Challenge 5: Near Death Experience

While no two near death experiences are identical, most follow an identifiable sequence of events. A representative experience for a car accident victim might be as follows.

After the accident the person feels peaceful. He becomes aware that he feels no pain or other body sensations. Everything seems quiet. He finds himself outside his physical body, usually looking down on it in the role of a passive observer. Everything seems real - not at all like a dream. Mentally he is clear and alert. He finds that he can see and hear perfectly. He may try to speak to those in the physical environment but nobody sees or hears him. In fact people may walk right through him.

At some point he may find himself drawn quickly through a dark tunnel towards a light. On reaching the light, which is bright but does not hurt his ”eyes•, he may become aware of other individuals. There may be a review and evaluation of his life experiences. At some point he begins to decide whether he should stay or go back to his body. As soon as the decision is made to go back the experience ends abruptly and he regains consciousness inside his body.

Although some studies of NDEs were conducted in the 1800‘s it was not until Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross began to give public lectures on the subject and Dr. Raymond Moody‘s book Life After Life appeared in 1975 that serious research was undertaken in the West. In 1977 Dr Karlis Osis published Deathbed Observations by Physicians and Nurses a study of 442 cases from the United States and 435 from India.

Core Events Of An NDE

Many studies follow Moody‘s lead in categorising the content of NDEs into five core events common to a high proportion of NDEs. Dr. Kenneth Ring, the founder of the International Association for Near Death Studies, found that these core events did not appear randomly but rather in five sequential stages. The more deeply a patient entered the NDE the more stages they tended to experience. Ring listed the core events as follows.

• 1. Felt blissful sensations.
• 2. Left the body.
• 3. Entered a tunnel or darkness.
• 4. Perceived a bright light.
• 5. Entered the light.

Ring also found that the cause of the NDE had little effect on the core content. Studies of thousands of NDEs have shown that irrespective of whether an NDE resulted from illness, accident, suicide or attempted murder the nature of the NDE was very similar.

Are these experiences valid indications of what may occur after death or are there other possible explanations?

In The Light Beyond Dr. Sabom, originally a sceptic of NDEs, says: