Near Death Experience and Survival Theory

NDEs and Some Parapsychological/Psychic Phenomena Are Intertwined

Sep 12, 2008

Research and documentation tend to prove death isn't the end of life, but a transition into another one. This can't currently be proved by the scientific method.

More people are being revived from clinical death. Some report NDEs which have similarities including seeing a brilliant white light, going through a tunnel and meeting deceased loved ones. Humans' spiritual and psychic nature is a complex issue for scientists researching cerebral activity. History has given sufficient testimony as to people’s ability to tune into another reality science can’t explain.

Deathbed Visions

Karlis Osis, Ph.D., was one of the first psychologists who earned a doctorate degree with a thesis dealing with psychic phenomena. He conducted major cross-cultural surveys regarding medical professionals’ observations of parapsychological deathbed experiences. Patients, near death, have been reported as seeing visions of deceased loved ones. They focused their attention where they perceived apparitions. In rare cases, others in the room saw the apparition, felt unexplainable coldness, heard a rushing sound and/or or saw a mysterious light.

Out of Body Experiences, OBEs

These can happen when one is awake, asleep or unconscious. They involve a sensation of floating outside of the body and can be spontaneous or intentional. Carl G. Jung observed activities in his hospital room when he was in coma. Others people have seen incidents that were impossible to observe from where their physical body was. Alex Tanous took part in experiments in which he, while in New England, would project himself into the American Society for Psychical Research’s New York City Headquarters, then report to the other researchers what he observed. Astral projection is the older term for this type of OBE. People experiencing NDEs often report having OBEs.

Some scientists tried to explain OBEs by attributing them to bio- and neuro-chemical factors. Psychiatrist Bruce Greyson wrote, after examining them, they didn’t offer satisfactory solutions for this phenomenon.

Apparitions

This is the part of humans that survives after the death of the physical body. They can be seen, heard, smelled, felt by touch, tasted, sensed and have intelligence. Apparitions: Intelligent Ghosts has detailed information.

Communications with the Dead

Historically, people have had communication with entities via telepathic means, automatic writing and in dreams. Mediums and psychically gifted channelers have been employed to contact those who have crossed. Many times, messages have revealed facts no one alive could have known.

Physical Phenomena

Nobel Prize winner Professor William Crookes shook hands with a materialized spirit, Katie King, and photographed her in his laboratory. Society for Psychical Research correspondent Dr. G. Zorab, after studying reports of other witnesses, concluded the experiments couldn’t be debunked by implying that Crookes was fooled by chicanery.

Electronic Voice Phenomena, EVP, is another example. Voices of entities have been recorded.

Reincarnation

Numerous documented cases of young children remembering previous lives exist. Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson collected the most intriguing cases of these. Research has shown babies are born with allergies, dispositions, personalities and temperament that are difficult to explain by DNA. Past life regression has revealed some people, under hypnosis, remembered historical details that were lost, but later proved to be accurate after intensive research was done.

After Words

None of the phenomena described, in itself, is adequate proof of life after death. Together, they form a strong argument for survival theory. Traditional science has tended to dismiss that which cannot be measured, weighed or duplicated by the experimental method in laboratories. Could it be that, one day, science will be able to somehow prove that life after death does exist?

New Psychic Frontiers, Walter and Mary Jo Uphoff, (Colin Smythe Limited and New Frontiers, 1980)

Psychic Exploration, Edgar D., Mitchell & John White, ed., (Paragon Books, 1974)

The copyright of the article Near Death Experience and Survival Theory in Paranormal is owned by Jill Stefko . Permission to republish Near Death Experience and Survival Theory in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.