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Subscribe to RSSWant to know what it’s like to be dead? Ask Julie Maeder, a 50-year-old certified image consultant from Troy, Mich.
"When I was 13 years old, I was in northern Michigan at my family’s cabin and came down with a 106 degree fever,” she says. “I remember trying to fall asleep and feeling too hot. And then I began to notice the room getting darker and the moonlight disappearing.”
After that, Maeder says, the really weird stuff began to happen. She started to float up towards the ceiling, even though her body was still lying on the bed. Her pain completely vanished and soon she was being pulled down a long, dark tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, there was a blinding white light and a sense of peace and calmness and utter joy.
“It was fantastic,” she says.
It’s also standard operating procedure for what Diane Corcoran calls a near-death experience, or NDE.
“There are about 15 characteristics that are universal in a near-death experience,” says Corcoran, president of the International Association for Near-Death Studies. “Some people will have one or two characteristics, some people have all 15.”
Corcoran says out-of-body experiences are just one hallmark of an NDE. Others include an immediate relief of pain, a feeling as if you’re traveling through a tunnel or to some other place, a feeling of being surrounded by bright light and an overwhelming sense of peacefulness. In addition, some people will see -- and even speak to -- departed relatives; others will see religious figures. Still more have talked about seeing flowers and hearing music -- and being filled with a tremendous sense of knowledge.
“Not everyone has all of them but we hear about these repeatedly,” she says. “There are also significant after-effects. People will come back with a whole different set of values; they’ll come back more affectionate and altruistic and less materialistic They’ll be more spiritual, although not necessarily more religious.”
The big question, of course, is whether the NDE is some kind of journey to the other side or whether it’s the body’s reaction to trauma. And there is evidence to support both theories.
Earlier this year, the medical journal Critical Care reported that Slovenian researchers had determined that people who reported near-death experiences had elevated levels of carbon dioxide in their blood and might be suffering from oxygen deprivation, the symptoms of which (particularly euphoria and the feeling of moving towards a light) can be similar to the symptoms of an NDE.
But Corcoran says studies attempting to debunk the millions and millions of NDEs that have been reported over the years are nothing new.
“People are always trying to find a reason to explain it away,” she says. “What usually happens is they can account for one or two of the characteristics, but they can’t account for all of the characteristics. How do you account for a 7-year-old who comes back knowing all about his dead grandfather from England who died in a fire, even though neither of his parents knew about it and the child has never left his own city block? Oxygen deprivation doesn’t account for those things.”
An international study launched in 2008 may provide more answers, though. Dubbed AWARE (short for Awareness During Resuscitation), the study will follow people who’ve gone into cardiac arrest in 25 hospitals in the U.S. and Europe. Researchers plan to monitor patients’ brain oxygen levels as well as test for out-of-body experiences, via a picture shelf installed high above the patients’ beds in cardiac ICUs (the patients will have to be “floating” outside of their body in order to see a photo on the shelf).
Unfortunately, results of the AWARE study won’t be released for at least two more years.
In the meantime, there’s always Clint Eastwood’s vision of the "Hereafter" to tide people over. Or experiences like that of Julie Maeder, who says that while her NDE happened nearly 40 years ago, it still resonates.
"When I told my parents about my experience after I woke back up in my bed the next morning, they said I must have been hallucinating because of the fever," says Maeder, whose fever broke at some point during the night when she saw the light. "But I still remember it. I’ll never forget it. And I can say that although I enjoy my life and don’t want to die any time soon, I’m not afraid of dying. I kind of think it’s going to be an unbelievable experience. I think we’re all going to a great place.”
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Most of these experiences can probably be explained away scientifically. However, the experience of the 7-year old boy is not so easily dismissed. More research needs to be focused on this kind of near-death experience.
people imagine things all of the time. I wake up all the time thinking that my dream really happend. Therefore somewhere in some instances a person is bound to have a vision that is in fact true such as the 7 year old dreaming about his grandpa.
As a scientist I would actually be suprised if a case like that didnt exist because it would violate laws of probability.
As a scientist, you voluntarily limit yourself to current theories. In other words you think in a box. Just implying that the 7 year old came up with a random vision in no way explains it away. Very weak and biased argument that goes nowhere.
i had a dream that i was standing on the edge of a pool and i jumped in and i really didnt want to and i did anyways, and i was (in my dream) was like please dont happen go back in time i dont wanna take a shower again i just did and i was like to some guy .. oh its a habit jumping, i dont want to but i do it was really weird i was thinking "if i think really hard ill go back in time and not have done it" so weird and i woke up feeling really wet but i took a shower that night sothat why i think.. sometime ill be half sleeping not all the way not exactly dreaming mode and ill FEEL like my body feels it and i feel likie falling like someone pushing me off a dock it feels like.. i wake up really fast its scary
Anyone who has had this type of expierience or is a vivid dreamer or even had unexplained contact with something unexplainable should read Dr. Rick Strassman's book " DMT the spirit molecule".
It's up for debate that the body produces DMT during near death experiences.
There have been all kinds of studies on near death experiences since the mid 1970's - IANDS is a good source for researching them. Their credibility (NDE's) has been validated many times over. It's unfortunate that there are those who still think that life is made up of only what can be experienced through the 5 senses. Given the size of this unexplored universe we live in you would think that it would make more sense to to pay attention to and be accepting of those things that go beyond what we can see with our eyes or know things with our limited capacity to understand about life.
Physics is theorizing the existence of a number of other dimensions. Given the experience of NDEs and other pieces of paranormal evidence which thus far have been neither debunked nor explained, might it be possible that such things involve contact with other dimensions of reality? Yes, we still have a lot to learn.
My post-graduate research was in Exceptional Human Experiences, which included near-death experiences and the like. First, there is actually a decent amount of research on the subject, you just have to look a little for it, since our current medical model doesn't accept a lot of what's found. Funny how the scientific method often produces results that are ignored or brushed aside if they don't fit into already existing paradigms...
There are some medical explanations, yes, but most of them don't match up all that well - for instance, the effects of physical death on the optic nerve can produce what looks like a light, surrounded by darkness at the edges (i.e., the light at the end of the tunnel), but I don't see how that optic nerve can also give you other people in the tunnel, some of who you are interacting with, as has often been reported.
It's a shame that our scientific and medical biases are keeping us from understanding how our world and bodies work, but I fully believe that we're starting to come around - the balanced sides in this article prove that.
blog: www.rawkout.com
site: www.aluminouslife.com
www.twitter.com/charismb
Science does not support the idea of NDEs because there is no credible tangible proof, which is the basis of the scientific method -- all we have is anecdotal evidence. Taking someone's word that a supernatural event has taken place is irresponsible and unprofessional. Pepole have the right to believe as they see fit, but don't expect scientists to back you up when you have nothing more than your word to show for it.
Cf. Pim van Lommel, 2010. Consciousness beyond life: the science of near-death experiences [trans. Laura Vroomen] (HarperOne), 1-442
George Anderson & Andrew Barone, 2001. Walking in the garden of souls (G.P. Putnam's Sons), 1-258
Phyllis M.H. Atwater & D.H. Morgan, 2000. The complete idiot's guide to near-death experiences (Alpha Books), 1-450
Debbie Malone, 2009. Never alone: a medium's journey (William Heinemann Australia), 1-384
Richard Matheson, 1978. What dreams may come (G.P. Putnam's Sons), 1-304
Bonnie McEneaney, 2010. Messages: signs, visits, & premonitions from loved ones lost on 9/11 (HarperCollins Publishers), 1-257
Rebecca Rosen & Samantha Rose, 2010. Spirited: connect to the guides all around you (HarperCollins Publishers), 1-257
Milton K. Sanderford & Susan Sanderford, 2004. Conversations with mama: if this is heaven, why are the kids still calling? (iUniverse, Inc.), 1-230
Gary Schwartz & W.L. Simon, 2002. The afterlife experiments (Pocket Books), 1-374
Rabbi Elie Spitz, 2000. Does the soul survive? A Jewish journey to belief in afterlife, past lives, & living with purpose (Jewish Lights Publishing), 1-245
Michael Tymn, 2008. The articulate dead: they brought the spirit world to life (Galde Press), 1-254
James Van Praagh, 1997. Talking to heaven: a medium's message of life after death (Dutton), 1-194
Lisa Williams, 2008. Life among the dead (Simon Spotlight Entertainment), 1-256
Victor Zammit, 2006. A lawyer presents the case for the afterlife (Sydney N.S.W. Australia: Ganmell Pty Ltd., 4th edn.), 1254
“There are about 15 characteristics that are universal in a near-death experience...Some people will have one or two characteristics, some people have all 15.”
And if you don't understand what's wrong with that statement, you need some training in the English language.
Physics is theorizing the existence of a number of other dimensions. Given the experience of NDEs and other pieces of paranormal evidence which thus far have been neither debunked nor explained, might it be possible that such things involve contact with other dimensions of reality?
No, not if you are talking about physics. These "other dimensions of reality" are not other "universes" to be contacted as if they are simply other places; they are additional complexity in this, our own universe. Science fiction is full of bogus science like "other dimensions" as places to have adventures in, as if you could just "go there." There is no "there" there in the first place.
Not that this disproves anything about NDEs. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, on either side of the question. But you do a serious injustice to the discussion by using naive and illogical arguments and spouting technical terms for vague intuitive conclusions without understanding the first thing about the terminology you are using. And advocating for a conclusion based on faith before doing the research is bound to get you nowhere.
However, it's a refreshing change from fake moaning about the national debt and the fictional invasion of aliens. I'll take optimistic hocus-pocus over cynical fear-mongering any day!
When our brain is debilitated due to injury or illness , the ego is quieted and we become aware of other parts of the brain that are normally subdued . Jill Bolt, a brain specialist, suffered a stroke and was able to describe this experience in her book," A Stroke of Insight".You can also listen to her lecture about the same experience.Just Google"Stroke of Insight".Our brains are fascinating enough without having to include other dimensions or paranormal activity or even spiritual experiences.
Many good points presented here so far - except for the fact that none deal with the writer's own first-hand perspective of being in a Near Death Experience. I have. The details of my experience have shaped my life and values in very positive ways. The most significant of which was the fact that I was "allowed" the choice to go or stay, knowing I would deal with my injuries for the rest of my life.
While I don't wish the events that precede being on the threshold of death on anyone, it is the only true "research" worth noting. Apparently, very few academics have experienced this and been able to document it. This is not a quantitative/qualitative subject but one that is worth understanding because we will all know it when it happens. It is for us who have known it to tell everyone who will truly listen "don't worry, when you are there you will be fine - live happily now and do your best always"...
Science can not explain many things in the universe. I find it amusing that otherwise intelligent people, lack the capacity to grasp the thought that things can and may be out of the realm of our limited understanding of what the universe is and our place in it.
Basic science says that energy must go somewhere...
True, science may not have all the answers, but the answers it has can be proven, and are therefore credible. Anecdotal evidence is not credible.
My daughter was mentally handicapped for 24 years. She choked on an orange slice and was without a heartbeat or oxygen for 18 minutes. She stayed alive on her brain stem on life support for the next few days. A woman who had a near death experience herself and her husband who had past told her it was not her time and she went back down the tunnel into her sick body and woke. Well that women came into the hospital and met my daughter for the first time and spoke for my daughter, who's spirit was resting just about her body in the hospital. The women told us everything personal and private and meaningful about what our daughter's spirit was telling her. She wanted to go home and so we let her go by taking her off life support. At one point I was thinking of a sad song by Joe Walsh about his 4 year old daughter who died in a car accident, when the woman turned to me and a said "Kari" says Dad don't play that sad song. Don't play that sad song at her funeral. Then the woman said she's singing a tune she wants instead. It was the theme song to Sesame Street, the early version the one she would run to the TV to sit and watch always. I asked can she read my mind and the clairvoyant women said yes Lance. After she past, the woman had us come visit her, before we went to get her ashes and our daughter spoke to us again about the fact there was no pain, she went right to God and she is normal and happy and for us not to be said. Then she described 10 different points in her life that were beyond personal. When I went home that night with her ashes I found a little photo album in my room, her Granndmother had made of her life. Each picture in a row was exactly what our daughter was telling us. I have the proof and many others now have seen and heard this story. I am a biologist/scientist for 30 years. DMT is activated, just like when you sleep. But this was more that DMT.....and all the skeptics in this world should be ashamed of be so simple minded. Read Consciousness Beyond Life....The Science of the Near Death Experience. Enjoy your life and loved ones while you can. Matt Damon's character is classic. One day you may wake up to find.....there is more to life than food, work and play. We are here to learn and teach lessons of love. We asked to come here......try to remember why you came!
For those of you who say there is no objective evidence, what about out of body experiences during operations? There have been many occurrences where a patient has woken up, able to report what his or her doctor said, not only during the operation in the room (which happens, but could be due to hearing through anesthesia), but IN THE WAITING ROOM, to the family. There is no way these things could make sense if not because the person was somehow "in" the room with the family and doctor, hallways away from where their body sat.
There is a book called Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss that discusses this type of phenomenon, that you may find interesting.
Robert,
As I scientist for 30 years in biology.....I can dispute with you the validation of these experiences. There have been enough studies to validate the experience. One day when you take the trip yourself you will be laughing at what you missed. Its there is the journals, even published in Lancet, etc. Agnostic and Atheistic science is not without prejudice. Perhaps your a scientist too. If so you would not be so bold as to say...."Don't expect Scientist to Back You Up"....we are not a cult and we are not above others to be so right. Its science and in science we are discovering often how mistaken we were. This is part of the enjoyment of discovery. Read the Dr. Pim von Lommel's book on the subject. Its pure science and he, like me was an agnostic scientist. Just don't think a scientist is the ultimate one with an answer. Your mother probably knew things much clearer than most of my colleagues. But we would deny her until we proved it in our little remote way. Remember the famous quote, "Many scientist would deny Jesus Christ standing in front of them, if indeed they could not validate ....his birth certificate, driver's license, social security number, thumbprint and DNA testing. Lance
I died when I was ten years old in a schoolyard accident. Apparently there was no heartbeat or breathing for twelve minutes and I was revived by paramedics...
Yes, I went into the White Light and all of that. I was sent back here against my will. All I can tell you is that I think about this experience probably 30 or more times every single day. It colors every thought I have. Before you decide that NDEr's are "lucky" to have had such an experience just think about this - having survived a face to face meeting with God does not make paying the past due electric bill any easier!
People can (and should) be skeptical when evaluating claims such as mine. But I gotta tell you...there is no question whatsoever in my mind that death is only another birth.
If death is just another birth then where were we before birth.And if these near death experiences happen as often as people claim why don't we all just accept that there is more life after this life. Why would we want it all to be so mysterious if it isn't.And how would anybody even know if they were face to face with God? And if you tell me it was a white man I'm going to puke.As far as I'm concerned if you're still alive then what you had was a weird life experience. Dead is dead. You don't get to come back and tell us about that one.
Interesting commentary. I had a paranormal encounter at the top of a stairway with a spirit once. I am probably the most skeptical person who ever lived, but there she was, staring at the center of me, which I am certain was how she saw and read me, as a live spirit. Later in Vietnam I was gravely wounded by a bullet that blew my femoral muscle out through the side of my hip. It severed my femoral artery and I bled out in a rice paddy. I had the out of body experience during which my pain went away. I didn't travel through a tunnel but I saw the white light and experienced an incredible euphoria that can still bring tears to my eyes today. I was thrown back into my body and lost the euphoria suddenly and was so overwhelmed with the emptiness that I didn't want to leave the white light. I spent most of the remainder of my life unafraid of death, in fact I marginalized it because I knew it was a pleasant experience once the spirit leaves the body. I then discovered "The Tibetan Book Of The Dead" as well as the works of Sogyal Rinpochet and Bhikkhu Bodi, two Buddhist scholars who have given me a new perspective about life, death and rebirth. I can only say to the agnostics and the gurus in physics, that all must die someday. The more time you waste using life reference points to attempt to understand the death bardos (there are 3) the more completely freaked out you will be when you go through, in particular the "Chonyid" bardo. Most NDE's never make it bast the Chikkhai, bardo which is the warm and fuzzy one with the white light. That's why they aren't afraid of death, because they think; "that's all there is?" The next time around, they will be bumped out of the Chikkhai into the Chonyid, which according to Tibetan lamas and monks who have experienced it is a real spirit breaker. My book "The Danger Of Dying Twice" should be released by Amazon.com in early 2011, perhaps a few months earlier. I hope servicemen and women returning from Afghanistan will read it. It should diminish suicides considerably. I also hope other NDE survivors than myself will read it and realize they have some real work ahead if they want to prepare for a peaceful death.
Scott Grant
The reason that we don't have scientific proof is because we don't have the instrument to measure this phenomenon. Many great discoveries were happen after major instrumentation breakthrough. NED has not been proved doesn't mean it does not exist.
nanobiomed,
That's the point. You can't use anything from the intermediate state of life to measure, or accurately describe the post life intermediate state, which begins with a separation of the spirit-mind from the body. One moves from the spatial, to the non-spatial spheres of conscious mind stream. NDE survivors will tell you they were able to think and indeed think in the language they had learned during their time on earth, but if their recall is good they will describe an out of body experience precisely because where their infinite stream of consciousness spirit-mind was during their NDE was between the life dimension and the transition state of death. Had they not returned in spirit back into their bodies it would not have been an NDE but rather a DE (Death Experience) and they would have not been able to return to relate their story.
Alles klar?
Scott
OLDWING57
I'm with you buddy about authors writing about something that is limited, not augmented with words from people who haven't had the experience. I, like you, believed that Death was actually something to look forward to having seen and experienced only the white light and euphoria of being unburdened by my body. Consequently I have somewhat marginalized the death experience because my knowledge and memory of it are pleasant. The Tibetan Buddhists have been studying and recording the death phenomenon since the eighth century and in their book "The Tibetan Book Of the Dead and Dying" they chronicle two separate mind stream intermediate states (they call them bardos) beyond the first death state you and I experienced. The bardos you and I and many others missed are the Chonyid and Sidpa bardos. We were sent back from the Chikkhai, or first bardo. The Chonyid has sources of fear that are limited only by our own imagination. If this bardo is met without preparation it can cause confusion and an arrest of passing on to the Sidpa bardo which is less frightening and concerned with karmic matching with an appropriate rebirth. If you don't pass successfully through each of the bardos you may wind up wandering in what the Tibetans call the Great Samsara, a spiritual wasteland. Ever wonder about the ghosts people sometimes see in the oddest places? They are in the Samsara. The Tibetan lamas and monks who write about their death studies are immediately recognized as fellow NDE survivors as they explain things that only those who have known an NDE can understand. Check out a book by Sogyal Rinpoche "The Tibetan Book Of The Living and Dying. Also a compilation from the Tibetan Book Of The Dead by the The Veneral Pende Hawter: "Death And Dying In The Tibetan Buddhist Tradition." Also a compilation by Dr. Evans-Wentz from a translation of:"The Tibetan Book Of The Dead and Dying."
We have work to do Old Wing! No one just wings it if you don't mind the pun.
Scott Grant
I realize Tibetan Buddhist have the capacity to experience different states of consciousness, but that doesn't mean their interpretation of their experience is valid. Peyote, LSD, and mescaline can also produce these states of consciouness that also produce vivid spiritual experiences.There is nothing in the real world that would indicate that we posess a soul or a spirit that is seperate from our body or mind.The idea that this spirit seperates itself at the time of death is a delusion that we maintain because we simply cannot and will not accept the fact that when we die, that's it. Lights out. THE END.
dromd53
If I had not had an NDE I would be vigorously making your argument. But I did and I know that during the entire experience when I lost all but a trickle of blood in my heart, the one thing that never flickered was my conscious stream of thought. This thought was not altered in clarity and awareness. It is estimated that 2 million people have entered the first intermediate death state and returned to talk about it. The figure could be higher because many who have had an NDE remain silent about it as we don't feel a need to prove something that we know inside to be true. Those who have not had an NDE are ready to argue endlessly about something they know nothing about, because if their intricate ignorance of death is eventually proven, if only to themselves their theory gets washed away by death and they have only confusion and chaos to replace it with. Let's start with something we CAN agree on; WE ALL DIE physically someday. You expect nothing beyond death. The up side is that you will discover you have an indestructible conscious thought stream, or spirit-mind. The down side will be that you wasted a lifetime you could have been working on preparing yourself for the intermediate states of dying and may very well find yourself in the Samsara where the living, upon occasion, report paranormal encounters and have described seeing spirits such as yours wandering without the wisdom needed to pass beyond intermediate death.
I'd say good luck but you probably don't believe in that either.
Scott Grant
I just would like to say thanks scott..... what great info you gave.... I will be looking up those Bardos.... I have not ever died before but I have had NDE. I dreamed of someone who was dead and in the dream she said to me to "you just missed the car" upon waking I did not know what that meant until I went to work the next day only to just miss getting run over by a car at high speed by a hair. As my Grand mother always said, "The dead always know what the living are doing". I have even seen a ghost when I was small and he looked very sad and tired like he had been walking the earth for a century. He must have been in the "Great Samsara". If you are still on line , let people know what they can do to not go to the place called "Samsara". I am guessing this place is in between heaven and hell, and once there you may never get out of it unless someone will come and get you. (if that is allowed). any one that has any more on this please share!!!
But Scott, what about Jesus? Are you telling me I don't have to jump through the Jesus ring in order to have everlasting life? Does that mean after I die I'm going to have to spend the rest of time with millions of christians in Samsara?Talk about chaos and confusion.And if wisdom is required to pass beyond intermediate death, man I know there's alot of folks who ain't going to make it. But, seriously, I honestly hope the very best for you.
A most interesting, but mute discussion. What those people who are trying to "prove" or "disprove" fail to understand, is that once you've truly had a NDE, the last thing you need is proof of what you experienced. When I left my body, after the death of my adult son six years ago and was very grief-stricken, I was more clearly conscious than I am as I write this now. I knew several things without a doubt: 1. that my body and my spirit were two entirely separate entities, my lifeless body being the "house" for my spirit while living as a human; 2. my spirit was so much more than the part that fit into this little body; 3. I had a choice to follow my son "home", and either choice I made was perfectly acceptable; 4. if I chose to return to my body, I was coming back for a reason - something I had yet to accomplish here on earth and 5. just possibly, part of that mission was to help you begin to think outside the box of what we have been led to believe about life and death. Most people who have this experience would prefer not to return to the problems of this earthly life. When we have "come back" and brought memories of home, it is to invite you to expand your perspective of the possibilities of bringing heaven here to earth. When enough of us have "come back" with a greater understanding, mankind will learn how absolutely possible that is when we give up the ideas of judgment and trying to be right in order to focus on what we all have in common, rather than on how we are different. I challenge you to be part of the solution to peace on earth. To the people doing the study with the shelf and the picture up at the ceiling, that proves nothing - as a spirit you are free to go wherever you wish, and it doesn't have to be up. I would have failed that test. If you would like a most interesting read, try the life of Damian Brinkley in "Saved by the Light". He's died 4 times (the first one for about 21 minutes) and came back remembering much more detail than I. We all came here playing a game of remembering who we really are, spirits temporarily living in a human body, having experiences only humans can have. When we learn to hold hands and walk through this adventure together, we will all find what we are truly looking for while we are still here. The possibility is closer than you might think.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I love the point you made about not needing to prove anything to anyone - if only more people would adopt that same sentiment :)
A Flying Grandmother:
--To the people doing the study with the shelf and the picture up at the ceiling, that proves nothing--
Yes, I totally agree. This is a very bad design for the study, and it is probably designed by someone who doesn't have out of body experiences. When someone leaves the body, he/she doesn't have eyes or ears to see or hear. Instead they "know" or "aware" the environment and other people's emotion by some unknown sensing mechanism. Their perception may not include a piece of paper hiding in a shelf.