscious with no signs of brain activity, pulse or breathing.
About one in four people who have a near-death experience also have a much more profound – and sometimes disturbing – experience such as watching doctors try and resuscitate their bodies. These ‘out-of-body experiences’ often include seeing a bright light, traveling down a tunnel, seeing their dead body from above, and meeting deceased relatives.
Research in America has uncovered even more bizarre results. Blind people who underwent near-death experiences were able to see whilst they were ‘dead’ – even those who had been blind from birth. They did not experience perfect vision, often it was out of focus or hazy, as if they were seeing the world for the first time through a thin mist. But the vision was sufficiently clear for them to watch doctors trying to resuscitate their clinically dead bodies.
Dr Parnia has previously studied near-death experiences. Two years ago his work was published in the prestigious medical journal Resuscitation. Dr Parnia’s team rigorously interviewed 63 cardiac arrest patients and discovered that seven had memories of their brief period of ‘death’, although only four passed the Grayson scale, the strict medical criteria for assessing near-death experiences. These four recounted feelings of peace and joy, they lost awareness of their own bodies, time speeded up, they saw a bright light and entered another world, encountered a mystical being and faced a “point of no return”.
According to modern medicine all of these patients were effectively dead. Their brains had shut down and no thoughts or feelings were possible. There was certainly no possibility of the complex brain activity required for dreaming or hallucinating.
Dr Parnia’s initial trial was especially rigorous - he wanted to confound his critics before they could muster their arguments. To rule out the possibility that near-death experiences resulted from hallucinations after the brain had collapsed through lack of oxygen, he rigorously monitored the concentrations of the vital gas in the patients’ blood. Crucially, none of those who underwent the experiences had low levels of oxygen.
He was also able to rule out claims that unusual combinations of drugs were to blame because the resuscitation procedure was the same in every case, regardless of whether they had a near-death experience or not.
“Arch sceptics will always attack our work,” says Dr Parnia. “I’m content with that. That’s how science progresses. What is clear is that something profound is happening. The mind – the thing that is ‘you’ – your ‘soul’ if you will - carries on after conventional science says it should have drifted into nothingness.”
Dr Parnia says that every near-death experience is subtly different but that they all share eight or nine key features, whatever the nationality, culture or religion of the patient. These include intense feelings of calmness, traveling down a long dark tunnel, being drawn into an intense loving light, seeing your dead body from above, and meeting long-deceased relatives or friends. A few experience a brief form of ‘hell’ where they are drawn, petrified, into a dark swirling well of bitterness, hatred and fear.
There are cultural differences in these experiences. Tribal people may report paddling in a canoe down a long dark river for three days towards the sun, for example, rather than floating down a tunnel towards the light. The experience, whatever the cultural differences, usually have a deep and long lasting effect. It often leaves behind a legacy of profound spirituality and removes the fear of death.
“The worst thing is coming back from the dead,” says Patrick Tierney, who had a near-death experience following a cardiac arrest in 1991. “If dying is anything like the experience I had then it’s not a problem.
Patrick was rushed to hospital in July 1991 following a heart attack. He survived the initial attack and within hours was chatting with his family at the bedside.
“I was talking to my wife and eldest boy when I felt a little pinch in my chest,” says Patrick. “The next thing I knew I was travelling down a corridor in a medieval looking house. I was astounded. It was very real and lucid. I thought to myself ‘what the hell’s going on?’.
“I came to a fork in the corridor and I knew that I had to make a decision. One branch was a dark and sinister looking hole. The other was brightly lit and appeared friendly in some way, so I floated down that one.”
Patrick then found himself in a form of ‘heaven’. He was in front of a beautifully lit landscape bordered with a waist-high white picket fence. He was instantly calmed and soothed by a beautiful translucent light.
He then became aware of his parents, who were behind the white fence, smiling broadly at him. Strangely, they were in their thirties despite the fact that they had both died in their seventies.
“I moved towards a gate in the fence but my father gave me a look that I knew meant ‘don’t come through the gate’, so I didn’t. No words passed between us. I then found myself moving backwards through the corridor but this time it was very disturbing.
“Greeny-grey gargoyle-like figures were staring at me from the roof,” says Patrick. “One, with a face like an evil goat, began to move towards me. All of the warmth and cosiness left and I was terrified. A moment later I saw the face of an angel - it was a nurse from the hospital. It turned out I’d had a cardiac arrest.”
Cardiac arrest survivors like Patrick are tailor-made for Dr Parnia’s study. Scientists know that within seconds of the heart stopping the brain has shut down completely. The patient is effectively dead and there is no chance of dreams or hallucinations mimicking a near-death experience.
As soon as a patient slips into a cardiac arrest, Dr Parnia’s team will swing into action. The first priority will be to get the patient’s heart beating again. Equipment used during the resuscitation will have symbols placed on top of it in such a way that they can only be seen from above. Other symbols will be placed around the patient’s body.
Surviving patients will then be gently quizzed about their experiences when they regain consciousness. Those that claim to have left their bodies will be questioned in more detail to see if they can identify the symbols.
Dr Parnia has designed the experiments to be bullet-proof. He is only too keenly aware that critics will tear his work apart if he leaves even the slightest doubt about the rigour of his team’s efforts. It will also destroy his career as a scientist. Even the exact experimental details are shrouded in secrecy.
“We can’t run the risk of prejudicing the experiment,” says Dr Parnia. “I won’t even know some of the details. We have a researcher who will be hiding the symbols on the equipment. Somebody else will be doing the interviews with the patients. It’s what’s known as a double-blind trial. It prevents scientists from unconsciously altering the results of their experiments.”
Other scientists acknowledge Dr Parnia’s formidable reputation and the care he takes over his experiments but are still sceptical about his aims.
Dr Susan Blackmore, who has herself had a near-death experience but since written it off as a delusion, says such experiences “probably result from random firings in the brain.”
“I think that people have near-death experiences not when they are flatlining but when they are drifting into or out of consciousness,” she says. “Having said that, I’m curious to know the results. If they are positive then they could change the world.”
Because of the implications of his work – and the potential for ridicule from his fellow scientists - Dr Parnia is being very cautious in the claims he is making for the study. He is not trying to prove that we all die and go to heaven. He is instead trying to find out whether the mind continues to function after the brain has effectively died, or at least ceased to function.
If the mind does continue after the brain has died then this will prove, by default, that the ‘soul’ is independent of the body. Dr Parnia will have proved that the mind – in essence, the soul – continues to live after the body has died.
“It comes back to the question of whether the mind or consciousness is produced by the brain,” says Dr Parnia. “If we can prove that the mind is produced by the brain then I don't think that there is anything after we die. If the brain dies then we die. It’s final and irreversible.”
“If, on the contrary, the brain is like an intermediary which manifests the mind, like a television will act as an intermediary to manifest radio waves into a picture or a sound, then we should be able to show that the mind is still there after the brain is clinically dead. That will be a significant discovery.”
But all of the theories and questions posed by scientists are academic to those who have had a near-death experience. They know the answers.
“There is no doubt in my mind that there’s life after death because I’ve seen the other side,” says Jeanette. “I don’t believe in a benevolent God. I’ve seen too much suffering for that but I’m very spiritual.
“I saw my daughter suffer for four years with cancer. She died when she was only 17. I know she has gone to a better place.
The following are P.M.H. Atwater's insights into the NDE from her book, Beyond the Light:
What It Feels Like To Die
Any pain to be suffered comes first. Instinctively you fight to live. That is automatic.
It is inconceivable to the conscious mind that any other reality could possibly exist beside the earth-world of matter bounded by time and space. We are used to it. We have been trained since birth to live and thrive in it. We know ourselves to be ourselves by the external stimuli we receive. Life tells us who we are and we accept its telling. That, too, is automatic and to be expected.
Your body goes limp. Your heart stops. No more air flows in or out. You lose sight, feeling and movement - although the ability to hear goes last. Identity ceases. The "you" that you once were becomes only a memory.
There is no pain at the moment of death. Only peaceful silence ... calm ... quiet. But you still exist. It is easy not to breathe. In fact, it is easier, more comfortable, and infinitely more natural not to breathe than to breathe.
The biggest surprise for most people in dying is to realize that dying does not end life. Whether darkness or light comes next, or some kind of event, be it positive, negative, or somewhere in between, expected or unexpected, the biggest surprise of all is to realize you are still you.
You can still think, you can still remember, you can still see, hear, move, reason, wonder, feel, question, and tell jokes - if you wish.
You are still alive, very much alive. Actually, you're more alive after death than at any time since you were last born. Only the way of all this is different; different because you no longer wear a dense body to filter and amplify the various sensations you had once regarded as the only valid indicators of what constitutes life. You had always been taught one has to wear a body to live.
If you expect to die when you die you will be disappointed.
The only thing dying does is help you release, slough off, and discard the "jacket" you once wore (more commonly referred to as a body). When you die you lose your body. That's all there is to it. Nothing else is lost.
You are not your body. It is just something you wear for a while, because living in the earth realm is infinitely more meaningful and more involved if you are encased in its trappings and subject to its rules.
What Death Is
There is a step-up of energy at the moment of death, an increase in speed as if you are suddenly vibrating faster than before.
Using radio as an analogy, this speed-up is comparable to having lived all your life at a certain radio frequency when all of a sudden someone or something comes along and flips the dial. That flip shifts you to another, higher wavelength. The original frequency where you once existed is still there. It did not change. Everything is still just the same as it was. Only you changed, only you speeded up to allow entry into the next radio frequency on the dial.
As is true with all radios and radio stations, there can be bleed-overs or distortions of transmission signals due to interference patterns. These can allow or force frequencies to coexist or co-mingle for indefinite periods of time. Normally, most shifts up the dial are fast and efficient; but, occasionally, one can run into interference, perhaps from a strong emotion, a sense of duty, or a need to fulfill a vow, or keep a promise.
This interference could allow coexistence of frequencies for a few seconds, days, or even years (perhaps explaining hauntings); but, sooner or later, eventually, every given vibrational frequency will seek out or be nudged to where it belongs.
You fit your particular spot on the dial by your speed of vibration. You cannot coexist forever where you do not belong.
Who can say how many spots there are on the dial or how many frequencies there are to inhabit? No one knows.
You shift frequencies in dying. You switch over to life on another wavelength. You are still a spot on the dial but you move up or down a notch or two.
You don't die when you die. You shift your consciousness and speed of vibration.
That's all death is ... a shift.
What Existence Is
Time and space, as we know them, exist only on the earth realm. When you leave the earth realm, you leave such constraints.
There are realms and dimensions of existence without number, ranging from the slower, more dense vibrations of form to higher, finer streams of non-energetic currents. And there is more beyond that, realities that cannot be measured or described in the convenience of mathematics or mind-play.
Hell refers to levels of negative thought-forms that reside in close proximity to the earth realm. It is where we go to work out, or remain within, our hang-ups, addictions, fears, guilt, angers, rage, regrets, self-pity, arrogance, or whatever else blocks us from the power of our own light. We stay in hell (and there are many divisions to this vibratory level) for however long best serves our development. There is no condemnation here, only the outworking of our own misjudgments, mistakes, misalignments, or misappropriations (what some people call sin). In hell, we have the opportunity to either revel in our folly or come to grips with the reality of consequences - that every action has a reaction, what is inflicted on another can be returned in kind. We experience the "flip side" of our despair or our demands, "living through" the extremes of whatever we dread. This is not a "punishment for our sins" but a confrontation with any distortion of our sense of values and priorities. We do not leave until we have changed our attitudes and perceptions.
Heaven is a term used to describe levels of positive thought-forms that reside in close proximity to the earth realm. It is where we go to recognize or enjoy our worth, talents, abilities, joys, courage, generosity, caring, empathy, giving-ness, virtue, cheer, diligence, thoughtfulness, patience, loving kindness, or whatever else reveals the power of our own light. We stay in heaven (and there are many divisions to this vibratory level) for however long best serves our development. There is a sense of benefit here, as if one has found one's true home and all is well (what some people call "recess", or a time of rewards). In heaven, we have the opportunity to assess our progress as a soul, to evaluate pros and cons and outcomes, to remember all truths including that of our real identity. We experience the glory of love and the power of forgiveness.
This is not an end point, but, rather, the realization of our purpose in creation's story, how we fit, and what possibilities for future growth and learning exist. We do not leave until we are ready for our next advancement either in the world of form or beyond it.
No one knows how vast creation is ... only that it has always been and will always be. Shapes and embodiments change and alter, substance is recycled, but existence exists, as does energy.
Existence is life, never ending and ongoing, forever and ever eternal. Yet its only true movement (without the distortion time and space give) is expansion and contraction, as if the existence that exists were capable of breathing. What appears as a progression, a time-line of starts and stops and ever-changing variations, is but an overleaf, an illusion, that helps us to focus on whatever spot on the dial we currently inhabit so we will accomplish what we set out to do (or at least have an opportunity to), and not be distracted by The Truth that undergirds reality.
Using television as an analogy, the picture we enjoy seeing, the progression of a storyline with characters acting out a script, is but a trick of perception. What exists, what is really there, is quite literally one electron at a time (with black and white, and three at a time with color) fired from the back of the television tube to the screen to be illuminated once it hits the screen as a tiny dot. The continuous barrage of electrons-turned-into-dots creates the appearance of images, as scanning lines roll from top to bottom separating information coming in (new dots) from information fading out (old dots). You adjust the vertical hold on your set, not to remove strange bars appearing in the picture, but to place all screen activity within the range of your own perceptual preference. A television picture tube is nothing more than a "gun" that fires electrons at a screen. Your mind connects the electron dots into the picture images you think you see, while it totally ignores the true reality of what actually undergirds the operation. The way television operates, at least in our daily experience of it, is an illusion.
Existence is a lot like television. What exists, what really exists, can't be fathomed by how it appears to operate or what it seems to be.
The Realness of God
God is.
God is the one presence, the one power, the one force and source of all. There are no competitors to God, no reality existent outside of God. God is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipresent (present everywhere). There is no place where God is not, simply because nothing exists without God.
God is neither a man nor a woman nor a thing.
God is no one's father or mother or benefactor. These terms are used only to help us understand relationships - ours to God - not to establish a more human type of parentage. We use such terms as a matter of convenience or because it is comforting to do so. We call ourselves children of God because we do not know what else to call ourselves, and it seems as good a term as any to use. We are made in the image of God, not in the sense of physical appearance, but with respect to the power of our souls and the potential of our minds. God is the Creator; we are co-creators. It would be more appropriate and more in line with Truth, if we called ourselves extensions of God or, perhaps, thoughts in the Mind of God. It would even be appropriate to use another name for God, like The Force, The One, The All, The Is-ness, The One Mind, The Source, or whatever conveys that sense of deity that is without limitation or boundary, beyond what can be comprehended.
While God is more than any name, protocol, hierarchy, concept, or grandiosity could describe or define; God truly is as near as our next breath - as close as our next thought. We are part of God and existent with God. A belief in separation, that we could possibly exist and have our being apart from God, is the only real sin. This belief is of our own making. God has not decreed separation; this we did ourselves by our own perception that somehow, some way, we could transcend That Which Cannot Be Transcended.
God is not dependent on our belief, for our belief or disbelief in God does not affect God - only us.
God is not a member of any church or religion. It is the churches and the religions that are members within the vastness and the glory that is God. There is no one religion just as there is no "chosen" people or person, nor any single way of regarding what cannot be fully comprehended. We are all "sons" of God in the sense that we are all souls of God's creation, without gender, without form, without nationality, complete and whole and perfect as we explore the never-endingness of God's wonderment. A spark from the essence of All God Is resides in each and every one of us has an unbreakable connection, that thread or cord that ensures we remain a part of That Which We Could Never Leave.
The splendorous joy of recognizing and acknowledging our special-ness, our greatness, as creations of God and as co-creators with God, is akin to being engulfed by overwhelming floodtides of God's Glorious Love.
The Big Picture
There is no sense of "crime and punishment" in God's Light, only the clear, complete, and total knowing that you are loved unconditionally and fully - right now and forever more.
Truth in this light, God's Light, is so powerful and so piercing, there is no way you could lie, exaggerate, avoid, or deny what you have done with God's gift to you, the gift of an embodied life in the earth realm replete with abundant opportunities to learn and develop and grow - be the best that you can be. This gift, the earth life God gives us, comes with a catch: We are to give the gift back.
We cannot keep the life we have on the earth realm, not our possessions or attachments or relationships. What we can keep is our memories and our feelings of what we have integrated into our heart of hearts from the experience of being here, plus the love we have shared with others. This that we can keep enriches God's experience of us as well as enriching our experience of ourselves and one another. How joyful this is depends on what we did about who we are.
Each gain or loss anyone makes affects everyone else to some degree. That's because we are connected, somehow, as sparks from the Mind of God. Everything created either has a soul (independent power mass) or is capable of being ensouled (from out of the group power mass). Because human forms contain larger portions of a soul mass than many other types of form, they represent opportunities of greater diversity, challenge, and involvement. Yet even animals, minerals, plants, and planets, enfold degrees of ensoulment replete with intelligence, feeling, and volition. Density of structure or shape may seem to deny this, but the creative fire is ever-present, nonetheless.
All souls are holy in God's Light, and all souls are loved.
And all souls have a purpose for their existence and a reason for being who or what they are.
Whatever form a soul empowers "fits" in creation's story, for each soul has a job to do, a position to fill in the greater scheme of things.
And all souls evolve. Nothing stays as it is because nothing is static, regardless of how "otherwise" conditions may appear to be.
Evolution is not restricted to linear progression. It only seems so.
Thus, the drama of creation's story is unbounded - neither limited by our perception of it, nor by our ability or lack of ability to comprehend it. This drama is as stupendous as it is terrifying, as awesome as it is wonderful, as miraculous as it is mysterious, as beautiful as it is the ultimate act of all-consuming love. To witness even a glimpse of such glory, to know the Real Truth of it, leaves a mark so deep and so profound you are forever uplifted and transformed.
You return from your NDE knowing we affect each other because we are all part of each other, and that we affect all parts of creation because all parts of creation interweave and interrelate with all other parts. Any sense of aloneness or separation dissolves in the Light of such knowing.
We each matter. And we are each challenged to "wake up" and realize that we matter. Once we so awaken, our task is to act accordingly.
To know is not enough. We must express that knowing. How we do that is up to us.
Although we are each connected to the other and to all others, we are individual in our choices, in the power of our will, and in the product or result or consequence of our ever having breathed a breath in the earth realm. The responsibility we have for this totality of our being-ness is as freeing and exciting as it is humbling. And it represents high adventure.
The greatest fear we have in living out our earth life is not what might happen to us, but what might be expected from us if we recognized who we are.
Dr. PMH Atwater's Four Types of NDE
P.M.H. Atwater has identified four distinctive types of NDEs. She discovered elements similar to those described by Moody and Ring but different patterning from what was billed as the classical version; each pattern type was accompanied by a subtle psychological profile suggestive of other forces that might be present. These four types have consistently held up throughout two decades of interviews, observations, and analysis regardless of a person's age, education, gender, culture, or religion. In her book, Beyond the Light, P.M.H. Atwater used separate chapters to discuss each of the four types. Below is a shorter rendition of the scenario patterns.
Initial Experience (Sometimes referred to as the "nonexperience")
Involves elements such as a loving nothingness, the living dark, a friendly voice, or a brief out-of-body episode. Usually experienced by those who seem to need the least amount of evidence for proof of survival, or who need the least amount of shakeup in their life at that point in time. Often, this becomes a "seed" experience or an introduction to other ways of perceiving and recognizing reality. Incident rate: 76% with child experiencers, 20% with adult experiencers.
Unpleasant or Hell-like Experience (Inner cleansing and self-confrontation)
Encounter with a threatening void or stark limbo or hellish purgatory, or scenes of a startling and unexpected indifference, even "hauntings" from one's own past. Usually experienced by those who seem to have deeply suppressed or repressed guilt, fears, and angers and/or those who expect some kind of punishment or discomfort after death. Incident rate: 3% with child experiencers, 15% with adult experiencers.
Pleasant or Heaven-like Experience (Reassurance and self-validation)
Heaven-like scenarios of loving family reunions with those who have died previously, reassuring religious figures or light beings, validation that life counts, affirmative and inspiring dialogue. Usually experienced by those who most need to know how loved they are and how important life is and how every effort has a purpose in the overall scheme of things. Incident rate: 19% with child experiencers, 47% with adult experiencers.
Transcendent Experience (Expansive revelations, alternate realities)
Exposure to otherworldly dimensions and scenes beyond the individual's frame of reference; sometimes includes revelations of greater truths. Seldom personal in content. Usually experienced by those who are ready for a mind-stretching challenge and/or individuals who are more apt to utilize (to whatever degree) the truths that are revealed to them. Incident rate: 2% with child experiencers, 18% with adult experiencers.
Note: P.M.H. Atwater has noticed that all four types can occur at the same time during a NDE, can exist in varying combinations, or can spread out across a series of episodes for a particular individual. Generally speaking, however, each represents a distinctive type of experience occurring but once to a given person.
What Is A Near Death Experience NDE?
Article about Near Death Experiences and the Heavenly World. How when people have a Near Death Experiences NDE they encounter the spirit world.
Heaven Scent
As you come out of the light you will simultaneously feel the presence
of God yet also you will know that your loved ones surround you. For
most people, this stage in the transition to the afterlife is
experienced in an objective way. For example, you may feel that you
are running across a glorious field toward a wonderful place. There in
the distance you see forms you recognize as all the people you love.
Sometimes a pet runs ahead and is the first to greet you. Soon you
feel the embrace of those you may have lost, your mother and father,
your wife or husband perhaps, and children who may have passed on
before you.
You will hear the wind blowing through the trees, see light dappling
on the landscape, and touch the foliage. All of your familiar five
senses will be involved in the experience-- you may even be able to
differentiate somehow the varied scents of Heaven's flowers! You will
have super-sensitive perceptions that are far superior to the senses
of the body. For example, your eyes will not only see all things
clearly, they will seem to "touch" all they encounter. The world
around you will not be something remote. You will experience it as if
you are "living" the world around you. As you breathe, the world will
breath. It's all you! And this realization will fill you with joy.
Near Death Experiences God LightNDE NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE ACCOUNT
A point will come when you approach what might be called a border, or
limit. You will feel yourself moving toward this demarcation as you
experience your loved ones gathering around you and guiding you
onward. The border can take many forms. You may see it as a body of
water to be crossed. Perhaps you'll see a gray mist, a door, or a
fence across a field. Some simply see a line. I remember one account
from a NDE patient who saw her grandfather leaning across a garden
gate. If she were to walk into that beautiful enchanted garden, she
would never have returned to earth.
At the heart of these similar experiences is the root experience that
is the crossing-over point between earthly life and the life beyond.
Different individuals express it in different ways. In all cases, it
is an actualized representation of the transition into the next life.
If you cross the threshold you do not return.
NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES - ACCOUNTS FROM NDE PATIENTS
Many NDE patients have come to this point. The accounts we have are,
of course, from those who have "come back."
The first stages of your future near-death experience may have seen
you desperately wishing to return to the physical body that you left
somewhere "below," at the scene of your earthly demise. However, the
tremendous pull of the blissful world that awaits you will draw you
towards the afterlife. If this is the time for you to make your
transition, the way will be opened for you and you will experience the
next phase of your heavenward journey. However, if your destiny is not
complete, you will be told to return to earth. Many NDE patients who
have reached this point have told us how difficult this return can be.
They feel the conflict between the irresistible power of love that
draws them like a magnet to the next world and the opposite pull the
earthly life and the suffering body they have left behind. In most NDE
cases, it is the thought of their loved ones, children, or the
spiritual work that they must still do that catapults them back into
the physical body.
Raymond Moody Near death experiencesDr. Raymond Moody in his book Life
after Life quotes a patient who reached the transition point after her
heart attack:
"As I approached more closely, I felt certain that I was going through
that mist. It was such a wonderful, joyous feeling; there are just no
words in human language to describe it. Yet, it wasn't my time to go
through the mist, because instantly from the other side appeared my
Uncle Carl, who had died many years earlier. He blocked my path,
saying, "Go back. Your work on earth has not been completed. Go back
now." I didn't want to go back, but I had no choice, and immediately I
was back in my body. I felt that horrible pain in my chest, and I
heard my little boy crying, "God, bring my mommy back to me."'
Comment Near death ExperiencesIt would be reassuring to think that we
only go to the next world once our earthly plan was fulfilled. Perhaps
there is a time determined by God when we are meant to die and nothing
will postpone that fateful day. However, there must be many people who
pass over the demarcation line between this world and the next without
the feeling of completeness. Maybe the things we feel are important
fall away and seem as nothing against the magnificence of the world
ahead of us. I hope that when I stand on that threshold and know that
I must leave my loved ones behind, I will have the feeling that I have
done much of what I set out to do.
The thought of this situation inspires me to make the best of my life
here. Life is so short. We have so little time. It is our duty to
ourselves to do the things our heart knows we must do in this life–
even if it means sacrificing our comfort and complacency.
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are common enough that they have entered our everyday language. Phrases like "my whole life flashed before my eyes" and "go to the light" come from decades of research into these strange, seemingly supernatural experiences that some people have when they're at the brink of death. But what exactly are NDEs? Are they hallucinations? Spiritual experiences? Proof of life after death? Or are they simply chemical changes in the brain and sensory organs in the moments prior to death?
In this article, we'll discuss what makes an experience an NDE and who typically has them. We'll also explore spiritual, philosophical and scientific theories for why they happen.
Defining the Near-death Experience
First-Person Accounts
"I found myself in a place surrounded by mist. I felt I was in hell. There was a big pit with vapour coming out and there were arms and hands coming out trying to grab mine...I was terrified that these hands were going to claw hold of me and pull me into the pit with them...it was very hot down there."
- A nursing home worker who almost died due to severe heat stroke (from "Return from Death" by Margot Grey)
Dr. Raymond Moody coined the term "near-death experience" in his 1975 book, "Life After Life." Many credit Moody's work with bringing the concept of the near-death experience to the public's attention, but reports of such experiences have occurred throughout history. Plato's "Republic," written in 360 B.C.E., contains the tale of a soldier named Er who had an NDE after being killed in battle. Er described his soul leaving his body, being judged along with other souls and seeing heaven [ref].
For the purposes of this article, a near-death experience is any experience in which someone close to death or suffering from some trauma or disease that might lead to death perceives events that seem to be impossible, unusual or supernatural. While there are many questions about NDEs, one thing is certain -- they do exist. Thousands of people have actually perceived similar sensations while close to death. The debate is over whether or not they actually experienced what they perceived.
Most NDEs share certain common traits, but not all NDEs have every trait and some NDEs don't follow a pattern at all. Here are the traits that "typical" NDEs share:
* Feelings of calmness - These feelings may include peacefulness, acceptance of death, emotional and physical comfort.
* Intense, pure bright light - Sometimes this intense (but not painful) light fills the room. In other cases, the subject sees a light that they feel represents either Heaven or God.
* Out-of-body experiences (OBE) - The subject feels that he has left his body. He can look down and see it, often describing the sight of doctors working on him. In some cases, the subject's "spirit" then flies out of the room, into the sky and sometimes into space.
* Entering into another realm or dimension - Depending on the subject's religious beliefs and the nature of the experience, he may perceive this realm as Heaven or, in rare cases, as Hell.
* Spirit beings - During the OBE, the subject encounters "beings of light," or other representations of spiritual entities. He may perceive these as deceased loved ones, angels, saints or God
* The tunnel - Many NDE subjects find themselves in a tunnel with a light at its end. They may encounter spirit beings as they pass through the tunnel.
* Communication with spirits - Before the NDE ends, many subjects report some form of communication with a spirit being. This is often expressed a "strong male voice" telling them that it is not their time and to go back to their body. Some subjects report being told to choose between going into the light or returning to their earthly body. Others feel they have been compelled to return to their body by a voiceless command, possibly coming from God.
* Life review - This trait is also called "the panoramic life review." The subject sees his entire life in a flashback. These can be very detailed or very brief. The subject may also perceive some form of judgment by nearby spirit entities.
Near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences are sometimes grouped together, but there are key differences. An OBE can be a component of an NDE, but some people experience OBEs in circumstances that have nothing to do with death or dying. They may still have spiritual elements or feelings of calm. OBEs can happen spontaneously, or drugs or meditation can induce them.
In the next section, we'll take a look at who typically has NDEs and how they're affected.
Atypical NDEs
Some NDEs have elements that bear little resemblance to the "typical" near-death experience. Anywhere from one percent (according to a 1982 Gallup poll) to 25 percent (according to some researchers) of subjects do not experience feelings of peace, nor do they visit Heaven or meet friendly spirits. Instead, they feel terrified and are accosted by demons or malicious imps. They may visit places that fit Biblical descriptions of Hell, including lakes of fire, tormented souls and a general feeling of oppressive heat.
There have been a few reports of shared NDEs, in which someone connected to the dying person accompanies them on their out-of-body journey. This might take the form of a dream that occurs at the same time that the subject was near death. Children have also been the subjects of NDEs. Very young children tend to report surreal experiences that have some common NDE elements. As children get older, their religious teachings often color their NDEs with more spiritual connotations, such as meeting God or Jesus.
A small percentage of NDE subjects report a prophetic vision that reveals to them the fate of earth and humanity. This is generally an apocalyptic vision showing the end times, but some report visions of humanity evolving into higher beings. One group of subjects, unknown to each other, reported that the world would end in 1988 [ref].
Who Has NDEs?
In 1982, pollster George Gallup, Jr. and author William Proctor released "Adventures in Immortality," a book about NDEs based on two Gallup polls specifically addressing near-death and belief in the afterlife. This poll remains the most widely used source for statistics about NDEs.
Gallup and Proctor found that 15 percent of all Americans who had been in near-death situations reported NDEs. Of those, 9 percent included a "classic out-of-body experience," while 11 percent included entering another realm or dimension and 8 percent featured the presence of spiritual beings [ref]. Only 1 percent reported negative NDEs. But these numbers are more than 20 years old, and other researchers, whose studies are usually on a smaller scale, report statistics on NDEs that can vary widely from the 1982 poll.
A statistical analysis of more than 100 NDE subjects revealed that prior religious belief and prior knowledge of NDEs did not have an appreciable effect on the likelihood of having an NDE
ther research has focused on the effect an NDE has on the subject's life. Kenneth Ring, one of the most prolific researchers and authors of NDE studies, reports a large number of subjects who gain self-confidence and become more extroverted after an experience. One of Ring's studies quantified changes in subjects' attitudes toward life. These generally include a sense of purpose in life, an appreciation of life, and increase in compassion, patience and understanding and an overall feeling of personal strength. A small percentage of subjects reported feelings of fear, depression and a focus on death. Ring also found that NDE subjects tend to feel a heightened sense of religious feeling and belief in a spiritual world. However, he notes that this does not necessarily translate into an increase in church attendance -- it is more of an internal, personal increase in religious and spiritual feelings. Finally, people who go through NDEs often find that they do not fear death, and feel that a positive experience will be awaiting them when they actually die.
Next, we'll examine the spiritual and supernatural theories that seek to explain near-death experiences.
First-Person Accounts
"In the most despairing moment, the little room began to fill with light...The light which entered that room was Christ; I knew because a thought was put deep within me, 'You are in the presence of the Son of God.' It was a presence so comforting, so joyous and all-satisfying, that I wanted to lose myself forever in the wonder of it…With the presence of Christ, every single episode of my entire life had also entered. There they were, every event and thought and conversation, as palpable as a series of pictures...and now a new wave of light spread across the room already so incredibly bright, and suddenly we were in another world. Or rather, I perceived all around us a different world occupying the same space...Of the final world I had only a glimpse. Now we no longer seemed to be on earth, but immensely far away, out of all relation to it. And there, still at a great distance, I saw a city, but a city...constructed out of light. Moving among [the buildings] were beings as blindingly bright as the One who stood beside me."
- George G. Ritchie, Jr., after nearly dying of a fever (from "The Vestibule" by Jess E. Weiss)
Supernatural Theories
Theories explaining near-death experiences fall into two basic categories: scientific explanations (including medical, physiological and psychological) and supernatural explanations (including spiritual and religious). Of course, these explanations can be neither proven nor disproven. Acceptance of supernatural explanations is based on faith and spiritual and cultural background.
The most basic supernatural explanation is that someone who goes through an NDE is actually experiencing and remembering things that happen to their disembodied consciousness. When they are near death, their soul leaves their body and they begin to perceive things that they normally cannot. The soul goes through the border between our world and the afterlife, usually represented by a tunnel with a light at the end. While on this journey, the soul encounters other spiritual entities (souls), and may even encounter a divine entity, which many subjects perceive as God. They are offered a glimpse into another realm of being, often thought to be Heaven, but they are then pulled back, or choose to go back, into their earthly body.
Belief in astral projection connects NDEs with other forms of out-of-body experiences. Astral projection is the ability of an "astral self" to travel outside the body. In an NDE, this astral self, or soul, spontaneously leaves the body and travels freely to other places. A few cases of NDEs seem to offer proof that people actually experienced events from a point of view different from that of their earthly body. People who were unconscious, non-responsive, had their eyes closed or had been declared clinically dead have reported details of procedures done to them and people who were present in the room [ref]. Some NDE subjects who suffered from permanent blindness have reportedly been able to identify the color of a doctor's shirt, for example [ref].
For those with a strong belief in Judeo-Christian theology, NDEs represent proof that we have souls, that they continue to exist after we die and that Heaven and Hell are real places. Some believe that NDEs are the work of Satan, who seeks to exploit people's vulnerability at the time by appearing as "an angel of light." Satan's ultimate reason for this deception is unclear.
Other NDE theories are a bit more esoteric. Some believe that an NDE represents a psychic connection to higher-level intelligent beings from another dimension. These beings may be humans who have evolved their souls beyond the birth-death-reincarnation cycle, thus offering a glimpse of humanity's future as high-order spiritual beings. Sometimes, an NDE can even offer a literal view into the future, as in the apocalypse prophecy NDEs mentioned earlier.
It is interesting to note that non-Judeo-Christian religions have stories and descriptions of death that seem to explain many of the common NDE traits. Buddhism, for example, describes "the clear light of death," as well as demonic embodiments of moral failure. The soul's goal is to recognize both the light and the apparitions as projections of the soul's own nature, not something objectively real. If that happens, the soul may escape the birth-death-reincarnation cycle and reach nirvana [ref].
Next, we'll find out what science has to say about the NDE.
First-Person Accounts
"The next thing I remember is seeing my body on a hospital bed with a doctor and nurses around...I felt so peaceful and I had no questions about the scene I saw. It so clear, more real than reality. I felt I was where I was supposed to be. The room was white, but there was a brightness all around me that was different from the room. I felt as though I was in the room (in the corner) but at the same time I was in open space. Everything was beautiful. There was no pain at all."
- Tracy Lovell, after a drug overdose suicide attempt (in "The Return From Silence" by Scott D. Rogo)
Scientific Theories
Science cannot ultimately explain why some people have near-death experiences. That's not to say that current scientific explanations are incorrect, but NDEs are complex, subjective and emotionally charged. Further, many aspects of NDEs cannot be tested. We can't run a test to determine if someone actually visited Heaven and met God or purposely take someone to the brink of death and then resuscitate them in a lab to test their out-of-body perception.
Nevertheless, medical science offers compelling evidence that many aspects of NDEs are physiological and psychological in nature. Scientists have found that the drugs ketamine and PCP can create sensations in users that are nearly identical to many NDEs. In fact, some users think they are actually dying while on the drug [ref].
The mechanism behind some of these strange experiences is in the way our brains process sensory information. What we see as "reality" around us is only the sum of all the sensory information our brain is receiving at any given moment. When you look at a computer screen, the light from the screen hits your retinas, and information is sent to the appropriate areas of the brain to interpret the light patterns into something meaningful -- in this case, the words you are currently reading. An even more complex system of nerves and muscle fibers allows your brain to know where your body is in relation to the space around it. Close your eyes and raise your right hand until it is level with the top of your head. How do you know where your hand is without looking at it? This sensory system allows you to know where your hand is even when your eyes are closed.
Trauma affecting functional areas of the brain, such as the somatosensory and visual cortexes, could cause hallucinations that get interpreted as NDEs.
Now imagine that all your senses are malfunctioning. Instead of real sensory input from the world around you, your brain is receiving faulty information, possibly because of drugs, or some form of trauma that is causing your brain to shut down. What you perceive as a real experience is actually your brain trying to interpret this information. Some have theorized that "neural noise," or an overload of information sent to the brain's visual cortex, creates an image of a bright light that gradually grows larger [ref]. The brain may interpret this as moving down a dark tunnel.
The body's spatial sense is prone to malfunction during a near-death experience as well. Again, your brain interprets faulty information about where the body is in relation to the space around it. The result is the sensation of leaving the body and flying around the room. Combined with other effects of trauma and oxygen deprivation in the brain (a symptom in many near-death situations), this leads to the overall experience of floating into space while looking down at your own body, and then leaving to float down a tunnel.
The peaceful, calm sensation felt during NDEs may be a coping mechanism triggered by increased levels of endorphins produced in the brain during trauma. Many people experience a strange sense of detachment and a lack of emotional response during traumatic events (whether or not they were related to a near-death experience). This is the same effect. NDEs that include visits to Heaven or meetings with God could involve a combination of several factors. Faulty sensory input, oxygen deprivation and endorphin-induced euphoria create a surreal, though realistic, experience. When the subject recalls the encounter later, it has passed through the filter of his conscious mind. Bizarre experiences that seem unexplainable become spirit beings, other dimensions and conversations with God.
The experiences of people whose out-of-body adventures allow them to see and hear events that their unconscious body shouldn't be able to perceive are more difficult to explain. However, it is plausible that unconscious people can still register sensory cues and prior knowledge and incorporate them into their NDE. Whether this is more plausible than the subject's soul floating out of their body is a matter of personal opinion.
Of course, this only scratches the surface of all the possible explanations for an NDE. NDEs seem to offer some hope that death is not necessarily something to be feared, nor is it the end of consciousness. Even science has a difficult time grasping death -- the medical community has struggled with specific definitions for clinical death, organ death and brain death for decades. For every aspect of an NDE, there is at least one scientific explanation for it. And for every scientific explanation, there seem to be five NDE cases that defy it.
For lots more information on near-death experiences and related topics, check out the links on the next page.
First-Person Accounts
"You may have heard that dying is unpleasant, but don't you believe it. Dying is the sweetest, tenderest, most sensuous sensation I have ever experienced. Death comes disguised as a sympathetic friend...It is easy to die. You have to fight to live."
- Edward V. Rickenbacker, WWI flying ace, struggling to live after being severely injured in a civilian plane crash (in "The Vestibule" by Jess E. Weiss)
