|
I
N D E X
A B
C D
E F
G H
I J
K L
M N
O P
Q R
S T
U V
W X
Y Z
Return to GLOSSARY main page
NEAR
DEATH EXPERIENCE a phenomenon reported
by people who have been declared clinically dead by medical experts, or
passed close to death through accident or illness, but who are revived.
They report an altered state of consciousness where they feel they are
traveling through a tunnel towards a warm and bring light, or they are
floating above their body watching medical effects to revive them.
Intriguingly near death reports from different cultures around the world
are typically consistent and in many instance agree well with the essential
features of the post mortem state that is described in 'The Tibetan Book
of the Dead'. There is also a marked similarity to reported inner journeys
of shamanism and astral travel.
The term 'near death experience' [NDE] was coined by American doctor,
Raymond Moody in the 1970s to describe the above phenomenon. Prior to
the publication of Moody's book 'Life after Life' in 1975, NDE was not
openly talked about, but afterwards it became more acceptable, and in
1982 a Gallup poll suggested that as many as eight million Americans had
had some kind of NDE.
Moody and a number of other NDE researchers like Kenneth Ring, a psychologist
and founding member of the International Association of Near Death Studies
at the University of Connecticut, were able to identify a number of traits
in common to NDE, even thought the experience was always unique to each
individual. They concluded that in a NDE people typically experience one
or more of the following phenomena in this sequence: a sense of leaving
the material world behind [being dead], or an out of body experience in
which they fell they are floating above their bodies looking down; cessation
of pain and a felling of great calm and peace; traveling down a dark tunnel
towards a light a the end; meeting spirit being, many of whom are dead
friends and relatives; meeting a spirit guide who takes them through their
life story [see life review] and puts their life into perspective without
any negative judgment; and finally an abrupt, and sometimes reluctant,
return to life.
The great majority of NDEs are described as positive and uplifting; around
3 per cent are described as negative or frightening. Almost anyone can
have the experience and it is not limited to the religious, although many
people who have experienced an NDE do become more spiritual or develop
a belief system afterwards. Almost all say they lose their fear of death
and it is replaced by a strong belief in an afterlife. Many discover a
new meaning and purpose to their lives that they may have previously lacked.
In some cases the NDE leaves a person with a heightened intuition or psychic
powers.
On the negative side some people find adjusting back to life difficult
after an NDE. Feelings of anger, guilt, depression and disappointment
because they have to return to life are common. However, many people are
thrilled by the wonder of the unique experience and intensely grateful
and empowered by it, as well as humbled.
Research by Ring and his colleagues indicated that people with a difficult
or traumatic childhood could be more prone to NDE than others due to their
personality and psychological make up. Ring also suggested that an NDE
may be a form of enlightenment and can have a tremendously positive effect
on the world if enough people experience it or assimilate the lessons
that can be learned from it.
Even though millions of people claim to have had an NDE it is impossible
for researchers to scientifically Lance report reference here.
According to skeptics the NDE, is a dream or hallucination caused by lack
of oxygen, the release of the body natural painkillers [endorphins] or
increased levels of carbon dioxide in the blood stream as the brain dies.
NDEs were reportedly produced by Ronald Siegel, a researcher at the University
of California Los Angeles School of medicine, when LSD and other drugs
were administered to subjects. NDE supporters stress that drug-induced
hallucinations and NDEs are totally different things, such explanations
do not take into account the fact that many people brought back to life
can give accurate accounts of their resuscitations or procedures carried
out, or report conversations they overheard at the time they were allegedly
dead. This suggests that some part of consciousness can separate from
the body at death.
There is also the argument that people are simply making the whole experience
up. A Dr Sabom, a Georgia Cardiologist, interviewed 100 hospital patients
who had narrowly escaped death. Of these, 61 per cent reported experiencing
classical NDEs of the style closely resembling those described in 1975
by Moody. By the end of his investigation Dr Sabom administered that before
he started to investigate he felt sure that NDEs must be 'conscious fabrications,
either on the part of those reporting them or those writing about them.
However, once he began to investigate he was surprised by the genuineness
of the phenomenon.
Another respected cardiologist who - add section on Lancet report to confirm
reality of experience.
Typical
near-death experience
NDE researchers Raymond Moody found a striking similarity in accounts
of 150 people who claimed to have had an NDE - so much so that he
was able to identify 15 different elements that recur again and
again in these reports. He constructed a typical experience that
contains all of the NDE elements:
A man is dying and, as he reaches the point of greatest physical
distress, he hears himself pronounced dead by his doctor. He begins
to hear an uncomfortable noise, a loud whining or buzzing, and
at the same time feels himself moving very rapidly through a long
dark tunnel. After this he finds himself outside of his own physical
body, but still in the immediate physical environment, and he
sees his own body from a distance, as though he is a spectator,
he watches the resuscitation attempt from this unusual vantage
pint and is in a state of emotional upheaval.
After a while he collects himself and becomes more accustomed
to his odd condition. He notices that he still has a 'body', but
one of a very different nature and with very different powers
from the physical body he has left behind. Soon other things begin
to happen. Others come to meet and help him. He glimpses the spirits
of relatives and friends who have already died, and a loving,
warm spirit of a kind he has never encountered before - a being
of light - appears before him. This being asks him a question,
nonverbal, to make him evaluate his life and helps him along by
showing his a paranormal instantaneous playback of the major events
of his life. At some point he find himself approaching some sort
of barrier or border, apparently representing the limit between
earthly life and the next life. Yet, he finds that he must go
back to earth, that the time for his death has not yet come. At
this point he resists, for by own he is taken up with his experiences
in the afterlife and does not want to return. He is overwhelmed
by intense feelings of job, love, and peace, despite his attitude,
thought, he somehow unites with his physical body and lives.
Later he tries to tell others, but he has trouble doing so. In
the first place, he can find no human words adequate to describe
these unearthly experiences. He also finds that others scoff,
so he stops telling other people. Still the experience affects
his life profoundly, especially his view about death and its relationship
to life. [Raymond Moody, Life After life].
|
NEGATIVE ENERGY
according to psychics it is through energy that spirits are able to
communicate across the boundaries between the earth and spirit planes.
Positive energy, created by good deeds, love, harmony, spirituality and
respect is uplifting and enlightening, whereas negative energy is dangerous,
unsettling and draining.
Albert Einstein in his watershed publication, 'Relativity: the Special
and General Theory' [1918], described all existence as energy, although
it takes many forms. According to the theory of relativity all matter,
from people and plants to tables and chairs, is comprised of energy structures
-atoms, molecules and electrons - that vibrate at different frequencies.
The energy of matter that forms an object we consider solid, such as a
table, vibrates slowly that we are able to physically perceive its matter.
The energy of matter we cannot see, such as the air we breathe, vibrates
very fast. Einstein's theory is in fact a very new age concept.
Psychics and energy healers believe that the physical body vibrates slowly
enough to be tangible, while energy on the spirit plane vibrates so fast
that it doesn't seem to have an appearance e or present at all, unless
a spirit chooses to represent itself in a tangible form. So when it comes
to spirit contact the spirit needs to lower its energy vibration and the
medium needs to raise his or her vibration so communication can be made.
According to psychics, negative energy can be disastrous to a person's
life and can cause bad luck and poor health. There are a number of ways
to cause or generate negative energy. For example, a persons thoughts
can create negative energy. On a physical level, constant pessimism can
lead to low self esteem and the unhappiness such negativity attracts,
and on a magical level pessimism can also be damaging as magical will
responds best to optimism and good intention. In some cases [see psychic
attack] enough concentrated negative thought about oneself or another
person is believed to cause negative things to happen to oneself and/or
others. Illness can also generate negative energy, as can negative thoughts
about others, arguments, criminal acts, injustice, tragedy and violence.
Many mediums believe that spirits often come through because they want
to make amends for negative energy that they once spread in their lives.
They may also come through because the negative energy generated by intense
emotion or acts of violence, trauma or injustice has somehow trapped them
and they can't break free.
ONLINE
DISCUSSION GROUPS
The General
Discussion Group
was created for people who have read, attended courses
or worked with Steven and his colleagues. It is ALSO open to people who
have not attended courses or read written resources and will encourage
them in their personal as well as professional life. To explore and, if
it appeals for you, join the general discussion group
The
Professional Discussion Group
.
Some of Steven and his colleagues have created an online resource to support
them in their work given that due to the nature of their international contacts
the Internet offers an excellent way of easily keeping in contact and up
to date. If you would like to explore and if it relates and will support
your professional work
|
|