by Jeffrey Long
Other NDE researchers have reported NDEs that take place while under general anesthesia. Bruce Greyson, MD, at the University of Virginia, states, “In our collection of NDEs, 127 out of 578 NDE cases (22 percent) occurred under general anesthesia, and they included such features as OBEs that involved experiencers’ watching medical personnel working on their bodies, an unusually bright or vivid light, meeting deceased persons, and thoughts, memories, and sensations that were clearer than usual.”1
MATERIAL BEINGS WITH SOULS
Sir John Eccles was a Nobel Prize–winning neuroscientist who studied consciousness. He proposed that consciousness may actually exist apart from the brain. Eccles once stated, “I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by scientific reductionism, with its claim in promissory materialism to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neuronal activity. This belief must be classed as a superstition…. We have to recognize that we are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a material world.”2
SKEPTICS: TOO LITTLE ANESTHESIA
There are skeptics, of course. And the ones speaking out on this subject say that experiences like these can only be the result of too little anesthesia being used, leading to partial consciousness during the operation.
To say this, of course, is to ignore NDEs resulting from anesthetic overdose. And it also ignores the type of experiences reported by patients who do actually awaken from anesthesia during surgery. Fortunately, only 1 to 3 in 1,000 patients3 experience this “anesthetic awareness.”
Rather than the type of coherent NDEs you read here, anesthetic awareness results in totally different experiences.4 Those who experience anesthetic awareness often report very unpleasant, painful, and frightening experiences. Unlike NDEs, which are predominantly visual experiences, this partial awakening during anesthesia more often involves brief and fragmented experiences that may involve hearing, but usually not vision. I would emphasize that partial awakening during anesthesia is very rare and should not be a serious cause of worry about an anesthetic procedure.
When near-death experiences occur during general anesthesia, there are often OBE observations of the operation. During these out-of-body experience observations, NDErs typically see their own resuscitation taking place on the operating table. These near-death experiencers are not seeing themselves with too little anesthesia; they are seeing themselves coding. What the near-death experiencers see confirms that their NDEs are occurring at the time of a life-threatening event, usually a cardiac arrest.
Near-death experiences that occur during cardiac arrest while under general anesthesia are perhaps the strictest test of the possibility of consciousness residing outside of the body. By conventional medical thinking, neither a person under anesthesia nor a person experiencing cardiac arrest should have a conscious experience like that of an NDE. Yet the NDERF study found many that do.
Over twenty different “explanations” of near-death experience have been suggested by skeptics over the years. If there were one or even several “explanations” of NDE that were widely accepted as plausible by the skeptics, there would not be so many different “explanations.” The existence of so many “explanations” suggests that there are not any “explanations” of NDE that the skeptics agree on as plausible.
A study by Kevin Nelson, MD, and colleagues suggested a connection between REM intrusion and NDEs.5 REM is an abbreviation for rapid eye movement. REM commonly occurs as a normal part of sleep, often in association with muscle paralysis. REM sleep commonly includes bizarre and frightening dream imagery. If REM occurs during a time of partial or complete wakefulness, the imagery of these dreams intruding into wakefulness is called REM intrusion. I coauthored a response to Dr. Nelson’s paper in which we pointed out that REM intrusion and NDEs are very different experiences. In addition, REM intrusion cannot explain near-death-experience content under circumstances where REM intrusion should not be possible, including NDEs in those blind from birth and NDEs during general anesthesia.6
Neuroscientists like Eccles have suggested that consciousness may separate from our material body. It caused him to ponder not only the meaning of life, but also exactly what we mean by the concept of death. We know what happens to the corporeal body when it expires, but what about the soul? It was a question he was never able to answer to his full satisfaction, but he nonetheless commented on it: “We can regard the death of the body and brain as dissolution of our dualist existence,” said the Nobel Prize winner. “Hopefully, the liberated soul will find another future of even deeper meaning and more entrancing experiences, perhaps in some renewed embodied existence.”7
There is no explanation for NDEs occurring under anesthesia other than accepting that full consciousness can exist apart from the physical body. For that reason, I consider them significant evidence of the afterlife.
7
PROOF #5: PERFECT PLAYBACK
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale.
—William Shakespeare
We will next explore an especially interesting element of near-death experience: the life review. What exactly is a life review? There is no better way to answer that question than to actually read one from the NDERF study.
This is a life review from a young man named Mark. He was a passenger in a Jeep that lost control on a snowy road near Lake Tahoe and slammed into a telephone pole. Mark was seriously injured as he was crushed between the Jeep and telephone pole. As a result of this traumatic accident, he had a full-blown near-death experience, one that contained most of the elements outlined in the beginning of this book. One of those elements was a profound life review.
Before you read this, note that there are certain elements common to profound life reviews. For example, Mark sees real events from his life as though they are scenes from a movie about himself. Many near-death experiencers describe their life reviews using terms like movie, and they are not bizarre dream images. He also has an empathic reaction to what he is reexperiencing. In essence, he is able to feel how he has made others feel during certain events in his life. He also comes to several conclusions about his life and about life itself.
The self-knowledge that Mark gained through his NDE helped give him direction so that he made important changes in the rest of his life. Mark now thinks about death differently. As he wrote on his NDERF survey form: “All life ends in death…. It is not to be feared…. Was it Peter Pan who said, ‘To die is the greatest adventure’? You will all take this trip. At the moment of death let go of the fear and enjoy the ride.”
Here is Mark’s life review:
It is unclear how we started, only that the result of this first message was for me to begin a series of feelings about my life. It was the proverbial “life flashing before my eyes” or life review, as I have since heard it called. I would describe this as a long series of feelings based on numerous actions in my life. The difference was that not only did I experience the feelings again, but I had some sort of empathetic sense of the feelings of those around me who were affected by my actions. In other words, I also felt what others felt about my life. The most overwhelming of these feelings came from my mother.
I was adopted as an infant. I had been somewhat of a troublemaker. I sometimes hurt other children when smaller and had taken to drug and alcohol abuse, stealing, crazy driving, bad grades, vandalism, cruelty to my sister, cruelty to animals—the list goes on and on. All of these actions were relived in a nutshell, with the associated feelings of both myself and the parties involved. But the most profound was a strange sense coming from my mother. I could feel how she felt to hear of my death. She was heartbroken and in great pain, but it was all mixed up with feelings of how much trouble I had been in. I got a sense that it was such a tragedy to have had this life end so soon, having never really done much good.
This feeling left me with a sense of having unfinished business in life. The grief that I felt
from my mother and friends was intense. In spite of my troubled life, I had many friends, some of whom were close. I was well known if not popular, and I could sense many things said about my life and death. The sense of my mother’s grief was overwhelming.
CHANCE TO CHANGE
Life reviews like Mark’s are among the most transformative and powerful aspects of the near-death experience. Because of its very nature—sometimes a three-dimensional, panoramic review of everything significant in the NDEr’s life—the life review is considered a condensed form of healing psychotherapy. “One-minute psychotherapy,” as Dr. Raymond Moody has called it.1
At the very least, life reviews contain fragments of the NDEr’s earthly life. Generally speaking, NDErs who have life reviews view themselves from a third-person perspective. They watch themselves interacting with the people in their lives. They see how they treated others and often step into the other person’s place so they know how that person felt when interacting with them. As you can imagine, this can be pleasant or unpleasant depending upon the level of kindness involved. A kind act would result in the NDEr feeling the kindness doled out to the other person, while an unkind act would result in feeling the unkindness.
A spiritual being sometimes accompanies the person who is having the life review. This being may serve as a kind of loving guide, assessing the life review from a higher spiritual plane as the NDEr watches, discussing the spiritual ramifications of the events of the NDEr’s life. The being’s comments may help the NDEr put his or her life into perspective. Near-death experiencers almost never describe feeling negatively judged by this spiritual being, no matter how unkind they were up to that point in their lives. Near-death experiencers who reviewed many of their own prior cruel actions often express great relief that they were not negatively judged during their NDEs.
When playwright George Kaufman said, “You can’t take it with you,” he was obviously referring to material things. Many near-death-experience researchers have noted that one of the life review’s main lessons is that knowledge and love are two elements that we take with us when we die. As a result, life reviews are often one of the most transformative elements of the NDE. Those who have powerful life reviews tend to revere both knowledge and love after their NDE.
Many NDErs say that the life review, of all the elements of the NDE, was by far the greatest catalyst for change. A life review allows NDErs to relive their own lives, mistakes and all. It also gives them a chance to evaluate themselves on their life performance. Many things that seemed insignificant at the time—a small kindness, for instance—turn out to be significant in their own or another person’s life. People realize they became angry over things that were not important or that they placed too much significance on unimportant things.
Here are two more examples of life reviews from NDERF:
Roger was returning from Quebec City with a friend when they lost control of the car they were driving and slammed head-on into another vehicle. Roger immediately left his body and saw from above the events that were swirling around the accident scene. Then, said Roger,
I went into a dark place with nothing around me, but I wasn’t scared. It was really peaceful there. I then began to see my whole life unfolding before me like a film projected on a screen, from babyhood to adult life. It was so real! I was looking at myself, but better than a 3-D movie as I was also capable of sensing the feelings of the persons I had interacted with through the years. I could feel the good and bad emotions I made them go through. I was also capable of seeing that the better I made them feel, and the better the emotions they had because of me, [the more] credit (karma) [I would accumulate] and that the bad [emotions] would take some of it back…just like in a bank account, but here it was like a karma account to my knowledge.
Linda made a medication mistake. Thinking she was supposed to take eight tablets at once rather than eight over the course of a day, as prescribed by her doctor, Linda passed out on her bed and then passed over.
What I find interesting about this NDE resulting from an accidental overdose is the strong elements of empathy it contains. As you can see, Linda’s life review is filled with a message of karma:
I saw everything from birth till then in fast motion. Also, while this was happening I could feel the feelings of these events. I could also feel any pain I gave out to others. I also felt the goodness I’d given out. God asked if I was happy with how things went, and I said yes. He asked me how I felt, and I said I was a little nervous. He explained that this was because all my life I felt this way and it is sort of why I didn’t handle [life] properly. I was also told that if the bad outweighed the good you [are] left with the bad. So if you were a truly awful person, you’d be feeling quite awful for your time there. Alternately, if you have given out love and goodness and been kind and caring, you’d be up there feeling sheer bliss and good. I was feeling no extreme sense of badness, for lack of a better word. I was feeling happy, light, carefree but a little nervous inside, like I’d been over a hill too fast or ridden a roller-coaster. But all in all, the balance seemed fair and just enough for what I had just been shown. Mostly good stuff had outweighed the bad.
IMPORTANCE OF REVIEW
A study of life reviews was one of the earliest NDERF research projects.2 This study was conducted by Jody Long, who serves as the NDERF webmaster. She confirmed the importance of the life review in the NDEr’s life by reviewing 319 NDEs from people who submitted NDERF case studies. Jody reviewed their narrative responses from the original NDERF survey’s question about the life review: “Did you experience a review of past events in your life?”
The answers to these life review questions were studied. Here they are, along with the results:
How life review happened: Almost 26 percent described how the life review occurred. Many described it as like a rerun of a play or film or like watching it on a screen.
Content of life review: More than 21 percent commented on the content of the life review. Near-death experiencers generally noted that they were the ones who judged themselves. During the process they saw the good and bad, the cause and effect of their choices. Many reported that they had a review of feelings rather than a review of visual events. Some say that their review consisted of feeling others’ reactions to their earthly actions.
The life review helps the NDEr understand his or her purpose in life. And it is this understanding about who they are that helps them make significant life changes. Here are a few examples of what NDErs experienced during their life reviews.
While in the light I had a life review and saw everything I…ever did in my life; every thought, word, deed, action, inaction was shown to me.
The review was very fast, but I seemed to comprehend everything easily despite the speed.
At that moment, I’m not sure exactly when, someone or something began giving me an examination of conscience, and in the blink of an eye images from my life began passing before me, beginning with my childhood. Each image had its counterpart, or as if the actions of my life were being put into a balance.
Everything I ever thought, did, said, hated, helped, did not help, should have helped was shown in front of me, the crowd of hundreds, and everyone like [in] a movie. How mean I’d been to people, how I could have helped them, how mean I was (unintentionally also) to animals! Yes! Even the animals had had feelings. It was horrible. I fell on my face in shame. I saw how my acting, or not acting, rippled in effect towards other people and their lives. It wasn’t until then that I understood how each little decision or choice affects the world. The sense of letting my Savior down was too real. Strangely, even during this horror, I felt a compassion, an acceptance of my limitations by Jesus and the crowd of others.
All of a sudden in my mind from left to right like an IMAX movie, I saw all the very important moments of my life up to that present time. Most of the earlier moments in my life…I had long forgotten about until this happened. I had mixed feelings about this but mostly was peaceful.
If NDEs are real experiences, we should expect that the events seen in life reviews really happened even if some of them were forgotten. Conversely, if NDEs are not real, we can expect that there is significant error in their content and perhaps even hallucinatory features.
To explore the realness of the life review, NDERF studied the reality of the content of life reviews in NDEs. As part of this study, we looked for any content in the narratives of life reviews that appeared to be unrealistic. If unrealistic content was never or rarely found, we reasoned that the content of life reviews as a whole could be considered real.
To help determine the reality of the content of life reviews, I studied the same 617 NDEs that were discussed in chapter 4, where I reviewed these NDEs to determine the accuracy of out-of-body observations. For each NDE containing a life review, I asked, “Is there any reason to doubt, for either you personally or the experiencer, that any of the content of the scenes of [that person’s] past life was real?” If any part of the life review appeared to contain observations that appeared unrealistic to either me or the NDErs, that case was put into the “unreal” category.
A total of 617 NDEs were studied. A life review was described in 88 NDEs (14 percent). The results of this study were convincing. None of the life reviews contained content that was considered unrealistic, either to the NDErs or to me.