Clinical death, NDE or OBE?

Since the 1960s, research has been carried out on the experiences of people who have been declared clinically dead – most often on the operating table – and have then come back to life. Nearly all of these people reported similar experiences, which form the basis of the experience of modern NDEs. Researchers have generally agreed that NDEs have universal core features, many of which have been documented and categorised by physician and psychology professor Dr Raymond Moody. He has recorded at least 15 core features or elements of an NDE in his research, features that he encountered again and again. Further researchers have added to these or expanded them. 

They include:

·      feeling very comfortable and free of pain

·      a sensation of leaving the body, and sometimes being able to see the physical body or other things while floating above it

·      hearing oneself being pronounced dead

·      unusual noises

·      the mind functioning more clearly and more rapidly than usual

·      a sensation of being drawn into a tunnel of darkness

·      a brilliant light, sometimes at the end of the tunnel

·      a sense of overwhelming peace, well-being, or absolute, unconditional love

·      a sense of having access to unlimited, even sacred, knowledge; this is sometimes viewed as cosmic, eternal, divine, the Akashic Records or the ‘sum of all knowledge’

·      a ‘life review’, some accounting for the life lived, or a ‘book of life’

·      a future vision of events yet to come

·      encounters with deceased loved ones, or with other beings that may be identified as religious figures, who may be luminous or divine

·      a return to the body. Stories differ as to how people come back; some are told to return, other are called back, some are given a choice, while some have no idea how they got back at all

·      a sense of a barrier, beyond which the person cannot go – a river, a chasm, a door, or a gate. 

Moody later included the stipulation of a spiritual component, saying in the book The Light Beyond[AV1] [SB2]  that that ‘[n]ear-death experiences (NDEs) are profound spiritual events that happen uninvited, to some individuals at the point of death’.

The Lancet journal has published a Netherlands study by Dr Pim van Lommel and his colleagues that somewhat reduced and refined the list to the top ten elements of NDEs recorded in cardiac patients:

·      Awareness of being dead

·      Positive emotions

·      Out-of-body experience

·      Moving through a tunnel

·      Communication with light

·      Observation of colours

·      Observation of a celestial landscape

·      Meeting with deceased persons

·      Life review

·      Presence of a border.

Is there always a tunnel or border? No. Western accounts tend to describe it as tunnel but other cultures may describe it as falling into a well, going into a cave or falling into an abyss. The border can be a river, a door, a chasm, or even the view of heaven or hell, but they can’t get inside. 

Do they all see relatives? No. Many do not see any beings at all, so this is not a rule. But many do. 

Are they always blissful? No. NDEs can also be a horrendous, scary or negative experience. In fact, many are full of terror, anguish, loneliness and despair – you are going to read some of those stories in the chapters to follow. These are referred to as distressing NDEs, and also follow a distinct and common pattern. 

Are they dreamlike? No. Research also notes that in all cases NDEs do not seem to be dreams or have a dreamlike quality. In fact, they are the opposite – hyperreal and vivid. 

Does your religion play a role? This is a big and important point. It is widely recorded that NDEs are not linked to any religion or belief at all. It also makes no difference if the person has any prior knowledge of NDEs. People who have never heard of them record similar experiences. Likewise, research is clear that what makes no difference to any recorded cases is your personality, presence of brain trauma, or belief in any religion, spirits, or ghosts. The larger body of research in both Western and Asian studies shows that atheists have experienced NDEs – they require no faith. 

NDEs are also different from out-of-body experiences (OBEs), as you will read in the next few chapters. An OBE is when you find yourself somehow outside of your body, and may be even able to see it. This can happen in times of crisis, panic, or stress, or during an accident or an extreme condition. Often, a person who has been involved in an accident, for example, reports watching their body on the road, witnessing the attempts to resuscitate them. Or, after an operation, they can tell the surgeon exactly what the surgeon said and did, despite the fact that they were unconscious. Later, you will read about some OBEs caused by extreme trauma, and also those induced by drugs – including on plant medicine journeys.

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