| 1. People have NDEs while they
are brain dead. |
|
 Cardiologist
Michael Sabom
described a near-death experience that
occurred while its experiencer - a woman
who was having an unusual surgical procedure
for the safe excision and repair of
a large basilar artery aneurysm - met
all of the accepted criteria for brain
death. The unusual medical procedure
involved the induction of hypothermic
cardiac arrest, in order to insure that
the aneurysm at the base of the brain
would not rupture during the operation.
The patient's body temperature was lowered
to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, her heartbeat
and breathing ceased, her brain waves
flattened, and the blood was completely
drained from her head. Her electroencephalogram
was totally flat...
Read more
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return
to Top
|
|
| 2. Out-of-body
perception during NDEs have been verified.
|
|
 Dr.
Bruce Greyson
documented perhaps one of the most compelling
examples of a person who had a NDE and
observed events while outside of his
body which were later verified by others.
The only way that these events could
have been observed by the experiencer
was if in fact he was outside of his
body. Al Sullivan was a 55 year old
truck driver who was undergoing triple
by-pass surgery when he had a powerful
NDE that included an encounter with
his deceased mother and brother-in-law,
who told Al to go back to his to tell
one of his neighbors that their son
with lymphoma will be OK. Furthermore,
during the NDE, Al accurately noticed
that the surgeon operating on him was
flapping his arms in an unusual fashion,
with his hands in his armpits. When
he came back to his body after the surgery
was over, the surgeon was startled that
Al could describe his own arm flapping,
which was his idiosyncratic method of
keeping his hands sterile...
Read more
|
| Sources: |
|
Article:
"People
See Verified Events While Out-Of-Body"
- www.near-death.com |
| Book:
"Near-Death
Studies: An Overview," by Kenneth
Ring, Chapter 1, pg 10, published
in "The
Near-Death Experience, Problems,
Prospects, Perspectives,"
Eds. Bruce Greyson, M.D., Charles
P. Flynn, Ph.D., Charles C.
Thomas, Publisher, Springfield,
III. (1984). - www.amazon.com |
|
News:
"Survival of Bodily Death" by
Bruce Greyson - www.near-death.com |
|
News:
"Brushes With Death: Scientists
Validate Near-Death Experiences"
ABC News |
|
| Return
to Top
|
|
|
| 3. People
born blind can see during an NDE. |
|
 Dr.
Kenneth Ring and Sharon Cooper
completed a two-year study into the
NDEs of the blind. They published their
findings in a book entitled "Mindsight"
in which they documented the solid evidence
of 31 cases in which blind people report
visually accurate information obtained
during an NDE. Perhaps the best example
in his study is that of a forty-five
year old blind woman by the name of
Vicki Umipeg. Vicki was born blind,
her optic nerve having been completely
destroyed at birth because of an excess
of oxygen she received in the incubator.
Yet, she appears to have been able to
see during her NDE. Her story is a particularly
clear instance of how NDEs of the congenitally
blind can unfold in precisely the same
way as do those of sighted persons...
Read more
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
4. NDEs demonstrate the return
of consciousness from death.
|
|
 An
anecdotal example of evidence that a
person's consciousness leaves and returns
to their body during an NDE comes from
the research of
Dr. Melvin
Morse.
Olga Gearhardt was a 63 year old woman
who underwent a heart transplant because
of a severe virus that attacked her
heart tissue. Her entire family awaited
at the hospital during the surgery,
except for her son-in-law, who stayed
home. The transplant was a success,
but at exactly 2:15 am, her new heart
stopped beating. It took the frantic
transplant team three more hours to
revive her. Her family was only told
in the morning that her operation was
a success, without other details. When
they called her son-in-law with the
good news, he had his own news to tell.
He had already learned about the successful
surgery. At exactly 2:15 am, while he
was sleeping, he awoke to see his Olga,
his mother-in-law, at the foot of his
bed. She told him not to worry, that
she was going to be alright. She asked
him to tell her daughter (his wife).
He wrote down the message, and the time
of day and then fell asleep. Later on
at the hospital, Olga regained consciousness.
Her first words were "did you get the
message?" She was able to confirm that
she left her body during her near-death
experience and was able to travel to
her son-in-law to communicate to him
the message. This anecdotal evidence
demonstrates that the near-death experience
is a return to consciousness at the
point of death, when the brain is dying.
Dr. Melvin Morse thoroughly researched
Olga's testimony and every detail had
objective verification including the
scribbled note by the son-in-law.
|
| Sources: |
|
Book:
Morse,
M. with Paul Perry,
Parting
Visions: Uses and Meanings of
Pre-Death, Psychic, and Spiritual
Experiences.
- www.amazon.com |
|
Book:
Myers,
F. Human
Personality
and Its Survival After Death,
Longmans, Green and Co. 1917.
- www.amazon.com |
|
Book:
Zammit,
V.,
A
Lawyer Presents the Case for
the Afterlife,
Chapter 14: Irrefutable proof
-- Cross Correspondences - www.victorzammit.com |
|
|
| Return
to Top
|
|
| 5. Raymond
Moody's NDE study has been replicated.
|
|
 |
In 1975,
Dr. Raymond Moody
published a book entitled
"Life
After Life"
which described his
findings from his study
on near-death experiences.
Moody's book became
a bestseller and focused
public attention on
the NDE like never before.
Moody recorded and compared
the experiences of 150
persons who died, or
almost died, and then
recovered. Moody outlined
nine elements that generally
occur during NDEs: (1)
hearing strange sounds,
(2)
feelings of peace,
(3) feelings of painlessness,
(4)
out-of-body experiences,
(5)
experiencing a tunnel,
(6) rising rapidly into
the heavens, (7)
seeing beings of light,
(8)
experiencing a life
review,
(9)
a reluctance to return
to the body. Dr.
Ken Ring's replicated
this NDE study by Dr.
Raymond Moody. Ring's
research conclusions
include:
|
| a. |
Dr. Moody's
research findings
are confirmed. |
| b. |
NDEs happen
to people of
all races, genders,
ages, education,
marital status,
and social class. |
| c. |
Religious orientation
is not a factor. |
| d. |
People are convinced
of the reality
of their NDE
experience. |
| e. |
Drugs do not
appear to be
a factor. |
| f. |
NDEs are not
hallucinations. |
| g. |
NDEs often involve
unparalleled
feelings. |
| h. |
People lose
their fear of
death and appreciate
life more after
having an NDE. |
| i. |
People's lives
are transformed
after having
an NDE. |
|
|
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return
to Top
|
|
| 6. Experimental evidence shows
NDEs are real experiences. |
|
 Science
demands verifiable evidence which can
be reproduced again and again under
experimental situations.
Dr. Jim Whinnery,
of the National Warfare Institute, thought
he was simply studying the effects of
G forces on fighter pilots. He had no
idea he would revolutionize the field
of consciousness studies by providing
experimental proof that NDEs are real.
The pilots were placed in huge centrifuges
and spun at tremendous speeds. After
they lost consciousness, after they
went into seizures, after they lost
all muscle tone, when the blood stopped
flowing in their brains, only then would
they suddenly have a return to conscious
awareness. They had "dreamlets" as Dr.
Whinnery calls them. These dreamlets
are similar to near-death experiences
and they often involved a sense of separation
from the physical body. A typical dreamlet
involved a pilot leaving his physical
body and traveling to a sandy beach,
where he looked directly up at the sun.
The pilots would remark that death is
very pleasant.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return
to Top
|
|
7. NDEs can be considered to be
an objective experience.
|
|
 |
Carl
Becker, Ph.D. received his Ph.D.
from the University of Hawaii
in 1981. He has researched NDEs
in Japanese hospitals and literature
for 30 years. Dr. Becker has
published numerous books on
bioethics, death and dying,
and NDEs in both Japan and the
United States. Currently, Dr.
Becker is a Professor of Bioethics
and Comparative Religion at
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Carl Becker examined four ways
in which NDEs may be considered
objective
| a. |
Paranormal knowledge
that is later verified |
| b. |
The similarity of deathbed
events in different
cultures |
| c. |
Differences between
religious expectations
and visionary experiences |
| d. |
Third-party observations
of visionary figures,
indicating that they
were not merely subjective
hallucinations (Becker,
1984). |
|
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return
to Top
|
|
| 8. NDEs have been validated in
scientific studies. |
|
|
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 9. Out-of-body experiences have
been validated in scientific studies. |
|
|
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 10. Autoscopy during NDEs have
been validated in scientific studies. |
|
 Pim
van Lommel led a study concerning the
NDEs of research subjects who had cardiac
arrest. The findings of the study suggests
that research subjects can experience
consciousness, with self-identity, cognitive
function and memories, including the
possibility of perception outside their
body (autoscopy),
during a flat EEG. Those research subjects
who had NDEs report that their NDE was
a bonafide preview of the afterlife.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 11. A transcendental "sixth sense"
of the human mind exists. |
|
 On
September 11, 2003, new research by
the
Institute
of Psychiatry
caused British scientists to announce
that there is convincing evidence that
people are capable of paranormal feats,
such as premonitions, telepathy, and
out-of-body experiences. The
British Association
for the Advancement of Science
was told an increasing number of experiments
support the theory of a human "sixth
sense" - an ability which may have its
roots in our past, when the ability
to sense the presence of a predator
was a matter of life or death. The view
that people are capable of paranormal
feats, such as premonitions, telepathy,
and out-of-body experiences, is supported
by new research by the Institute of
Psychiatry, which suggests the human
mind may exist outside the body like
an invisible magnetic field. The research
is being led by
Dr. Peter
Fenwick,
a neuro-psychiatrist at London University,
who has just completed a survey of heart
patients claiming to have had "near-death
experiences" after their hearts had
stopped beating.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 12. NDEs support the "holonomic"
theory of consciousness. |
|
 One
particular
theory of
consciousness
which is supported by NDE research involves
the concept of consciousness expansion
after death.
Stanislav
Grof,
a leading consciousness researcher,
explained this theory in the documentary
entitled
"Life After
Death"
by Tom Harpur: "My first idea was that
it [consciousness] has to be hard-wired
in the brain. I spent quite a bit of
time trying to figure out how something
like that is possible. Today, I came
to the conclusion that it is not coming
from the brain. In that sense, it supports
what
Aldous Huxley
believed after he had some powerful
psychedelic experiences and was trying
to link them to the brain. He came to
the conclusion that maybe the brain
acts as a kind of reducing valve that
actually protects us from too much cosmic
input ... I don't think you can locate
the source of consciousness. I am quite
sure it is not in the brain – not inside
of the skull ... It actually, according
to my experience, would lie beyond time
and space, so it is not localizable.
You actually come to the source of consciousness
when you dissolve any categories that
imply separation, individuality, time,
space and so on. You just experience
it as a presence."
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 13. The expansion of mind in NDEs
have happened to many people |
|
 |
The
following NDE descriptions of consciousness
expansion supports the theory of consciousness
described above by Stanislav Grof. It
theorizes that the brain acts as a reducing
valve of cosmic input to produce consciousness.
At death, this reducing-valve function
ceases and consciousness is then free
to expand. The following NDEs support
this:
|
| a. |
"I
realized that, as the stream
was expanding, my own consciousness
was also expanding to take in
everything in the Universe!"
(Mellen-Thomas
Benedict) |
| b. |
"My
mind felt like a sponge, growing
and expanding in size with each
addition ... I could feel my
mind expanding and absorbing
and each new piece of information
somehow seemed to belong."
(Virginia
Rivers) |
| c. |
"In
your life review you'll be the
universe."
(Thomas
Sawyer) |
| d. |
"This
white light began to infiltrate
my consciousness. It came into
me..It seemed I went out into
it. I expanded into it as it
came into my field off consciousness."
(Jayne
Smith) |
| e. |
"My
presence fills the room. And
now I feel my presence in every
room in the hospital. Even the
tiniest space in the hospital
is filled with this presence
that is me. I sense myself beyond
the hospital, above the city,
even encompassing Earth. I am
melting into the universe. I
am everywhere at once."
(Josiane
Antonette) |
| f. |
"I
felt myself expanding and expanding
until I thought, "I'm going
to burst!" The moment I thought,
"I'm going to burst!", I suddenly
found myself alone, back where
this being had met me, and he
had gone."
(Margaret
Tweddelll) |
| g. |
Susan
had an out-of-body experience
where she left her body and
grew very big, as big as a planet
at first, and then she filled
the solar system and finally
she became as large as the universe.
(Susan
Blackmore) |
|
|
|
| Return
to Top
|
|
|
| 14. The brain's connection to a
higher power has been validated. |
|
|
Dr. Melvin Morse
was an Associate Professor
of Pediatrics at the
University of Washington.
He has studied near-death
experiences in children
for over 15 years and
is the author of several
outstanding books on
the subject.
|
|
|
|
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
15. NDEs can be replicated using drugs
satisfying the scientific method.
|
|
 |
Dr. Karl Jansen
is a Member of the Royal
College of Psychiatrists
and is the world's leading
expert on
ketamine.
He has studied ketamine
at every level. While
earning his doctorate
in clinical pharmacology
at the University of
Oxford, he photographed
the receptors to which
ketamine binds in the
human brain. He has
published papers on
his discovery of the
similarities between
ketamine's psychoactive
effects and the near-death
experience during his
study of medicine in
New Zealand. Because
there exists a biological
basis for NDEs and a
method to replicate
NDEs, this satisfies
the scientific criteria
for being a real, scientific
phenomenon. Dr. Karl
Jansen's ketamine research
findings include:
|
|
|
|
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
16. NDEs are different from hallucinations.
|
|
NDEs
are not a denial of reality, as is often
seen in drug or oxygen deprivation induced
hallucinations. There are not the distortions
of time, place, body image and disorientations
seen in drug induced experiences. They
instead typically involve the perception
of another reality superimposed over
this one. For example, one young boy
told
Dr. Melvin
Morse
that the "god took me in his hands and
kept me safe" while medics were frantically
trying to revived his body after a near
drowning. He said and understood everything
that happened to him, but simply perceived
something we usually don't perceive
at other times in our lives. German
psychiatrist Michael Schroeter-Kunhardt
in his extensive review of all published
near death research states there is
no reason to believe that NDEs are the
result of psychiatric pathology or brain
dysfunction.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 17. The replication of NDEs satisfies
the scientific method. |
|
 In
2002, Neurologist Professor
Olaf Blanke
and colleagues at
Geneva University
Hospital in Switzerland
were using electrodes to stimulate the
brain of a female patient suffering
from
Temporal
Lobe Epilepsy.
They found that stimulating one spot
- the "God
spot"
- the
angular gyrus
in the right cortex - repeatedly caused
out-of-body
experiences.
The doctors did not set out to achieve
this out-of-body effect - they were
simply treating the women for epilepsy.
Apparently the increased electrical
activity in the brain resulting from
seizure activity (abnormal electrical
activity in the brain), makes sufferers
more susceptible to having near-death
experiences. The doctors believe the
angular gyrus plays an important role
in matching up visual information and
the brain's touch and balance representation
of the body. When the two become dissociated,
an out-body-experience may result. Writing
in the journal
Nature,
the Swiss team said out-of-body experiences
tended to be short-lived, and to disappear
when a person attempts to inspect parts
of their body (autoscopy).
Professor Blanke told BBC News Online
that "OBEs have been reported in neurological
patients with epilepsy, migraine and
after cerebral strokes, but they also
appear in healthy subjects. Awareness
of a biological basis of OBEs might
allow some patients who suffer frequently
from OBEs to talk about them more openly.
In addition, physicians might take the
phenomenon more seriously and carry
out necessary investigations such as
an EEG, MRI, and neurological examinations."
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 18. Apparitions of the dead have been
induced under scientific controls. |
|
 Dr.
Raymond Moody,
who became famous for his pioneering
studies of NDEs, has been working on
ways of inducing facilitated apparitions
in a controlled setting. He took as
his model
classic works
from ancient Greece
which suggested that when people wished
to contact a deceased loved one they
consulted with an 'oracle' at a
psychomanteum.
A psychomanteum is a specially built
laboratory using mirrors to help facilitate
the psychic process. Part of the actual
psychic process includes the sending
of telepathic messages, sending vibrations
- to the selected recipient in the afterlife.
Moody has reconstructed the process
with astonishing results - 85% of his
clients who go through a full day of
preparation do make contact with a deceased
loved one - but not necessarily the
one that they are seeking to meet. In
most cases this occurs in his specially
build psychomanteum but in 25% of cases
it happens later in their own homes
- the client wakes up and sees the apparition
at the foot of the bed (Moody 1993:97).
According to
Dianne Arcangel,
an associate of Dr. Moody, in some cases
when contact is made with intelligences
from the afterlife information is transmitted
to reveal something that the person
seeking contact does not know (1997).
Moody gives full instructions on how
to create your own psychomanteum in
his book
Reunions:
Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved
Ones
and on
his Psychomanteum
page.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 19. People having NDEs have brought
back scientific discoveries. |
|
 One
example of this phenomenon is documented
in Tom Harpur's documentary,
Life After
Death.
Harpur interviews a doctor whose name
is Dr. Yvonne Kason who was almost killed
in a plane crash into a lake which resulted
in a NDE. After she recovered, she began
to have strange visions in her mind
that she couldn't explain. One of these
visions concerned a friend of hers.
When Dr. Kason thought of her friend,
she would see a vision in her mind of
a "brain covered with pus." Dr. Kason
knew that this was an excellent symbolic
vision referring to the deadly disease
meningitis.
The problem was that her friend was
perfectly healthy at the time, exhibited
absolutely no signs of meningitis, and
there was no reason to suspect she had
it. Dr. Kason begged her friend to get
tested for meningitis anyway. After
an amount of reluctance, her friend
got tested. Surprisingly, the test was
positive for meningitis. As a result
of Dr. Kason's NDE, her friend was able
to get treated for meningitis at its
early stage before it had time to become
deadly. Dr. Kason continues to have
such visions. She now realizes that,
as a result of her NDE, that is now
psychic. Her story affirms that useful
things are indeed brought back from
NDEs. There are many other examples
of the NDE providing scientific discoveries.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 20. NDEs have advanced the field of
medical science. |
|
|
"One of the
things I did that got me a lot of attention
was working with the University of Texas.
I was brought in with Dr. Ken Ring and
not told what it was going to be or
any details whatsoever and I didn’t
know anything until we entered the room.
By the way, this was videotaped and
recorded. At that time, I could do almost
a self hypnosis and get to the light.
"So, the
University of Texas sat me down and
they said, 'Today, we are going to be
working on something call CNT.' That
was all the information that they gave
me, that it was a medical problem, and
then I did my technique. In those days,
the only tools that I brought with me
were a big pad of paper and large Crayola
crayons. I could sit there, go to the
light and still speak to you and draw
pictures while seeing.
"With this
experiment, I went to the light and
asked 'What information can we bring
back?' I almost immediately started
drawing and I drew something that to
me looked like two horse shoes. A big
horse shoe facing down on the bottom
and a smaller horse shoe facing up on
top. I said, 'The answer is in this
upper horse shoe and it’s these three
segments.' I numbered them exactly and
I said, 'That’s where the problem is
and the real problem is in this third
piecing which is this thing.' I was
pointing out a gene, but I didn’t know
any of that. And then I drew picture
and I said, 'There are two heads on
it and one head is normal and the one
that isn’t right is overriding the head
that is. If we can figure out a way
to cleave that head off, I think we
can cure this.'
"It turns
out that I was exactly right. I helped
decode a genetic disease and the information
was very accurate. Everybody thanked
me and I went away. Then about three
months later, I started getting letters
and calls saying, 'My God, you hit it
right on the head! This is astounding.
There is no way you could have had this
information in advance.' I did a fair
number of projects like that and a fair
number of think tanks, all of which
you have to sign nondisclosures and
promise to never talk about. I worked
in a lot of think tanks with some very
impressive world class scientists over
the next ten years until I retired from
all that in 1995." (Mellen-Thomas
Benedict)
|
|
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 21. NDEs have advanced the field of
psychology. |
|
 In
a hospital in Switzerland in 1944, the
world-renowned psychiatrist
Carl G. Jung,
had a heart attack and then a near-death
experience. His vivid encounter with
the light, plus the intensely meaningful
insights led Jung to conclude that his
experience came from something real
and eternal. Jung's experience is unique
in that he saw the Earth from a vantage
point of about a thousand miles above
it. His incredibly accurate view of
the Earth from outer space was described
about two decades before astronauts
in space first described it. Subsequently,
as he reflected on life after death,
Jung recalled the meditating Hindu from
his near-death experience and read it
as a parable of the archetypal
Higher Self,
the God-image within. Carl Jung, who
founded
analytical
psychology,
centered on the
archetypes
of the
collective
unconscious.
During his near-death experiences, he
met the avatar of the physician who
was treating him and was still
living on Earth.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 22. NDEs correspond with the "quirky"
principles found in physics. |
|
 Principles
of
quantum physics
supports NDE concepts include the properties
of (a)
light,
(b)
a
multi-dimensional
reality,
(c)
zero point
field,
(d)
quantum interconnectivity,
(e)
quantum consciousness,
(f )
quantum synchronicity,
(g)
space and
time interconnectivity,
(h)
time travel,
(i )
teleportation,
(j )
non-locality,
(k)
singularities
and the concept of (l )
subjectivity.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
23. The transcendent
nature of minds in NDEs corresponds
with physics.
|
|
New
developments in quantum physics shows
that we cannot know phenomena apart
from the observer. Arlice Davenport
challenges the hallucination theory
of NDEs as outmoded because the field
theories of physics now suggest new
paradigm options available to explain
NDEs.
Mark Woodhouse
argues that the traditional materialism/dualism
battle over NDEs may be solved by Einstein.
Since matter is now seen as a form of
energy, an energy body alternative to
the material body could explain the
NDE. This is supported by
Melvin Morse
who describes how NDEs are able to realign
the charges in the electromagnetic field
of the human body so that somehow the
brain's wiring is renewed. He reports
on patients who have NDEs and who recover
from such diseases as pneumonia, cardiac
arrest, and cancer (1992, 153-54). Perhaps
the brain is like a kind of receiver
(such as a television, radio, or cell
phone). What is received (i.e., signals,
music, voice) is not produced by the
receiver, but exists separately as electromagnetic
waves that are processed by the receiver
to make them visible or audible to the
senses.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 24. NDEs have advanced the fields of philosophy
and religion. |
|
 The
famed Greek philosopher,
Plato,
described in his legendary work entitled
Republic,
the NDE account of
a soldier named
Er.
Plato integrated at least three elements
of this NDE into his philosophy: (a)
The departure of the soul from the cave
of shadows to see the light of truth, (b)
The flight of the soul to a vision of pure
celestial being, (c) Its subsequent recollection
of the vision of light, which is the very
purpose of philosophy.
The man responsible
for making Christianity a world religion,
the Apostle Paul, described his own NDE
as follows: "I know a person in Christ who
fourteen years ago was caught up the third
heaven. Whether it was in the body or out
of the body I do not know - God knows. And
I know that this person - whether in the
body or apart from the body I do not know,
but God knows - was caught up to paradise.
He heard inexpressible things, things that
people are not permitted to tell. (2
Corinthians 12:2-4).
In this letter, Paul based his authority
as an Apostle on this NDE. Some or all of
his revelations of Jesus certainly came
from this NDE. The inspiration of much of
the New Testament can be attributed in some
way to Paul's NDE.
The Tibetan Book
of the Dead,
whose actual title is "The Great Liberation
upon Hearing in the Intermediate State"
or "Bardo Thodol", has striking parallels
with the NDEs of people who have died, experienced
themselves floating out of their bodies,
having what appears to be real afterlife
events, and then being revived. It is traditionally
believed to be the work of the legendary
Padma Sambhava
in the 8th century A.D. The book acts as
a guide for the dead during the state that
intervenes death and the next rebirth. He
is considered to be one of the first persons
to bring Buddhism to Tibet. The Bardo Thodol
is a guide that is read aloud to the dead
while they are in the state between death
and reincarnation in order for them to recognize
the nature of their mind and attain liberation
from the cycle of rebirth. The Bardo Thodol
teaches that once awareness is freed from
the body, it creates its own reality as
one would experience in a dream. This dream
occurs in various phases (bardos) in ways
both wonderful and terrifying. Overwhelming
peaceful and wrathful visions and deities
appear. Since the deceased's awareness is
in confusion of no longer being connected
to a physical body, it needs help and guidance
in order that enlightenment and liberation
occurs. The Bardo Thodol teaches how we
can attain Nirvana by recognizing the heavenly
realms instead of entering into the lower
realms where the cycle of birth and rebirth
continue.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 25. NDEs have the nature of an archetypal
initiatory journey. |
|
|
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 26. People have been clinically dead
for several days. |
|
 Rev.
George Rodonaia underwent one of
the most extended cases of a near-death
experience ever recorded. Pronounced
dead immediately after he was hit by
a car in 1976, he was left for three
days in the morgue. He did not "return
to life" until a doctor began to make
an incision in his abdomen as part of
an autopsy procedure. Prior to his NDE
he worked as a neuropathologist. He
was also an avowed atheist. Yet after
the experience, he devoted himself exclusively
to the study of spirituality, taking
a second doctorate in the psychology
of religion. He then became an ordained
priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
He served as a pastor at St. Paul United
Methodist Church in Baytown, Texas.
Rodonaia held an M.D. and a Ph.D. in
neuropathology, and a Ph.D. in the psychology
of religion. He delivered a keynote
address to the United Nations on the
"Emerging Global Spirituality." Before
emigrating to the United States from
the Soviet Union in 1989, he worked
as a research psychiatrist at the University
of Moscow.
In June 2005, scientists at the University
of Pittsburgh announced that they succeeded
in reviving dogs after three hours of
clinical death. The procedure involved
draining all the blood from the dogs'
bodies and filled them with an ice-cold
salt solution. These dogs were scientifically
dead, as their breathing and heartbeat
were stopped and they registered no
brain activity. But three hours later,
their blood was replaced and they were
brought back to life with an electric
shock with no brain damage. A spokesman
said the technique could be tried on
humans within a year.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 27. NDEs have produced visions of the
future which later became true. |
|
 Many
people were given visions of the future
during their near-death experience.
Generally, these visions foretell a
future of catastrophic natural disasters
and social upheaval followed by a new
era of peace and have actually already
come to pass. Some of them did not happen
as foretold. Many of these apocalyptic
visions are to happen within the next
few decades. Examples of events which
have been foretold by the NDE visions
of the future by
Edgar Cayce
include World War I & II, the 1929
Stock Market Crash, the fall of the
Soviet Union and communism, the discovery
of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Desert
Storm war against Iraq in 1990, and
the 9/11 terrorist attack.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 28. Groups of dying people can share
the same NDE. |
|
 A
rare type of NDE called the "group
near-death experience"
is a phenomenon where a whole group
of people have a NDE at the same time
and location. They see each other outside
of their bodies and have a shared or
similar experience. In 1996, NDE researcher
Arvin Gibson
interviewed a fire-fighter named Jake
who had a most unusual NDE while working
with other fire-fighters in a forest.
What makes it unique is that it happened
at the same time as several co-workers
were also having a NDE. During their
NDEs, they actually met each other and
saw each other above their lifeless
bodies. All survived and they verified
with each other afterwards that the
experience actually happened. Jake's
near-death experience was so interesting
that Gibson's local chapter of IANDS
invited him to tell his story at one
of their meetings. Another example of
a group NDE is described in the IANDS
publication Vital Signs (Volume XIX,
No. 3, 2000) and is described in a greater
way in Dr. Stephen Hoyer and May Eulitt's
book entitled "Fireweaver:
The Story of a Life, a Near-Death, and
Beyond."
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 29. People having NDEs are convinced they
saw an afterlife. |
|
In
1977, Dr. Kenneth Ring was a brilliant young
professor of psychology at the University
of Connecticut who read
Dr. Raymond Moody's
book,
Life After Life,
and was inspired by it. However, he felt
that a more scientifically structured study
would strengthen Moody's findings. He sought
out 102 near-death survivors for his research.
He concluded:
"Regardless of
their prior attitudes - whether skeptical
or deeply religious - and regardless of
the many variations in religious beliefs
and degrees of skepticism from tolerant
disbelief to outspoken atheism - most of
these people were convinced that they had
been in the presence of some supreme and
loving power and had a glimpse of a life
yet to come."
(Dr.
Kenneth Ring)
For the multitude
of near-death experiencers who know they
have left their bodies and received a glimpse
of life after death, there is no amount
of clinical explanation that will ever convince
them otherwise.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 30. Childhood NDEs are remarkably similar
to adult NDEs. |
|
 The
NDE researcher
P.M.H. Atwater
has pointed out the fascinating anomaly
that an amazing number of people important
to the evolution of humankind may well
have had such an episode during their
childhood. She discusses this at length
in both of her books,
Future Memory
and
Children
of the New Millennium.
Some of the notable child NDEs she came
across were Abraham Lincoln, Mozart,
Albert Einstein, Queen Elizabeth I,
Edward de Vere/the 17th Earl of Oxford
(who most likely is the real Shakespeare),
Winston Churchill, Black Elk, Walter
Russell, plus several others.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
31. NDEs change people unlike hallucinations
and dreams.
|
|
No
matter what the nature of the NDE,
it alters lives. Alcoholics find
themselves unable to imbibe. Hardened
criminals opt for a life of helping
others.
Atheists
embrace the existence of a deity,
while dogmatic members of a particular
religion report "feeling welcome
in any church or temple or mosque."
Nancy
Evans Bush,
president emeritus of the
International
Association for Near-Death Studies,
says the experience is revelatory.
"Most near-death survivors say they
don't think there is a God," she
says. "They know." In 1975, when
Raymond
Moody
published
Life
After Life,
a book that coined the term "near-death
experience" (NDE) to describe this
hard-to-define phenomenon. Moody
interviewed 150 near-death patients
who reported vivid experiences (flashing
back to childhood, coming face to
face with Christ). He found that
those who had undergone NDEs became
more altruistic, less materialistic,
and more loving.
Bruce
Greyson
and
Ian Stevenson
have been instrumental in gathering
evidence indicating that religious
backgrounds do not affect who is
most likely to have a NDE. They
have mapped out the conversion-like
effects of NDEs that can sometimes
lead to hardship. "They can see
the good in all people," Greyson
says of people who have experienced
the phenomenon. "They act fairly
naive, and they often allow themselves
to be opened up to con men who abuse
their trust." They have gathered
reports of high divorce rates and
problems in the workplace following
NDEs. "The values you get from a
NDE are not the ones you need to
function in everyday life," says
Greyson. Having stared eternity
in the face, he observes, those
who return often lose their taste
for ego-boosting achievement. Not
even the diehard skeptics doubt
the powerful personal effects of
NDEs. "This is a profound emotional
experience," explains Nuland. "People
are convinced that they've seen
heaven."
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
Return to Top
|
|
| 32. NDEs cannot be explained by brain
chemistry alone. |
|
 Dr.
Jeffrey Long is a physician practicing
the specialty of radiation oncology
in Houma, Louisiana. Dr. Long served
on the Board of Directors of IANDS,
and is actively involved in NDE research.
In his book, " Evidence
of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death
Experiences," Dr. Long documents
a study he conducted - the largest scientific
study of NDEs ever. It is based on his
research of over 1,300 NDEs shared with
NDERF.org. Using his treasure trove
of data, Dr. Long explains how NDEs
cannot be explained by brain chemistry
alone, how medical evidence fails to
explain them away and why there is only
one plausible explanation - that people
have survived death and traveled to
another dimension. Dr. Long makes his
case using nine lines of evidence and
they are: (1)
Crystal-Clear Consciousness.
The level of conscious alertness during
NDEs is usually greater than that experienced
in everyday life - even though NDEs
generally occur when a person is unconscious
or clinically dead. This high level
of consciousness while physically unconscious
is medically unexplained. Additionally,
the elements in NDEs generally follow
the same consistent and logical order
in all age groups and around the world,
which refutes the possibility that NDEs
have any relation to dreams or hallucinations.
(2) Realistic
Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs):
OBEs are one of the most common elements
of NDEs. Events witnessed and heard
by NDErs while in an out-of-body state
are almost always realistic. When the
NDEr or others later seek to verify
what was witnessed or heard during the
NDE, their OBE observations are almost
always confirmed as completely accurate.
Even if the OBE observations include
events occurring far away from the physical
body, and far from any possible sensory
awareness of the NDEr, the OBE observations
are still almost always confirmed as
completely accurate. This fact alone
rules out the possibility that NDEs
are related to any known brain functioning
or sensory awareness. This also refutes
the possibility that NDEs are unrealistic
fragments of memory from the brain.
(3) Heightened Senses.
Not only are heightened senses reported
by most who have NDEs, normal or supernormal
vision has occurred in those with significantly
impaired vision, and even legal blindness.
Several people who have been totally
blind since birth have reported highly
visual NDEs. This is medically unexplainable.
(4) Consciousness During Anesthesia.
Many NDEs occur while the NDEr is under
general anesthesia - at a time when
any conscious experience should be impossible.
While some skeptics claim these NDEs
may be the result of too little anesthesia,
this ignores the fact that some NDEs
result from anesthesia overdose. Additionally,
descriptions of a NDEs differ greatly
from those people who experiences "anesthetic
awareness." The content of NDEs
occurring
under general anesthesia is essentially
indistinguishable from NDEs that do
not occur under general anesthesia.
This is more strong evidence that NDEs
occur independent from the functioning
of the material brain. (5) Perfect
Playback. Life reviews in NDEs
include real events which previously
occurred in the lives of the NDEr -
even if the events were forgotten or
happened before they were old enough
to remember. (6) Family Reunions.
During a NDE, the experiencer may encounter
people who are virtually always deceased
and are usually relatives of the NDEr.
Sometimes they include relatives who
died before the NDEr was even born.
If NDEs are merely the product of memory
fragments, they would almost certainly
include far more living people, including
those with whom they had more recently
interacted. (7) Children’s Experiences.
The NDEs of children, including very
young children who are too young to
have developed concepts of death, religion,
or NDEs, are essentially identical to
those of older children and adults.
This refutes the possibility that the
content of NDEs is produced by preexisting
beliefs or cultural conditioning.
(8) Worldwide Consistency.
NDEs appear remarkably consistent around
the world, and across many different
religions and cultures. NDEs from non-Western
countries are incredibly similar to
those occurring in people in Western
countries. (9) Aftereffects.
It is common for people to experience
major life changes after having NDEs.
These aftereffects are often powerful,
lasting, life-enhancing, and the changes
generally follow a consistent pattern.
NDErs themselves are practically universal
in their belief that their experience
of the afterlife was real.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 33. NDEs have been occurring for thousands
of years. |
|
 Reports
of near-death experiences are not a
new phenomenon. A great number of them
have been recorded over a period of
thousands of years. The ancient religious
texts such as The
Tibetan Book
of the Dead,
the
Christian
Bible,
and the
Koran
describe experiences of life after death
which remarkably resembles modern NDEs.
The oldest surviving explicit report
of a NDE in Western literature comes
from the famed Greek philosopher,
Plato,
who describes an event in his tenth
book of his legendary book entitled
Republic. Plato discusses the story
of Er, a soldier who awoke on his funeral
pyre and described his journey into
the afterlife. But this story is not
just a random anecdote for Plato. He
integrated at least three elements of
the NDE into his philosophy: the departure
of the soul from the cave of shadows
to see the light of truth, the flight
of the soul to a vision of pure celestial
being and its subsequent recollection
of the vision of light, which is the
very purpose of philosophy.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 34. The skeptical "dying brain" theory
of NDEs has major flaws. |
|
 Two
competing hypotheses are advanced in
a book by skeptic
Susan Blackmore
entitled
Dying to
Live
and they are (1)
The Afterlife
Hypothesis
and (2) Susan Blackmore's
The Dying
Brain Hypothesis.
The Afterlife Hypothesis states spirit
survives body death. The NDE is the
result of spirit separating from the
body. The Dying Brain Hypothesis states
the NDE is an artifact of brain chemistry.
According to the dying brain hypothesis,
there is no spirit which survives body
death. Skeptics who claim the author
of Dying to Live is non biased are proven
wrong; skeptics who claim she provides
scientific proof are shown, by her own
words, to be in error.
Because NDEs
have many common core elements, this
suggests that they are spiritual voyages
outside of the body. Also, if the dying
brain creates NDE illusions, what is
the purpose for doing it? If our brains
are only a high-tech computer-like lump
of tissue which produces our mind and
personality, why does it bother to create
illusions at the time of death? If everything,
including the mind and personality,
are about to disintegrate, why would
the brain produce a last wonderful Grand
Finale vision? Even if NDE elements
can be reduced to only a series of brain
reactions, this does not negate the
idea that NDEs are more than a brain
thing.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 35. Skeptical arguments against NDEs
are not valid. |
|
 Sociologist
Dr. Allan
Kellehear
states that some scientific theories
are often presented as the most logical,
factual, objective, credible, and progressive
possibilities, as opposed to the allegedly
subjective, superstitious, abnormal,
or dysfunctional views of mystics. The
rhetorical opinions of some NDE theories
are presented as if they were scientific
(Kellehear,
1996, 120).
Many skeptical arguments against the
survival theory are actually arguments
from pseudo-skeptics who often think
they have no burden of proof. Such arguments
often based on scientism with assumptions
that survival is impossible even though
survival has not been ruled out. Faulty
conclusions are often made such as,
"Because NDEs have a brain chemical
connection then survival is impossible."
Pseudo-skeptical arguments are sometimes
made that do not consider the entire
body of circumstantial evidence supporting
the possibility of survival or do not
consider the possibility of new paradigms.
Such pseudo-skeptical claims are often
made without any scientific evidence.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 36. The burden of proof has shifted
to skeptics of an afterlife. |
|
 All
neurological theories concluding NDEs
to be only a brain anomaly, must show
how the core elements of the NDE occur
subjectively because of specific neurological
events triggered by the approach of
death. These core elements include:
the out-of-body state, paranormal knowledge,
the tunnel, the golden light, the voice
or presence, the appearance of deceased
relatives, and beautiful vistas. Perhaps
the final word should go to
Nancy Evans
Bush,
a NDEr with the International Association
for Near-Death Studies, who said:
"There is no human experience of any
description that can't simply be reduced
to a biological process, but that in
no way offsets the meaning those experiences
have for us - whether it's falling in
love, or grieving, or having a baby."
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
37. Other
anomalous phenomena supports an afterlife. |
|
|
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
38. NDEs
support the reality of reincarnation. |
|
Amber
Wells was a student at the University
of Connecticut and wrote a research
paper based on her study of the near-death
experience for her senior honors thesis
under the direction of
Dr. Ken Ring.
Her paper was published in the Journal
of Near-Death Studies in the fall of
1993. In her study, 70 percent of
the group of near-death experiencers
demonstrated belief in reincarnation.
Claims have been documented by other
researchers of direct knowledge of reincarnation
which became available during the near-death
experience itself. An example of this
type out-of-body research of knowledge
can be seen in a letter written to Dr.
Ken Ring by John Robinson: "It is a
matter of personal knowledge from what
the being with whom I spoke during my
near-death experience told me about
my older son, that he had had 14 incarnations
in female physical bodies previous to
the life he has just had."
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
39. Scientific
evidence of reincarnation supports an
afterlife. |
|
 On
June 11, 1992, at Princeton University,
Dr. Ian Stevenson presented a paper
entitled: "Birthmarks and Birth Defects
Corresponding to Wounds on Deceased
Persons" providing scientific evidence
suggestive of reincarnation which was
published in the Journal of Scientific
Exploration. These findings support
reincarnation in NDE research findings
as well. Reincarnation has been called
by some to be the greatest unknown scientific
discovery today. In the last chapter
of Dr. Ian Stevenson's book entitled
Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation
(1967), he provides rigorous scientific
reasoning to show how reincarnation
is the only viable explanation that
fits the facts of his study. He considers
every possible alternative explanation
for his twenty cases of young children
who were spontaneously able to describe
a previous lifetime as soon as they
learned to talk. He was able to rule
out each alternative explanation using
one or more aspects of these cases.
Later research has even bolstered his
case in favor of the existence of reincarnation.
His study is also completely reproducible
which means that anybody who doubts
the validity of this study is perfectly
welcome to repeat it for themselves.
I believe it is only a short matter
of time before his discovery of the
existence of reincarnation is finally
realized by the scientific community
and the world to be accepted as one
of the greatest scientific discoveries
of all time.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 40. Xenoglossy supports reincarnation
and an afterlife. |
|
One
of the most amazing psychic phenomena,
which religionists, skeptics and atheists
have continuously and deliberately ignored
is xenoglossy - the ability to speak
or write a foreign language a person
never learned. After all other explanations
have been investigated - such as fraud,
genetic memory, telepathy and cryptomnesia
(the remembering of a foreign language
learned earlier), xenoglossy is taken
as evidence of either memories of a
language learned in a past life or of
communication with a discarnate entity—
a spirit person. There are many cases
on record of adults and children speaking
and writing languages which they have
never learned. Sometimes this happens
spontaneously but more often it occurs
while the person is under hypnosis or
in an altered state of consciousness.
In some cases it is only a few words
remembered but in other cases the person
becomes totally fluent and able to converse
with native speakers sometimes in obscure
dialects which have not been in use
for centuries. There are literally thousands
of xenoglossic cases, many hundreds
of which have been documented. They
involve modern and ancient languages
from all over the world. Psychic investigators,
such the highly credible
Dr. Ian Stevenson,
used scientific method to illustrate
xenoglossy and claim that there are
only two possible explanations — either
spirit contact or past life memory both
of which are evidence for the afterlife.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
41. Past-life
regression supports reincarnation and
an afterlife. |
|
 |
Past
life regression such as that
practiced by
Dr.
Michael Newton,
simply involves placing a person
under hypnosis and asking them
to go back through their childhood
to a time before they were born.
In many cases the person begins
talking about his or her life
or lives before the present
lifetime, about their previous
death and about the time between
lives including the planning
of the present lifetime. The
main reason why at least some
of these claims must be considered
as evidence are:
| a. |
The regression frequently
leads to a cure of a
physical illness.. |
| b. |
In some cases the person
regressed begins to
speak an unlearned foreign
language. |
| c. |
In some cases the person
being regressed remembers
details of astonishing
accuracy which when
checked out are verified
by the top historians. |
| d. |
The emotional intensity
of the experience is
such that it convinces
many formerly skeptical
psychiatrists who are
used to dealing with
fantasy and imagined
regressions. |
| e. |
In some cases the alleged
cause of death in an
immediate past life
is reflected by a birthmark
in the present life.. |
|
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
42. Contact
with "the dead" have occurred under
scientific controls. |
|
 On
Oct. 4, 1999, the University of Arizona
announced a study conducted by
Dr. Gary
Schwartz:
"UA Researchers Look Beyond the Grave"
concerning scientific evidence supporting
a theory of the existence of a Universal
Living Memory. This was achieved by
testing highly qualified psychic mediums
to see if they could contact the dead.
The success of this study is important
in that it supports NDE research in
providing a scientific foundation toward
investigating the survival of consciousness
after death.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
43. Many
people have experienced after-death
communications. |
|
  An
after-death communication (ADC) is a
spiritual experience that occurs when
a person is contacted directly and spontaneously
by a family member or friend who has
died. During their seven years of research,
Bill and Judy Guggenheim at
www.after-death.com collected more
than 3,300 firsthand reports from people
who believe they have been contacted
by a deceased loved one. Their
book, Hello From Heaven, documents
many such experiences.
|
Sources:
|
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
44. Dream
research supports NDEs and an afterlife. |
|
 One
of the strangest cases in the history
of dream research is described in the
documentary,
The Secret
World of Dreams.
It describes the amazing story of a
woman named
Claire Sylvia.
She was a professional dancer with several
modern dance companies. As the years
passed, Claire's health began to deteriorate.
Claire Sylvia had to undergo a heart
and lung transplant. Soon after the
transplant, she began having strange
and incredibly vivid dreams about a
young man she didn't recognize. Eventually,
Claire realized that the young man in
her dreams was the eighteen-year-old
organ donor whose heart and lungs resided
in her chest. Through her continuing
dream contacts with her donor, she learned
a lot about him including his name.
She then decided to do the research
to find out if this "heavenly" information
was correct.
Yale University
Pediatric Cancer specialist
Dr. Diane
Komp
reported that many dying children have
NDEs which often occurred during dreams.
One boy, for example, told Dr. Komp
that Jesus had visited him in a big
yellow school bus and told him he would
die soon. The boy died as he predicted.
According
to the celebrated psychiatrist and dream
analyst,
Marie Louise
Von Franz,
and based on her analysis of over 10,000
dreams of the dying, the meaning being
communicated is that the light of the
individual, one of the common metaphors
for life that we've heard so often,
goes out at death but is miraculously
renewed on the other side. In other
words, the spirit seems to live on.
This dream then illustrates perfectly
a profound insight of the great psychoanalyst
and mentor of Dr. Von Franz,
Carl Jung,
MD,
who has said: "The unconscious psyche
believes in a life after death." According
to Jung, dream symbols which exist in
the very depths of the soul behave as
if the psychic life of the individual
will continue. In Dr. Von Franz' words:
"These symbols depict the end of bodily
life and the explicit continuation of
psychic life after death. In other words,
our last dreams prepare us for death."
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
45. Deathbed
visions support NDEs and an afterlife. |
|
 Dr.
Carla Wills-Brandon has researched,
in depth, the universal phenomenon of
the
Deathbed Vision (DBV) and has included
her findings in her book, One Last Hug
Before I Go. Complete with her own personal
encounters, and those of numerous other
DBV experiencers, this revolutionary
work explores DBVs throughout history,
from ancient Egypt to modern-day America.
Through the visions and experiences
common to all dying people, one can
learn more about the spiritual journey
that begins with death. According to
recent studies, only about 10% of people
are conscious shortly before their death.
Of this group, 50% to 67% have DBVs.
|
Sources:
|
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
46. Remote
viewing supports NDEs and an afterlife |
|
 On
April 23, 1984, the Washington Post
reported: "The Race for Inner Space"
about the CIA's remote viewing program.
On August 12, 1985, the Deseret News
reported: "The United States is Still
Involved in ESP-ionage." Other media
attention followed. One theory about
how remote viewing works is that gifted
or trained people can tap into a "Universal
Mind." NDE research also suggests the
reality of a Universal or Collective
Consciousness.
Some of the
any credible remote reviewers, such
as
Joseph McMoneagle,
received their remote viewing powers
from a near-death experience.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
47. Studies
show prayer to be effective under scientific
controls. |
|
 On
Oct. 25, 1999, BBC News reported: "Healing
Power of Prayer Revealed"
about a study at a university hospital
in Kansas City, U.S. about scientific
evidence of healing through the power
of prayer. Then on June 5, 2000, BBC
News reported: "Prayer
Works as a Cure"
about a different study conducted at
the University of Maryland providing
more evidence of healing through prayer.
These findings support NDE research
findings which demonstrates the reality
of a transcendent consciousness.
Dr. Larry
Dossey
has done extensive research on the efficacy
of prayer and has written several excellent
books on the subject.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
48. The Scole
Experiments supports NDEs and an afterlife.
|
|
 Victor
Zammit
is a lawyer who has collected a large
body of evidence supporting the reality
of an afterlife. Zammit has an excellent
article concerning what many regard
as the greatest afterlife experiment
in the world. The evidence collected
over a period of more than four years
and with more than 500 sittings by the
Scole Experiments
and the afterlife team is absolute,
definitive and irrefutable. Scole is
a village in Norfolk, England. Using
it as a base, mediums Robin and Sandra
Foy and Alan and Diana Bennett and other
experimenters produced brilliant evidence
of the afterlife in England, the U.S.
Ireland and in Spain. Their results
are being repeated by other groups around
the world and will convince even the
toughest open-minded skeptic. The group
began with two mediums delivering messages
from a non-physical group. Many of these
messages contained personal information
that nobody else could know about. Soon
the messages came in the form of voices
which could be heard by all in the room.
Then came the actual materialization
of people and objects from the non-physical
side.
|
| Sources: |
|
Article:
"Scole:
A Response to the Critics" by
Montague Keen and Arthur Ellison,
from The Scole -
Report:
Proceedings of the Society for
Psychic Research Vol 58 Part
220 November 1999. |
|
Article:
The
Scole Experiments Prove the
Afterlife
- www.victorzammit.com |
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
49. Electronic
voice phenomena supports NDEs and an afterlife. |
|
For more than
50 years, experimenters all over the world
have been tape recording "paranormal voices"
- voices which cannot be heard when a tape
recorder is playing but which can be heard
when the tape is played back. Many of these
messages have been reported to be from loved
ones who have passed on. Such messages would
include the experimenter's name and also
answers to the experimenter's questions.
It is a phenomenon known as "EVP" or "electronic
voice phenomenon"
and there are thousands of researchers around
the world researching this fascinating psychic
phenomenon. This phenomenon is particularly
relevant to evidence supporting the survival
hypothesis because it follows strict scientific
procedures and have been duplicated under
laboratory conditions by various of researchers
in many different countries.
Friedrich Jürgenson
(pictured above) is considered
to be the "The father of EVP" because he
was the first to capture EVP successfully
on a recording device. One particular recording
changed his life forever. After playing
back on of his recordings, he was shocked
to hear his mother’s voice say “Friedel
can you hear me. It’s mammy.” Friedrich's
mother had long ago passed away and the
endearment he heard was used exclusively
by her. Jürgenson was now convinced these
unusual audio transmissions were voices
from the afterlife. In 1964, Jürgenson published
a book on his EVP research entitled "The
Voices From Space."
After reading
Friedrich Jürgenson's book,
Dr. Konstantins
Raudive
(1909–1974,
pictured on the
right),
a Latvian psychologist who was a student
of
Carl Jung,
meet with Jürgenson and conducted EVP experiments
with him. As a result, in 1965, Raudive
began to conduct his own EVP research and
with the help of various electronics experts,
Raudive recorded over 100,000 audiotapes,
most of which were conducted using strict
laboratory conditions. Raudive would confirm
the accuracy of his recordings by inviting
listeners to hear and interpret them. Over
400 people were involved in his EVP research
and all heard the voices. This culminated
in his 1968 book entitled "Breakthrough:
An Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication
with the Dead." Raudice's research into
EVP gave experimenters various methods for
recording EVP’s including the EVP classification
scale that is used by researchers today.
The popular paranormal TV series called
"Ghost
Adventures"
features an overwhelmingly number of convincing
EVP recordings as they occur.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
50. Atheists
believe in an afterlife after having
NDEs.
|
|
 Atheists
have deathbed experiences and near-death
experiences just like everyone else
does. The
philosophy
of Positivism,
founded by the famous atheist named
A. J. Ayer,
is the philosophy that anything not
verifiable by the senses is nonsense.
Because NDEs mark the end of the senses,
Positivists believe the survival of
the senses after death is nonsense.
But this philosophy has been challenged
by its founder A. J. Ayer himself. Later
in life, Ayer had a NDE where he saw
a red light. Ayer's NDE made him a changed
man: "My recent experiences, have slightly
weakened my conviction that my genuine
death ... will be the end of me, though
I continue to hope that it will be."
(Ayer, 1988 a,b) (Read more about it
from an article in the National Post
and an article by Gerry Lougrhan: Can
there be life after life? Ask the atheist!
(by Gerry Lougrhan, Letter From London,
March 18, 2001.)
A non-NDE
example comes from
Antony Flew, a champion of atheist
beliefs for more than 50 years. In a
news article titled "Atheist Discovers
'The Science of God'": "One of Britain's
most prominent atheists has decided
that God might exist after all. Professor
Antony Flew now believes there is scientific
evidence supporting the theory of some
sort of intelligence behind the creation
the universe. Professor Flew, 81, a
professor emeritus of philosophy at
the University of Reading, said that
this was the only explanation for the
origin of life ... "I'm thinking of
a God very different from the God of
the Christian and far and away from
the God of Islam, because both are depicted
as omnipotent Oriental despots - cosmic
Saddam Husseins," he said in his new
video, "Has Science Discovered God?"
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
|
51. Psychometry
supports NDEs and an afterlife. |
|
 According
to Wikipedia.org, "psychometry"
is a psychic ability in which the user
is able to relate details about the
past condition of an object or area,
usually by being in close contact with
it. The user could allegedly, for example,
give police precise details about a
murder or other violent crime if they
were at the crime scene or were holding
the weapon used. About.com's Paranormal
Phenomena website lists information
about several of the most convincing
psychometrists.
Stefan Ossowiecki,
a Russian-born psychic, is one of the
most famous psychometrists. Ossowiecki
claimed to be able to see people's auras
and to move objects through psychokinesis.
His psychic gifts enabled this chemical
engineer to locate lost objects and
missing people, and he assisted in several
criminal investigations. In 1935, he
participated in a test of his psychometric
powers - a test devised by a wealthy
Hungarian named Dionizy Jonky that involved
a sealed package. Jonky stipulated that
this test was to be conducted eight
years after his death. (Jonky and Ossowiecki
did not know each other.) First, 14
photographs of men were placed in front
of Ossowiecki, one of which was of Jonky.
Ossowiecki picked out the correct photo.
Next, Ossowiecki accurately described
many details of Jonky's life and correctly
identified the man who held the package
for the past eight years. Finally, Ossowiecki
was presented with the sealed package
Jonky had prepared before his death.
Ossowiecki touched the package and concentrated.
"Volcanic minerals," he said. "There
is something here that pulls me to other
worlds, to another planet." Oddly, he
also sensed sugar. Inside the package
was a meteorite encased in a candy wrapper.
In later
experiments, Ossowiecki performed remarkable
psychometric feats with archeological
objects - a kind of psychic archeology.
These tests were conducted by Stanislaw
Poniatowski, a professor of enthology
at the University of Warsaw who could
verify the accuracy of what Ossowiecki
"saw." While holding a 10,000-year-old
piece of flint, Ossowiecki was able
to describe in amazing detail the lives
of the prehistoric people who made it.
In other tests he provided similar descriptions
of people who lived as long ago as 300,000
years. Some of the information he provided
was not even known by experts at the
time, but confirmed by discoveries years
later!
Ossowiecki
described his visions as being like
a motion picture that he could watch,
pause, rewind and fast-forward - like
a videotape or DVD.
|
| Sources: |
|
|
|
| Return to Top
|
|
| 52. Memories of Near-Death Experiences are More
Real Than Normal Memories. |
|
 Researchers at the
Coma Science Group, directed by
Steven Laureys, and the
University of Liege's Cognitive Psychology
Research, headed by
Professor Serge Bredart and
Hedwige Dehon, have demonstrated that
the physiological mechanisms triggered
during NDEs lead to a more vivid perception
not only of imagined events in the history
of an individual but also of real events
which have taken place in their lives. These
surprising results - obtained using an original
method which now requires further investigation
- were published in
PLOS ONE. The researchers looked into
the memories of NDEs with the hypothesis that
if the memories of NDEs were pure products of
the imagination, their phenomenological
characteristics (e.g., sensorial, self
referential, emotional, etc. details) should
be closer to those of imagined memories.
Conversely, if the NDE are experienced in a
way similar to that of reality, their
characteristics would be closer to the
memories of real events. Their results were
surprising. From the perspective being
studied, not only were the NDEs not similar
to the memories of imagined events, but the
phenomenological characteristics inherent to
the memories of real events (e.g. memories
of sensorial details) are even more numerous
in the memories of NDE than in the memories
of real events.
|
| Sources: |
|
Article:
"Characteristics
of Near-Death Experiences
Memories as Compared to Real
and Imagined Events Memories"
- www.plosone.org |
|
Article:
"The
Memories of Near-Death
Experiences (NDE): More Real
Than Reality?" -
www.alphagalileo.org |
|
Article:
Owens, J.
E., Cook, E. W., &
Stevenson, I. (1990).
Features of 'near-death
experience' in relation to
whether or not patients were
near death. Lancet,
336(8), 1175-1177 -
scholar.google.com |
|
Book:
Greyson,
B. "Near-death experiences"
in Cardeña, E., Lynn, S. J.,
& Krippner, S. (Eds.)
(2000).
Varieties of Anomalous
Experience: Examining the
Scientific Evidence.
Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association. -
www.amazon.com |
|
Website:
Coma Science Group -
www.coma.ulg.ac.be |
|
Website:
University of Liege's Cognitive Psychology
Research - www.ulg.ac.be |
|
| Return to Top |
"In the light
of the near-death experience, death
is nothing more than the illusion of
separateness and finality, and those
who can believe in this vision of death,
like near-death experiencers themselves,
lose all fear of it, for how can you
fear that which does not exist?"
- Dr. Kenneth Ring
|
|
|
by A. J. Ayers -
www.commonsenseatheism.com
