Frequently Asked Questions about the
Near-Death Experience
1) What is a Near-Death Experience (NDE)?
The Near-Death Experience is a type of forced out-of-body experience (OBE) caused by organic traumas, and/or physical, chemical or psychological agents. It commonly occurs in cases of terminal illnesses, or situations which involve moments of great risk to the physical body, such as accidents, electrocutions, surgery, suffocations, drownings, etc. This phenomenon is very common, and researchers around the world are spending much effort, money and time to try and explain its occurrence more fully.
2) What kinds of reports are given by those who have experienced an NDE?
Usually people relate a number of common experiences such as: a feeling of inner peace; floating above their physical body; perception of the presence of people around them; 360º vision; amplification of various senses; traveling through a tunnel intensely lit at its far end (tunnel effect). In this atemporal region, the person experiencing the NDE (NDEer) perceives the presence of what most people describe as a "being of light", although this description varies depending on cultural archetypes and personal philosophies.
The boundary between the two dimensions is also that of life or death. Sometimes the NDEers have to decide if they want to come back to physical life or not, often reporting a field, door, fence or lake as a type of barrier that if they were to cross, they would not return to their physical body. These are some of the characteristics of near-death experiences.
3) What psychological and behavioral changes occur in those who have an NDE?
Most of those who have a near-death experience exhibit positive behavioral changes. The great majority of them change their lives for the better in that they lose the fear of death (thanatophobia); value their life and the lives of others more; re-evaluate their current values, ethics and priorities; become more serene and confident; increase psychic perceptions; and take advantage of a greater understanding of the purpose of life in order to evolve faster.
4) How does the medical field explain the NDE?
The NDE is a traumatic experience, which should be well examined by all areas of medicine without any mystical or obscuring preconceptions. Ever since researchers worldwide began discussing and analyzing this phenomenon more openly, the medical field has been forced to consider death and the survival of the consciousness in a new light. Yet, there are physicians who still deny scientific explanations and attribute the phenomenon to God or some supernatural source, resort to superficial explanations like genetic memory, lack of oxygen in the brain (cerebral hypoxia), or associate the experience with biological birth.
5) How does Projectiology view this phenomenon?
Because the Near-Death Experience is a type of OBE which is induced by external factors, it falls under the scope encompassed by Projectiology and as such is one of the phenomena studied.
The same positive life changes that occur with people who undergo a NDE can be derived by those who have a totally lucid and recalled OBE, be it spontaneous or provoked by will.
This is one of the reasons why courses at the International Academy of Consciousness focus on providing information and techniques to enable people to have OBEs at will. According to Projectiology and conscientiology, there is only one type of healing, namely self-healing, which is achieved through heightened lucidity. These sciences encourage individuals to have their own multidimensional experiences as a means of gaining greater self-awareness.
6) Is there any literature available on the NDE?
Raymond Moody Jr., Ian Stevenson, Kenneth Ring, van Lommel, and Peter Fenwick are some of the authors who have published works on this subject and are considered to be part of essential reading in projectiology studies.
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is an expert on the phenomenon and founded an institution bearing her name which assists terminally ill patients and their families. In addition, the International Association for Near-Death Studies publishes the "Journal of Near-Death Studies", which is devoted to the subject.
Copyright © 1997-2006 International Academy of Consciousness
All rights reserved
