NDE causes, consequences, and cultures

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

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}

What are the long-term consequences of a near-death experience?

Based on his longitudinal study, van Lommel concludes: “The NDE is usually transformational, causing enhanced intuitive sensibility, profound changes of life insight, and the loss of fear of death.” [AS, 19]

I was withdrawn and victimized before. I attracted bad people and didn’t see it. I still seem to attract some bad ones, but [now] I see it. I am very independent, strong, focused, but can be too loving and too giving. I have fewer and need fewer relationships, but those I have are more meaningful. {EA, 181}

I was never patient before; now I have lots and lots of patience. I have a lot of discernment too, which I didn’t have before. I have empathy and understand that none of us are ever going to be perfect in this life. {EA, 182}

I had always been terrified of death, of oblivion. I no longer fear death. {EA, 192}

Van Lommel notes that research does not support common interpretations of NDEs. “A psychological cause, such as the infrequently noted fear of death, did not affect the occurrence of an NDE either, although it did affect the depth of the experience. Whether patients had heard or read anything about NDEs in the past made no difference either. Any kind of religious belief, or indeed its absence in nonreligious people or atheists, was irrelevant, and the same was true for the standard of education reached.” [AS, 21]

Is this only a Western cultural experience?

Van Lommel’s patients were Dutch, but the NDE experience is global. “The content of an NDE and the effects on patients seem similar worldwide, across all cultures and all times. However, the subjective nature and absence of a single frame of reference for this near-ineffable experience leads to individual, cultural, and religious factors determining the vocabulary used to describe and interpret this experience.” [AS, 19]

“NDEs in more than twenty languages have been shared with NDERF. Before I knew it, readers from more than 110 countries were devouring more than 300,000 page views per month on the NDERF website.” {EA, 42}

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

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