Question: I had a NDE several years ago. It was a beautiful, positive experience. It changed my life. It showed me hope and love are real. Why do some people try to say the NDE is not real?Answer: To my knowledge, it is only those who have not experienced a NDE that claim they are unreal, and then not all of them. Every NDEer that I have met, knew, what they experienced was real. But we can examine some of the arguments and talk about what might be a solution to the problem.
Defining the real NDE:
The first problem seems to be agreeing on what constitutes a real NDE. Some researchers like Dr. Raymond Moody have published lists of the events they feel necessary to constitute a real NDE. Others have written about the emotional value, pointing to the changed personality and life style of the experiencer, as a requirement to be called a real NDE. However, the only true way to understand what a NDE consists of, is to read a hundred of them. Yes, at least a hundred. Experiencing my own NDE, and reading hundreds of other's NDE accounts, I have written a summary called a NDE, what is it that I believe covers the main points of the real NDE.
Defining the critics and their arguments:
The critics of NDEs come mostly from that group of people who believe in a mechanical world. Those who believe nothing exists beyond the physical. This group includes Scientists who have theorized that NDEs can be induced by chemical (drugs), electrical (brain stimulation), and/or severe loss of oxygen to the brain. A few of these Scientists have run experiments with drugs and announced that they induced NDEs in their subjects. While it is true, that the subjects of these experiments, did experience a few of the background events common to most NDEs, such as seeing light, feeling loved, and even feeling the Oneness. However, none, NONE of the subjects experienced a full-blown real NDE. What they did experience is common to what meditation experts experience without drugs. Drugs do not cause the experience, they only allow it to happen by lowering the physical perception and focus. It is like they went to the swmming pool and stuck their big toe in the water, then came back and told everyone they went swimming. Unfortunately the media gives credit to what they say and many people have been misinformed. This misinformation will continue to proliferate until the public learns more truth about the NDE phenonmenon.
Those who wish to explore this subject, in more detail, can read accounts of NDEs and compare them with what the subjects of the drug tests experienced. You will find that the Near Death Experience is an interactive communication between the experiencer and the spirit world. It is about physical life goals and accomplishments. It is about spiritual growth and responsibility. It contains: life reviews, talking to God, talking to deceased relatives, talking about returning to the physical or not, and other intense spiritual events. None of these events will be found in the drug test subjects. So, I will say again, no one using any drug or artificial stimulus has induced a real NDE in anyone, unless the drug proved to be an overdose and caused the subject to die. NDEs are brought about by death only. Verified, documented, medically defined death.
