Can Experiences Near Death Furnish Evidence of Life after Death?

2000 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Williams Kelly ◽  
Bruce Greyson ◽  
Ian Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Near Death Experience

Most people who have a near-death experience (NDE) say that the experience convinced them that they will survive death. People who have not had such an experience, however, may not share this conviction. Although all features of NDEs, when looked at alone, might be explained in ways other than survival, there are three features in particular that we believe suggest the possibility of survival, especially when they all occur in the same experience. These features are: enhanced mental processes at a time when physiological functioning is seriously impaired; the experience of being out of the body and viewing events going on around it as from a position above; and the awareness of remote events not accessible to the person's ordinary senses. We briefly report one such case, and we also briefly describe two additional such cases in which the remote events apparently seen were verified by other persons.

Phenomenological Quantification of an Out-of-the-Body Experience Associated with a Near-Death Event

1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward A. Maitz ◽  
Ronald J. Pekala
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Experience ◽  
Eyes Closed ◽  
Single Person ◽  
Death Event ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Near Death Experience

This article briefly describes the phenomenological reports of individuals who have survived a near-death experience (NDE) and summarizes the methodological problems of assessing and defining their experience, specifically the out-of-the-body (OBE) experience associated with an NDE. The authors, using a single-person research design, offer one approach to quantifying the OBE associated with an NDE. They administered the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) and the Dimensions of Attention Questionnaire (DAQ) to one participant across several stimulus conditions including: hypnosis, resting with eyes closed, recollection of an out-of-the-body experience, and recollection of the out-of-the-body experience during hypnotic regression. Similarities and differences among the participant's experiences associated with these stimulus conditions are discussed.

scholarly journals On Life After Death: A Chaplain’s View on the Process of Dying

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-51
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Kaldahl
Keyword(s):  
Life After Death ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Near Death Experience

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross wrote the book On Life After Death to give her findings on what happens when a person dies. Over the course of 20 years, she found that no matter age, sex, religion, or culture, everyone spoke of the same things happening upon death. The insights and revelations that Kubler-Ross talks about will give a minister help when they speak with someone who is dying or has had a near-death experience.

scholarly journals Physical Interpretation of Mind

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ananta
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Physical Interpretation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Extended Time ◽  
Sharp Line ◽  
The World ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Near Death Experience

To draw a sharp line between mind and brain is very difficult task. Function of brain is more or less understood. But when it comes to mind, very less is studied and known. My approach in investigating the mind is based on the fact that if something exists then it must have its impact on the world we are living in, may be in some form of sign. My investigation is based on some questions which I think is related to mind. Why don’t we feel our weight? Why don’t we feel taste of food if the tongue is kept hold? When we are weak, say when we have fever, why does the dream become so vivid? Why images get distorted when gaze at it for extended time? I think brain is not related to these questions. Therefore there must be some agent in our body which can be related to these questions. In addition to these, the mental disorder like, some people have habit of moving the body or closing the eye tightly etc is also related to the mind. To investigate the mind I have taken some ideas from dream, meditation, reincarnation and near death experience.

Revelation in Near-Death Experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 536-551
Author(s):  
Gregory Shushan
Keyword(s):  
Life Review ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
The Body ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Near Death Experience

Accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) across cultures often include claims of encounters with deities or spirits who impart information to the experiencer. Other accounts involve the experiencer obtaining knowledge by other means, without the assistance of a non-human supernatural being. While some cases involve deceased relatives, the most significant factor in others might be the soul’s perceptions of the body from a vantage point outside it, seeing or travelling to other realms, having a panoramic life review, encountering the soul of a person not previously known to have died, having prophetic visions, or more generalized impressions of universal understanding and/or union. In all these senses, NDEs can be seen as revelatory experiences, with profound information being conveyed to the individual through ostensibly mystical or ‘religious’ experiences.

Point-of-Transition

2020 ◽  
pp. 124-144
Author(s):  
Peter J. Adams
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Regular Contact ◽  
Near Death Experience

This chapter provides a third example of an enabling frame based on an intense belief in dying as a transition to some form of afterlife. An intense mystical experience can provide the catalyst for a profound realization that death is not the end of life but a transition into another form of being. Confidence in this belief reduces a person’s fear of death, and regular contact with markers of finitude further strengthens this understanding and reinforces a sense of connection to death as a gateway to the afterlife. This, then, leads on to a discussion of philosophical positions, both pro and anti, regarding life after death and its relationship to what is happening when a person has a near-death experience.

The Perceived Other World in Mormon Near-Death Experiences: A Social and Physical Description

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig R. Lundahl
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Physical Description ◽  
The Social ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Other World ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Near Death Experience

During the past decade, behavioral and medical scientists have compiled an increasing amount of scientific work on the aspect of death known as the near-death experience. Investigators have found over 100 cases of near-death experience where persons have encountered another realm or mode of existence. This paper describes the perceived other world based on a limited number of insightful cases of Mormon near-death experiences. The social system of the other world is very organized and based on a moral order. The basic societal unit is the family. The other world has a system of social stratification and its most important desirable is morality. Social control processes are also evident in the other world. The Mormon findings suggest that a tremendous process of socialization is being undertaken there. The Mormon descriptions suggest the other world is vast and located near the earth. It contains buildings that are better constructed than the buildings on earth and landscape and vegetation “indescribably beautiful.” New powers and capabilities are experienced in the body form of the other world, and there are various styles of dress. The influence of the Mormon frame of reference on the findings is discussed.

scholarly journals 再論瀕死經驗的可信性——探索一些常見的質疑

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-84
Author(s):  
Kai Man KWAN
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Scientific Explanations ◽  
Reasonable Belief ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
Digital Commons ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Academic Debate

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.筆者在2016 年撰文探討瀕死經驗 (Near-death Experience-NDE) 的可信性，指出還沒有充分證據支持「醫學科學或心理學的理論能充分和全面解釋NDE 的現象」這觀點，我也認為「NDE 的存在是不能抹殺的，而且NDE 似乎提供了某程度證據顯示，心靈的存在能獨立於身體存在，所以死後生命的可能性是不能輕率否定的。」但我從未說過我能絕對證明NDE 的可信性，也肯定「學術的爭辯還會繼續，更多的研究也須進行」。劉彥方與冼偉林對我作出回應，且基本上採取批判的態度，及偏向懷疑瀕死經驗的可信性。我在此文對他們作出回應，一方面指出他們對我的一些誤解，另一方面繼續探討他們對瀕死經驗的質疑，例如瀕死經驗個案的可靠性、對瀕死經驗的科學解釋以及一些方法論問題等等。我再次重申，我並沒有宣稱我能絕對證明NDE 的可信性，但認為「相信最少有一些NDE 是可靠的」，是一個合理的信念(reasonable belief) ，而劉彥方與冼偉林的批判，並未能推翻這點。The author argued for the credibility of at least some near-death experiences (NDEs) in a previous paper (Kwan 2016), pointing out the lack of sufficient evidence to support the claim that physiological or psychological theories had already fully explained the entire NDE phenomenon. The author proposes that we should not dismiss the existence of NDEs, and states that they seem to offer some support for the ability of the soul to exist independently of the body. Thus, we should not dismiss the possibility of life after death. However, the author has never claimed that he can absolutely demonstrate the veridicality of NDE, and he has explicitly stated that the academic debate will continue and more research should be conducted.In their previous writings, Dr. Joe Lau and Dr. William Sin doubted the credibility of NDEs.In this paper, the author responds to their criticisms, clarifying some of their misunderstandings and further exploring their doubts about NDE, such as the reliability of NDE reports, the scientific explanations of NDE, and some methodological issues.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 177 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

Beyond the Theories

2019 ◽  
pp. 235-268
Author(s):  
John C. Gibbs
Keyword(s):  
Medical Research ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
The Body ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Near Death Experience

This chapter goes beyond Kohlberg’s, Hoffman’s, and Haidt’s theories to consider the question of a deeper reality. As noted, Kohlberg argued that existential thinkers in their soul-searching sometimes come to see their earthly moral life from an inspiring “cosmic perspective.” Perhaps such a reality can be glimpsed not only through existential crises, but also through physically life-threatening ones. Accordingly, this chapter studies cases of persons who have had a so-called near-death experience (“When some people come close to death, they go through a profound experience that may include a sense of leaving the body and entering some other realm or dimension” [Greyson]). A review of the literature—especially, recent medical research literature—suggests that the experience entails a transcendent significance congruent with Kohlberg’s cosmic perspective. In this light, “growing beyond the superficial” and “taking the perspectives of others” take on radical new meaning.

scholarly journals Reading the near-death experience from an African perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jock Agai
Keyword(s):  
Background Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
African Perspective ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Afterlife Beliefs ◽  
Near Death Experience

The scientific study of near-death experience (NDE) teaches that NDE does not entail evidence for life after death, but a study of NDE from an African perspective implies that NDE could serve as a yardstick which supports African traditional beliefs concerning death and resurrection. Using references from Ancient-Egyptian afterlife beliefs and those of the Yorubas of Nigeria, I argue that, for Africans, the percipients of NDE did not only come close to death but are regarded as having truly died. The purpose of this research is to initiate an African debate on the subject and to provide background-knowledge about NDE in Africa for counsellors who counsel NDE percipients that are Africans.

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