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  • REALITY
    • The Nature of Reality
    • You never left Home
    • The Self-Aware Universe
    • Univ. Dreaming Itself Awake
    • Is the Universe a Fractal?
    • Evidence That Consciousness Creates Reality: Welcome To The Matrix
    • The Whole of Reality Glows With Life
    • Does time exist? Quantum physics says no
    • Three Scientific Fields That Are Helping to Evolve Humanity’s Worldview
    • Why There Might Be Many More Universes Besides Our Own
    • Paradigms are Made for Shifting
    • The Science of Interconnectedness
    • Distorted Reality – Recalling Different Events After Timelines Merge
    • The Amazing Rise of the Mandela Effect!
    • Expanding Our Awareness to See a Multidimensional Reality
    • The Origin, Purpose, and Destiny of the Earth Game
    • The Next Big Bang – Human Consciousness and the Universe’s Ultimate Secret
    • Reality – Constructing the Separation Game
    • Parallel Realities and the Multidimensional Universe
    • Quantum Phase: Time, Parallel Realities and The Brain
    • The Shift and The Quickening of Manifestation
    • The Three Layers of Your Reality Construct
    • Transcending the Realms of Duality and Separation
    • How to Form Blueprints of Potential Realities
    • New View of Consciousness/Reality >
      • Evolution and Consciousness
      • Life After Death: Verdict
      • Consciousness/Brain
      • When We Die
      • The Body is a Shell
      • Everyone has a Purpose
      • Life: Spiritual Growth
      • The Problem of Evil
      • Multi-Dimension Universe
      • Conclusion and Notes:
    • A Holographic Universe? >
      • The Fractal Holographic Universe: Introduction
      • The Holographic Paradigm : All is One
      • The Spiral and the Holographic Matrix
      • The Unified Field and the Illusion of Time: Understanding the Source of Creation
      • Vacuum Energy: Proof of Free Energy in the Space All Around Us
      • Spiral Vortex – Contemplative Exercise
      • Attention, Intention & the Universe as a Conscious Holographic Information Processor
      • Love Waves In Our Hologram
      • Love, Creation and Morphic Resonance – The Formula for All Matters in The Love Hologram
  • CONSCIOUSNESS
    • The Self-Aware Universe
    • The Relationship between Human Consciousness and Earth Dynamics
    • A Call to Conscious Evolution
    • Electromagnetic Effects on Consciousness
    • Lumen Octave Principles : Language of the Soul
    • A Door Is About To Open!
    • Accessing A Higher Level Of Consciousness (and The Ego: Our Greatest Teacher)
    • Explorers of Higher Dimensions: The Power of Active Consciousness
    • 20 Transformational Truths From Sages Throughout the Ages
    • Mind Over Matter - Consciousness and the Nature of Reality
    • Beyond Space and Time: Quantum Theory Suggests Consciousness Moves on After Death
    • Neurosurgeon Who Doubted Afterlife Now Convinced It's Real
    • A Neurosurgeon’s Journey to Worlds Beyond: An Interview with Dr. Eben Alexander
    • Focus on Possibilities, Not Limitations.
    • Cosmic Consciousness Phenomenon : The Overview Effect
    • We Are Becoming Consciousness ItSelf
    • Dimensions of Conscious Experience
    • Mysterious Light : A Scientist's Odyssey
    • From Science to God
    • ONENESS : Transcending Duality
    • This Body is Not Me
    • The Rise of Empathic Consciousness
    • Your Body is a Projection of Your Consciousness
    • Evidence That Consciousness Creates Reality: Welcome To The Matrix
    • Human Consciousness Is Taking A Quantum Leap: Lifting of the Veil
    • Leading Neuroscientists & Buddhists Agree: “Consciousness is Everywhere”
    • Be Careful, Consciousness Is Listening!
    • Experiencing a Collective Shift Through Personal Transformation
    • The Illusion of Time and Space
    • The Emergence of Connected Consciousness
    • Reality & Experience: Morphic Fields & The Power Of Choice
    • You Are The One – The Universe is Moving Within You
    • Conscious Creation: Becoming an Observer of Your Own Life
    • The War On Consciousness
    • The Multidimensional Self: The Soul, OverSoul, and Beyond
    • The 2020 Parting of the Waves: Which Flow are You Riding?
    • We Have Arrived at the Dawn of the Unknowing
    • The Most Suppressed Technology Today
    • Children/Education >
      • Education and the Death of Creativity
      • A Message From The Children
      • Children of the New Dream
      • It’s Time to Unleash Creativity in Our Schools
    • The Human Heart : The Intelligence of The Heart >
      • Coherence: The Energy and Light from Your Heart
      • The Global Coherence Initiative
      • Enlightenment
    • The Human Brain >
      • The Triune Brain
      • The Split Brain
      • The Holographic Brain
      • Whole Brain Synchronization : Binaural Beats
      • Mysterious Brain Of Daniel Tammet
      • Consciousness/Brain
      • What and Where is Consciousness?
      • The Holographic Paradigm : All is One
      • Electromagnetic Effects on Consciousness
      • Exploring the Nature of Mind and our Holographic Brain
      • Six Intriguing Types of Synesthesia
      • Mysteries of the Pineal Gland Ignored by Mainstream Science and Research
  • HUMANITY
    • The Awakening >
      • The Dark Night Of The Soul >
        • Humanity : Body, Mind, Soul and Spirit >
          • Who Are You?:Deepak Chopra
          • Solar Flares Affect Humans
          • Univ. Unconditional Love
          • A Prayer for the World
          • Overcome the Ego
          • Etheric Antenna: Chakras
          • Your Aura and 12 Chakras: Keys to the Kingdom
          • The Seven Bodies of Man
          • The Journey
          • A Spiritual Pilgrimage
          • Science of the Soul
          • We are Beings of Light
          • Lumen Octave Principles : Language of the Soul
          • God is Very Much Alive
          • Tao: Your Cosmic Connection and Spiritual Contract
          • The Three Births of the Human Spirit
          • Unconditional Love?
          • The Relationship between Science and Spirituality
          • How Einstein Saw the World
          • Conscious Partnership with Earth
          • Infogr: Control your Dreams
          • Your Cells When You Experience Happiness
          • Aligning the Trinity – Body, Mind and Spirit
          • Being Aware of Our Energy
          • The Greatest Story Never Told
          • The Alchemy of Groups
          • Inevitable Change – Shattering Our Attachment to ‘Sameness’
          • The Biocrystal
          • Life after death: Hospice doctor studies the vivid dreams and visions of dying people that suggest comfort being given from the other side
          • In Life and Death, Love is Our Legacy – The Courage to Open Our Hearts
          • Attuning to the Flow of the Universe
          • Waking Up From Religion
          • Astral Dynamics : The Silver Cord
          • The Spirit World
          • Cycles of Soul Existence
          • The Soul’s Journey After Death
          • Life Between Lives
          • 7000 Souls Recall Their ‘Life’ Between Lives During Regression Hypnosis, The Similarities Are Astounding
          • The Life-Review Process
          • We Are the Universe Becoming Aware of Itself
          • Have You Realized The Profundity Of Our True Nature?
          • Improving Your Connection To Spirit
          • Aligning with Our Soul Purpose
          • Spiritual Inspiration from Albert Einstein
          • Spiritual but Not Religious? Why Spiritual Wellness Does Not Depend on Your Beliefs
          • A Sense of Oneness Leads to Greater Life Satisfaction, Research Shows
          • How to Transform Your Darkness Into Light
          • You Are a Sovereign Being – Start Acting Like It!
          • 5 Steps to Cultivate Patience Within Your New New Normal
          • The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off
          • Chaos Sorcery
          • Science, Spirituality and Religion
          • Shadow Work 101: Just Claim it All
          • Staying Centered in a Wild World
          • How Changing Your Thoughts Changes Your Life
          • Victim or Creator?
          • The “Seer” of all Things
          • Discovering Our Earthly Selves
          • 11 Major Warning Signs From the Universe
          • Living From The Heart
          • Reincarnation: 10 things everyone should know about Reincarnation >
            • Reincarnation: The 35 Steps of Soul Evolution
          • DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid): >
            • DNA Can Be Reprogrammed by Words and Frequencies
            • Controversial DNA Discoveries
            • Evolution : The Body's Intelligence
            • Evolution is speeding up
            • Human Energy Field and DNA
            • Everything You Are, Have Been And Ever Will Be Is About Frequency, And Your DNA Is The Ultimate Antenna
            • Forgotten In Time: The Ancient Solfeggio Frequencies
            • The Human Genome – Perception Directly Controls Gene Activity
            • Leonardo da Vinci and The New Biology
          • Near Death Experiences >
            • Neurosurgeon Who Doubted Afterlife Now Convinced It's Real
            • The NDE and the Silver Cord
            • Rev. Dr George Rodonaia's Unusual NDE
            • Shared Death Experiences
            • Groups of People Can Share a Single NDE
            • 'Shared Death Experience' Study
          • Akashic Records / Akashic Field / Book of Life >
            • A Database That Contains A Record Of The Soul’s Journey: The Akashic Records
            • Edgar Cayce: Readings from Akashic Records >
              • Edgar Cayce : 'The Sleeping Prophet'
              • The Body - Temple of God ; Chakras
              • Angels and Archangels ; The Christ ; Humanity ; Death
              • Mary Magdalene
              • Moving into the New Paradigm
              • The Future
              • The Book of Revelation
              • Consciousness
              • Human Origins
              • The Past Lives of Jesus
      • The Song of the Soul Group
      • The SupraMental Awakening and Planetary Hope
      • Univ. Dreaming Itself Awake
      • When Awakening Begins
      • The Veil of Forgetfulness
      • Pr. of Personal Transformation
      • Time To Pay Attention To Who You Are/Where You Are Going
      • Before Beginning of Universe .. You Were Still There
      • 2012 Visionaries
      • Awaken, Children of Earth!
      • Time : A Musical
      • Waking Up Is So Hard To Do… Alone
      • Swami’s State of the Universe 2015
      • A Need and An Ecstasy
      • Full Moon In Scorpio - An Invitation To Emergence
      • Something Extraordinary Is Happening In The World
      • 3 States of Mind to Embrace the Coming Energy
      • The Sacred Garden
      • Being Our Experience
      • We were made for these times
      • Are You a Bridge Between Two Worlds?
      • Choose Love – and Be the Change!
      • Timekeepers of the Human Experiment
      • The Starseed Mission: A Practical Guide to the Pros and Cons in One’s Awakening
      • What's the Point of Life? Why are we here?
      • Reflections On The Year That Was 2018
      • I’m Not Going Insane: It’s the Universal Awakening!
      • The Dalai Lama’s Morning Prayer
      • Shedding the Layers in Our Collective Expansion
      • Are You Dimming Your Light?
      • Ready To Go Sane In A Crazy World?
      • The Great Transformation: A World Awakening
      • You are Needed: Reclaiming Humanity’s Light
      • Let The Emergence of a New Humanity Begin!
      • Healing a World Disconnected From Its Imagination
      • The Universe Played its Trump Card! But Is President Trump the Worst Curse or a Blessing in Disguise?
      • The Grand Story of the Deep State, the Current Apocalypse and the Battle of Good vs Evil
      • Winning the War on Consciousness – Humanity’s Grand Awakening from Deep State
      • Moving Beyond Awakening Shock Syndrome
      • The 5 Stages of Awakening – Signposts and Pitfalls on the Path of Consciousness
      • It’s Time to Step Outside the Conditioned Mind
      • Global Games That Tyrants Play – and People Who Agree to be Played With
      • The Only Way for Humanity to Survive What’s Happening
      • Before Every Bright Day Is a Dark Night
      • A Guide to Glide Through the Great Awakening – Spread Hope Not Fear
      • Building a Brighter Future
      • The Revealing of the Nightmare Has Begun! (Article–Video)
      • Destiny in the Making: Lightworkers Were Seeded Exactly for these Times!
    • Ascension/Evolution >
      • The Gathering of the Eagles >
        • Foreword and Introduction
        • PT 1 : Chapt 1 : THE LITTLEST HOBO
        • PT 1 : Chapt 2 : "I QUIT"
        • PT 1 : Chapt 3 : WILL THE REAL POST OP NURSE PLEASE STAND UP
        • PT 1 : Chapt 4 : LAST WEEK I WOULD HAVE SAID YOU WERE CRAZY
        • PT 1 : Chapt 5 : ON THE ROAD AGAIN
        • PT 1 : Chapt 6 : THE SPORTSMAN CAFE
        • PT 1 : Chapt 7 : CHANGE OF LIFE
        • PT 1 : Chapt 8 : IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE HOLLAND
        • PT 1 : Chapt 9: NO SHAME TO BE POOR/Epilogue
        • PT 2 : Chapt 10 : FOR THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH IS RIPE
        • PT 2 : Chapt 11 : THE NEW GARDEN
        • PT 2 : Chapt 12 : "WHAT'S MINE'S MY OWN"
        • PT 2 : Chapt 13 : THE GUIDING LIGHT
        • PT 2 : Chapt 14 : THE PEOPLE
        • The Prince of Hope
      • Residing in the 5th Dimension
      • Vibrational Acceleration
      • Homo Divinicus: to come
      • 5th Dimension Consciousness
      • The Ride Has Just Begun!
      • Raising Your Vibration
      • Spiritual Evolution: Divine Plan
      • Ascension: The Larger Picture
      • 2013: The Gateway of LIGHT
      • The “Seer” of all Things
      • Spont. Evolution Has Arrived!
      • Compassion: Ascension Key
      • Who Are We Becoming?
      • Shifting Paradigms
      • Blueprint for Ascension
      • Ascension Revisited
      • 'The Quantum Leap' by Solara
      • I Surrender to the Infinite that is Within Me
      • Ascension and the Fifth Dimensional Network
      • Why It’s Time To Accept Humanity’s Power of Creation and The Soul’s Journey
      • Transformation
      • “We Are Living In The Most Important Time In The History Of Our Universe”
      • Accelerating Our Collective Emergence into a New Paradigm
      • The Greatest Spiritual Event of Our Time According to Rudolph Steiner
      • Dolores Cannon – THE EVENT Information
      • The Three Waves Of Volunteers
      • Raising Vibrations: How To Be The Change You Want To See In The World
      • The Daily Alchemical Process of Ascension
      • The Universal Ascension Process: Our Journey to Oneness
      • The Golden Rule: A Lesson in Oneness Throughout the Ages
      • As the Coronavirus Sweeps around the World, Our Planet is on the Verge of Evolution
      • The Old World Is Falling Away and Making Way for a New One
      • The Art of Ascension: The 7 Stages of Alchemy
      • 5D Ascension: The Pleiadians and the Toroidal Flow
      • Social Transformation – Like Ripples in an Ocean
      • Do You Have a Calling to Heal the World? How to be an Agent of Change
    • Sandra Walter-Asc. Guide
    • Human Body of Light >
      • Spark of Light At Conception
      • Biophotons: The Human Body Emits, Communicates with, and is Made from Light
      • We Are Beings of Light
      • Are Humans Solar Powered?
      • Cells use light to communicate
      • Your Body Literally Glows With Light
      • Light
    • Ancient Knowledge/Civilisations >
      • Lost Civilizations Existed
      • Houston anthropologist reveals irrefutable proof that recorded history is wrong
      • The Return of the Elder Race & Opening the Gateway of the Fifth Kingdom
      • Quest for the People of the Secret
      • The skeletal remains of giants found all over the world
  • CHANNELLED INFORMATION
    • Archangel Michael speaks >
      • CREATING YOUR PYRAMID OF POWER
      • THE TWELVE SACRED TRIBES OF CREATION
      • THE MICHAEL/MARY CONNECTION
      • A COSMIC VIEWPOINT OF CREATION AND EVOLUTION
      • A RECAP OF THE BEST
      • THE MYSTERY OF THE VESICA PISCIS
      • THE SPIRIT AND THE SOUL AND A NEW PYRAMID OF LIGHT MEDITATION
      • STAGES OF AWARENESS ON PATH OF ASCENSION
      • HOLD STEADY, BELOVEDS
      • WHO YOU ARE
      • VICTIM OR VICTOR?
      • PERFECTING YOUR SKILLS AS A CO-CREATOR
      • THE PATH OF ASCENSION IS THE PATH TO FREEDOM
      • LOVE IS A NATURAL STATE OF BEING
      • 2013 IN REVIEW - A YEAR OF TRANSFORMATION
      • ARE YOU READY TO EMBODY YOUR SACRED FIRE ENERGY?
      • RITUAL OF PASSAGE INTO 5th DIMENSIONAL REALITY
      • CREATING YOUR SPHERE OF HEAVENLY LIGHT
      • SPIRITUAL REUNION
      • ANGELS OF MERCY
      • NEW RAYS OF INDIVID EXPRESSION
      • EARTH’S SEED ATOM RECORD-KEEPER CRYSTALS
      • ENHANCING YOUR POWER TO MANIFEST
      • THE ILLUSION OF FEAR
      • BECOMING SOUL-INFUSED PERSONALITY
      • DOWNLOADING YOUR NEW DIVINE BLUEPRINT
      • DECISION TIME : THE FUTURE IS NOW
      • YOUR LIGHT CLOAK OF MANY COLORS AWAITS YOU
      • WILL YOU BE AMONG THE CHOSEN?
      • BECOMING A PRACTICAL MYSTIC
      • FINE-TUNING YOUR SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
      • SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY FOR EVOLVING HUMANITY
      • PYRAMIDS OF LIGHT - THE LIGHT PATHWAY OF RETURN
      • OPENING THE SEVEN SEALS OF GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS
      • DEMYSTIFYING DEATH
      • WE 0FFER YOU A STREAM OF LOVE/LIGHT FROM OUR HEART TO YOURS
      • EVOLUTION OF THE BODILY FORM AND ASCENSION IN CONSCIOUSNESS
      • THE SEARCHLIGHT OF THE SOUL * YOUR TWELVE RAY CREATOR WHEEL
      • ACCESSING YOUR HIGHER POWER POTENTIAL
      • WHAT IS SPIRIT?
      • INTEGRATED KNOWLEDGE BECOMES WISDOM
      • THE FIVE KINGDOMS/DIMENSIONS FOR THIS ROUND OF EARTHLY ASCENSION
      • THE LAW OF RESPONSIVE RETURN
      • EMBRACING THE POWER OF LOVE
      • WARRIORS OF LIGHT: PROACTIVE, LOVINGLY ASSERTIVE
      • THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
      • OPEN LETTER TO ASCENDING STARSEED SOULS
      • AVATARS * ASCENDED MASTERS * GREAT BEINGS OF LIGHT
      • BECOMING AN EMISSARY OF LIGHT
      • HARMONIZING THE PHYSICAL * EMOTIONAL * MENTAL BODIES
      • THE FIERY FORCES OF CREATION ARE SWEEPING THE EARTH
      • A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
      • UNIFIED SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
      • ARE YOU A STARSEED WAYSHOWER?
      • THE NEXT LEVEL OF SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
      • THE PHYSICAL VESSEL: A WONDROUS, SACRED CREATION
      • RELATIONSHIPS AND YOUR SACRED UNION
      • ARE YOU READY FOR LIBERATION?
      • PERFECTING YOUR SKILLS AS A COCREATOR
      • CREATING A 'NEW EMPOWERED YOU'
      • SEEKING PEACE FROM WITHIN
      • THE ECSTASY OF SACRED LOVE
      • ACCESSING THE EARTH’S MEMORY SEED ATOM CRYSTALS
      • ARE YOU READY TO MAKE A COMMITMENT?
      • EMBRACING ALL FACETS OF GOD CONSCIOUSNESS
      • OPENING THE PORTAL TO YOUR SACRED HEART
      • ARE YOU READY?
      • THE SPIRALING PATH OF ASCENSION
      • YOU ARE IN THE MIDST OF A SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION
      • YOU ARE A STAR OF COSMIC SACRED FIRE
      • ENHANCING YOUR PERSONAL GOD ESSENCE
      • YOUR CONNECTION TO YOUR HOLY MENTAL SELF
      • THREE GOD RAYS: DIVINE WILL * DIVINE LOVE * DIVINE INTELLIGENCE
      • THE POWER AND MAJESTY OF THE ELEMENTS
      • DEVELOPING NON-ATTACHMENT
      • ENHANCING YOUR POWER TO MANIFEST
      • THE EMPOWERING GIFT OF FORGIVENESS
      • THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL
      • THE NEW AGE OF SPIRITUAL/HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
      • THE ESSENCE OF CREATION
      • THE MEMORY SEED ATOMS WITHIN YOUR SOUL
      • THE FAST TRACK TO SELF-MASTERY
      • THE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL
      • NEW RAYS OF INDIVIDUALIZED EXPRESSION
      • WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHILE WAITING TO ASCEND?
      • THE RETURN OF THE GODDESS * OUR HEAVENLY MOTHER
      • INTEGRATING YOUR NEW DIVINE BLUEPRINT
      • A NEW CYCLE OF CREATION IS IN PROGRESS
      • KEEPERS OF THE VIOLET FLAME
      • TRAVERSING THE LAST SUB-PLANES OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION
      • IT IS TIME TO SHINE YOUR LIGHT AND SHARE YOUR VISION
      • YOU, THE WAYSHOWERS, ARE THE HOPE OF THE FUTURE
      • A GLIMPSE BEYOND TOMORROW
      • THE CELESTIAL WINDS OF CHANGE ARE SWEEPING THE EARTH.
      • ADAMANTINE PARTICLES AND HOW TO USE THEM EFFECTIVELY: A REVIEW
      • THE VOICE OF SPIRIT IS CALLING
      • A WONDROUS CREATION: THE PHYSICAL VESSEL
      • ARE YOU A STARSEED LIGHT UPON THE PATH?
      • LAW OF THE CIRCLE * LAW OF THE TRIANGLE
      • TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DESTINY
      • A COSMIC MOMENT OF OPPORTUNITY
      • YOU ARE A “WHITE FIRE SEED ATOM” OF ALL THAT IS
      • BECOMING A SOUL-INFUSED PERSONALITY
      • AN OVERVIEW OF THE “STATE OF THE EARTH AND HUMANITY”
      • SEEKING PEACE AND SERENITY FROM WITHIN
      • FINE-TUNING YOUR SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
      • YOUR SPARK OF DIVINITY IS IMMORTAL AND ETERNAL
      • HOLD STEADY, BELOVEDS
    • Archangel Uriel >
      • Be The Energy for an Ascending Earth
      • The Balance of Creator and Co-Creator
      • In the Acceleration
      • The End of the Journey is a New Beginning
      • You Are Embodied Perfection
      • The 5 Dimensions of Will
      • Shine From Your Radiance
      • A Time of Expanded Light from Archangel Uriel
    • The Angels, through Satya >
      • Who Is Your Angel ?
      • How to dialogue with the Angels
      • The Love
      • The Joy, the Smile and the Gratitude
      • The Nature and the Breathing
      • The Awakening of the Soul
      • Recognize and express own Essence
    • Through Sal Rachele >
      • The Founders >
        • Moving to the Next Level
        • The Founders on the Nature of Timelessness
        • The Founders on the Precession and Galactic Cycle
      • Leah and Sananda >
        • Extending God’s Creation into the Physical
    • Ra and Q'uo: The Law of One >
      • Ra : Ra's History
      • Ra: Before the Veil of Forgetfulness
      • Ra : Wanderers
      • Ra : Harvest
      • Ra: Session 14 of the Law of One
      • The Universe According to Ra
      • Ra's Work on Earth
      • Q'uo : Ascension
      • Q'uo : Jesus the Christ and the Buddha
      • Q'uo : Angels
      • Q'uo : Primary Development of the Creation'
      • Q'uo : Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine
      • Q'uo : Are you doing what you came to do?
    • Seth >
      • Seth Speaks about God
      • Creation of Matter
    • Through channel Ken Carey: >
      • The Awakening (that we asked for)
    • Kryon : Who is Kryon? .... and Who are We? >
      • The Future is Quantum | An interview with Lee Carroll
      • About Channelling
      • Light
      • Your Soul is Part of the Creative Source of the Universe
  • EARTH
    • EARTH articles: >
      • Earth Changes and 2012
      • The Relationship between Human Consciousness and Earth Dynamics
      • Earth: Geologic Primer
      • Infogr: Yellowstone
      • Healing Mother Earth
      • Earth's Inaudible Voice
      • The Mysteries of Water
      • Oceans:Shocking Decline
      • Geobiology : Earth Energies That Affect Our Lives
      • Scientists warn that Earth faces severe water shortages within a generation
      • Our Oceans Are Dying
      • Infrasound: "There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres"
      • Is Science Finally Catching Up to What the Ancients Knew About Crystals?
      • Can our Intentions Heal the Water?
      • Does Mother Nature Know What She is Doing?
      • The secret life of trees: Thinking, caring and using the 'wood-wide web' to communicate
      • Scientists find jet stream in Earth’s core
      • Scientists: Earth’s Magnetic Fields Carry Biologically Relevant Information That ‘Connects All Living Systems’
      • Waking Up to the Sacred in Nature and Reclaiming Our Earth Soul
      • Conscious Partnership with Earth
      • Honoring The Solstice
      • Vietnamese farmer discovers a spectacular world
      • Humanity is Waking Up to the Intelligence of Nature
      • The Earth and all its Life is a Sacred Gift
      • Will we be the People of the Great Change?
      • Caring for Our Sacred Earth
    • EARTH/SPACE articles: >
      • Space Weather >
        • Tracking Space Weather from the Sun to the Earth (NASA)
      • Plasma, Plasma, Everywhere
      • Unusual Sounds Reported Worldwide - What Are They?
      • Do 'Outside Forces' Affect Earth?
      • Speed of the Earth?
      • Planetary Challenges and Spiritual Evolution
      • PlanetoPhysical State of the Earth and Life
      • Spirals : Earth/Space
      • Space-Time Vortex
      • Electromag. Spectrum
      • Solstices and Equinoxes
      • Earth/Sun Connection
      • Breach in Magnetic Field
      • Change in Earth's Gravity
      • Moon : Effects on Earth
      • Plasma tubes surround Earth
      • Infographic : EARTH/SPACE
      • Infographic : Evolution of Food in Space
  • OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
    • THE SUN - Our Star >
      • The Sun : Solar Activity
      • Infogr: Sunstorms! / Solar Flares
      • How Solar Flares Affect Humans
      • Mystery of the Sun's Corona
      • Massive Plasma Waves Sweep the Sun
      • Lately, the Sun has been behaving a bit strangely
      • Scientists predict rare 'hibernation' of sunspots
      • Scientists Prove Existence of ‘Magnetic Ropes’ that Cause Solar Storms
      • Sun/Earth Relationship
      • Magnetic Portals connect Earth to the Sun
      • Images From Sun’s Edge Reveal Origins of Solar Wind
      • Total Solar Eclipse 21 August 2017
      • The Awakening Solar Intelligence
      • Revealing the physics of the Sun with NASA's Parker Solar Probe
      • Surprising stillness ensues when the solar wind hits Earth's magnetosphere
    • Infogr: Jupiter and Venus
    • Infogr: Solar System
    • Infogr: Asteroid Belt
    • Evolving Solar System / 2012
    • Galaxy, Solar System and Harmonic Resonance
    • Magnetic Bubbles at Edge of Solar System
    • The Seven Bodies of Man
    • Our Solar System's Tail
    • Water in the Solar System: Water, Water, Everywhere!
    • Something is Affecting the Entire Solar System
    • Solar system replica built by space enthusiasts in Nevada Desert - 11km (7 mi) wide
    • Jupiter : 'Brand-new and unexpected' discoveries
    • The Helical Dynamics of the Solar System
  • MILKY WAY GALAXY
    • Infogr: The Milky Way
    • Infogr: Galaxy Full of Planets
    • Massive Outburst in Neighbor Galaxy Surprises Astronomers
    • Sirius and Human History
    • Earthquakes on Stars in the Milky Way
    • Betelgeuse : Supernova?
    • The Corrugated Galaxy : Milky Way Galaxy may be more enormous than ever imagined
    • Interconnected stellar nurseries form the largest gaseous structure ever observed in the Milky Way galaxy
    • Galactic Centre : >
      • Strange Rumblings at the Centre of our Galaxy
      • Massive Outflows Pouring Out Of Milky Way’s Center
      • Milky Way’s Black Hole Shows Signs of Increased Chatter
      • Scientists Identify Cosmic Energy Accelerator at the Galactic Center
  • UNIVERSE
    • The Unified Field and the Illusion of Time: Understanding the Source of Creation
    • The Universe Is A 'Giant Brain'
    • The Self-Aware Universe
    • The New Cosmology
    • How Large is Universe?
    • Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster
    • The Interdimensional Universe
    • Universe : YouTube videos
    • Electric Universe/Plasma Cosmology >
      • What is Plasma?
      • Plasma; 99.999% of Universe
      • Plasma, Plasma, Everywhere
      • Elect. in Space: Hannes Alfvén
      • Aether: True Electric Current?
      • The Simple Electric Universe
      • The Electric Universe
      • Exploring Electric Universe
      • Comets and Electric Universe
      • The Electric Universe - A Synopsis
      • The plasma universe and Max Planck's musical space-time revisited
  • 2012 PROPHECIES and the coming changes
    • The Prophecies Are Now
    • What is Happening in 2012?
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Near Death Experiences (NDEs)
[see also 'The NDE and the Future']

"If I lived a billion years more, in my body or yours, there's not
a single experience on Earth that could ever be as good as being dead.  Nothing."    
Dr Dianne Morrissey


NDE testimony offers answers to the big questions: Who are we? Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where are we going? What does it all mean?

NDEs also provide circumstantial and scientific evidence supporting the afterlife theory, which scientific reductionism cannot adequately explain.

The evidence suggests that NDEs are transcendental journeys to another dimension of reality which profoundly change the lives of those who have them. As an example, one particular experiencer named Dr. Dianne Morrissey has stated:

"If I lived a billion years more, in my body or yours, there's not a single experience on Earth that could ever be as good as being dead. Nothing."


http://www.near-death.com/about.html


Picture
Gustave Doré's depiction of the highest heaven as described by Dante Alighieri in 'The Paradiso'




Picture
'Ascent of the Blessed' by Hieronymus Bosch

A Near-Death Experience (NDE)
refers to a broad range of personal experiences associated with impending death, encompassing multiple possible sensations including detachment from the body; feelings of levitation; extreme fear; total serenity, security, or warmth; the experience of absolute dissolution; and the presence of a light.

These phenomena are usually reported after an individual has been pronounced clinically dead or otherwise very close to death, hence the term near-death experience. Many NDE reports, however, originate from events that are not life-threatening. With recent developments in cardiac resuscitation techniques, the number of reported NDEs has increased. Many in the scientific community regard such experiences as hallucinatory, while paranormal specialists and some mainstream scientists claim them to be evidence of an afterlife.

Popular interest in near-death experiences was initially sparked by Raymond Moody's 1975 book Life After Life and the founding of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) in 1981. According to a Gallup poll, approximately eight million Americans claim to have had a near-death experience. Some commentators, such as Simpson claim that the number of near-death experiencers may be underestimated, mainly because some such individuals are presumably afraid or otherwise reluctant to talk about their experiences.

NDEs are among the phenomena studied in the fields of parapsychology, psychology, psychiatry, and hospital medicine.

Characteristics
The earliest accounts of NDE can be traced to the Myth of Er, recorded by Plato's The Republic (10.614-10.621). In this story, Plato describes a mythical soldier telling of his near-death experiences about an afterlife and reincarnation.

Researchers have identified the common elements that define near-death experiences. Bruce Greyson argues that the general features of the experience include impressions of being outside one's physical body, visions of deceased relatives and religious figures, and transcendence of ego and space/time boundaries. The experience may also follow a distinct progression, as illustrated by the traits of a classical NDE listed below:

  • Receiving messages in telepathic form.
  • A sense/awareness of being dead.
  • A sense of peace, well-being and painlessness. Positive emotions. A feeling of being removed from the world.
  • An out-of-body experience. A perception of one's body from an outside position. Sometimes observing doctors and nurses performing medical resuscitation efforts.
  • A "tunnel experience". A sense of moving up, or through, a passageway or staircase.
  • A rapid movement toward and/or sudden immersion in a powerful light. Communication with the light.
  • An intense feeling of unconditional love.
  •  Encountering "Beings of Light", "Beings dressed in white", or other spiritual beings. Also, the possibility of being reunited with deceased loved ones.
  • Being given a life review.
  • Being presented with knowledge about one's life and the nature of the universe.
  • A decision by oneself or others to return to one's body, often accompanied by a reluctance to return.
  • Approaching a border.
  • There also seems to be a link between the cultural and spiritual beliefs where one lives. These seem to dictate what is experienced in the NDE or how it is interpreted afterwards (Holden, Janice Miner. Handbook of Near-Death Experiences. Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publishing Data, 2009.).

Kenneth Ring (1980) subdivided the NDE on a five-stage continuum. He stated that 60% experienced stage 1 (feelings of peace and contentment), but only 10% experienced stage 5 ("entering the light").

Clinical circumstances associated with near-death experiences include cardiac arrest in myocardial infarction (clinical death), shock in postpartum loss of blood or in peri-operative complications, septic or anaphylactic shock, electrocution, coma resulting from traumatic brain damage, intra-cerebral haemorrhage or cerebral infarction, attempted suicide, near-drowning or asphyxia, apnoea, and serious depression. In contrast to common belief, Kenneth Ring argues that attempted suicides do not lead more often to unpleasant NDEs than unintended near-death situations.

The distressing aspects of some NDEs are discussed more closely by Greyson and Bush. Karlis Osis and his colleague Erlendur Haraldsson argued that the content of near death experiences does not vary by culture, except for the identity of the personages and religious figures seen during the experiences; however Yoshi Hata and his team reported NDEs with substantially different contents than those described above.

Research
Individual cases of NDEs in literature have been identified into ancient times.  In the 19th century a few efforts moved beyond studying individual cases - one privately done by Mormons and one in Switzerland. Up to 2005, 95% of world cultures have been documented making some mention of NDEs.

Modern contributions to the research on near-death experiences have come from several academic disciplines, among these the disciplines of medicine, psychology and psychiatry. Interest in this field of study was originally spurred by the research of such pioneers as Jess Weiss, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, George Ritchie, and Raymond Moody, whose book Life After Life, which was released in 1975, brought public attention to the topic of NDEs.

This was soon to be followed by the establishment of the International Association for Near-death Studies (IANDS) in 1981. IANDS is an international organization that encourages scientific research and education on the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual nature and ramifications of near-death experiences. Among its publications are the peer-reviewed Journal of Near-Death Studies and the quarterly newsletter Vital Signs.

Later researchers, such as Bruce Greyson, Kenneth Ring, and Michael Sabom, helped to launch the field of Near-Death Studies and introduced the study of near-death experiences to the academic setting.

From 1975 to 2005, some 2500 self reported individuals in the US had been reviewed in retrospective studies of the phenomena with an additional 600 outside the US in the West, and 70 in Asia. Prospective studies, reviewing groups of individuals and then finding who had an NDE after some time and costing more to do, had identified 270 individuals.

In all close to 3500 individual cases between 1975 and 2005 had been reviewed in one or another study. And all these studies were carried out by some 55 researchers or teams of researchers.

The medical community has been reluctant to address the phenomenon of NDEs, and grant money for research has been scarce.  Nevertheless, both Greyson and Ring developed tools usable in a clinical setting. Major contributions to the field include Ring's construction of a "Weighted Core Experience Index" to measure the depth of the near-death experience, and Greyson's construction of the "Near-death experience scale" to differentiate between subjects that are more or less likely to have experienced an NDE.

The latter scale is also, according to its author, clinically useful in differentiating NDEs from organic brain syndromes and nonspecific stress responses. The NDE-scale was later found to fit the Rasch rating scale model.

Greyson has also brought attention to the near-death experience as a focus of clinical attention, while Melvin Morse, head of the Institute for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, and colleagues have investigated near-death experiences in a pediatric population.
Neurobiological factors in the experience have been investigated by researchers in the field of medical science and psychiatry. Among the researchers and commentators who tend to emphasize a naturalistic and neurological base for the experience are the British psychologist Susan Blackmore (1993), with her "dying brain hypothesis", and the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer (1998).

More recently, cognitive neuroscientists Jason Braithwaite (2008) from the University of Birmingham and Sebastian Dieguez (2008) and Olaf Blanke (2009) from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, have published accounts presenting evidence for the brain-based nature of near death experiences.

In September 2008, it was announced that 25 U.K. and U.S. hospitals would examine near-death studies in 1,500 heart attack patient-survivors. The three-year study, coordinated by Sam Parnia at Southampton University, hoped to determine if people without heartbeat or brain activity can have an out-of-body experience with veridical visual perceptions.  This study follows on from an earlier 18-month pilot project. 

In a July 28, 2010 interview about a recent lecture at Goldsmiths, Parnia asserts that "evidence is now suggesting that mental and cognitive processes may continue for a period of time after a death has started" and describes the process of death as "essentially a global stroke of the brain. Therefore like any stroke process one would not expect the entity of mind / consciousness to be lost immediately".

He also expresses his disagreement with the term 'near death experiences' because "the patients that we study are not near death, they have actually died and moreover it conjures up a lot of imprecise scientific notions, due to the fact that [death] itself is a very imprecise term".

Researcher Lakhmir Chawla at George Washington University medical centre in Washington D.C. argues that near-death experiences are caused by a surge of electrical activity as the brain runs out of oxygen before death. Levels were similar to those seen in fully conscious people, even though blood pressure was so low as to be undetectable, and could generate vivid images and feelings. The gradual loss of brain activity had occurred in the approximate hour before death, and was interrupted by a brief spurt of action, lasting from 30 seconds to three minutes.

Sam Parnia disputed this explanation, claiming that Lakhmir Chawla had not provided proof that the electrical surges he recorded were linked to near-death experiences, saying: "Since all the patients died, we cannot tell what they were experiencing".



Among the scientific and academic journals that have published, or are regularly publishing, new research on the subject of NDEs are Journal of Near-Death Studies, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, British Journal of Psychology, American Journal of Disease of Children, Resuscitation, The Lancet, Death Studies, and the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Variance in NDE Studies
The prevalence of NDEs has been variable in the studies that have been performed. According to the Gallup and Proctor survey in 1980-1981, of a representative sample of the American population, data showed that 15% had an NDE. Knoblauch in 2001 performed a more selective study in Germany and found that 4% of the sample population had experienced an NDE. However, the information gathered from these studies may be subjected to the broad timeframe and location of the investigation.

Perera et al., in 2005, conducted a telephone survey of a representative sample of the Australian population, as part of the Roy Morgan Catibus Survey, and concluded that 8.9% of the population had experienced an NDE.
In a more clinical setting, van Lommel et al. (2001), a cardiologist from Netherlands, studied a group of patients who had suffered cardiac arrests and who were successfully revived. They found that 62 patients (18%) had an NDE, of whom 41 (12%) described a core experience.

According to Martens the only satisfying method to address the NDE-issue would be an international multicentric data collection within the framework for standardized reporting of cardiac arrest events. The use of cardiac-arrest criteria as a basis for NDE research has been a common approach among the European branch of the research field.

Biological Analysis and Theories
In the 1990s, Dr. Rick Strassman conducted research on the psychedelic drug Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) at the University of New Mexico. Strassman advanced the theory that a massive release of DMT from the pineal gland prior to death or near-death was the cause of the near-death experience phenomenon.

Only two of his test subjects reported NDE-like aural or visual hallucinations, although many reported feeling as though they had entered a state similar to the classical NDE. His explanation for this was the possible lack of panic involved in the clinical setting and possible dosage differences between those administered and those encountered in actual NDE cases. All subjects in the study were also very experienced users of DMT and/or other psychedelic/entheogenic agents.

Some speculators consider that if subjects without prior knowledge of the effects of DMT had been used during the experiment, it is possible more volunteers would have reported feeling as though they had experienced an NDE.

Critics have argued that neurobiological models often fail to explain NDEs that result from close brushes with death, where the brain does not actually suffer physical trauma, such as a near-miss automobile accident. Such events may however have neurobiological effects caused by stress.

In a new theory devised by Richard Kinseher in 2006, the knowledge of the Sensory Autonomic System is applied in the NDE phenomenon. His theory states that the experience of looming death is an extremely strange paradox to a living organism—and therefore it will start the NDE.  During the NDE, the individual becomes capable of "seeing" the brain performing a scan of the whole episodic memory (even prenatal experiences), in order to find a stored experience which is comparable to the input information of death. All these scanned and retrieved bits of information are permanently evaluated by the actual mind, as it is searching for a coping mechanism out of the potentially fatal situation. Kinseher feels this is the reason why a near-death experience is so unusual.

Because people who experience NDEs report the experience of memories long considered lost, this theory necessarily depends upon a theory of memory in which all memories are indefinitely retained. Such a stance would be at odds with current scientific findings.
The theory also states that out-of-body experiences, accompanied by NDEs, are an attempt by the brain to create a mental overview of the situation and the surrounding world. The brain then transforms the input from sense organs and stored experience (knowledge) into a dream-like idea about oneself and the surrounding area.

Whether or not these experiences are hallucinatory, they do have a profound impact on the observer. Many psychologists not necessarily pursuing the paranormal, such as Susan Blackmore, have recognized this. These scientists are not trying to debunk the experience, but are instead searching for biological causes of NDEs.

According to Engmann, near-death experiences of people who are clinically dead are psychopathological symptoms caused by a severe malfunction of the brain resulting from the cessation of cerebral blood circulation. An important question is whether it is possible to "translate" the experiences of the reanimated survivors into psychopathologically basic phenomena, e.g. central narrowing of the visual field, autoscopia, visual hallucinations, activation of limbic and memory structures according to Moody's stages. The symptoms suppose a primary affliction of the occipital and temporal cortices under clinical death.

This basis could be congruent with the thesis of pathoclisis—the inclination of special parts of the brain to be the first to be damaged in case of disease, lack of oxygen, or malnutrition—established eighty years ago by C. and O. Vogt. According to that thesis, the basic phenomena should be similar in all patients with near-death experiences. But a crucial problem is to distinguish these basic psychopathological symptoms from the secondary mental associated experiences which may result from a reprocessing of the basic symptoms under the influence of the person's cultural and religious views.

An article by Netherlands researchers Pim van Lommel et al., argues, "With a purely physiological explanation such as cerebral anoxia for the experience, most patients who have been clinically dead should report one." Accordingly, a lack of predictable experiences should cast doubt on wholesale explanations of NDEs.

REM State
It is suggested that the extreme stress caused by a life threatening situation triggers brain states similar to REM sleep and that part of the near death experience is a state similar to dreaming while awake.

People who have experienced times when their brains behaved as if they were dreaming while awake are more likely to develop the near death experience.
Further stimulation of the Vagus nerve during the physical and/or psychological stress of a life threatening situation may trigger brain conditions where the person is in a dream-like state while awake.

Lucid Dreaming
Some sleep researchers, such as Timothy J. Green, Lynne Levitan and Stephen LaBerge, have noted that NDE experiences are similar to many of the experiences reported during lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming occurs when the individual becomes lucid and realizes they are in a dream. Often these states are so realistic as to be barely distinguishable from reality, even including the ability to feel very realistic textures.

In a study of fourteen lucid dreamers, performed in 1991, people who perform wake-initiated lucid dreams operation (WILD) reported experiences consistent with aspects of out-of-body experiences such as floating above their beds and the feeling of leaving their bodies. Due to the phenomenological overlap between lucid dreams, near death experiences and out-of-body experiences, researchers say they believe a protocol could be developed to induce a lucid dream similar to a near-death experience in the laboratory.
Other similarities include seeing oneself from the outside (an out of body experience), floating or flying, heightened awareness and feelings of joy or peace. Some researchers believe this is caused when the mind is deprived of the majority of its main five senses and relies on the expectational processing. In this regard one experiences what one would expect to happen in their current circumstance.

This could explain experiences caused by mental trauma such as a near miss accident, in which the mind may close itself off at least partially to the senses, and ones caused by physical trauma, in which again the mind closes itself off to the world. At present, there exists no clear physiological or psychological basis for any relationship between lucid dreaming and NDEs.

Computational Psychology
Modelling of NDEs using artificial neural networks has shown that some aspects of the core near death experience can be achieved through simulated neuron death.

In the course of such simulations, the essential features of the NDE - life review, novel scenarios (i.e., heaven or hell), and OBE - are observed through the generation of confabulations or false memories, as discussed in Confabulation (neural networks).
The key feature contributing to the generation of such confabulatory states are a neural network's inability to differentiate dead from silent neurons. Memories, whether related to direct experience or not, can be seeded upon arrays of such inactive brain cells.

To date, no extant computer has reported a near-death experience. Furthermore, the total operations performed by the human brain cannot be closely approximated by current computer systems.

Effects
Near-death experiences can have a major impact on the people who experience them, and they may produce a variety of after-effects.

NDE subjects have increased activity in the left temporal lobe. NDEs are also associated with changes in personality and outlook on life.

Kenneth Ring has identified a consistent set of value and belief changes associated with people who have had a near-death experience. Among these changes one finds a greater appreciation for life, higher self-esteem, greater compassion for others, a heightened sense of purpose and self-understanding, desire to learn, elevated spirituality, greater ecological sensitivity and planetary concern, and a feeling of being more intuitive.
Changes may also include increased physical sensitivity; diminished tolerance to light, alcohol, and drugs; a feeling that the brain has been "altered" to encompass more; and a feeling that one is now using the "whole brain" rather than just a small part.

However, not all after-effects are beneficial and Greyson describes circumstances where changes in attitudes and behaviour can lead to psychosocial and psychospiritual problems. Often the problems have to do with the adjustment to ordinary life in the wake of the NDE.

Afterlife Viewpoints 
Many view the NDE as the precursor to an afterlife experience, claiming that the NDE cannot be adequately explained by physiological or psychological causes, and that the phenomenon conclusively demonstrates that human consciousness can function independently of brain activity. Many NDE-accounts seem to include elements which, according to several theorists, can only be explained by an out-of-body consciousness.

For example, Michael Sabom states that one of his contacts accurately described a surgical instrument she had not seen previously, as well as a conversation that occurred while she was under general anaesthesia.

In another account, from a prospective Dutch NDE study, a nurse removed the dentures of an unconscious heart attack victim, and was identified after his recovery as the one who removed them. This surprised her, as he had been in a deep coma and undergoing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation at the time.

Dr. Michael Sabom reports a case about a woman who underwent surgery for an aneurysm. The woman reported an out-of-body experience that she claimed continued through a brief period of the absence of any EEG activity. If true, this would seem to challenge the belief held by many that consciousness is situated entirely within the brain.

Many individuals who experience an NDE see it as a verification of the existence of an afterlife. This includes those with agnostic/atheist inclinations before the experience. There are examples of ex-atheists, such as the Reverend Howard Storm, adopting a more spiritual viewpoint after their NDEs. Storm's NDE may also be characterized as a distressing near-death experience.

Likewise, individuals who do not experience an NDE after going into cardiac arrest frequently lose any pre-existing belief in an afterlife. Both processes, like most of the psychological transformations associated with a close brush with death, take place gradually over several years.

It should be noted that a lack of predictable NDEs casts doubt on explanations that rely on a single mechanism. Greyson claims that: "No one physiological or psychological model by itself explains all the common features of NDE. The paradoxical occurrence of heightened, lucid awareness and logical thought processes during a period of impaired cerebral perfusion raises particular perplexing questions for our current understanding of consciousness and its relation to brain function. A clear sensorium and complex perceptual processes during a period of apparent clinical death challenge the concept that consciousness is localized exclusively in the brain."

Another account by a student nurse named Jeanette Atkinson from Eastbourne, who experienced a near-death experience, says that, "There is no doubt in my mind that there’s life after death because I’ve seen the other side. I don’t believe in a benevolent God. I’ve seen too much suffering for that but I’m very spiritual."
A recent study by Dr. Sam Parnia (despite his acknowledgement that he was initially a sceptic) shows that such patients are "effectively dead", with their brains shut down and no thoughts or feelings possible for the complex brain activity required for dreaming or hallucinating.  Additionally, to rule out the possibility that near-death experiences resulted from hallucinations after the brain had collapsed through lack of oxygen, Parnia rigorously monitored the concentrations of the vital gas in the patients’ blood, and found that none of those who underwent the experiences had low levels of oxygen. He was also able to rule out claims that unusual combinations of drugs were to blame because the resuscitation procedure was the same in every case, regardless of whether they had a near-death experience or not.

According to Parnia, "Arch-sceptics will always attack our work. I’m content with that. That’s how science progresses. What is clear is that something profound is happening. The mind – the thing that is ‘you’ – your ‘soul’ if you will - carries on after conventional science says it should have drifted into nothingness."

A few people feel that research on NDEs occurring in the blind can be interpreted to support an argument that consciousness survives bodily death. Dr. Kenneth Ring claims in the book Mindsight: Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind that up to 80% of his sample studied reported some visual awareness during their NDE or out of body experience. Sceptics, however, question the accuracy of their visual awareness, and indeed of all sensory awareness of people undergoing NDEs.

There are many religious and physiological views of near-death experiences. The NDE is often cited as evidence for the existence of the human soul, the afterlife, and heaven and hell, ideas that appear in many religious traditions. On the other hand, sceptical commentators view NDEs as purely neurological and chemical phenomena occurring in the brain. From this perspective NDEs are the result of purely physiological and neurobiological mechanisms. The imagery in the experiences also varies within cultures.

There has been recent research into afterlife conceptions across cultures by religious studies scholar Dr. Gregory Shushan. The study analyzes the afterlife beliefs of five ancient civilizations (Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt, Sumerian and Old Babylonian Mesopotamia, Vedic India, pre-Buddhist China, and pre-Columbian Mesoamerica) in light of historical and contemporary reports of near-death experiences, and shamanic afterlife "journeys".

It was found that despite numerous culture-specific differences, the nine most frequently recurring NDE elements also recur on a general structural level cross-culturally. This suggests that the authors of these ancient religious texts were familiar with NDE or something similar (e.g. shamanic-type experiences). Cross-cultural similarity, however, can be used to support both religious and physiological theories, for both rely on demonstrating that the phenomenon is universal. Others dispute that there are cultural similarities. The following accounts appear to demonstrate that the cultural background of the victims determine the nature of the NDE.

Personal experiences
  • Return from Tomorrow by George G. Ritchie, MD with Elizabeth Sherrill (1978). George G. Ritchie, MD held positions as President of the Richmond Academy of General Practice; Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of Towers Hospital; and Founder and President of the Universal Youth Corps, Inc. He lived in Virginia. At the age of twenty, George Ritchie died in an army hospital. Nine minutes later he returned to life. Ritchie's story was the first contact Dr. Raymond Moody, PhD (who was studying at the University of Virginia, as an undergraduate in Philosophy, at the time) had with NDEs. It inspired Moody to investigate over 150 cases of near-death experiences, in his book Life After Life, and two other books that followed.
  • Embraced by the Light by Betty Eadie (1992). One of the most detailed near-death experiences on record.
  • Saved by the Light by Dannion Brinkley. Brinkley's experience documents one of the most complete near death experiences, in terms of core experience and additional phenomena from the NDE scale. Brinkley claims to have been clinically dead for 28 minutes and taken to a hospital morgue, but that claim and other claims by him are disputed.
  • Placebo by Howard Pittman (1980). A detailed record of Mr. Pittman's near-death experience.
  • The Darkness of God by John Wren-Lewis (1985), Bulletin of the Australian Institute for Psychical Research No 5. An account of the far-reaching effects of his NDE after going through the death process several times in one night.
  • Bahá'í Reinee Pasarow has presented her experiences and an extended talk which was filmed Part 1, Part2, with a partial transcript, and analyzed from a religious point of view in a commentary and analyzed as part of the paper The Exploration of Life After Death. Pasarow was interviewed by Dr. Kenneth Ring.

  • Anita Moorjani, an ethnic Indian woman from Hong Kong, experienced a truly remarkable NDE which has been documented on the Near Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF) website as one of the most exceptional accounts on their archives. She had end-stage cancer and on February 2, 2006, doctors told her family that she only had a few hours to live. Following her NDE, Anita experienced a remarkable total recovery of her health.
  • Goldie Hawn, while giving a speech at the Buell Theatre in Denver, Colorado, reflected upon her near-death experience. When she was younger, and starting out as an actress, she and a group of friends were in a severe car crash together. While she was unconscious, she remembers looking over herself while the paramedics were trying to revive her. She also mentioned seeing a bright light and being told it was not her time soon before she awoke.
  • Kiki Carter, a.k.a. Kimberli Wilson, an environmental activist and singer/songwriter, reported a near-death experience in 1983. The day after the experience, her mother, Priscilla Greenwood, encouraged her to write it down. Priscilla Greenwood published the story in September 1983 in a local metaphysical journal. For 24 hours after the experience, Kimberli had an aftervision which was a catalyst for her interest in quantum physics and holograms.
  • 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper, is Piper's account of his own near-death experience. EMTs on the scene determined Piper had been killed instantly after a tractor-trailer had swerved into his lane, crushing his car. Piper survived, however, and later claimed that he saw loved ones and friends as well as a magnificent light; he reportedly felt a sense of pure peace. Piper had a very difficult and painful recovery.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_death_experience
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