Mar
17thThe Twelve Steps Or Elements Of An NDE ~ Part II

by Pim van Lommel

A Frightening NDE

Perhaps one to two percent of people with a near-death experience linger in a frightening dark space, unable to escape. To their horror, they sometimes find themselves pulled even deeper into the profound darkness. The NDE ends in this scary atmosphere, from where people reenter their body. The experience is devoid of positive emotions and later stirs profound feelings of guilt. In fact, such a terrifying NDE usually produces long-lasting emotional trauma. Not surprisingly, it is also known as a “hell experience.” The exact number of people who experience such a frightening NDE is unknown because they often keep quiet out of shame and guilt. Yet if people can accept and make sense of this negative experience, they too eventually exhibit positive change. Evans Bush’s study has shown that people who have a frightening experience are not necessarily bad people. One possible explanation is that everybody has some negative character traits and that during a frightening NDE one or more such negative aspects are magnified for later analysis. A person is not defined by such a negative character trait although this does not make the experience any less intense. (more…)

Mar
15thThe Twelve Steps Or Elements Of An NDE

by Pim van Lommel

Moody’s NDE Classification

In 1975 psychiatrist Raymond Moody wrote his first book on near-death experience. In it he described twelve different NDE steps but emphasized that most people experience only a few. It is rare for all steps or to be reported. Each NDE is unique and is experienced as a coherent episode rather than a series of clearly distinct steps. The order of the reported steps can also vary a little. At this point I should mention a comparative study that looked at whether there is any difference between NDE accounts recorded before and after 1975. The question was whether the publicity that followed the publication of Moody’s book had any influence on the contents of an NDE. However, the study showed that all the NDE elements he mentioned were reported just as frequently before as after 1975; the sole exception was the tunnel experience, which was reported a little less often in the past. The NDE and its effect on patients appear to be essentially the same worldwide except for some culture-specific differences in content and interpretation. One intercultural study shows that certain NDE elements, such as the panoramic life review and tunnel experience, are reported less frequently by the indigenous peoples of North America, Australia, and the islands in the South Pacific. (more…)

Feb
21stThe Case For Immortality

ANCIENT WISDOM UPHELD BY CUTTING EDGE SCIENCE

By Patrick Marsolek

“When I was fully into the light I realized it was the most incredibly beautiful light that I had ever seen. It seemed to have a personality that was beyond belief-loving. I was happy just being in the light. I remember then that I heard a voice that I thought was the light that surrounded me. Without having a body, somehow I talked to the voice. I was shown that the white light was really made up of all the colors. I was shown the zillions of colors in the light, more than I have seen on earth. They were all beautiful.

“I don’t remember the exact words, but I do remember discussing that all things were made of the light. I asked if even mountains and people were, and the voice (which I now think was God) told me even mountains, and a long list of things, everything. He also told me that the people there were in the light. I don’t remember much about that except that I was aware that people were about to come to take me into some beautiful place and I wanted to go.”— So begins one description of one person’s experience at the edge of death. (Near Death Experience Research Foundation www.nderf.org) (more…)