i’m off to Chicago for the IANDS conference, “Creativity from the Light.” here’s some information on Near-Death Experiences (NDEs).
For Marilyn, in the emergency room with a heart attack, the pain suddenly stopped. “All at once I just popped out of my body and floated up to the ceiling. I could see dust on top of the light fixtures, and I thought, ‘Boy, somebody’s going to catch it for this!’ I could see doctors working on someone on the table, when, all of a sudden, I realized it was me, I mean, my body. I thought it was kind of silly they were working so hard. My family was waiting down the hall, and I wished my kids could stop crying; I wanted to let them know I was fine, but they couldn’t hear me. Then it seemed I had to get back, that it was my job to take care of them, see them grow up okay.”
The Gallup Organization and near-death research studies have estimated that, as of 1982, some 13 million adults NDEs in the U.S. alone had had one or more NDEs. Add children’s NDEs, all experiences worldwide, and all experiences since 1982, and the figure would be much larger. Near-death experiences are uncommon but not rare.
No two NDEs are identical, but when numerous NDE reports are considered together, a pattern becomes evident. Any single experience is likely to include one or more of these aspects of the overall pattern:
* Feeling that the “self” has left the body and is hovering overhead. The person may later be able to describe who was where and what happened, sometimes in detail.
* Moving through a dark space or tunnel.
* Experiencing intensely powerful emotions, ranging from bliss to extreme distress.
* Encountering a light. It is usually described as golden or white, and as being magnetic and loving; rarely, it is perceived as a reflection of the fires of hell.
* Receiving some variant of the message “It is not yet your time.”
* Meeting others: may be deceased loved ones, recognized from life or not; sacred beings; unidentified entities and/or “beings of light”; sometimes symbols from one’s own or other religious traditions.
* A life review, seeing and re-experiencing major and trivial events of one’s life, sometimes from the perspective of the other people involved, and coming to some conclusion about the adequacy of that life and what changes are needed.
* Having a sense of understanding everything, of knowing how the universe works.
* Reaching a boundary, a cliff, fence, water, some kind of barrier that may not be crossed if one is to return to life.
* In some cases, entering a city or library.
* Rarely, receiving previously unknown information about one’s life, e.g., adoption or hidden parentage, deceased siblings, glimpses into future events.
* Decision to return may be voluntary or involuntary. If voluntary, usually associated with unfinished service to loved ones.
* Returning to the body.Most NDEs are pleasurable, but others are deeply distressing. In either case, virtually all NDErs sooner or later come to see the experience as beneficial.