Mind Over Matter III: Near Death Experiences & Apparitions
(This is an expert from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
The term Near Death Experience (NDE) was coined by American physician Raymond Moody in the 1970’s. Moody, according to Harper’s Encyclopedia Of Mystical & Paranormal Experience (1991), used the term “to describe the mystical-like phenomena experienced by individuals who appear to die and then return to life, or who come close to death.” Moody’s book, Life After Life (1975), prompted many people to come forward and recount their own NDE’s. Various types of NDE’s are listed in Harper’s Encyclopedia Of Mystical & Paranormal Experience (1991), including “a sense of being dead, or an out of body experience in which they feel themselves to be floating above their bodies, looking down; cessation of pain and a feeling of bliss or peacefulness; traveling down a dark tunnel toward a light at the end; meeting nonphysical beings who glow, many of whom are dead friends and relatives; coming in contact with a guide or Supreme Being who takes them on a life review, during which their entire lives are put into perspective without rendering any negative judgment about past acts; and finally, a reluctant return to life.”
Hundreds of books have been published on this subject, including statistical volumes of deathbed phenomena based on the testimony of doctors and nurses. Such works can be located in Terry K. Bradford’s book entitled Near Death Experiences: An Annotated Bibliography (1990). In entry 605 of this book, describing a work called Deathbed Observations By Physicians And Nurses (1961) by Karlis Osis, we read, “In response to a questionnaire mailed to 10,000 physicians and nurses, 285 physicians and 355 nurses” reported witnessing some 35,000 patient deaths. In connection with these demises, the respondents reported 753 cases of “exaltations,” 884 cases of “visions of heaven, hell, or ineffable beauty,” and 1370 cases of “apparitions” seen by the dying patient. Of those who saw apparitions, 52% saw “the dead,” 28% saw persons who were still living but physically absent, and 19% saw “religious figures.” Doctors and nurses reported, “In a majority of cases patients saw the mission of apparitions as one of ‘taking’ them.” We might wish to note also that “Conditions detrimental to ESP appeared also detrimental to deathbed phenomena.” The sheer volume of the data in this one book alone overwhelms the imagination. Bradford’s bibliography lists hundreds more books on the subject of NDE’s. Yet Harper’s Encyclopedia Of Mystical & Paranormal Experience (1991) informs us that “the experience has not been scientifically proved.” In light of the wealth of data available concerning NDE’s, such lack of proof probably means that scientists are simply ignoring the phenomenon.
Since science refuses to touch NDE’s, psychologists have instead taken charge of the subject in order to dismiss the phenomena as a universal hallucination, as if such an idea was not an obvious contradiction in terms. If everyone hallucinates the same thing, how are we to tell illusion from reality? Books like Dying To Live (1993) by Susan Blackmore, senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of the West of England, seem bent on pursuing the hallucination hypothesis no matter how much contradictory evidence must be refuted. However, Blackmore unwittingly lends credence to the reality of NDE’s by revealing the fact that records of this phenomenon can be garnered from such far-flung sources as ancient Greece, Native American tales, and Lithuanian folklore. Blackmore also informs us that many other cultures have traditionally prepared people for life after death through the use of guidebooks such as the Egyptian Book Of The Dead and the Bardo Thodol (more commonly known as the Tibetan Book Of The Dead). Blackmore writes that these books of “special training techniques” are designed to “teach people what to expect of death, and the skills needed to prepare for it so that confusion will not overtake them when the time comes.” If life after death is just a hallucination, why bother preparing for it? Would ancient sages have gone to all the trouble of writing guidebooks for the dead if they didn’t have good reason to believe that people’s minds continued to exist after their bodies ceased to breathe? It seems logical that elaborate books preparing people for the afterworld would not have been written unless someone knew that death was not the end. The most reasonable way to obtain such knowledge would be communication with the dead. Fortunately, the dead have shown great willingness to communicate with us, even if some of us don’t believe in them.
Tales of ghosts can be found in every corner of the world and in every period of history. As Dr. Johnston, the “spokesman for English common sense and sanity” is quoted as saying in Exploring The Psychic World (1967), “There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not recounted and believed.” This same book defines a “ghost” as: “a person’s spirit which appears after death; a spirit like entity; the soul of man; anything shadowy or without substance; the third person of the Trinity.” Ghostly apparitions come in many different guises, but can be roughly classed into three types of phenomena: hauntings, which have little or no volition; spirits, sometimes identifiable as formerly living persons; and “holy ghosts,” or Angels.
The most common type of ghost is the “haunting,” which may be associated with a certain spooky locale such as an abandoned house or lonely woodland. According to Harper’s Encyclopedia Of Mystical And Paranormal Experience (1991), the inexplicable phenomena associated with hauntings “include apparitions, noises, smells, tactile sensations, extremes in temperature, movement of objects, and the like.” Psychics are able to sense hauntings more often than those without paranormal sensibilities, suggesting that the phenomena could be classed as cases of retrocognition on the part of observers. Harper’s Encyclopedia Of Mystical And Paranormal Experience (1991) informs us that “Retrocognition is a phenomenon of some hauntings and apparitions that seem to be continual replays of events, such as murders or suicides. Psychologist Gardner Murphy theorized that most ghosts are cases of retrocognition, in which an individual becomes momentarily displaced in time and can perceive scenes from the past.” Retrocognitive hauntings might be likened to the psychic impressions that can be recovered from objects through psychometry. Intense events such as violent death would leave a very deep impression on the psychic substance of the place where the event occurred, causing sensitive people to recognize the place as “haunted” or perhaps involuntarily witness a ghostly replay of the event. Such psychic impressions might even be considered disturbances in the magnetic fields mentioned earlier in connection with spontaneous combustion. This would help to explain why hauntings often occur along ley lines, as will be shown later.
The spirit is a less common type of ghost that includes those with some sensible purpose, like a warning of immanent death or danger. The Banshee of Ireland, known in Southern Mexico as La Llorona, belongs in this class. According to Exploring The Psychic World (1967), the Banshee appears most often as “the figure of a woman in white, wailing outside the house before the passing of a member of the family.” The spirits of deceased relatives have also been known to issue warnings: a story tells that the spirit of Napoleon’s wife Josephine visited him during his exile on the island of St. Helena to warn him of his impending death. The ghost of Hamlet’s father, who appeared in order to see murderers brought to justice, could serve as the archetypical example of an intelligent, purposeful spirit.
A third type of ghost has long been associated with religious revelations. These “holy ghosts” appear in the religious scriptures of India, China, Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. Barbaric tribal mythologies also tell of apparitions sent by the gods. Fred Archer asserts in Exploring The Psychic World (1967) that “The word religion itself means to be in touch with another order of existence, and the great faiths have each a foundation of psychic phenomena at their roots.” Modern spirit visitations, such as those at Fatima in 1917, have been witnessed by thousands of people and may yet give rise to a new religion that will sweep away present belief systems as the Age of Aquarius continues to unfold.
Is a near death experience is some kind of paranormal activity or phenomenon unexplained? Parapsychologists can help people come to terms with unexplained near death experiences. Many scientists consider new age parapsychology to be on the far edges of science because parapsychology supports the idea that our perceptions are limiting and that there is much more to life than currently perceived. Through near death experiences many people have a renewed life experience, and many people experience god when they are out of their body. New age mysteries, like NDE and out of body experiences, lead many people to explore spiritual visitation and the paranormal.