10 Real Life Near-Death Experiences in the Press & Media: Global Evidence of the Near-Death (6 page)

‘In sorrow we must go, but not in despair.  Behold!  We are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory.’
- J.R.R. Tolkien

There is much controversy over the subject of near-death experiences and there are in fact many, many theories as to why a NDE might occur, ranging from the physiological of the dying brain hypothesis - a large number of neuro-chemicals being released by the brain as a reaction to a stressful life-threatening event and thus resulting in splashes of light and feelings of calmness and peace - through to the phenomenon that life does indeed exist after death and that consciousness exists outside of the brain.

In fact, Susan Blackmore, author of
Dying to Live
amongst many other publications, has stated that some NDE symptoms could simply be the result of brain oxygen deprivation, although there are many who would disagree with this stance.  Dr Sam Parnia, a physician who researches near-death and out-of-body experiences, has responded that such reasoning cannot explain all incidents of NDEs.  This is because some near-death experiences have been reported to have happened
before
a severe physical injury - for example - there are cases of people being involved in car accidents who actually recall having their NDE just
before
the accident itself.  Therefore, at the time of the NDE, there was no oxygen deprivation.  Furthermore, it has been reported that some people who are terminally, but not critically, ill have also had a near-death experience and lack of oxygen was not a factor at the time.

According to Dr Ken Ring’s research study, there is no one type of person who is more likely to have an NDE over another.  This experience can be had by any social class, any age, whether male or female, however educated, married or unmarried, religious or atheist.  They are happening the world over.

Certainly, there are many millions, according to some surveys, of people over the years who have had near-death experiences.  One thing is for sure - anybody who has had a NDE tends to have a clear consciousness of the event, remembering all that they experienced for years and years to come.  Most experiencers can recall with consistency and great clarity and lucidity the detailed happenings that occurred during their life changing event and often say that it is unlike anything they have ever been through before, or since, and that their lives have been changed irrevocably.

One of the many factors I personally find very interesting is that so many NDEs appear to involve conversations with dead relatives – often they were unaware of their existence or perhaps they had never met them in the physical world - and that the experiencers then return with knowledge of these relatives that is later confirmed by those family members still living.

Elizabeth Fenwick, a professional scientist and co-writer of the book
The Truth in the Light
and who, prior to her research thought that the NDE could only ever have scientific explanation, to my mind sums up the near-death experience conundrum quite nicely:

‘While you may be able to find scientific reasons for bits of the near-death experience, I can’t find any explanation which covers the whole thing.  You have to account for it as a package and sceptics … simply don’t do that.  None of the purely physical explanations will do.  The sceptics vastly underestimate the extent to which near-death experiences are not just a set of random things happening, but a highly organized and detailed affair.’

So I guess the NDE question really does have to be – Do you believe in life after death? 

Me?  I rather think that I do.

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