Encountering a barrier and returning from an NDE

Evidence of the Afterlife by Jeffrey Long and Paul Perry presenting documentation from the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF).

Encountering a boundary or barrier

There was this door in front of me with this music coming out and people celebrating with utter joy that I knew and recognize[d] as home. Once [I] crossed, I couldn’t come back. {EA, 16}

I reached the point where I felt I had to make the choice whether to go back to life or onward into death. My best friend was there (who had died of cancer two years before), and she told me that this was as far as I could go or I would not be able to turn back. “You have come to the edge. This is as far as you can go,” she said. “Now go back and live your life fully and fearlessly.” {EA, 16}

I approached the boundary. No explanation was necessary for me to understand, at the age of ten, that once I cross the boundary, I could never come back—period. I was more than thrilled to cross. I intended to cross, but my ancestors over another boundary caught my attention. They were talking in telepathy, which caught my attention. I was born profoundly deaf and had all hearing family members, all of which knew sign language! I could read or communicate with about twenty ancestors of mine and others through telepathic methods. It overwhelmed me. I could not believe how many people I could telepathize with simultaneously. {EA, 125}

The NDERF survey asked, ‘Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure?’ To this question 31.0 percent of NDErs answered ‘Yes.’” {EA, 16}

A return to the body, either voluntary or involuntary

I was really hurt that I couldn’t stay because there wasn’t anything I wanted more than to stay. Pure love is the best way to describe the being and place that I would be leaving. Under protest, I was sent back. {EA, 17}

I found out that my purpose now would be to live “heaven on earth” using this new understanding, and also to share this knowledge with other people. However, I had the choice of whether to come back into life or go toward death. I was made to understand that it was not my time, but I always had the choice, and if I chose death, I would not be experiencing a lot of the gifts that the rest of my life still held in store. One of the things I wanted to know was that if I chose life, would I have to come back to this sick body, because my body was very, very sick and the organs had stopped functioning. I was then made to understand that if I chose life, my body would heal very quickly. I would see a difference in not months or weeks, but days! {EA, 17}

“The NDERF survey asked, ‘Were you involved in or aware of a decision regarding your return to the body?’ To this question, 58.5 percent answered ‘Yes.’” {EA, 17}

What medical crises may lead to a near-death experience?

Cardiologist Pim van Lommel explains: “Many circumstances are described during which NDEs are reported, such as cardiac arrest (clinical death), shock after loss of blood (childbirth), traumatic brain injury or stroke, near-drowning (children), or asphyxia, but also in serious diseases not immediately life threatening—during isolation, depression, or meditation, or without any obvious reason.” [AS, 19]

“Cyndi was having a second heart valve replacement surgery within six months when she had the experience she described below. She asked her doctor if it was possible to dream during surgery. When he said no, she replied, ‘Then we have to talk.’ Here is a paraphrase of what she experienced.” During my surgery I felt myself lift from my body and go above the operating table. The doctor told me later that they had kept my heart open and stopped for a long time, and they had a great amount of difficulty getting my heart started again. That must have been when I left my body because I could see the doctors nervously trying to get my heart going. It was strange to be so detached from my physical body. I was curious about what they were doing but not concerned. Then, as I drifted farther away, I saw my father at the head of the table. He looked up at me, which gave me a surprise because he had been dead now for almost a year.” {EA, 98}

“Other NDE researchers have reported NDEs that take place while under general anesthesia. Bruce Greyson, MD, at the University of Virginia states, ‘In our collection of NDEs, 127 out of 578 NDE cases (22 percent) occurred under general anesthesia, and they included such features as OBEs that involved experiencers’ watching medical personnel working on their bodies, an unusually bright or vivid light, meeting deceased persons, and thoughts, memories, and sensations that were clearer than usual.’” {EA, 102}

EA – Jeffrey Long and Paul Perry, Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences (2010)

AS - “Near-Death Experiences: The Experience of the Self as Real and Not as an Illusion,” Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci. ISSN 0077-8923, 1234 (2011) 19–28, http://pimvanlommel.nl/files/NDE-NYAS-Experience-Self-article.pdf