Table of Contents

Return to Top 4. People have been clinically dead for several days Rev. George Rodonaia underwent one of the most extended cases of a near-death experience ever recorded. Pronounced dead immediately after he was hit by a car in 1976, he was left for three days in the morgue. He did not return to life until a doctor began to make an incision in his abdomen as part of an autopsy procedure. Prior to his NDE he worked as a neuropathologist. He was also an avowed atheist. Yet after the experience, he devoted himself exclusively to the study of spirituality, taking a second doctorate in the psychology of religion. He then became an ordained priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He served as a pastor at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Baytown, Texas. Rodonaia held an M.D. and a Ph.D. in neuropathology, and a Ph.D. in the psychology of religion. He delivered a keynote address to the United Nations on the "Emerging Global Spirituality." Before emigrating to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1989, he worked as a research psychiatrist at the University of Moscow. Sources: Article : Some People Have Been Dead For Several Days Video : Testimony of Dr. George Rodonaia, YouTube Video Book : Pathways To Peace: Understanding Death and Embracing Life, by Christine Spencer

Return to Top 8. NDEs cannot be explained by brain chemistry alone Dr. Jeffrey Long is a physician practicing the specialty of radiation oncology in Houma, Louisiana. Dr. Long served on the Board of Directors of IANDS, and is actively involved in NDE research. In his book, "Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences," Dr. Long documents a study he conducted - the largest scientific study of NDEs ever. It is based on his research of over 1,300 NDEs shared with NDERF.org. Using his treasure trove of data, Dr. Long explains how NDEs cannot be explained by brain chemistry alone, how medical evidence fails to explain them away and why there is only one plausible explanation - that people have survived death and traveled to another dimension. Dr. Long makes his case using nine lines of evidence and they are the following: 1. Crystal-Clear Consciousness. The level of conscious alertness during NDEs is usually greater than that experienced in everyday life - even though NDEs generally occur when a person is unconscious or clinically dead. This high level of consciousness while physically unconscious is medically unexplained. Additionally, the elements in NDEs generally follow the same consistent and logical order in all age groups and around the world, which refutes the possibility that NDEs have any relation to dreams or hallucinations. 2. Realistic Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs): OBEs are one of the most common elements of NDEs. Events witnessed and heard by NDErs while in an out-of-body state are almost always realistic. When the NDEr or others later seek to verify what was witnessed or heard during the NDE, their OBE observations are almost always confirmed as completely accurate. Even if the OBE observations include events occurring far away from the physical body, and far from any possible sensory awareness of the NDEr, the OBE observations are still almost always confirmed as completely accurate. This fact alone rules out the possibility that NDEs are related to any known brain functioning or sensory awareness. This also refutes the possibility that NDEs are unrealistic fragments of memory from the brain. 3. Heightened Senses. Not only are heightened senses reported by most who have NDEs, normal or supernormal vision has occurred in those with significantly impaired vision, and even legal blindness. Several people who have been totally blind since birth have reported highly visual NDEs. This is medically unexplainable. 4. Consciousness During Anesthesia. Many NDEs occur while the NDEr is under general anesthesia - at a time when any conscious experience should be impossible. While some skeptics claim these NDEs may be the result of too little anesthesia, this ignores the fact that some NDEs result from anesthesia overdose. Additionally, descriptions of a NDEs differ greatly from those people who experiences "anesthetic awareness." The content of NDEs occurring under general anesthesia is essentially indistinguishable from NDEs that do not occur under general anesthesia. This is more strong evidence that NDEs occur independent from the functioning of the material brain. 5. Perfect Playback. Life reviews in NDEs include real events which previously occurred in the lives of the NDEr - even if the events were forgotten or happened before they were old enough to remember. 6. Family Reunions. During an NDE, the experiencer may encounter people who are virtually always deceased and are usually relatives of the NDEr. Sometimes they include relatives who died before the NDEr was even born. If NDEs are merely the product of memory fragments, they would almost certainly include far more living people, including those with whom they had more recently interacted. 7. Children’s Experiences. The NDEs of children, including very young children who are too young to have developed concepts of death, religion, or NDEs, are essentially identical to those of older children and adults. This refutes the possibility that the content of NDEs is produced by preexisting beliefs or cultural conditioning. 8. Worldwide Consistency. NDEs appear remarkably consistent around the world, and across many different religions and cultures. NDEs from non-Western countries are incredibly similar to those occurring in people in Western countries. 9. Aftereffects. It is common for people to experience major life changes after having NDEs. These aftereffects are often powerful, lasting, life-enhancing, and the changes generally follow a consistent pattern. NDErs themselves are practically universal in their belief that their experience of the afterlife was real. Sources: Article : Common Elements Are Found in NDEs , by P.M.H. Atwater Article : Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences , by Jeffrey Long and Paul Perry

Return to Top 10. Skeptical arguments against NDEs are not valid Sociologist Dr. Allan Kellehear states that some scientific theories are often presented as the most logical, factual, objective, credible, and progressive possibilities, as opposed to the allegedly subjective, superstitious, abnormal, or dysfunctional views of mystics. The rhetorical opinions of some NDE theories are presented as if they were scientific (Kellehear, 1996, 120). Many skeptical arguments against the survival theory are actually arguments from pseudo-skeptics who often think they have no burden of proof. Such arguments often based on scientism with assumptions that survival is impossible even though survival has not been ruled out. Faulty conclusions are often made such as, "Because NDEs have a brain chemical connection then survival is impossible." Pseudo-skeptical arguments are sometimes made that do not consider the entire body of circumstantial evidence supporting the possibility of survival or do not consider the possibility of new paradigms. Such pseudo-skeptical claims are often made without any scientific evidence. Sources: Article : The NDE and Science: Kevin Williams' Research Conclusions Book : Experiences Near Death: Beyond Medicine and Religion , by Allan Kellehear

Return to Top 14. NDEs demonstrate the return of consciousness from death An anecdotal example of evidence that a person's consciousness leaves and returns to their body during an NDE comes from the research of Dr. Melvin Morse. Olga Gearhardt was a 63 year old woman who underwent a heart transplant because of a severe virus that attacked her heart tissue. Her entire family awaited at the hospital during the surgery, except for her son-in-law, who stayed home. The transplant was a success, but at exactly 2:15 am, her new heart stopped beating. It took the frantic transplant team three more hours to revive her. Her family was only told in the morning that her operation was a success, without other details. When they called her son-in-law with the good news, he had his own news to tell. He had already learned about the successful surgery. At exactly 2:15 am, while he was sleeping, he awoke to see his Olga, his mother-in-law, at the foot of his bed. She told him not to worry, that she was going to be alright. She asked him to tell her daughter (his wife). He wrote down the message, and the time of day and then fell asleep. Later on at the hospital, Olga regained consciousness. Her first words were "did you get the message?" She was able to confirm that she left her body during her near-death experience and was able to travel to her son-in-law to communicate to him the message. This anecdotal evidence demonstrates that the near-death experience is a return to consciousness at the point of death, when the brain is dying. Dr. Melvin Morse thoroughly researched Olga's testimony and every detail had objective verification including the scribbled note by the son-in-law. In June 2005, scientists of the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh announced that they succeeded in reviving dogs after three hours of clinical death. The procedure involved draining all the blood from the dogs' bodies and filled them with an ice-cold salt solution. These dogs were scientifically dead, as their breathing and heartbeat were stopped and they registered no brain activity. But three hours later, their blood was replaced and they were brought back to life with an electric shock with no brain damage. A spokesman said the technique will eventually be tried on humans. Sources: Article : The Resurrection Men , ParamedicUK News Website : Safar Center for Resuscitation Research, University of Pittsburgh, PA Book : Parting Visions: Uses and Meanings of Pre-Death, Psychic, and Spiritual Experiences , by Melvin Morse Book : A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife , Chapter 14, by Victor Zammit Book : Human Personality and Its Survival After Death , by Frederic W. H. Myers

Return to Top 18. NDEs can be considered to be an objective experience Carl Becker, Ph.D. received his Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii in 1981. He has researched NDEs in Japanese hospitals and literature for 30 years. Dr. Becker has published numerous books on bioethics, death and dying, and NDEs in both Japan and the United States. Currently, Dr. Becker is a Professor of Bioethics and Comparative Religion at Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. Carl Becker examined four ways in which NDEs may be considered objective: 1. Paranormal knowledge that is later verified 2. The similarity of deathbed events in different cultures 3. Differences between religious expectations and visionary experiences 4. Third-party observations of visionary figures, indicating that they were not merely subjective hallucinations (Becker, 1984). Sources: Book : Paranormal Experience and Survival of Death, by Carl B. Becker Article : A Philosopher's View of near-Death Research, by Carl B. Becker Article : The NDE and Science: Kevin Williams' Research Conclusions

Return to Top 22. Experimental evidence shows NDEs are real experiences Science demands verifiable evidence which can be reproduced again and again under experimental situations. Dr. Jim Whinnery, of the National Warfare Institute, thought he was simply studying the effects of G forces on fighter pilots. He had no idea he would revolutionize the field of consciousness studies by providing experimental proof that NDEs are real. The pilots were placed in huge centrifuges and spun at tremendous speeds. After they lost consciousness, after they went into seizures, after they lost all muscle tone, when the blood stopped flowing in their brains, only then would they suddenly have a return to conscious awareness. They had "dreamlets" as Dr. Whinnery calls them. These dreamlets are similar to near-death experiences and they often involved a sense of separation from the physical body. A typical dreamlet involved a pilot leaving his physical body and traveling to a sandy beach, where he looked directly up at the sun. The pilots would remark that death is very pleasant. Sources: Study : Acceleration Induced Loss of Consciousness: A Review of 500 Episodes , by James Whinnery Article : Loss of Consciousness and Near-Death Experiences , by James E. Whinnery Article : The Trigger of Gravity: Dr. James Whinnery's NDE Research

Return to Top 23. Dream research supports NDEs and an afterlife One of the strangest cases in the history of dream research is described in the documentary, The Secret World of Dreams. It describes the amazing story of a woman named Claire Sylvia. She was a professional dancer with several modern dance companies. As the years passed, Claire's health began to deteriorate. Claire Sylvia had to undergo a heart and lung transplant. Soon after the transplant, she began having strange and incredibly vivid dreams about a young man she didn't recognize. Eventually, Claire realized that the young man in her dreams was the eighteen-year-old organ donor whose heart and lungs resided in her chest. Through her continuing dream contacts with her donor, she learned a lot about him including his name. She then decided to do the research to find out if this "heavenly" information was correct. Yale University Pediatric Cancer specialist Dr. Diane Komp reported that many dying children have NDEs which often occurred during dreams. One boy, for example, told Dr. Komp that Jesus had visited him in a big yellow school bus and told him he would die soon. The boy died as he predicted. According to the celebrated psychiatrist and dream analyst, Marie Louise Von Franz, and based on her analysis of over 10,000 dreams of the dying, the meaning being communicated is that the light of the individual, one of the common metaphors for life that we've heard so often, goes out at death but is miraculously renewed on the other side. In other words, the spirit seems to live on. This dream then illustrates perfectly a profound insight of the great psychoanalyst and mentor of Dr. Von Franz, Carl Jung, MD, who has said: "The unconscious psyche believes in a life after death." According to Jung, dream symbols which exist in the very depths of the soul behave as if the psychic life of the individual will continue. In Dr. Von Franz' words: "These symbols depict the end of bodily life and the explicit continuation of psychic life after death. In other words, our last dreams prepare us for death." Sources: Article : Dreams and the Near-Death Experience: A Connection to the Afterlife News : Precognitive Dreams , Science Frontiers

Return to Top 26. People having NDEs are convinced they saw an afterlife In 1977, Dr. Kenneth Ring was a brilliant young professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut who read Dr. Raymond Moody's book, Life After Life, and was inspired by it. However, he felt that a more scientifically structured study would strengthen Moody's findings. He sought out 102 near-death survivors for his research. He concluded: "Regardless of their prior attitudes - whether skeptical or deeply religious - and regardless of the many variations in religious beliefs and degrees of skepticism from tolerant disbelief to outspoken atheism - most of these people were convinced that they had been in the presence of some supreme and loving power and had a glimpse of a life yet to come." (Dr. Kenneth Ring)



For the multitude of near-death experiencers who know they have left their bodies and received a glimpse of life after death, there is no amount of clinical explanation that will ever convince them otherwise. Sources: Article : People Who Have NDEs are Convinced

Return to Top 29. NDEs have been reported for thousands of years Reports of near-death experiences are not a new phenomenon. A great number of them have been recorded over a period of thousands of years. The ancient religious texts such as The Tibetan Book of the Dead, the Christian Bible, and the Koran describe experiences of life after death which remarkably resembles modern NDEs. The oldest surviving explicit report of an NDE in Western literature comes from the famed Greek philosopher, Plato, who describes an event in his tenth book of his legendary book entitled Republic. Plato discusses the story of Er, a soldier who awoke on his funeral pyre and described his journey into the afterlife. But this story is not just a random anecdote for Plato. He integrated at least three elements of the NDE into his philosophy: the departure of the soul from the cave of shadows to see the light of truth, the flight of the soul to a vision of pure celestial being and its subsequent recollection of the vision of light, which is the very purpose of philosophy. Sources: Article : NDEs Have Been Reported Since Ancient Times: Plato's Testimony of a Soldier Named Er and His NDE

Return to Top 30. The expansion of consciousness occurs during NDEs The following NDE descriptions of consciousness expansion supports the theory of consciousness described above by Stanislav Grof. It theorizes that the brain acts as a reducing valve of cosmic input to produce consciousness. At death, this reducing-valve function ceases and consciousness is then free to expand. The following NDEs support this: 1. "I realized that, as the stream was expanding, my own consciousness was also expanding to take in everything in the Universe!" ( Mellen-Thomas Benedict ) 2. "My mind felt like a sponge, growing and expanding in size with each addition ... I could feel my mind expanding and absorbing and each new piece of information somehow seemed to belong." ( Virginia Rivers ) 3. "In your life review you'll be the universe." ( Thomas Sawyer ) 4. "This white light began to infiltrate my consciousness. It came into me..It seemed I went out into it. I expanded into it as it came into my field off consciousness." ( Jayne Smith ) 5. "My presence fills the room. And now I feel my presence in every room in the hospital. Even the tiniest space in the hospital is filled with this presence that is me. I sense myself beyond the hospital, above the city, even encompassing Earth. I am melting into the universe. I am everywhere at once." ( Josiane Antonette ) 6. "I felt myself expanding and expanding until I thought, "I'm going to burst!" The moment I thought, "I'm going to burst!", I suddenly found myself alone, back where this being had met me, and he had gone." ( Margaret Tweddelll ) 7. Susan had an out-of-body experience where she left her body and grew very big, as big as a planet at first, and then she filled the solar system and finally she became as large as the universe. ( Susan Blackmore )

Return to Top 34. NDEs have advanced the field of medical science Another example of bringing back scientific discoveries resulting from an NDE comes from Mellen-Thomas Benedict. After his NDE, Mellen-Thomas Benedict brought back a great deal of scientific information concerning biophotonics, cellular communication, quantum biology, and DNA research. Mellen-Thomas Benedict currently holds eight U.S. patents and is always working on more. In a 2007 interview with Guy Spiro of Lightworks, Mellen-Thomas discusses this phenomenon: "One of the things I did that got me a lot of attention was working with the University of Texas. I was brought in with Dr. Ken Ring and not told what it was going to be or any details whatsoever and I didn’t know anything until we entered the room. By the way, this was videotaped and recorded. At that time, I could do almost a self hypnosis and get to the light.



"So, the University of Texas sat me down and they said, 'Today, we are going to be working on something call CNT.' That was all the information that they gave me, that it was a medical problem, and then I did my technique. In those days, the only tools that I brought with me were a big pad of paper and large Crayola crayons. I could sit there, go to the light and still speak to you and draw pictures while seeing.



"With this experiment, I went to the light and asked 'What information can we bring back?' I almost immediately started drawing and I drew something that to me looked like two horse shoes. A big horse shoe facing down on the bottom and a smaller horse shoe facing up on top. I said, 'The answer is in this upper horse shoe and it’s these three segments.' I numbered them exactly and I said, 'That’s where the problem is and the real problem is in this third piecing which is this thing.' I was pointing out a gene, but I didn’t know any of that. And then I drew picture and I said, 'There are two heads on it and one head is normal and the one that isn’t right is overriding the head that is. If we can figure out a way to cleave that head off, I think we can cure this.'



"It turns out that I was exactly right. I helped decode a genetic disease and the information was very accurate. Everybody thanked me and I went away. Then about three months later, I started getting letters and calls saying, 'My God, you hit it right on the head! This is astounding. There is no way you could have had this information in advance.' I did a fair number of projects like that and a fair number of think tanks, all of which you have to sign nondisclosures and promise to never talk about. I worked in a lot of think tanks with some very impressive world class scientists over the next ten years until I retired from all that in 1995." (Mellen-Thomas Benedict) Sources: Website : Official Website of Mellen-Thomas Benedict Products : Mellen-Thomas Benedict's Phototherapy Inventions Article : Mellen-Thomas Benedict's Near-Death Experience Article : A Conversation With Mellen-Thomas Benedict , by Guy Spiro

Return to Top 45. NDEs support the reality of reincarnation Amber Wells was a student at the University of Connecticut and wrote a research paper based on her study of the near-death experience for her senior honors thesis under the direction of Dr. Ken Ring. Her paper was published in the Journal of Near-Death Studies in the fall of 1993. In her study, 70 percent of the group of near-death experiencers demonstrated belief in reincarnation. Claims have been documented by other researchers of direct knowledge of reincarnation which became available during the near-death experience itself. An example of this type out-of-body research of knowledge can be seen in a letter written to Dr. Ken Ring by John Robinson: "It is a matter of personal knowledge from what the being with whom I spoke during my near-death experience told me about my older son, that he had had 14 incarnations in female physical bodies previous to the life he has just had." Sources: Article : The NDE and Reincarnation: The True Resurrection Article : The NDE and Reincarnation: Kevin Williams' Research Conclusions Article : Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy: Evidence of Reincarnation

Return to Top 46. Xenoglossy supports reincarnation and an afterlife One of the most amazing psychic phenomena, which religionists, skeptics and atheists have continuously and deliberately ignored is xenoglossy - the ability to speak or write a foreign language a person never learned. After all other explanations have been investigated - such as fraud, genetic memory, telepathy and cryptomnesia (the remembering of a foreign language learned earlier), xenoglossy is taken as evidence of either memories of a language learned in a past life or of communication with a discarnate entity— a spirit person. There are many cases on record of adults and children speaking and writing languages which they have never learned. Sometimes this happens spontaneously but more often it occurs while the person is under hypnosis or in an altered state of consciousness. In some cases it is only a few words remembered but in other cases the person becomes totally fluent and able to converse with native speakers sometimes in obscure dialects which have not been in use for centuries. There are literally thousands of xenoglossic cases, many hundreds of which have been documented. They involve modern and ancient languages from all over the world. Psychic investigators, such the highly credible Dr. Ian Stevenson, used scientific method to illustrate xenoglossy and claim that there are only two possible explanations — either spirit contact or past life memory both of which are evidence for the afterlife. Sources: Article : A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife , Chapter 22, by Victor Zammit

Return to Top 47. Past-life regression supports reincarnation and an afterlife Past life regression such as that practiced by Dr. Michael Newton, simply involves placing a person under hypnosis and asking them to go back through their childhood to a time before they were born. In many cases the person begins talking about his or her life or lives before the present lifetime, about their previous death and about the time between lives including the planning of the present lifetime. The main reason why at least some of these claims must be considered as evidence are: 1. The regression frequently leads to a cure of a physical illness.. 2. In some cases the person regressed begins to speak an unlearned foreign language. 3. In some cases the person being regressed remembers details of astonishing accuracy which when checked out are verified by the top historians. 4. The emotional intensity of the experience is such that it convinces many formerly skeptical psychiatrists who are used to dealing with fantasy and imagined regressions. 5. In some cases the alleged cause of death in an immediate past life is reflected by a birthmark in the present life. Sources: Article : Michael Newton and the Journey of Souls Website : The Newton Institute for Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy Article : A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife , Chapter 24, Victor Zammit

Return to Top 48. The Scole Experiments supports NDEs and an afterlife Victor Zammit is a lawyer who has collected a large body of evidence supporting the reality of an afterlife. Zammit has an excellent article concerning what many regard as the greatest afterlife experiment in the world. The evidence collected over a period of more than four years and with more than 500 sittings by the Scole Experiments and the afterlife team is absolute, definitive and irrefutable. Scole is a village in Norfolk, England. Using it as a base, mediums Robin and Sandra Foy and Alan and Diana Bennett and other experimenters produced brilliant evidence of the afterlife in England, the U.S. Ireland and in Spain. Their results are being repeated by other groups around the world and will convince even the toughest open-minded skeptic. The group began with two mediums delivering messages from a non-physical group. Many of these messages contained personal information that nobody else could know about. Soon the messages came in the form of voices which could be heard by all in the room. Then came the actual materialization of people and objects from the non-physical side. Sources: Article : The Scole Experiments Prove the Afterlife , by Victor Zammit Article : The Scole Investigation: A Study in Critical Analysis of Paranormal Physical Phenomena , by Montague Keen

Return to Top 50. Psychometry supports NDEs and an afterlife According to Wikipedia.org, "psychometry" is a psychic ability in which the user is able to relate details about the past condition of an object or area, usually by being in close contact with it. The user could allegedly, for example, give police precise details about a murder or other violent crime if they were at the crime scene or were holding the weapon used. About.com's Paranormal Phenomena website lists information about several of the most convincing psychometrists.



Stefan Ossowiecki, a Russian-born psychic, is one of the most famous psychometrists. Ossowiecki claimed to be able to see people's auras and to move objects through psychokinesis. His psychic gifts enabled this chemical engineer to locate lost objects and missing people, and he assisted in several criminal investigations. In 1935, he participated in a test of his psychometric powers - a test devised by a wealthy Hungarian named Dionizy Jonky that involved a sealed package. Jonky stipulated that this test was to be conducted eight years after his death. (Jonky and Ossowiecki did not know each other.) First, 14 photographs of men were placed in front of Ossowiecki, one of which was of Jonky. Ossowiecki picked out the correct photo. Next, Ossowiecki accurately described many details of Jonky's life and correctly identified the man who held the package for the past eight years. Finally, Ossowiecki was presented with the sealed package Jonky had prepared before his death. Ossowiecki touched the package and concentrated. "Volcanic minerals," he said. "There is something here that pulls me to other worlds, to another planet." Oddly, he also sensed sugar. Inside the package was a meteorite encased in a candy wrapper.



In later experiments, Ossowiecki performed remarkable psychometric feats with archeological objects - a kind of psychic archeology. These tests were conducted by Stanislaw Poniatowski, a professor of enthology at the University of Warsaw who could verify the accuracy of what Ossowiecki "saw." While holding a 10,000-year-old piece of flint, Ossowiecki was able to describe in amazing detail the lives of the prehistoric people who made it. In other tests he provided similar descriptions of people who lived as long ago as 300,000 years. Some of the information he provided was not even known by experts at the time, but confirmed by discoveries years later!



Ossowiecki described his visions as being like a motion picture that he could watch, pause, rewind and fast-forward - like a videotape or DVD. Sources: Article : What You Need To Know About ... Psychometry Article : The Ontario Canada Psychometry Experiment - An Ontario, Canada psychometry study. Book : A World In A Grain Of Sand: The Clairvoyance of Stefan Ossowiecki by Barrington, Stevenson, et al