This blog is more than an account of Near Death Experiences. It ponders in detail the tough questions of life. Who are you, and why are you here in this physical world? What happens when you die, and is there a judgment? However, most anything could appear here. This is not a news blog, archived posts are just as relevant as new posts. Check the boxes at the top of the page for the Contents, Contact, Forum and other links.
The typical near death experience starts with going out of body. If this happens in an emergency room on the operating table the patient experiences himself above his body floating near the ceiling of the room. If he is in a car wreck he will be floating above the wreck observing all the activity going on below. The location doesn’t matter.
While out-of-body the experiencer will be able to observe all the activity below and around him. This is usually a great surprise to the experiencer and he tries to contact people around him, but soon finds they can neither see nor hear him. It is at this point the experiencer realizes he is dead. Dead yet fully alive with all the faculties of his consciousness intact.
This is no dream, illusion, or hallucination, we know that it is real due to the years of research done, and still being done, on near death experiences. While science can’t measure the out-of-body sequence because it is a personal experience, they can measure the accuracy of the observations of an experiencer while he is out of body. This has been done hundreds of time. These experiences are called veridical near death experiences. They are experiences that have been verified by attending surgeons and staff.
In a veridical near death experience, the patient dies on the operating table, and goes out of body. While out of body the patient observes the doctors frantically working on his now dead body in an attempt to bring it back to life. While this is going on the out-of-body patient observes the doctor’s and staff’s behaviour, and hears every word the doctor and staff say. He may even notice unusual things like someone knocking over a stool or dropping an instrument. When he is brought back to life, he re-enters his body, opens his eyes, and tells the doctor what just happened to him, and describes what he saw while out of body. The doctors and staff verify as accurate his description of what happened while he was clinically dead. This accuracy verification is what makes the experience a veridical near death experience.
These veridical NDEs were responsible for starting the research into near death experiences. More than one surgeon gave up his surgical career to devote full time to researching near death experiences. Now after over 30 years of research at dozens of universities with hundreds of doctors participating, the evidence clearly shows that our consciousness will survive the death of our bodies. We are spiritual people inhabiting a physical body, and that we do not die.
I will show some links below to much of this research for those interested in reading more about this subject.
A recently published book outlining the research on near death experiences.
A link showing more links to many of the studies and research done on near death experiences.
My near death experiences that just occurred on December 4, 1998, involved three different instances, where my heart was “flat-lined,” and where the 911 Med-Techs where trying to decide if they should take me to the hospital or just directly to a mortuary.
All of these experiences gave me a deeper understanding of what “love” really is. Specificially, I found it to be a very tangible, touchable thing, not just a feeling.
I still have this understanding with me, as if love is a thickness in the air, or a cloud that fills space in rooms, and around people, as well as animals.
At the hospital, I was out of my body while the doctors and nurses tried to revive me. As I watched all of this, there was dimension and texture to where I was, and what was going on. By the way, the room was literally filled wall-to-wall with people in white. Some that I knew, some that I had a faint recollection of, as in a pre-mortal existance.
I’m regaining my strength now, I’m really drained, but am home with my wife Susan, who called the paramedics.
As far as religious affiliations, I’m a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The reason I mention this, is the fact that these experiences have increased my compassion and understanding that God loves ALL of his children equally, not just those of my faith.
He may not like some of our actions, but his love is unconditional. How thankful I am to be alive, for myself, my family. In fact my daughter, who is 10, had a very detailed dream about my experience, even before she knew I was ill.
Begging everyone’s indulgence, but make of this what you will. My NDE was the result of a high speed collision between my motorbike, and an illegally u-turning motor vehicle.
I was travelling along a straight road at a speed of approx. 85mph, I noticed a slow stream of traffic coming towards me (convoy fashion, I’m only assuming that there was a slow truck holding them up), as I reached about a third of the way past the convoy, one of the cars made an unannounced u-turn.
It was a very solid hit, . . . barrumph (can’t think of an appropriate sound effect to describe the feeling), . . . I had a sensation of the beginnings of a long slow motion tumble, my first thought was (seriously) “oh shit, I’m dead, now what.”
I must point out now, that this is the only time in the whole experience, that I can describe anything resembling a white light or tunnel. It seemed that the tumbling took place in a warm, soft white void.
Emerging from that void I was suddenly aware of being above the scene of the accident, I wasn’t at all concerned about what had just happened. I seemed to just take it all in, my mind seemed . . . as I said earlier “my first thought was ” . . . but, I now realise the thinking process was completely different, it was like every thought happened at once, all was resolved and my mind became uncluttered . . . hmmmm (that’s the first time I’ve coined that phrase for it, but it seems appropriate). There was no BS left.
I did think about people I’d left behind, I just took it for granted that “they’d” understand soon enough themselves anyway. (I didn’t think about my mum or my girlfriend per se, it was more of a collective thing).
The night was dark, but I could see very clearly, floating around tree top level, I wasn’t aware of possesing a body, but seemed to still have binocular vision, it was the middle of winter, but I wasn’t aware of the cold. I had everything I needed.
As far as “I” was concerned “I” had my freedom, I had no idea what was going to happen next, but I couldn’t wait, I was on my way. There seemed no urgency about what was happening either, no deadlines, no time limits.
Then came the bummer, I snapped back inside my body. There I was again, self absorbed, whining, moaning . . . I was back amongst the bullshit.
The accident was a fairly traumatic event, the poor body got quite a violent shake, I sustained a broken neck out of the whole affair. Another strange thing though, as soon as I had my bearings again, I was able to calmly direct people as to how I should be treated (as a spinal injury), “don’t move me” . . . “leave my helmet and scarf alone,” etc.
I don’t know how long I was gone, it was at least long enough for my body to have landed 45yds up the road, and a flurry of people to stir into action (I saw that much from my cosy little vantage point above the scene).
That was just a simple observation of my experience. I just don’t know how to tell you how much it meant, how much of a reassurance it was to me.
I have no fear now of dying. I know there is no “death,” I can only try and reassure you that “death” is not a thing to be feared.
Near death experiences are a collection of events that happen during the time the experiencer is either near death or clinically dead. There is some controversy as to the number and nature of these events. Skeptics will say the NDE can be explained by natural occurring events, and proceed to describe how these happen. However, they only list a small number of near death events leaving out many that can not be easily explained as natural happenings.
“A Measure of Heaven” is a book written by Vince Migliore, a market research analyst and statistician who also holds a nursing degree. This book is a study of over 700 near death experience reports. It is full of statistics about near death experiences, and I urge you to read it.
In order to provide some accuracy in understanding NDEs I am going to list the statistics on what happens during a near death experience. These are the events that make up the average near death experience.
Out-of-body: the experiencer goes out of body and looks down upon their body laying below them.
Seeing the light: sometimes the light is at the end of a long tunnel and sometimes they just enter the light immediately. The light is unconditional love, surrounding the experiencer with caring and compassion.
All Knowledge: any question is immediately answered in the light. The knowledge of all existence is available for the asking. But upon returning to their physical life much of this knowledge can not be remembered.
The presence of Spiritual Beings: there are Beings that meet the experiencer and talk with them. Some are deceased relatives and loved ones. Usually one or more of these Beings tell the experiencer that they “must go back” into their physical bodies and finish their lives.
Events out of keeping with beliefs: the experience of the light and knowledge given, almost always counters the beliefs an experiencer has before the experience. In my case, all former beliefs about the world were changed. My perceptions were completely new. It took me over three years to integrate what I learned from my NDE into the physical world.
Boundary: There is a boundry beyond which the experiencer can not go. This boundry may be represented by a fence, closed door, an abyss, or gate of some kind.
Landscape or city: some experiencers are shown a park or crystal city. There are many experiencers that say they were in a park or city made from crystal. The city contained libraries, museums, schools, and other structures.
Life review: a life review is like seeing your past flashed before your eyes. Not all experience this, it is a form of showing how well you did so far. As you see your past, those people you may have harmed are there and you experience whatever pain and suffering you caused them. You trade places with them to see how it feels to be in their shoes. The same is true for those people you have helped in your past life. You feel the appreciation and joy they felt at being helped by you. Some think this is a form of judgement, but it is really for understanding yourself and how you interact with others.
Vision of the future: some see the future events of their life. Others may see the future events of the world. These events are not for certain, the choices one makes along the way affect them in positive or negative ways.
Darkness or voids: some near death experiences start with darkness or a void. These usually change into the light later on, especially if the experiencer asks for help after being afraid of the dark.
I have added my experience and research to the above near death experience events. I believe this is a good account of what happens in the average near death experience. However not all events will happen in all experiences. The near death experience is unique to the individual who has the experience. I hope is helps in understanding NDEs better.
