“The only certainty is that nothing is certain.”
– Pliny the Elder
WHY QUOTE PLINY? BECAUSE he wrote about his own near-death experience (NDE) back in the first century. According to Plato, Socrates had one of these, too. So, they’ve been around for a while. But it wasn’t till 1975 that Dr. Raymond Moody coined the phrase and recorded and analyzed dozens of cases. And it wasn’t till the 1980s – only 40 years ago – that Dr. Bruce Greyson, who now has interviewed more than a thousand people with these experiences, concocted sixteen features that typify an NDE.
You qualify as having an NDE if you hit seven of the sixteen attributes on the Greyson Scale. I think that this is a reasonable place to set the bar. Of the thousands of recorded NDEs around the world, no two are identical but most have several similar features.
Here are a few of those attributes on the Greyson Scale that survivors of a near-death experience often report:
· They feel at peace, comfortable, joyful, free of pain. Their episodes involve feelings of wonder, mental clarity and bliss. The word “love” is frequently used.
· They hear someone saying that they’re dead.
· There’s a loud noise, a buzzing, ringing, whirling or whooshing sound.
· They feel like they’re leaving their own bodies, often being able to “see” their bodies while floating above the hospital emergency or operating room or car crash.
· They move down a tunnel, often dark blue in hue.
· At the end of the tunnel is a bright, clear light, often described as a “being of light.”
· At the end of the tunnel, they meet another person, usually a deceased relative, although sometimes a pet. Moody interviewed a man with this story:
“Several weeks before I nearly died, a good friend of mine, Bob, had been killed. Now the moment I got out of my body, I had the feeling that Bob was standing there, right next to me. But … I didn’t see him as a physical body. It was kind of like a clear body, and I could sense every part of it – arms, legs and so on – but I wasn’t seeing it physically. I didn’t think about it being odd at the time because I didn’t really need to see him with my eyes. I didn’t have eyes, anyway.”
· Their past flashes before them – a review of memories.
· Half are given the option of moving forward; half are told by their “guide” that they must return to their lives or, bingo, just like that they suddenly return.
· The experience feels real. Most describe it as “realer than real.” Greysen refers to a survey of more than 600 experiencers conducted by Dr. Jeffrey Long, a radiation oncologist; he found that 96 percent rated their NDEs as “definitely real.”
Near-death experiences usually last for only a few seconds and, while their memories are vivid, the experiencers have trouble describing them. A policeman who almost died during surgery asked Greyson, “How do you describe a state of timelessness, where there’s nothing progressing from one point to another, where it’s just all there, and you’re totally immersed in it?” A subject told Greyson that recalling his near-death experience was like trying “to draw an odor with crayons.” Many people recount sounds they’re never experienced before. For most folks, it was “outside” of time. It was dreamy.
About 10 percent of NDEs are like bad dreams: frightening, distressing, painful, isolating, horrible. Unfortunately, these can be as intensely vivid as the typically joyful, comforting NDEs. However, over time, these nightmares can change and the experience become more positive, less intimidating.
People place their NDEs in contexts that they can understand. Religious people often encounter a divine being at the other end of the tunnel, like being welcomed by Jesus. And some cultures, some peoples, are not familiar with tunnels because, well, in their country, there aren’t many tunnels. Moody has heard it described as a “cave, well, trough, enclosure, tunnel, funnel, vacuum, void, sewer, valley and cylinder.” A trucker referred to it as a “huge tailpipe.”
Next Week: Similarities in attitudes and lifestyles after near-death experiences