Summary:
Raymond Moody is known as the first person to really spend time investigating the phenomena that is the NDE. It seems fair to say that the NDE has gain widespread knowledge (and that's debatable), in the recent past. Moody wrote Life after Life in in the 70's, and since then, many other researchers have taken to looking deeper at the NDE. At the time, Moody had no idea how widespread the NDE was, and he also had no idea how much of a fascination it would stir. Moody mentions many times in The Light Beyond that we are naturally fascinated as to what happens after we die - and the stories we hear from these people are a potential glimpse into that reality.
Unlike Carter, Moody spends much less time speaking of naturalist interpretations of the NDE, but spends more time speaking about the impact the NDE has on the experiencers life. Moody expresses his personal opinion that while science may not have verified the NDE to the extent many people would like, he feels that the experience is legitimate. He is especially effected by the enormous impact it has on these peoples lives, and like many other researches, finds a certain 'high' from hearing these stories, and sharing in their new-found enthusiasm. He also feels that the verified out of body experiences that these people have had led him to believe the stories these people bring back are authentic.
It's interesting that these experiences have become much more prevalent over recent years, and once could interpret it several ways. Moody talks about times before his book Life after Life, and how Near-Death Experiencers were often told they were 'crazy,' and should just forget about what they claimed to have experienced. These people really needed someone to talk to, someone who understood what this experience is like, and the first wave of NDE researchers were able to provide these people with that support and attention. One of the big factors towards the prevalence of the NDE is the advance in modern medicine, and in particular, better resuscitation techniques. People are brought back much more frequently from the brink of death - and the advent of these advances is most likely a significant factor, as Moody thinks. Another potential reason could be the globalization of society. As the globe has become connected, its has become easier to see just how prevalent these experiences are, turning the NDE something that happened to a person or two you knew, to millions of people nationwide, according to a Gallup poll taken around the time of Life after Life. With the help of Moody and other researchers, people no longer feel scorned when they have these experiences, or embarrassed. Thus, one could attribute some of the influx of NDE's to this research, and how in Moody's opinion, people who were hiding this experience no longer felt that was necessary. Also, as Dr. Kenneth Ring has suggested, some NDE'ers think that these experiences are becoming more prevalent in recent years due to an attempt of the spirit world to make itself known. There is a wave of secularization that is taking hold, and this may be an attempt by this otherworld to add some fuel to a religious revival.
Whatever reason you feel is behind this new study, it's undebated that they have become a new, popular, phenomenon in recent years, and they certainly add some of the best evidence that consciousness can, in fact, survive death.
Some quotations, stories or key thoughts from The Light Beyond:
- Many NDE'ers come back with the message that the two most important things in this life are love and knowledge - and most NDE'ers more actively pursue these after their experience. These are the only things we can take with us into the afterlife.
- Moody feels, and I agree, that the skeptics serve their purpose. I find the evidence more than convincing, but without these skeptics, the investigation would not have been as thorough, and it would be hard to know just how convincing these incidents actually are.
- One man, who was angry at the person who resuscitated him, told him, 'I was mad because you brought me back to death instead of life.'
- One woman went to the waiting room during her OBE, to see her daughter wearing mismatching plaids. The maid, who brought the daughter, said she just grabbed the first two things she saw in their rush to get to the hospital.
- For those who have been in the business of studying these experiences a while, such as Ring and Moody, they have witnessed several instances of 'foresight,' where the experiencer is able to experience things that will happen years in the future.
- Moody notes that in twenty years as a NDE researcher, he has yet to find a NDE that hasn't had a positive effect on the persons life.
- NDE'ers exude a 'luminous serenity' from looking into the future and knowing everything is going to be all right.
- Many people feel the life review creates a sense of responsibility in their life after their NDE. They know at some point they will have to review the actions they took in their life, only they will feel the emotions of the people they impacted. As one NDE'er commented, she doesn't fear the review, she relishes in the sense of responsibility it creates.
- Many people become more spiritual, but not more religious. They feel that at the heart of religion, if you strip away the dogma and doctrine, is the spiritual aspect that often gets overlooked.
- Experts conclude that religious background doesn't alter the core of the NDE, just the interpretation of it.
- Kids younger than seven often are less surprised by their experience, because they just assume this what happens when people die.
- NDE'ers who are handicapped are surprised to find their handicaps gone when in the spiritual realm.
No comments:
Post a Comment