What Does the NDE Prove?
This is a short summary of what happens when one has a Near Death Experience. It illustrates the main points reported by experiencers. I have used these points to show that life continues after death. I hope this will be interesting enough to make the reader want to know more and read more about NDEs. There are links to NDEs on the Link page.
Life After Life.
Is the NDE Proof of Life After Death? In NDEs (Near Death Experiences) one of the first things the experiencer notices is being outside his body. Below, I have described two typical OBE (Out-of-Body Experience) situations found in NDEs. These are used for illustration purposes and are not intended to be comprehensive.
In the first, the experiencer finds himself floating in the air looking down on the activity below. If this is a hospital room, he will see doctors and nurses working on his lifeless body. The doctors' conversations will be remembered and the tools they are using identified by the experiencer after he is brought back to life.
In the second, the experiencer leaves the location of his lifeless body and visits other places and/or people. Upon being brought back to life the experiencer will remember in detail the conversations and events seen while OBE. Many of these conversations and events will later be verified by those the experiencer observed while OBE.
The focus here is on the Out-of-Body element because it is the beginning of the NDE. The NDE starts when the body stops. And when the body stops "something" leaves the body. That "something" is the "individual vitality" of the experiencer and it's usually very surprised to find itself free of the body and still alive. That "vitality" has been called "spirit, soul, essence," and a few other words. But these words carry with them a history of interpretation and meaning that tends to distort rather than clarify the event taking place.
Hundreds of NDE-OBE accounts like the ones outlined above are in print at this time. There are estimates ranging from thousands to millions of NDE-OBE occurrences that have not been published.
Do these occurrences, reported by respectable people, prove that life continues after death? Well, maybe.
Religious groups are divided on the issue. Most believe in life after death, but only along doctrinal lines. Some support the NDE phenomenon and others reject it saying: "it is the work of the devil". Since the typical NDE includes events of caring, support, and unconditional Love shown to the experiencer. I would say this is strange behavior for the alleged "Source of all Evil".
Scientists are also divided. Some accept. Some reject. The main argument against, is centered on brain chemistry. There are in print many accounts of how brain activity can produce "thoughts, visions, and hallucinations" that are similiar in content to the NDE.
That may be true, but the experiencer would be unaware of these since he is out-of-body at this time and throughly enjoying his new view of the surroundings.
Could the OBE part of the NDE be proof of life after death? Probably. But...
The really interesting part of the NDE comes after one has left the body. This is the part of "Light Tunnels", "Life Reviews", "Feeling surrounded by Love"; speaking with "Deceased Friends", "Light Beings," and "God". This part is a little different in every NDE. (If you're not familiar with the material, run out and buy a few NDE books. Exciting reading.) These events have been catalogued, compared and analyzed in many ways. But, the only way that matters is the personal meaning the NDE has to the experiencer.
And that meaning, almost always, causes profound personality and life style changes in the experiencer. Some NDE experiencers go back to school to become teachers or counselors. Some lecture, write books. Others do volunteer work at Hospices, Nursing Homes and Hospitals. Some open "Centers of Learning" or start classes/support groups. Even those who don't "go public" with their experience are "changed" into kinder and more loving individuals. The impact of the experience is "to change the experiencer" and the "change" lasts a lifetime.
I have never read of hallucinations, delusions, or any other kind of misperception that produced such positive changes in large numbers of scattered individuals. What these individuals experienced certainly had to be real. Only Truth is powerful enough to produce this kind of phenomenon.
Now, is the NDE proof of life after death? Yes it is. But...
The story is not finished until something is said about what happened that made these individuals change their perception of life.
Simply put. The body ceased to function. They found themselves free from, and outside of their body. They were still alive. They could still see and hear the surrounding activity. They felt different, but were still basically the same person outside the body as they were inside.
Then the Light/Love entered. Light/Love blending together to surround the experiencer with unconditional Love, Peace, and Safety. Many said the Light was "God". They knew they were in the presence of "Higher Intelligence". An intelligence that loved and cared for them. Not many wanted to return to their body. This place was more desirable. But return they did: for one reason or another.
What is significant about this group of NDE experiencers? Absolutely nothing.
The experiencers represent all races of people. All ages. All nationalities. All religions. No religion. Atheists. Theists. Agnostics. Educated. Uneducated. Rich. Poor. Leaders. Homeless. And yes, even the criminals. Murderers, thiefs and such.
The message is clear and to the point. There is life after death.
What they bring back is an expanded perception of what life is about. What they leave behind is their fear of death.
"God's" Love is greater than any mistake we have ever made. The priority of our future is learning to Love. First ourselves. Then one another.