THE NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE (NDE)

"EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAS IT ENTERED INTO THE MIND OF MAN THE THINGS THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE THAT LOVE HIM."    ST. PAUL:  I Corinthians 2:9

 

"The truth I have now come to realize...is that God does not have favorites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to Him."                St. Peter: Acts of the Apostles10:34-35


WHAT IS THE NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE? 

Among the most fascinating phenomena of human existence is the Near-Death Experience, that is, the return from the brink of death of people who were granted to glimpse of a new dimension of life awaiting us after death. This NDE experience is certainly not new and has been recorded across many cultures and many religions for centuries.  The new techniques of modern  medicine are able to bring people back from the brink of death more frequently and there are more studies done today than ever before.

The experience of ordinary people appears to support the teachings of our major Religions that there is a life beyond our human earthly life; that it is beautiful and that we can sometimes attain glimpses of this wondrous life that awaits us beyond the grave.

Defining Death:

Dr. Raymond Moody, who has written extensively on the NDE, defines death in three ways:

1. As the absence of clinically detectable signs: the heart stops beating; breathing stops for an extended period; blood pressure drops to an unreadable level; pupils of the eye dilate; body temperature begins to cool.

2. As the absence of brain wave activity. The EEG shows an absence of electrical activity in the brain.

3.  As irreversible loss of vital functions.

NDE's involve the first two categories since these individuals return from their clinically dead states after their vital signs and sometimes even their brain waves cease.

The Universality of the Near Death Experience:

NDEs reflect a reality for the human race as a group. Studies have demonstrated the universality of the experience among men, women and children of all age groups, of all cultures and religions and throughout history.

The common elements of the experience include:

1. Often hearing themselves pronounced dead.
2. Hearing beautiful sounds and celestial music.
3. Moving at super-speed through a tunnel or going through a gate or river (cultural   
    preferances).
4. Having an out-of-body experience (OBE) wherein they view themselves from outside, often seeing people attempting to resuscitate them and families in waiting rooms.
5. Having a most pleasant feeling of warmth while bathed in an unusually bright light that does not hurt their eyes and often contains a Being who makes them feel loved.
6. Lack pain and realizing that they are "whole" even if they had suffered a disease or loss of limb or even blindness in their physical bodies.
7. Feeling embraced by the light. They have a new body of a very different nature, often 
experiencing an increase in knowledge and intelligence while out of their earthly bodies.
8. Often meeting relatives, friends and a spiritual guide who they consider "angels." Many  feel that they are in the presence of God and see Jesus. This Being makes them feel loved and has a sense of humor.
9. Experiencing a rapid Life-Review - a kind of panoramic, holographic review of their life in which they reach a self-judgment as to whether they have lived properly.
10. When they return from the brink of death (they do not cross this barrier), they are unable to express in human words their experience - it is ineffable and words are inadequate.
11. Having a diminished fear of death in the future and experiencing a transformation of their life - cherishing a new understanding of why they are here on Earth and the need to love and care for others. This transformation is one of the major results of the NDE.

These experiences are often verifiable by others, especially surgeons, doctors, nurses, paramedics and others who find that the victim can often tell them details of their rescue/resuscitation that they could not have known unless they were witnesses to their own return from the brink.

Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, in a major study of the NDE, even demonstrated the objectivity of the NDE and confirmed that the individual realizes that he/she is whole again. The blind could see again while out of their body. The deaf could hear and speak.

Some describe the body as a "new body," a "spiritual body," an "ethereal body, " a "mental or radiant body," and as a "heavenly body" as noted by St. Paul.

Properties of the New Body:

Taking an overall look at the properties of the new body as described by those returning, there are some common or general properties of this wondrous state:

1.  A feeling of pure consciousness.
2.  Having some form or shape.
3.  Invisible and inaudible to those living with whom they cannot communicate.
4.  Able to penetrate walls and solid objects.
5.  Having a feeling of weightlessness and of floating like a feather.
6.  Able to move rapidly and travel instantaneously through thought.
7.  Experiencing a sense of timelessness.
8.  Having a new clarity of thought unencumbered by the physical body.
9.  Having a heightened sense of vision and hearing.
10. Having a radiant type of body.
11.Experiencing wholeness and having no experience of limitation from disease, pain,
     blindness or deafness. There is no deformity: cripples are healed, the blind see and the deaf hear. This is reminiscent of Jesus' description of the Kingdom of Heaven.
12. Able to communicate with other spirit beings by thought.
13. Experiencing a sense of love and peace and happiness unlike anything on Earth.

The experience of those returning gives us all great hope of the beauty of the word to come. We look forward to fulfilling the words of Jesus on the Cross:

                      "THIS DAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE." LUKE 23:43

FOR A DETAILED TREATMENT OF THE ITEMS ABOVE, PLEASE READ:

                 "GLIMPSES OF THE AFTERLIFE: THE NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE IN 
                            SCIENCE, MEDICINE AND RELIGION" by John C. Iannone 


        SEE "BOOKSTORE" IN THE LEFT COLUMN.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR NDE WITH THE AUTHOR BY WRITING TO HIM AT:
                          
                                                    JCIANNONE@GMAIL.COM
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