## Near Death Experience Coined by [[noauthor_2019-dn|Dr. Raymond Moody]], the term NDE stands for Near Death Experience. It can be described as an out of body experience that's reported after a near death episode, normally during an accident, illness, or trauma. Many NDEs have been reported to have happened while the person in question was measurably dead (no heart or brain activity), but was revived or came back after a period of time. ### About NDEs Thousands of NDEs have been reported throughout history ([[noauthor_undated-en]]), even as far back as 420 B.C ([[Greyson2006-vp]]). According to IANDS, surveys (conducted in |[[Gallup1982-ex[USA]], [[Perera2005-ae|Australia]] and [[Knoblauch2001-un|Germany]]) suggest that 4 to 15% of the population have had NDEs. These reports do not differ across countries, religions, cultures, ages, or ethnicity ([[Ring1985-ya]]). NDEs still affect both non religious and believers, those with different life history, beliefs, behavior, sexual orientation or personalities. ([[Ring1982-yl]]). The means of how one has a NDE does not seem to have an effect of the experience, including those that attempt suicide ([[Greyson1991-tj]], [[Ring1982-yl]], [[Williams2020-ni]]). > [!NOTE] Common characteristics reported by those the have an [[noauthor_2019-dn|Near-Death Experience]] include: > - An out of body experience, often described as floating around their body > - Reports of a bright white light or traveling though a tunnel > - Enhanced sight and senses, even those that the person didn't have in life > - An overwhelming feeling of love, peace, and other positive emotions > - A "life review" of all prior events > - Seeing the future > - Meeting former loved ones or religious figures > - A choice to return to their bodies #### Research on NDEs According to surveys, those that experience an NDE typically return feeling more positive about themselves[]() and [[Bauer1985-kn|others]] and find renewed [[Flynn1982-zu|purpose/meaning]] in life, 98% of which now believe that there is life after death ([[Musgrave1997-sj]])) and no longer fear death ([[Noyes1980-pm]], [[Greyson1992-oy]]), including those that had an NDE as a result of attempted suicide. ([[Sutherland1990-xn]]) Accounting for the data, NDEs have been shown to not be products of hallucinations ([[Fenwick2005-if]], [[Ring1982-yl]]) or drugs ([[Jansen1997-wa]], [[noauthor_undated-cg]]), and from what modern medical knowledge understands, and are not a result of the dying process ([[Parnia2001-es]], [[Van_Lommel2001-ie]], [[Greyson2003-nl]], [[Blanke2002-zh]], [[Agrillo2011-bv]]). ## Veridical NDEs While NDEs are interesting, it is veridical NDEs that bear the evidence for life after death. A veridical NDE are reported from people with an out of body event who were able to gather information that could be verified by others ([[Williams2019-wz]]). A potential problem with verifying these veridical NDEs is that they sometimes include details that can not often be checked easily later or are possible to know though an alternate explanation, such as bodily senses still functioning or having prior knowledge of reported information ([[Blackmore1993-tn]], [[Cook1998-dg]]). We do have reports that can be verified and give evidence for life after. Here is an example of a NDE story that that seems to hold up. ### The Case of Pam Reynolds: > That of Pam Reynolds, a 35-year-old woman with a giant basilar artery aneurysm ([[Sabom1998-th]])). In order to remove the aneurysm safely, surgeons performed a remarkable surgical procedure: "This operation... would require that her body temperature be lowered to 60 degrees, her heartbeat and breathing stopped, her brain waves flattened, and the blood drained from her head" (Sabom, 1998, p. 37). ... What is remarkable is how well her description of the experience correlated with the stages of her surgery. As her surgery began and her skull was being opened, she felt herself pulled out of her body through her head and, like many NDErs, felt that her awareness and vision were the most acute she had ever experienced. She accurately described her head being shaved and the instrument used to cut open her skull. During her surgery, due to the small size of her right femoral artery and vein, her left femoral artery and vein were connected to the heart-lung machine. A female cardiac surgeon made that decision, and Reynolds recalled hearing a female voice saying that her veins and arteries were small. It is important to note that during this part of the surgery, Reynolds' heart was still beating, and she was not clinically dead. > > The next part of her surgery involved inducing clinical death. Her body was cooled and, as a result, her heart went into ventricular fibrillation; eventually it was stopped completely by a potassium chloride injection. Her EEG became flat, and even brainstem activity, tested by a response to clicks emitted from speakers in her ears, could no longer be detected. Her body temperature reached the 60 degrees required for the surgery to take place, her blood was drained from her body, and the aneurysm was removed. Her blood was returned to her body and her body temperature raised. Brainstem activity returned, shown by a response when the speakers in her ears clicked, followed by the higher brain activity detected by the EEG. Her heart began fibrillating and returned to a normal sinus rhythm after two shocks from a defibrillator. Her surgery was a success. It was during that time that Reynolds had the transcendental portion of her NDE ([[Potts2002-pm]]). Micheal goes on to describe the transcendental part of her NDE, where she has an experience heightened senses, going though a tunnel, seeing a bright light, talking to deceased relatives who then lead her back to her body. He then goes on to say. > She described accurately the music playing near the end of her surgery as she was being closed up (pp. 44-47)... Reynolds met all the criteria for death based on clinical tests, including a flat EEG, lack of auditory evoked potentials, and lack of blood flow to the brain. (For those who do not accept brain death criteria and prefer circulatory-respiratory criteria, one could note that there was no circulation of blood, and indeed no blood, in her body during the deep hypothermic portion of her surgery.) It was during this part of her surgery that Reynolds had a deep NDE that scored 27 on Greyson's (1983) NDE scale, on which the average score for NDEs is 15, the deepest of all the subjects in Sabom's study of NDEs. Yet Sabom did not go to the point of saying she was dead, insisting (I think correctly) that physicians cannot raise people literally from the dead. ... [[Kelly2000-fb|Kelly, Greyson, and Stevenson]] noted that the experiences of Reynolds cannot be explained in terms of auditory input, because they were clearly visual in nature; in addition, Reynolds' ears were blocked during the surgery. Although one cannot be totally certain of the timing, she reported some experiences that occurred during total cardiopul monary arrest and during a total lack of brain function ([[Potts2002-pm]]). Other remarkable cases include that of [[noauthor_undated-vy|Reinee Pasarow]] ([[Callanan1992-mo]]), [[Sharp2003-gy|Maria]], the studies by [[Atwater1995-tn|PM Atwater]] and [[Ring1999-nw|Dr Kenneth Ring's]] study on 21 cases of visual perception in the blind. There are [many](https://navigatingbyfaith.com/journies-of-faith/near-death/ 'Near Death'), many more books and [[noauthor_undated-ij|cases]] to consider that are beyond the scope of this submission. Near-death experiences (NDEs), a term coined by Dr. Raymond Moody, refer to out-of-body experiences reported after near-death episodes. These phenomena have been widely studied and documented, with surveys suggesting that up to 15% of the population may have had an NDE. A subset of these, known as veridical NDEs, offer compelling evidence for life after death, as they involve the collection of verifiable information during the out-of-body experience. One well-documented case is that of Pam Reynolds, whose NDE occurred during a complex surgical procedure while she met all clinical criteria for death. Overall, the evidence from veridical NDEs challenges current scientific understanding and lends credence to the notion of consciousness persisting beyond physical death.