Life after / beyond death?

[steven lloyd]

Never having had a Near-Death Experience, I post this article for discussion only and take no position regarding the likelihood of such a phenomena:


Have You Had a Near-Death Experience?
James Van Praagh, bestselling author, describes what it means to have a near-death experience.

Everyone loves a good ghost story. No one knows this better than bestselling author and television producer James Van Praagh. Perhaps the fascination with the supernatural stems from the fact that most of us have experienced something we couldn't quite explain. In his latest book, Ghosts Among Us, an all-encompassing guide to the supernatural, Van Praagh shares his knowledge and life experience about ghosts. In this excerpt, he outlines what's common to the many people who have had a near-death experience.

Near-Death Experience

Those who have touched death and come back to tell about it seem to share a multitude of similarities. Although these people come from all walks of life, have different religious beliefs, and vary in age from children to seniors, they tell a variation of the same story.

• A sensation of floating above one's body and seeing the surrounding area
• Pleasant feelings of calmness and overwhelming peace
• Moving through a tunnel or narrow passageway of light
• Being greeted by deceased relatives
• Encounters with an angel, a being of light, or a religion figure
• Experiencing a life review
• Reaching a border or boundary that one cannot cross
• Finally, a feeling of rapidly moving back into one's body, often with great reluctance

Although every person's situation is different, all of them agree that their lives have been profoundly changed by their near-death experience. Most come to understand their life's purpose, and many share insights about the lessons they have had to learn. In fact, they are downright adamant that if it had not been for the near-death experience, they would be living a very different life.

A woman at one of my workshops told me that she was always afraid to try something new. When she had a heart attack at the age of sixty and went through the tunnel toward the light, she was met by her nephew, who had committed suicide because of his schizophrenia.
"He looked so calm and happy. It had been a long time since I had seen him at peace."
Her nephew told her that she should try to live her life more spontaneously, and then he disappeared.

"That experience changed me. If my nephew, who had suffered so much in his life, came to tell me to live life more fully, I decided that I would do just that. It was my way of showing him that he was my inspiration. Since that time, I have traveled more and have had friends stay over at my home whenever they are in town, both things I was afraid of doing. My life is more enjoyable because I have seen death and I've decided to live."

[Jo]

This BBC article might be of interest:

Experts have found a way to trigger an out-of-body experience in volunteers.

The experiments, described in the Science journal, offer a scientific explanation for a phenomenon experienced by one in 10 people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6960612.stm

[specializEd]

I think I will wait and find out. But thanks anyways.

[sobrohusfat]

Not all instances of near death or 'dead for a short time then recessutated' resulted in a pleasant, peacefull experience. Some of them sounded horribly frightening...resulting in the individual making significant positive changes in their lives, their priorities and how they related to their fellow man.

Fear is not a popular motivation for many of us who see humility as a sign of weakness. Still powerfully effective tho, when it's no longer just an intelectual exercise.

I'll try to find the actual refferences - not just my own brainfart

[Big ned]

the belief in my religion tells us that at the time of death, we are sent to one of two places. Both are a temporary waiting place. The first is paradise... for those who have lived a generally good life and then there is a type of spirit prison (what main stream Christianity calls "hell"). we believe those who have chosen good on earth will be reunited with relatives and loved ones while those who chose evil will suffer a mental kind of hell during a probation period while they await the resurrection and judgement. Interesting that Joseph Smith received revelation on this over 200 years ago and it matches both types of experiences referred to in people's stories.

Even those in spirit prison will have an opportunity to accept Christ and changes their ways, although it is much more difficult after we die.

The LDS church has the most details that I've found about what happens to us after we die.

[steven lloyd]

Researchers will study if out-of-body experiences are real
29/09/2008 8:33:08 PM


A group of British, U.S. and Canadian researchers will study whether out-of-body experiences are real, as some people have claimed after surviving cardiac arrest.
CBC News

In a study run by the University of Southampton's Human Consciousness Project, researchers will examine 1,500 survivors of heart attacks over three years at 25 hospitals in Europe, the U.S. and Canada to determine if the phenomenon of seeing a light at the end of the tunnel or floating above as reported by some is genuine.

To test patients, doctors will place random photographs on shelves higher than the beds in emergency and intensive care rooms, which will only be visible if the heart-attack victims are looking down, the researchers say.

The photos will be confidential and changed routinely, they say.

"Without prompting they might say, 'I saw an image,'" said Ken Spearpoint, a resuscitation nurse at Hammersmith Hospital in West London, U.K. "If they do that, we have clear evidence that they had some sort of consciousness during a procedure that by the traditional sense - by all acceptable understanding - is clinically death."

Heather Sloan, a former nurse from Southampton, believes the phenomenon is real after she suffered internal bleeding and experienced it herself.

"I looked at the bed and on the bed was me and I realized it was a bit of an 'oh boy!'" said Sloan, who added that she watched the medical staff working on her from above.

"It happened as far as I am concerned, and anyone who has had the same experience will say the same," she said.

[Mr Danksworth]

^
Nice! I was going to post that article. I heard it in CBC a couple of days ago. I'm going to hazard a guess and say they will find nothing....just an opinion until the data set is complete.

[Piecemaker]

Whether there is life after death, I obviously do not know, however there are reports of out of body experiences by those suffering trauma. For example some will report that while they were being sexually assaulted they left their body and was above looking down. Both sexually abused as children and those assaulted as adults have reported this. Not to take away from those who have experienced it while in hospital, but perhaps it was their mind's way of handling the physical trauma they were experiencing.
This doesn't seem to be something that happens to everyone, so that is why I wonder if it is related to individual coping mechanisms when experiencing trauma.

[caffeine]

The above is dissasocciation (sp?), and it is a coping mechanism that is seen with trauma, and with some disorders such as personaliy disorders when the person is mentally stressed.

As for life after death, I think while described in a similiar way, the out of body experiences are different than dissociative states such as above.For some interesting reading on the topic, look up Betty Eadie, she has written a few books on the subject.

[hooches]

Some people believe there is no death! After we pass in the body we are granted our ascention if we met our responsibilities to life. If we have more to discover we choose to be once again re-=embodied or stay in the plains of bliss & be taught by angels & ascended beings. Once we accept more love in our being our higher mental body grants us the gift of ascention. Just a thought.

[whysoserious]

Death is the end.

[Agondonder]

The Urantia Book says there is LIFE AFTER DEATH. "THERE IS IN THE MIND OF GOD a plan which embraces every creature of all his vast domains, and this plan is an eternal purpose of boundless opportunity, unlimited progress, and ENDLESS LIFE. And the infinite treasures of such a matchless
career are yours for the striving!" Page 365.3 www.urantiabook.org or www.urantia.org
"Human life continues-survives -because it has a universe function, the task of finding GOD.....
page 1459.7 of the Urantia book. (request it from your library).

[I Think]

The LDS church has the most details that I've found about what happens to us after we die.

Does the lds church have any factual evidence to back up its fantasies?

[Captain Awesome]

The LDS church has the most details that I've found about what happens to us after we die.

Does the lds church have any factual evidence to back up its fantasies?

Church? Evidence?

[RR24K]

The LDS church has the most details that I've found about what happens to us after we die.

Does the lds church have any factual evidence to back up its fantasies?

Church? Evidence?

This should be good, just waiting Big ned. How would one collect these details and what kind of details.