NDE core experience: Mays excerpt #2

NDEs have consistent, well-defined characteristic elements and qualities. The NDE Scale assesses the number and intensity of the elements in an NDE to give a measure of the “depth” of the experience. The NDE Scale contains 16 items, each assigned a value of 0, 1, or 2 depending on the intensity of the element addressed in the item. A total score thus ranges from 0 to 32. An NDE is defined as a score of 7 or greater. The average score for an NDE is about 16.

An independent statistical analysis of the NDE Scale was performed in 2004 that showed that NDEs are a structured experience. The Scale has been translated into more than 20 languages and used in hundreds of studies around the world. It measures one consistent ‘core’ experience that is the same for people of all ages and across many cultures.

NDEs are not merely isolated stories or anecdotes. There is a remarkable uniformity of the NDE elements across many countries and cultures (5; 60). Based on a Gallup poll and two research studies, between 4% and 8% of people have had an NDE (15; 27; 49). Given the uniformity of NDEs across many societies, a conservative estimate would be 5% of the world population have had an NDE. If that’s the case, the elements and details of NDEs have occurred to nearly 400 million people worldwide—more than the entire population of the United States. So, hundreds of millions of people worldwide have had an NDE and have lost their fear of death.

The elements in NDEs are remarkably consistent. For example, about 35% of NDErs are told they must return to the body (33). Usually they hear the same words, to the effect “It’s not your time; you must go back; you have more to do on Earth.” Just as when many millions of tourists visit Paris and report seeing the same unusual structure which we then regard as an objective reality—the Eiffel Tower—so when many tens of millions of NDErs journey to another realm and hear the same unusual admonishment, with essentially the same wording “It’s not your time; you must return ... ,” their experience can be regarded as objectively real, not imagined.

Thus, the elements of an NDE may appear to be merely subjective experiences when taken individually. However, when an element is considered collectively across many millions of NDEs, the element can be regarded as the experience of a common, objective reality witnessed and shared by many NDErs. With this strong evidence from NDEr accounts, researchers are justified in accepting NDEs as providing valid data for scientific study, using the same rigorous empirical observations as in any other field of science.

In this paper, we consider successive aspects of NDEs and other death-related experiences. We examine the implications of these phenomena and their counterarguments. We draw conclusions, based on the evidence, to develop a coherent overall explanation supporting the proposition that human consciousness survives permanent bodily death.

The quality of the evidence we use is based on the following factors:

NDErs are credible eyewitnesses to their experiences. For example, an NDEr reports observing an unusual event in another location while out-of-body which he later corroborates with a doctor. NDErs report their experience as hyperreal. The memory of their NDE does not change over time and is dependable .

Millions of NDErs report the same experience with the same characteristics. For example, about 35% of NDErs report observing objects or events which could be corroborated and about half of them report that the facts were later corroborated. NDErs who observe and later corroborate an unusual event join perhaps 60 million other eyewitnesses worldwide who reported the same objective phenomenon—verified veridical perceptions from a position outside the physical body.

Similar first-person testimony from multiple NDErs provides strong objective evidence. The weight of this evidence depends on the number of NDErs reporting the particular phenomenon.

Independent corroboration from other credible witnesses of the phenomenon provides further objective evidence to the NDEr’s testimony.

Multiple lines of evidence from NDEs and other death-related experiences build a consistent, coherent picture of the overall phenomenon.

Thus, the collective weight of multiple lines of evidence, each supported by numerous cases—which in many instances have independent corroboration—can rise to the level of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

 

Robert G. Mays, BSc and Suzanne B. Mays, AA,  “There is no death: Near-death experience evidence for survival after permanent bodily death.” An essay written for the 2021 Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies addressing the question: “What Is The Best Available Evidence For The Survival Of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death?” Footnotes are omitted from these excerpts but are in the full text available from the Bigelow website at https://bigelowinstitute.org/contest_winners3.php.