Book from the library of the Russian Instrumental Association
Transcommunications (RAIT)
Our website on the Internet: egf.rf
I am deeply indebted to many individuals for their assistance in completing this research and in preparing this book -
Doctors and nurses from the University of Florida and the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center for referrals
Patients who have experienced clinical death; from Dr. Kenneth Ring, Dr. Raymond Moody, Jr. and John Audette for
Boundless encouragement and support; John Eagle, publicist at Mockingbird Books, for his guidance in
Her editorial assistance; and Lainey Shaw for typing the manuscript.
I am especially indebted to Sarah Kreutziger, who introduced me to this topic and worked with me in the early years of study. Sarah
Finally, I would like to thank Diana, my wife, for her long and stimulating hours of discussion.
NDE, for her important revisions of early drafts of the manuscript, and, moreover, for her constant encouragement
Continue studying and publish the book.
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“There are some oddities in human dying which, in any case, are not comparable with the idea of
Ultimate suffering. People who almost died and then came back to describe their experience never mentioned flour or
Pain, or even despair; on the contrary, they described a strange, unusual feeling of calm and peace. The act of dying
Seems to be associated with a slightly different event, perhaps pharmacological, that turns it into something
Completely different from what most of us have come to expect. We can find out more about this... Something,
There may be something going on that we don’t know about yet.” (Lewis Thomas, President M.D., Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, New
England Journal of Medicine, June 1977)
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Preface
Over the centuries, a variety of experiences have been retold by people who nearly died. Blinding light
Beautiful landscapes, the souls of deceased loved ones - everyone understood how the visions of death were conveyed. Relatives
They surround the dying face to say goodbye and hear his last words. If a person miraculously
Returning, he described the feeling of floating and then returning.
Now, more than ever, people are returning from the threshold of death. Thanks to the latest advances in medical
Technology, hearts can be restarted, breathing can be restored, blood pressure can return to normal.
Patients who in the recent past could have definitely died are now returning to continue their
Earthly existence. They recalled many of their experiences, and we listened. "If someone considers death to be a continuum
Or process, says Dr. George E. Burch, a venerable cardiologist, then, of course, those patients who were
Resuscitated within minutes of cardiac arrest, survived and extracted medical information from
The depths of this continuum, as far as possible... Introduction of effective methods of cardiac resuscitation...
Provided the physician with a unique opportunity to explore medical experiences related to dying and death.”
In my personal cardiology practice, over the past five-plus years, I have conducted extensive research among those
Experiences faced by people close to death. Many of these people, cardiac arrest victims and others
Life-threatening crises described a series of extraordinary events that occurred while patients were
Unconscious and near death. Some considered this experience to be predominantly representative of another field
Existence.
This book explores the nature and meaning of near-death experiences. My goal is not to repeat what has been said before.
This topic is either telling anecdotes for their own sake, but providing fresh observations on the content of experience, on
The people experiencing it and the clinical settings in which it occurred. In light of these
Observations led me to review various explanations appearing in scientific journals and tabloids. Memories
The stories about dying that fill these pages should, in turn, take on new meaning.
What I learned at the bedside and in the clinic during this study led me to rethink my own
Basic beliefs about human nature, the dying process, and the practice of medicine. I present my
Findings to you in the hope of your complicity in the awe and captivity that I experienced while delving into these questions - questions
Concerning the global essence and meaning of life. (M.B.S., Decatur, Georgia, March 1981)
++++++++++++++++++++++++=
In July 1970, I began my medical internship at the University of Florida. My first night on call found me
Covering the minimum medical level in the main hospital and supporting other interns,
Assigned to the emergency room. My early evening hours were spent in routine duties - receiving stories
illnesses and performing medical examinations at three selected appointments, resuming the fourth and making
Electrocardiogram for a patient with chest pain. At midnight I lay down to read about the latest issues in medicine.
magazine and instantly fell asleep. At 3-15 in the morning I jumped up on the statistical page: “Code 99, emergency room, first floor...
Code 99, reception room, first floor.” I ran down the stairs.
Thus began a ritual that I repeated countless times. As you might have guessed, "Code 99" is
Medical shorthand for a critically ill patient. It's a familiar call for help calling the doctors
And nurses to the bedside of a patient whose condition has dramatically deteriorated. Essentially this means
Patient's dying condition.
At that point in my life (and for some years to come) I was too busy with the normal demands of my
Medical training to think a lot about what death is like. I was trained to keep people in
Alive; it was not for me to contemplate the fate of those who did not. I think if someone asked me what I thought about
Death, I would answer that with death you die - and that is the end of everything. Although I grew up in a church-going family, I have always
I tried to separate religious doctrines from scientific ones. As I believed at the time, Christian beliefs in life after
The deaths served the purpose of correcting proper worldly behavior and relieving anxiety around death and dying, but
Such teachings remained subjective and unscientific.
Unscientific - that's what I've never been. Years of medical training have convinced me that if anyone follows scientific
Method - the use of laboratory protocols and scientific research - most, if not all, intractable
The questions of the universe will eventually receive answers in one form or another. Thus, there are no inexplicable
Phenomena, but there are simply scientific facts waiting to be discovered. Form the correct scientific research - and
The answer may be found.
Observations known as "data". Only data collected and presented strictly and impartially are
The right to enter the generally accepted body of scientific knowledge. In medicine, the clinical use of such
Fact-based knowledge bears a wide-ranging responsibility to modern advances
Medical diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, a doctor who was able to most effectively master and apply knowledge
Scientific facts regarding the course of the disease will have the greatest chance of successfully treating the disease,
When it appears in the patient.
Early in my medical school years, I embraced this basic logical and scientific method.
Concerning the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. I became particularly interested in those aspects of medicine that relate to the collection and
Use of measured physiological data. Thus, in the last years of my studies I was converted
For the narrow specialty of cardiology - a precise technological discipline that relies heavily on recording
And interpretation of physiological data and their application to heart disease and dysfunction. When available
In the tools of a modern cardiologist, heart disease is like a puzzle, the pieces of which are the measured pressure in
Four Chambers of the Heart, Mathematical Formulas Using These Measurements to Calculate Heart
Functions, and specialized x-ray technologies that allow anatomical description of heart disease.
Moreover, I recognized that true statements that take into account all natural phenomena begin with the careful collection
Relevant facts from which conclusions or hypotheses can be drawn.
In 1976, I completed my first year of cardiology at the University of Florida in Gainesville. I was deeply in love
In studying the nuances of clinical cardiology and preferred certain studies in this field. In the same time,
My wife and I joined the local Methodist church. One spring Sunday, Sarah Kreutziger,
A psychiatrist-social worker from the University presented at our Sunday school for adults a book that she came across
Eyes. The book "Life After Life" by Raymond Moody, filled with several strange testimonies of people,
Having been near death. There was great interest among school participants. Personally, however, I took it without much
Enthusiasm. My principled scientific consciousness simply could not take such vague descriptions seriously
Spirits from the afterlife and things like that. Being the only doctor present that morning, I was asked about
Give your opinion at the end of the lesson. The smartest thing I could think of to answer at that moment was: “I don’t believe it.”
A week later Sarah called me. She was invited to present Moody's book to a church-wide audience and asked
I participate in the program as a medical consultant. I reminded her how skeptical I was
To Moody's findings, but she insisted that my participation in the program, for the most part, was to respond impromptu to
Medical issues related to this type of topic. Somewhat reluctantly, I agreed.
In preparation for our conversation, Sarah lent me her copy of Life After Life, which had just
A book published and not yet available in Gainesville bookstores. I studied it from cover to cover, but stuck to my guns
The opinion that it was journalistic material. A little later, Sarah and I met to plan
Presentation. To make the conversation meaningful, we decided to conduct a brief survey of some of our
Hospitalized patients who experienced clinical death, similar to those from Moody's book. We had
Being able to ask them if they had some experience while they were dying and unconscious. If no one
I didn’t have such experience (of which I was completely sure), at least we could inform the audience that,
Indeed, “We asked.” If suddenly the experience is described, this can be used as a basis
Our presentation.
Finding near-death survivors was a simple matter for both Sarah and me. She daily
Contacted patients from the kidney dialysis department. Many of them encountered clinical death more than once
They have been suffering from kidney disease for a long time, now requiring dialysis in the hospital. I, on the other hand,
Cared for a variety of patients resuscitated from cardiac arrest. We have started our survey.
The third patient I began to see was a middle-aged housewife from Tempe who, according to medical
Records show that she suffered several clinical deaths of various kinds. She was in the hospital for tests. I met with
She was at her apartment one evening at eight o'clock, and we had a long discussion about the medical details of her previous
Diseases. At the end I asked her if she had any experience of those times when she was unconscious and deathly
I was sick. Once she was convinced that I was not an underground psychiatrist pretending to be a cardiologist, she began
Describe a near-death experience that I heard for the first time in my entire career. To my greatest amazement,
The details were consistent with those described in Life After Life. I was even more impressed by her sincerity and deep
The personal meaning of her experience for herself. At the end of the interview, I had a clear feeling that what this
What the woman shared with me that night was a deeply personal insight into a side of medicine that I knew nothing about.
Early the next day I informed Sarah of my discovery. She had similar news - from a patient with chronic
Liver and kidney failure. We decided to audio record these messages for our upcoming
Presentations. Both patients agreed to have their stories recorded until their similarities were revealed.
Our presentation of "Life After Life" with audiotaped cases of our two patients was
Enthusiastically received by the packed church audience. For me it simply meant that my
Sarah's gratitude was more than justified. Over the next few weeks I often thought about
To the woman I interviewed and the effect that experience had on the rest of her life. To put it simply
Medically speaking, she was very lucky to survive her close encounters with death. But more important to her,
More than the fact of survival, it was the experience she gained in the coma. I thought about the meaning of all this for me.
I returned to Moody's book. Several things continued to bother me about his material and delivery method. WITH
On the one hand, the cases in Life After Life were collected in a very careless, unsystematic manner. A bunch of
The reports came from people who shared their life experiences with Moody after one of his presentations on the topic. Not
There was no way to prove whether these similar testimonies were genuine or were simply fabricated
Overacting. Moreover, Moody claimed that 150 people were interviewed for his book, but only a fraction of this
Numbers have been included as examples. Did the experiments of all 150 people fit well with the models they described?
Or were these basic models based on a select minority of the whole group who had no experience in
Overall? Who were the people describing their experiences, and what were their social, educational, professional and
Religious background? Plus, as a doctor, I wanted to know the medical details of the crisis events that
(presumably) led to a near-death experience. I was troubled by these omissions in his book. Moody himself
Recognized the many pitfalls of his book at the end of Life After Life: “In writing the book, I became acutely aware
That my goals and perspectives could easily be misunderstood. In particular, I would like to say scientifically
Research."
In order to get answers to my questions, a “scientific study” would have to take place. I decided to try. I
Contacted Sarah and she responded. From our initial interviewing experiences, we realized that with our
Having direct access to a wide variety of patients with life-threatening illnesses, we both had
Ideal conditions for conducting such an investigation. We actively participated in any therapy or
Counseling these patients and we did not need special permission to contact them
Directly for an interview. Moreover, both patients and staff perceived us as important participants
The medical team, and not like outside researchers who suddenly appear on the scene for the sake of a few
Unusual purpose.
I reviewed with Sarah my main objections to Moody's work, and from there we developed the form of our
A study based on six questions that we wanted answers to. First of all, we wanted
To confirm that these near-death experiences actually occurred in patients while they were seriously ill and
Close to death. We were encouraged by the two cases we had almost ready, but we needed
Much more before being sure that the sequential experience actually took place. Our
The original idea was to interview 20 or 30 patients and then publish our findings as a preliminary
Report in a medical journal.
Secondly, we wanted to carefully examine the content of personally collected cases and compare our findings with
Moody's anecdotal descriptions of near-death experiences in Life After Life. Do these experiences follow?
Are there consistent patterns - or do they vary significantly from person to person?
Third, how universal are near-death experiences? To answer this question, a group of pre-mortem
The survivors had to be interviewed without Sarina's or my knowledge, whether or not this had happened in advance.
Near-death experience. The incidence of near-death experiences could then be determined by comparing the number
People who described near-death experiences, with the full number of near-death survivors interviewed. This approach
Called a prospective study.
Fourth, what were the educational, professional, social and religious backgrounds of the people
Describing a similar experience at the point of death. Will this information provide a clue as to why some people
Face near-death experiences while some don't? In addition, medical issues (such as the type of death
critical event, duration of loss of consciousness, or method of resuscitation) affect entry into
Near death experience?
Medical details of the dying condition? For example, were it only ardent religious people who described being in
Light and beautiful afterlife environment? Could there be plausible out-of-body descriptions of resuscitation techniques?
Described only by well-educated, informed individuals who had some knowledge of
Is it only people who have been unconscious for a long time who encounter the afterlife?
Finally, was the decrease in fear of death expressed by the people Moody interviewed a result of the near-death experience?
The experience itself - or simply the result of surviving a close encounter with death?
The following thought has been bothering me ever since I read Moody's book. He noticed that many people were able
Subsequently retell specific events that occurred in close proximity to their physical
The bodies while they believed they were unconscious. More importantly, this retelling consisted of visual
Details. However, Moody made no attempt to substantiate these reports with medical records or other available
In ways. Nowadays, most of the patients I was going to interview were resuscitated after stopping
Hearts. During that period of my career, I personally directed and participated in more than a thousand such resuscitations. I knew,
What does resuscitation consist of, what does it look like. I was looking forward to the moment when the patient stated that he SAW
What happened in his room during his own resuscitation. At such a meeting my purpose was
It would be meticulous to examine details that would not normally be known to non-medical personnel.
Essentially, I was contrasting my experience as a trained cardiologist with the visual memories I was told
Non-professional persons. At the same time, I was convinced that obvious inconsistencies would appear that allowed
It would be best to downplay these supposed visual observations to little more than guesswork on the part of the patient.
After deciding on the goals of our study, Sarah and I discussed patient selection criteria. Due to high
Due to the subjective nature of the material, we decided to exclude several patients with known mental illness or
With any significant mental disorder. At the very least, we needed to be on the safe side so that our
Subjects were mentally competent before their evidence was admitted into our study. Besides this
The only exception was that any patient who had undergone a near-death state (see below) had the right to be
To those surveyed. I had to be responsible for contacting patients who survived near-death crises in
Intensive care units of these two hospitals of the University of Florida - Shands & Veterans Administration. Sarah
Would examine the cases admitted to the kidney dialysis unit at Shands and the cases she encountered in her
General advisory rounds for critically ill persons.
As for the critical condition as such, it could contain any illness or episode in which
The patient lost consciousness and was physically near death. But what was our definition of absence of consciousness and how did it
Could it be determined? I thought about this question due to the lack of generally accepted medical or
A scientific definition of loss of consciousness that has been consistently tested using objective
Scientific technician. Anesthesiologists with all clinical skills and technologies (including electroencephalogram) in
At their disposal, they are often unable to accurately determine the level of awareness (or consciousness) in carefully
The examined patients were under general anesthesia. Slight evidence in the medical literature has been described
Patients presumably under deep surgical anesthesia who may subsequently
Remember intense pain and fear while being partially awake on the operating table. Moreover,
Psychologists and physiologists in preclinical situations have had equal difficulty in clearly determining a person's status
Unconscious. For the success of our research, we decided, be that as it may, to use the term “lack of
Consciousness" to express any specific period of time during which a person completely loses
Subjective awareness of the environment and oneself. Simply put, this is what is most often referred to as loss of consciousness.
In addition to losing consciousness, each patient had to be physically close to death. You might wonder
Is this the same as clinical death? Unfortunately, the term “clinical death” has been used in recent years
So indiscriminate that it has lost its clear meaning. Years later, Professor Negovsky, a Russian scientist, determined
A term in a series of physiological experiments conducted at the Laboratory of Experimental Physiology
Resuscitation at the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. Using an experimental model of lethal severe
Blood loss in dogs, he defined “clinical death” as follows:
“Clinical death is a state when all external signs of life (consciousness, reflexes, breathing and cardiac
Activity) are absent, but the body as a whole is not yet dead; metabolic processes of its tissues continue
Continues, and in a certain state it is possible to restart all its functions; that is, this condition is reversible
With appropriate therapeutic intervention. If the body in a state of clinical death is allowed
The natural course of events is that the state of clinical death is followed by an irreversible state - biological death.
The transition from a state of clinical death to biological death is both destructive and
A continuous process, because in its initial stages it is almost impossible to completely return activity
the body in all its functions, including the central nervous system, but it is still possible to restore the body with altered
Functions of the cerebral cortex, that is, an organism that would not function in natural conditions
Existence. Subsequently, it becomes possible to restore the activity of only some of them under artificial conditions.
Organism degradation of metabolic activity. Important experimental material collected by several
Which the cerebral cortex of an adult organism can survive with the subsequent restoration of all its
Functions".
This Russian scientist's definition of clinical death is an accurate description of the specific physiological
States. Today the term is used to describe a wide range of medical and non-medical conditions:
Cardiac arrest in the absence of heartbeat and breathing, patients in a coma with persistent heartbeat and
Breathing, found on a street corner “unresponsive” due to simple uncomplicated fainting or
Alcohol stupor, etc. To complicate matters, brain death is a now popular term used for
Designations of irreversible widespread cerebral inactivity (ie, “flat EEG”) in a patient considered
Medically irreversible - even in the face of ongoing cardiac activity. Using the definition
Clinical death Negovsky, the victim of brain death is not clinically dead due to persistent
Normal cardiac activity, but on the other hand it is often considered "dead enough" not to
Guarantee characteristic medical life support measures. Because of this apparent confusion in terminology,
We decided to select patients whom we determined to be physically near death - that is, in some bodily
A condition resulting from an extreme physiological catastrophe, accidental or not, which is reasonably considered
Leading to irreversible biological death in most cases and, if present, requires emergency
Medical assistance. In general, these conditions may include cardiac arrest, severe traumatic
Damage, deep comatose situations from metabolic disorders or systemic diseases, etc.
Similar.
As it turned out, several people at this stage came so close to death that they actually
They put up a cross. A striking example of this was the case of an American soldier (interview 69, table I), who received
There are numerous battlefield injuries one early morning in Vietnam. So painfully mangled was his
The body was considered dead by everyone who had to do anything with it: (1) the North Vietnamese soldiers who removed it from
He has shoes and a pistol on his belt; (2) American soldiers who put his body in a bag and put it on a truck
Along with other corpses; and (3) the undertaker made an incision in the left side of the groin to find a vein into which to
It would be to introduce embalming fluid. The blood flowing from the cut made by the undertaker was the first
A sign that this man is not dead yet.
Our interviewing techniques have been standardized to minimize any biases we
Could be conveyed in verbal descriptions of our interviewed patients. When first approaching a patient, we could
Avoid mentioning our interest in near-death experiences and may act as if we are only looking for
Common medical parts. The patient may be asked to reconstruct events that may have been remembered
Immediately before losing consciousness, and then remember those that were immediately upon awakening. Further
An inquest could be made about memories of the period of unconsciousness.
As it turned out, the patients were completely unaware of the real intent of the interview until we asked
About a certain experience while being unconscious. At this stage, some patients stated that there was no
memories, and simply stated again the fact that they were completely unconscious, passed out and not
Suspicious of anything that was happening at that time. Other patients, however, might hesitate, look at us
Restraint and answer: “Why are you asking?” We usually gave the following answer: “I am interested in experiences and reactions
Patients surviving critical medical illness. Some patients testified that they experienced
Certain events while unconscious are completely sick. I am sincerely interested in any
Similar experiences, no matter how they manifest themselves.” After which such a patient usually began to reveal his
Near-death experience, prefacing his remarks with: “You won’t believe this...”; "I never told anyone about this,
But…"; “This sounds stupid, but...” etc.
Once it became clear that the patient had an experience while unconscious, we asked permission
Record the rest of the interview on audiotape. It is rare that the circumstances of the interview (eg, a noisy hospital environment in
open intensive care unit) could interfere with the judicious use of the tape recorder and could be
Extensive notes are taken to document the experience, as much as possible, in the patient's own words.
The blurting out of the near-death experience could then continue further without our intervention. When the patient
He described his experience in general, we asked him about details that needed clarification. Our goal was to collect
There is enough information about each experience so that it can later be assessed based on the basic ten individual
Points derived from descriptions of Moody's experiences in Life After Life. The ten points were:
1. Subjective feeling of being dead. Did the patient describe the experience as if he were dead, or
Were other interpretations provided? What was the near-death experience compared to - personal dreams or
With drug hallucinations that the patient may have encountered while receiving medical drugs
With previous illnesses?
2. Predominant emotional content. Did the patient feel calm and/or peace, fear and/or
Sadness, or no emotions during the near-death experience? In particular, if it was visible
The physical body in the throes of intensive care, was this experience frightening and painful?
3. Feeling of separation from the body. Did the patient describe a feeling of being separate from the physical body while in
NDE time? If so, how was this separate self described?
4. Observations of physical objects and phenomena. Did the patient claim to have seen and/or heard
What happens in the ward during the period of physical unconsciousness? If so, where did these observations come from?
From the physical body or from a point separate from the body? What were the specific details of these observations?
5. An area of darkness or emptiness. Did the patient experience passing through an area of darkness or vacuum in any way?
NDE moment?
6. Life review. Did the patient experience rapid replay of previous life events? If yes, how is it
Reproduction occurred and what was the nature of the events recalled?
7. Light. Did the patient experience the phenomenon of a blinding light source, and if so, was it related to this light?
Some meaning or identification?
8. Entering the transcendental world. Did the patient sense another area or dimension other than the environment?
Your physical body and the region of darkness or vacuum? What was the nature of such an environment? Did it contain
Boundaries or limits that seemed to them, as in Moody's cases, as the “point of no return” to the physical body?
9. Colliding with others. Did the patient feel or see the appearance of other “spirits” during the near-death experience?
Experience? If so, how were these “spiritual entities” identified? Did they realize they were dead or
Alive at this time, and was there any communication between the patient and these other characters? If
Yes, then what was the nature and content of any such communication?
10. Return. Did the patient feel his return from death as voluntary or spontaneous?
Incident? Was there a specific reason for returning?
The structured part of the interview could end with a short set of specific biographical points:
Age, gender, nationality, years of formal education, profession, place of residence, religious affiliation and
Frequency of church attendance. We could also find out whether the patient knew anything about the near-death experience from other
Resources before his personal confrontation with him. Finally, each patient could be asked to rate the effect, if any.
There is a crisis incident (with or without a near-death experience) that affected his fear of death and his
I believe in an afterlife.
At the end of the interview, we were able to spend time with each patient to discuss any questions or feelings,
Which he could have. As it turned out, almost every patient who had a near-death experience, in one way or another
He expressed great gratitude to us for our time and interest in listening to his experience. Many didn't have
Opportunities to discuss this with your closest friends or relatives for fear of ridicule and thus
They found it reassuring that Sarah or I listened to them in a non-critical manner.
The interview time was significant. If the patient had recently undergone a near-death crisis, we wanted
Interview him as often after the event as possible while the details were fresh in his mind.
However, the early interview reduced the likelihood that the content of the patient's experience would be influenced by discussions with
Family members, reading materials on the topic, etc. However, the patient's health condition must have been relatively
Stable for us to consider it appropriate to begin our interview. The retelling of the near-death experience was very
An emotional event that could have an adverse effect on the critically ill and unstable
Patient.
The location for the interview depended on the patient's health status. Our goal was to create a private and
An uninterrupted atmosphere, as far as possible during interviews and audio recordings. If the patient was
Outpatient, the interview could be conducted in the most appropriate private room of the hospital or in the office. Many
Interviews were conducted at the hospital bedside as needed. The recording was done on the spot and could sometimes be interrupted
Due to the constant flow of clinical procedures associated with a typical hospital routine (treatment administration,
Checking blood pressure, etc.). Sometimes the patient’s weakness forced him to end the interview completely and
Continue the next day. At the outset, Sarah and I recognized that with regard to hospitalized patients,
When recovering from a near-fatal incident, a long interview is not practical. Accordingly, we have limited
The number of basic questions to a few especially necessary ones and focused our main efforts on the content
NDE itself.
Our interviews began in earnest in May 1976. In time, other doctors and paramedical personnel became aware of our
Research and began to refer their patients who had near-death experiences to us. Moreover, we started
Conducted conversations with local churches and citizen groups and invariably acquired several new cases from
Our audience. We interviewed these individuals too and made every effort to obtain their medical records for
Documenting details of their critical incidents. Since these cases came to our attention, they
Did not fit into the prospective study design as described earlier in this chapter. Most of those questions
About near-death experiences to which we wanted an answer (for example, frequency of occurrence), we required
Prospective approach. Therefore, when analyzing our data, these submitted cases were kept strictly
Separate from prospective, in-hospital interviews. When prospective and referred cases
Will be later depicted in this book to describe various aspects of the near-death experience, each of them will
Labeled with interview number in Appendix Table I.
As interviewing progressed, it became apparent that patients who had near-death experiences during their
Critical incident, they lost a fair part of their fear of death; this result was absent in patients
Those who have experienced similar critical events without such experience. We decided to document further this obvious
Differences in attitudes toward death between patients with and without near-death experiences by writing
Letters to each person in a study of two death anxiety scales - Templer and Dickstein. These scales were separate
At least six months after the interview date.
In July 1978, I completed my training in Florida and moved to Atlanta, entering my current position as an assistant
Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and Staff Physician at the Atlanta Veterans Administration
Medical Center. Sarah moved to Louisiana to complete her doctoral studies in social work. My position in
Emory and the Veterans Administration Hospital increased my access to near-death survivors to the point that
I was in daily contact with patients in general medical wards and intensive care units. Moreover,
Physicians and paramedical staff at other Atlanta hospitals have referred patients to me reporting
Near-death experience. So my research continues. This book is a collection of data
General characteristics of near-death experiences
In August 1977, a sixty-year-old white male security guard was hospitalized with progressive weakness and
Drowsiness. Shortly after admission, he was diagnosed with acute intermittent porphyria, a rare severe
Metabolic disorders associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome (a paralyzing neurological disorder
Unclear etiology). His condition rapidly deteriorated and he was transferred to the intensive care unit on August 29.
Despite all the efforts of doctors, the man fell into a coma and insensibility on September 2. His blood pressure required
Intravenous drug support. His breathing was completely controlled by the ventilator on an automatic cycle.
His eyes were covered with a bandage to prevent corneal ulceration from prolonged exposure to air (he
I couldn’t close my eyelids). Four days later, his condition had not improved. An electroencephalogram was performed for
Determining whether to continue life support measures. The report reproduced: “EEG with strong deviations from
Norms with diffuse slow wave activity" - that is, some brainwave activity is still
Showed up. The life support system was maintained. On the tenth of September the man began to show some
Reaction to painful stimuli, and the coma began to rise. 34 days later, he was discharged from the intensive care unit
Therapy, having experienced episodes of complete renal failure, gastrointestinal bleeding requiring
Several blood transfusions, and recurrent pneumonia. On November 1, 1977, I interviewed him in his room about his
A recent period of unconsciousness. He could only speak in a whisper due to damage to his vocal cords
From a recently removed endotracheal tube (inserted into the lungs through the mouth and allowing breathing through
Artificial ventilator). With great tension he began his story:
Everything I tell you really happened. It's very mysterious. I've read some beautiful old ones
Stories about it, but I'm really honest... It was an experience that I had never had before. He was
So clear... I think once you get into the Big Secret just a little bit like I did, that will be enough
To convince you... If anyone asks me about this, I will say, “Hey, look. Here it is". (I-23)
And then he revealed a remarkable experience during which the man observed the medical team,
Working on his unconscious body. At this unexpected meeting he felt that he had been admitted to
the "big secret" of life and death. When we examined the described by this man and others at the same stage
Near-death experiences (NDEs) have revealed a number of common characteristics.
Ineffability
Most people who have experienced NDEs have expressed great difficulty in finding the right words to describe them.
Experience. When reviewing our interview transcripts, we were struck by people's attempts to describe the “indescribable.” Many
They tried to make comparisons between their NDE and dreams or other personal experiences, only in the end saying that
Such analogies were clearly incomplete. This NDE ineffability was usually expressed by the following
In ways: “I can never explain it” (I-44); “There is no such feeling that you would experience in your
A normal life and which would be somewhat similar to this.” (I-3)
Feeling of timelessness
All individuals described their NDE as occurring in a timeless dimension. How were events perceived during the experience?
All intuitive sense of the duration of the experience was lost. Thus: “You seem to be in a state of suspended animation” (I-53); "I can't
Determine the time in such a situation. It could have been one minute” (I-23); “There was no measurement of time. I don't know,
Was it one minute or 5-10 hours” (I-3).
Feeling of reality
A deep sense of reality filled the experience both when it happened and later, in memories. Majority
Individuals emphasized at least once during the entire interview that their NDE was real, “as real as you and me.”
There were these comments: “This is reality. I know from myself that I was not imagining. It wasn't so called
Dream or non-existence. Those things really happened to me. It happened. I know. I've been through it” (I-15); "I
I looked down from the ceiling, and there were no ifs or buts about it” (I-14); “It was real. If you want, I'm quite
I’m ready for you to give me sodium pentothal... This is hellishly real” (I-19); “I know it was real. I know that I was
There. I know it. And I know that I saw myself there. I could have sworn on the Bible that I was there. I saw things the same way I see them
Them now" (I-63-2) (note: when a person reported more than just NDE, the interview number "I" was made up of two
The numbers are the interview number (i.e., 63) and the private NDE number designation (i.e., 2) from which the
Excerpt).
One man even felt that his NDE was “more real than the reality here. After this the world seems like a mockery
Over real life - fiction. Like people playing games. It’s as if we are preparing for something, but we don’t know what” (I-5).
Feeling of death
NDE was interpreted by almost all individuals as a “death experience”—that is, they thought they had died or were dying. This
The sense of death was a strong intuitive feeling, emerging early in experience. In many cases, physical
Unconsciousness was a sudden and unexpected occurrence, such as cardiac arrest. The NDE feeling
Death seemed to be revealed without the time given to the person to consciously anticipate the proximity of death before
Loss of consciousness. One forty-five-year-old who survived unexpected cardiac arrest in a small public
Transcript
1 Dr. Michael Sabom. Memories of Death Book from the library of the Russian Association of Instrumental Transcommunication (RAIT) Our website on the Internet: egf.rf Group in contact:
2 I am deeply indebted to many individuals for their assistance in completing this study and in preparing this book—the doctors and nurses at the University of Florida and the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center for referring patients who have experienced near-death experiences; from Dr. Kenneth Ring, Dr. Raymond Moody, Jr. and John Audette for his endless encouragement and support; John Eagle, publicist at Mockingbird Books, for his leadership in the publication of this book; my brother, Dr. Steve Sabom, for his critique of the manuscript; Jeanne Fleg of Harper & Row for her editorial assistance; and Lainey Shaw for typing the manuscript. I am especially indebted to Sarah Kreutziger, who introduced me to this topic and worked with me in the early years of study. Sarah helped shape the design of this study and interviewed several patients whose reports are found here. Finally, I would like to thank Diana, my wife, for the long and stimulating hours we spent discussing near-death experiences, for her important revisions of early drafts of the manuscript, and, above all, for her constant encouragement to continue studying and publishing the book = “There are some oddities in human dying that are, in any case, incommensurable with the idea of finite suffering. People who almost died and then came back to describe their experiences never mentioned agony or pain, or even despair; on the contrary, they described a strange, unusual feeling of calm and peace. The act of dying seems to be associated with a slightly different event, perhaps pharmacological, which turns it into something completely different from what most of us have come to expect. We can find out more about it. Something may be going on that we don't know about yet." (Lewis Thomas, President M.D., Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, New England Journal of Medicine, June 1977) = Preface Over the centuries, a variety of experiences have been retold by people who nearly died. Dazzling light, beautiful landscapes, the souls of deceased loved ones - everyone understood how the visions of death were conveyed. Relatives surround the dying person to say goodbye and hear his last words. If a person miraculously returned, he described the sensation of floating and then returning. Now, more than ever, people are returning from the threshold of death. Thanks to the latest advances in medical technology, hearts can be restarted, breathing can be restored, and blood pressure can return to normal. Patients who in the recent past could definitely have died now return to continue their earthly existence. They recalled many of their experiences, and we listened. “If one considers death to be a continuum or a process,” says Dr. George E. Burch, a venerable cardiologist, “then, of course, those patients who were resuscitated within minutes of cardiac arrest experienced and learned medical information from the depths of it.” continuum as far as possible. The introduction of effective methods of cardiac resuscitation has provided the physician with a unique opportunity to explore medical experiences related to dying and death.” In my personal cardiology practice, over the past five-plus years, I have conducted extensive research into the near-death experiences of people. Many of these people, victims of cardiac arrest and other life-threatening crises, described a series of extraordinary events that took place while the patients were unconscious and dying. Some considered this experience to be primarily representative of another realm of existence. This book explores the nature and meaning of near-death experiences. My goal is not to repeat what has been said previously on the topic or to peddle anecdotes for their own sake, but to provide fresh observations on the content of the experience, the people who encountered it, and the clinical settings in which it occurred. In light of these observations, I reviewed various explanations appearing in scientific journals and the tabloids. The memories of dying that fill these pages should in turn take on new meaning. What I learned at the bedside and in the clinic during this study led me to rethink my own core beliefs about the nature of man, the dying process, and the practice of medicine. I present my findings to you in the hope of your complicity in the awe and captivity I experienced as I delved into these questions concerning the global essence and meaning of life. (M.B.S., Decatur, Georgia, March 1981) = Origins In July 1970, I began my medical internship at the University of Florida. My first night on call found me covering the minimum medical level at the main hospital and supporting the other interns assigned to the emergency room. My early evening hours were spent in routine duties receiving stories.
3 diseases and performing medical examinations at three selected appointments, resuming the fourth and performing an electrocardiogram on a patient with chest pain. At midnight I lay down to read about the latest issues in a medical journal and instantly fell asleep. At 3-15 in the morning I jumped up to the statistical page: “Code 99, emergency room, first floor Code 99, emergency room, first floor.” I ran down the stairs. Thus began a ritual that I repeated countless times. As you might have guessed, "Code 99" is medical shorthand for a patient in serious condition. It's a familiar call for help, summoning doctors and nurses to the bedside of a patient whose condition has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Essentially, this denotes the patient's near-death state. At that point in my life (and for some years to come), I was too busy with the normal demands of my medical training to think much about what death was like. I was trained to keep people alive; it was not for me to contemplate the fate of those who did not. I think if someone asked me what I think about death, I would answer that with death you die and that is the end of everything. Although I grew up in a church-going family, I have always tried to separate religious doctrines from scientific ones. As I believed at the time, Christian beliefs in life after death served the purpose of correcting proper worldly behavior and alleviating anxiety around death and dying, but such teachings remained subjective and unscientific. Unscientific is what I have never been. Years of medical training have convinced me that if one follows the scientific method using laboratory protocols and scientific research, most, if not all, of the unanswerable questions of the universe will eventually be answered in one form or another. There are, therefore, no unexplained phenomena, but simply scientific facts waiting to be discovered. Form the right scientific research and the answer can be found. As every science student knows, the scientific method of inquiry is the systematic collection of objective observations known as “data.” Only data collected and presented with rigor and impartiality are eligible to enter the mainstream body of scientific knowledge. In medicine, the clinical application of such evidence-based knowledge bears a broad responsibility to modern advances in medical diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, the physician who can most effectively master and apply knowledge of the scientific facts regarding the course of the disease will have the greatest chance of successfully treating the disease when it appears in the patient. Early in my medical school years, I embraced this basic logical and scientific method regarding the diagnosis and treatment of disease. I became particularly fascinated with aspects of medicine that involved the collection and use of measured physiological data. Thus, in the last years of my training, I was drawn to the narrow specialty of cardiology, a precise technological discipline that relies heavily on the recording and interpretation of physiological data and their application to diseases and dysfunction of the heart. With the tools available to the modern cardiologist, heart disease is like a puzzle, the pieces of which are measured pressure in the four chambers of the heart, mathematical formulas that use these measurements to calculate cardiac function, and specialized X-ray technology that allows an anatomical description of heart disease. Moreover, I recognized that true statements that take into account all natural phenomena begin with the careful collection of relevant facts from which inferences or hypotheses can be drawn. In 1976, I completed my first year of cardiology at the University of Florida in Gainesville. I was deeply in love with learning the nuances of clinical cardiology and had a particular preference for research in the field. At the same time, my wife and I joined the local Methodist church. One spring Sunday, Sarah Kreutziger, a psychiatrist-social worker at the University, presented a book that caught her eye at our adult Sunday school. The book "Life After Life" by Raymond Moody, filled with several strange testimonies of people who were near death. There was great interest among school participants. Personally, however, I did not accept it with much enthusiasm. My principled scientific mind simply could not take seriously such vague descriptions of spirits from the afterlife and the like. Being the only doctor present that morning, I was asked for my opinion at the end of the lesson. The smartest thing I could think of to answer at that moment was: “I don’t believe it.” A week later Sarah called me. She was invited to present Moody's book to a church-wide audience and asked me to participate in the program as a medical consultant. I reminded her how skeptical I was of Moody's findings, but she insisted that much of my participation in the program was to answer off-the-cuff medical questions related to a topic of this nature. Somewhat reluctantly, I agreed. In preparation for our conversation, Sarah lent me her copy of Life After Life, a newly released book not yet available in Gainesville bookstores. I studied it from cover to cover, but remained of the opinion that it was journalistic material. A little later, Sarah and I met to plan the presentation. To make the conversation meaningful, we decided to conduct a brief examination of some of our hospitalized patients who experienced clinical death, similar to those from Moody's book. We had the opportunity to ask them if they had any experience while they were dying and unconscious. If no one had such experience (which I was completely sure of), at least we could inform the audience that,
4 indeed, “We asked.” If suddenly the experience is described, this can be used as the basis for our presentation. Finding near-death survivors was a simple matter for both Sarah and me. She had daily contact with patients from the kidney dialysis unit. Many of them experienced clinical death more than once over a long period of their kidney disease, now requiring dialysis in the hospital. I, on the other hand, have cared for a variety of patients resuscitated from cardiac arrest. We have started our survey. The third patient I approached was a middle-aged housewife from Tempe who, according to her medical records, had suffered several clinical deaths of various kinds. She was in the hospital for tests. I met her at her apartment one evening at eight o'clock and we discussed at length the medical details of her previous illnesses. Finally, I asked her if she had any experience of the times she was unconscious and deathly ill. Once she was convinced that I was not an underground psychiatrist pretending to be a cardiologist, she began to describe a near-death experience that I had heard for the first time in my entire career. To my great amazement, the details matched those described in Life After Life. I was even more impressed by her sincerity and the deeply personal meaning of her experience for herself. At the end of the interview, I had the distinct feeling that what this woman shared with me that night was a deeply personal insight into a side of medicine that I knew nothing about. Early the next day I informed Sarah of my discovery. She had similar news from a patient with chronic liver and kidney failure. We decided to audio record these messages for our upcoming presentation. Both patients agreed to have their stories recorded until their similarities were revealed. Our presentation of “Life After Life,” featuring audiotaped cases of our two patients, was enthusiastically received by a packed church audience. For me, it simply meant that my gratitude to Sarah was more than justified. Over the next few weeks, I often thought about the woman I interviewed and the effect that experience had on the rest of her life. In medical terms, she was very lucky to survive her close encounters with death. But more important to her than the fact of survival was the experience she gained in a coma. I thought about the meaning of all this for me. I returned to Moody's book. Several things continued to bother me about his material and delivery method. On the one hand, the cases in Life After Life were collected in a very careless, unsystematic manner. Many reports came from people sharing their life experiences with Moody after one of his presentations on the topic. There was no way to prove whether these similar testimonies were genuine or simply fabricated re-enactments. Moreover, Moody claimed that 150 people were interviewed for his book, but only a small fraction of this number were included as examples. Did the experiences of all 150 people fit well into the models they described, or were these basic models based on a select minority of the whole group who were not representative of the experience as a whole? Who were the people describing their experiences, and what were their social, educational, professional and religious backgrounds? Plus, as a physician, I wanted to know the medical details of the crisis events that (supposedly) led to the near-death experience. I was troubled by these omissions in his book. Moody himself acknowledged the many pitfalls of his book at the end of Life After Life: “In writing the book, I became acutely aware that my goals and perspectives could easily be misunderstood. In particular, I would like to tell scientifically inclined readers that I am fully aware that what I have done here does not constitute scientific research." In order to get answers to my questions, a “scientific study” would have to take place. I decided to try. I contacted Sarah and she responded. From our initial interviewing experiences, we realized that with our direct access to a wide variety of patients with life-threatening illnesses, we were both in an ideal position to conduct such an investigation. We actively participated in any therapy or counseling for these patients, and we did not require special permission to contact them directly for interviews. Moreover, both patients and staff perceived us as vital members of the medical team, and not as outside researchers who suddenly appeared on the scene for a somewhat unusual purpose. I discussed with Sarah my main objections to Moody's work, and from there we developed the shape of our research, based on six questions to which we wanted answers. First, we wanted to confirm that these near-death experiences actually occurred in patients while they were seriously ill and close to death. We were encouraged by the two nearly complete cases we had, but we needed a lot more before we were confident that consistent experience actually occurred. Our initial idea was to interview 20 or 30 patients and then publish our findings as a preliminary report in a medical journal. Second, we wanted to carefully examine the content of personally collected cases and compare our findings with Moody's anecdotal accounts of near-death experiences in Life After Life. Do these experiences follow a consistent pattern - or do they vary significantly from person to person?
5 Third, how universal are near-death experiences? To answer this question, a group of near-death survivors had to be asked, without Sarina's or my knowledge, whether or not the near-death experience had occurred beforehand. The incidence of NDEs could then be determined by comparing the number of people reporting an NDE with the total number of NDE survivors interviewed. This approach is called a prospective study. Fourth, what were the educational, professional, social and religious backgrounds of the people describing similar experiences at the death line. Will this information provide clues as to why some people have near-death experiences and others do not? Additionally, do medical issues (such as the type of near-death emergency, duration of loss of consciousness, or method of resuscitation) influence entry into a near-death experience? Fifth, did the content of the near-death experience depend in some sense on the background characteristics of the person or the medical details of the near-death experience? For example, were it only ardent religious people who described being in the light and the beautiful afterlife environment? Could plausible out-of-body descriptions of resuscitation techniques only be described by well-educated, informed individuals who had some knowledge of such procedures from books, through taking cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) courses, or similar? Is it only people who have been unconscious for a long time who encounter the afterlife? Finally, was the decrease in fear of death expressed by the people Moody interviewed the result of the near-death experience itself or simply the result of surviving a close encounter with death? The following thought has been bothering me ever since I read Moody's book. He noticed that many people were able to subsequently recount specific events that occurred in the immediate vicinity of their physical body while they believed they were unconscious. More importantly, this retelling consisted of visual details. However, Moody made no attempt to substantiate these reports with medical records or other available means. Nowadays, most of the patients I was going to interview had been resuscitated from cardiac arrest. During that period of my career, I personally directed and participated in more than a thousand such resuscitations. I knew what resuscitation consisted of, what it was like. I looked forward to the moment when a patient would claim that he SAW what happened in his room during his own resuscitation. In such a meeting, my purpose would be to meticulously explore details that would not normally be known to non-medical personnel. Essentially, I was contrasting my experience as a trained cardiologist with the visual recollections of laypersons told to me. In doing so, I was convinced that there would be obvious inconsistencies that would reduce the significance of these purported visual observations to nothing more than guesswork on the part of the patient. After deciding on the goals of our study, Sarah and I discussed patient selection criteria. Due to the highly subjective nature of the material, we decided to exclude several patients with known mental illness or any significant mental disorder. At the very least, we needed to be on the safe side to ensure that our subjects were mentally competent before their testimony was allowed into our study. Apart from this one exception, any near-death patient (see below) had the right to be interviewed. I would be responsible for contacting patients who survived near-death crises in the intensive care units of these two University of Florida Shands & Veterans Administration hospitals. Sarah would examine cases admitted to the kidney dialysis unit at Shands and cases she encountered in her general consultation rounds for critically ill people. As for the critical condition itself, it could contain any illness or episode in which the patient lost consciousness and was physically close to death. But what was our definition of absence of consciousness and how could it be defined? I pondered this question because there is no generally accepted medical or scientific definition of loss of consciousness that has been consistently tested using objective scientific techniques. Anesthesiologists, with all the clinical skills and technology (including electroencephalogram) at their disposal, are often unable to accurately assess the level of awareness (or consciousness) in carefully examined patients under general anesthesia. A few reports in the medical literature have described patients supposedly under deep surgical anesthesia who could subsequently recall intense pain and fear while partially awake on the operating table. Moreover, psychologists and physiologists in preclinical situations have had equal difficulty in clearly determining the unconscious status of a person. For the success of our study, we have decided, however, to use the term “lack of consciousness” to express any specific period of time during which a person completely loses subjective awareness of the environment and himself. Simply put, this is what is most often referred to as loss of consciousness. In addition to losing consciousness, each patient had to be physically close to death. You may wonder if this is the same as clinical death. Unfortunately, the term “clinical death” has been used so indiscriminately in recent years that it has lost its clear meaning. Years later, Professor Negovsky, a Russian scientist, defined the term in a series of physiological experiments conducted at the Laboratory of Experimental Physiology of Resuscitation at the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Using an experimental model of fatally severe hemorrhage in dogs, he defined "clinical death" as:
6 “Clinical death is a state when all external signs of life (consciousness, reflexes, breathing and cardiac activity) are absent, but the body as a whole is not yet dead; the metabolic processes of its tissues continue, and in a certain state it is possible to restart all its functions; that is, the condition is reversible with appropriate therapeutic intervention. If the body in a state of clinical death allows the natural course of events, then the state of clinical death is followed by an irreversible state of biological death. The transition from a state of clinical death to biological death is both a destructive and continuous process, because in its initial stages it is almost impossible to completely restore the activity of the body in all its functions, including the central nervous system, but it is still possible to restore the body with altered functions of the cortex brain, that is, an organism that will not function in natural conditions of existence. Subsequently, it becomes possible to restore the activity of only some organs under artificial conditions, and then even this becomes impossible. During biological death, a degradation of metabolic activity specific to the dead organism occurs. Important experimental material collected by several authors has shown that 5-6 minutes is the maximum duration of the state of clinical death during which the cerebral cortex of an adult organism can survive with the subsequent restoration of all its functions.” This Russian scientist's definition of clinical death is an accurate description of a specific physiological state. Today the term is used to describe a wide range of medical and non-medical conditions: cardiac arrest with no heartbeat or breathing, comatose patients with persistent heartbeat and breathing, patients found on a street corner "unresponsive" due to simple uncomplicated syncope or alcoholic stupor, etc. d. To complicate matters, brain death is a now popular term used to designate irreversible widespread cerebral inactivity (ie, flat EEG) in a patient that is considered medically irreversible even in the face of continued cardiac activity. Using Negowski's definition of clinical death, a victim of brain death is not clinically dead due to continued normal cardiac activity, but, on the other hand, is often considered "dead enough" not to warrant characteristic medical life support measures. Because of this apparent confusion in terminology, we decided to select patients whom we defined as physically near-death, that is, in some bodily state as a result of an extreme physiological catastrophe, accidental or not, that is reasonably considered to result in irreversible biological death in most cases and , if present, requires emergency medical attention. In general, these conditions may include cardiac arrest, severe traumatic injury, profound comatose situations from metabolic disorders or systemic diseases, and the like. As it turned out, several people at this stage came so close to death that they were actually given up on them. A striking example of this was the case of an American soldier (Interview 69, Table I), who received multiple injuries on the battlefield one early morning in Vietnam. So painfully mangled was his body that everyone who had to do anything to him assumed he was dead: (1) the North Vietnamese soldiers who removed his shoes and his belt pistol; (2) American soldiers, who put his body in a bag and placed it on a truck along with other corpses; and (3) the undertaker making an incision in the left side of the groin to find a vein into which embalming fluid could be injected. The blood streaming from the undertaker's cut was the first sign that the man was not yet dead. Our interviewing techniques were standardized in order to minimize any biases that we might convey in the verbal descriptions of our interviewed patients. When first approaching a patient, we might shy away from mentioning our interest in the near-death experience and might act as if we were only looking for routine medical details. The patient could be asked to reconstruct events that might have been remembered immediately before loss of consciousness, and then to recall those immediately upon awakening. Further inquiries could be made about the memories of the period of unconsciousness. As it turned out, the patients were completely unaware of the real intent of the interview until we asked about some experience while unconscious. At this stage, some patients claimed that there were no memories and simply reiterated the fact that they were completely unconscious, passed out and unaware of anything that was happening at the time. Other patients, however, might hesitate, look at us with reserve and answer: “Why do you ask? " Our typical answer was: “I am interested in the experiences and reactions of survivors of critical medical illness. Some patients have shown that they experienced certain events while they were unconscious and completely ill. I am sincerely interested in any such experiences, no matter how they manifest themselves.” After which such a patient usually began to reveal his near-death experience, prefacing his remarks with the following: “You won’t believe this”; “I never told anyone about this, but”; “It sounds stupid, but,” etc. Once it became clear that the patient had an experience while unconscious, we asked permission to audiotape the remainder of the interview. Rarely would the circumstances of the interview (eg, a noisy hospital environment in an open intensive care unit) prevent the judicious use of a tape recorder, and extensive notes could be taken to document the experience, as far as possible, in the patient's own words.
7 The blurting out of the near-death experience could then continue further without our intervention. When the patient described his experience as a whole, we asked him about details that needed clarification. Our goal was to collect enough information about each experience so that it could later be assessed on a core ten individual items derived from Moody's descriptions of experiences in Life After Life. The ten points were: 1. Subjective feeling of being dead. Did the patient describe the experience as if he were dead, or were other interpretations provided? How did the near-death experience compare to personal dreams or drug hallucinations that the patient might have encountered while receiving medicinal drugs for previous illnesses? 2. Predominant emotional content. Did the patient feel calm and/or peace, fear and/or sadness, or no emotion during the NDE? In particular, if a physical body was visible in the throes of intensive care, was the experience frightening and painful? 3. Feeling of separation from the body. Did the patient describe a feeling of being separate from the physical body during the near-death experience? If so, how was this separate self described? 4. Observations of physical objects and phenomena. Did the patient claim to have seen and/or heard events in the room during a period of physical unconsciousness? If so, then where were these observations realized from the physical body or from a point separate from the body? What were the specific details of these observations? 5. An area of darkness or emptiness. Did the patient experience passing through an area of darkness or vacuum at any point during the near-death experience? 6. Life review. Did the patient experience rapid replay of previous life events? If so, how did this replay occur and what was the nature of the events recalled? 7. Light. Did the patient experience the appearance of a blinding light source, and if so, was there some meaning or identification associated with this light? 8. Entering the transcendental world. Did the patient sense another area or dimension other than the surroundings of his physical body and the area of darkness or vacuum? What was the nature of such an environment? Did it contain boundaries or limits that seemed to them, as in Moody's cases, as a "point of no return" to the physical body? 9. Colliding with others. Did the patient feel or see the appearance of other “spirits” during the near-death experience? If so, how were these “spiritual entities” identified? Were they aware of themselves as dead or alive at this time, and was there any communication between the patient and these other characters? If so, what was the nature and content of any such communication? 10. Return. Did the patient experience his return from death as a voluntary or spontaneous occurrence? Was there a specific reason for returning? The structured part of the interview could end with a short set of specific biographical items: age, gender, nationality, years of formal education, profession, place of residence, religious affiliation, and frequency of church attendance. We could also find out whether the patient knew anything about the near-death experience from other resources before his personal encounter with it. Finally, each patient could be asked to rate the effect, if any, that the crisis incident (with or without a near-death experience) had on his fear of death and his belief in the afterlife. At the conclusion of the interview, we were able to spend time with each patient to discuss any questions or feelings they might have. As it turns out, almost every patient who has had a near-death experience has, in one way or another, expressed great gratitude to us for our time and interest in listening to their experience. Many were unable to discuss this with their closest friends or family for fear of ridicule and thus found it reassuring that Sarah or I listened to them in a non-critical manner. The interview time was significant. If a patient had recently experienced a near-death crisis, we wanted to interview him as often after the event as possible while the details were fresh in his mind. However, early interviewing reduced the likelihood that the content of the patient's experience would be influenced by discussions with family members, reading on the topic, etc. However, the patient's health had to be relatively stable for us to consider it appropriate to begin our interview. Retelling a near-death experience was a highly emotional event that could have an adverse effect on a critically ill and unstable patient. The location for the interview depended on the patient's health status. Our goal was to create a private and uninterrupted atmosphere, as much as possible during interviews and audio recordings. If the patient was an outpatient, the interview could be conducted in the most appropriate private hospital room or office. Many
Eight interviews were conducted at the hospital bed as needed. Recording was done on site and could occasionally be interrupted by the constant flow of clinical procedures associated with typical hospital routines (administration of treatment, checking blood pressure, etc.). Sometimes the patient's weakness forced him to end the interview completely and continue the next day. At the outset, Sarah and I recognized that for hospitalized patients recovering from a near-fatal accident, a lengthy interview was not practical. Accordingly, we have limited the number of basic questions to a few especially necessary ones and focused our main efforts on the content of the near-death experience itself. Our interviews began in earnest in May. In time, other physicians and paramedical staff learned about our research and began referring their patients who had had near-death experiences to us. Moreover, we began to conduct conversations with local churches and citizens' groups and consistently acquired several new cases from our audience. We interviewed these individuals too and made every effort to obtain their medical records to document details of their critical incidents. Since these cases came to our attention, they did not fit into the prospective study design described earlier in this chapter. Most of the questions we wanted to answer about NDEs (eg, incidence) required a prospective approach. Therefore, when analyzing our data, these referred cases were kept strictly separate from the prospective, in-hospital interviews. When prospective and referred cases are later depicted in this book to describe various aspects of near-death experiences, each will be labeled with an interview number in Appendix Table I. As the interviews progressed, it became apparent that patients who had a near-death experience at the time of their critical incident had lost a fair amount of their fear of death; This result was absent in patients who experienced similar critical events without such experience. We decided to further document this apparent difference in attitudes toward death between patients with and without NDEs by writing letters to each individual in a study of two Templer and Dickstein death anxiety scales. These scales have been separately validated by published reports in the physiological literature. The scales were sent to each patient at least six months after the interview date. In July 1978, I completed my training in Florida and moved to Atlanta, taking up my current position as an assistant professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and a staff physician at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center. Sarah moved to Louisiana to complete her doctoral studies in social work. My position at Emory and the Veterans Administration Hospital increased my access to near-death survivors to the point that I had daily contact with patients on the general medical wards and in the intensive care units. Moreover, physicians and paramedical staff at other Atlanta hospitals have referred patients to me reporting near-death experiences. So my research continues. This book is a compilation of data collected during a five-year investigation from May 1976 to March =2=- General Characteristics of NDEs In August 1977, a sixty-year-old white male security guard was hospitalized with progressive weakness and drowsiness. Shortly after admission, he was diagnosed with acute intermittent porphyria, a rare, severe metabolic disorder associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome (a paralyzing neurological disorder of unknown etiology). His condition rapidly deteriorated and he was transferred to the intensive care unit on August 29. Despite all the efforts of doctors, the man fell into a coma and insensibility on September 2. His blood pressure required support with intravenous medications. His breathing was completely controlled by the ventilator on an automatic cycle. His eyes were covered with a bandage to prevent corneal ulceration from prolonged exposure to air (he could not close his eyelids). Four days later, his condition had not improved. An electroencephalogram was performed to determine whether life support measures should be continued. The report reproduced: "Strongly abnormal EEG with diffuse slow wave activity" - that is, some brainwave activity was still detectable. The life support system was maintained. On September 10th, the man began to show some reaction to painful stimuli, and the coma began to rise. 34 days later, he was discharged from the intensive care unit after experiencing episodes of complete renal failure, gastrointestinal bleeding requiring multiple blood transfusions, and recurrent pneumonia. On November 1, 1977, I interviewed him in his hospital room about his recent period of unconsciousness. He could only speak in a whisper due to damage to his vocal cords from a recently removed endotracheal tube (inserted into the lungs through the mouth and allowing breathing through a ventilator). With great tension, he began his story: Everything I am telling you really happened. It's very mysterious. I've read some beautiful old stories about this, but I'm really honest. It was an experience that I've never had before. He was so clear... I think once you get into the Big Secret just a little bit like I did, that will be enough to convince you. If anyone asks me about this, I'll say, “Hey, look. Here it is". (I-23)
9 And then he revealed a remarkable experience in which a man watched a medical team work on his unconscious body. At this unexpected meeting, he felt that he had been admitted to the “big secret” of life and death. When we examined the near-death experiences (NDEs) described by this man and others at the same stage, a number of common characteristics emerged. Ineffability Most people who have experienced NDEs have expressed great difficulty in finding the right words to describe their experience. When reviewing our interview transcripts, we were struck by people's attempts to describe the “indescribable.” Many tried to make comparisons between their NDE and dreams or other personal experiences, only to end up saying that such analogies were clearly inadequate. This ineffability of NDE was usually expressed in the following ways: “I will never be able to explain it” (I-44); “There is no feeling that you would experience in your normal life that would be anything like this.” (I-3) Feeling of timelessness All individuals described their NDE as occurring in a timeless dimension. As events during the experience were perceived, all intuitive sense of the duration of the experience was lost. Thus: “You seem to be in a state of suspended animation” (I-53); “I can’t tell the time in a situation like this. It could have been one minute” (I-23); “There was no measurement of time. I don’t know if it was one minute or 5-10 hours” (I-3). A sense of reality A deep sense of reality filled the experience both when it happened and later, in memories. Most individuals emphasized at least once during the entire interview that their NDE was real, “as real as you and me sitting and talking here and now,” as one person presented it. Typical of the emphasis on the reality of the experience were these comments: “This is reality. I know from myself that I was not imagining. This was not the so-called dream or non-existence. Those things really happened to me. It happened. I know. I've been through it” (I-15); “I looked down from the ceiling, and there were no ifs or buts about it” (I-14); “It was real. If you want, I’m quite ready for you to give me sodium pentothal. It’s hellishly real” (I-19); “I know it was real. I know I've been there. I know it. And I know that I saw myself there. I could have sworn on the Bible that I was there. I saw things the same way I see them now" (I-63-2) (note: when a person reported more than just NDE, interview number I was made up of the two interview number numbers (i.e. , 63) and the number designation of the private NDE (i.e., 2), from which an excerpt is given). One man even felt that his NDE was “more real than the reality here. After this, the world seems like a mockery of real life and a fiction. Like people playing games. It’s as if we are preparing for something, but we don’t know what” (I-5). Death Experience NDE was interpreted by almost all individuals as a “death experience”—that is, they thought they had died or were dying. This sense of death was a strong intuitive feeling, emerging early in experience. In many cases, physical unconsciousness was a sudden and unexpected occurrence, such as cardiac arrest. In NDE, the feeling of death seemed to unfold without the time given to the person to consciously anticipate the approach of death before losing consciousness. One forty-five-year-old survivor of sudden cardiac arrest in a small community hospital in south Georgia told me that the first thing he realized after losing consciousness was, “Something funny is happening.” I asked him what he meant by this, and he replied: “I realized that I was dead, that I was dead. [I think] I don’t know whether the doctor knows about it or not, but I know it” (I-60). He then went on to describe his NDE. Another survivor of sudden cardiac arrest in the emergency room of a New York hospital put it this way: “And I remember the saying I'm dying. I know I'm dying. Why are people so afraid to die? Why? This is wonderful!" (I-13). The death experience was also described as very real by a forty-six-year-old Georgia man who suddenly lost consciousness during cardiac arrest in 1969 and experienced NDE: “I think I was dead for a while. I mean, at least spiritual understanding. I think my spirit left my body for a while. If this is death, then it is not bad” (I-63-1). In several cases, the "official declaration of death" was described as being made by someone else present at the time of the critical near-death event. One such example was reported by a fifty-five-year-old woman from northern Florida who suffered severe hemorrhagic shock after a major artery in her throat was accidentally severed during a tonsillectomy. Massive bleeding from her mouth and throat began after she recovered from surgical anesthesia and returned to her room. Her description of her near-death experience began with the following observation:
10 I thought to myself: “What’s wrong with me? Something’s wrong, I know.” Then suddenly I thought, “Oh, I'm dying, that's what it is,” and honestly, I was glad about it. I was really happy about dying. Then I heard her *nurse+ scream, “My God, she passed away. Oh, she said she was just going to have her tonsils removed, and she died” (I-41). It seems that this woman's awareness of dying preceded the nurse's announcement that she had indeed died. Not all individuals interpreted their NDE as a death experience. A forty-four-year-old former military pilot who suffered cardiac arrest in a military hospital in 1973 told me that during the resuscitation he felt "alone, standing on the sidelines and watching it all go on as a disinterested observer." When asked about his interpretation of this experience, he replied: Honestly, I just don't know. This is the unknown. It's something like a lot of things that you don't have to believe in, but you don't have to deny them either. I don't know what it was, what caused it, or what kind of phenomenon it was. Really, the only explanation for me was that the brain continued to function even if it was partially dead or starved of oxygen. Everyone thinks you're unconscious, but you continue to perceive objects even when you can't speak or move. Author: Visually perceive them? Person: Visually and clearly. A.: And visually perceived them from a different point of view when they were lying down? CH: It was like a dream. You are separate from the thing and look at it as an observer. A.: But did those things that you saw “in your dreams” actually happen? C: Oh, yes. They really were. It's one of the facts of life that you can't explain. (I-32) This man was not sure how to interpret his NDE, for him it is “one of the facts of life that you cannot explain.” Predominant Emotional Experiences All individuals reporting to the NDE were asked to characterize their emotional experiences during the experience. What was the dominant feeling was a feeling of silence, peace and/or tranquility in clear contrast to physical pain and enduring the experience while the person was in a conscious physical state immediately before or after the NDE. This contrast between pain in the physical body and painlessness during NDE was emphasized by one forty-six-year-old man after his second cardiac arrest in January 1978: *Felt good during NDE+. It didn't hurt. In fact, no feeling whatsoever. I could see, but I couldn’t feel *After regaining consciousness+ it hurt!.. Let’s say it didn’t hurt, but it burned. *Electric shock+ burned all the hair on my chest, blisters here and there. (I-63-2) After cardiac arrest in January 1979, a 55-year-old textile factory worker recalled: “[After resuscitation] I asked him [the doctor] why he brought me back, since [as during the NDE] I had never would have been peaceful and [before that] had those terrible pains for a very long time.” (I-66) The pain from extensive head and internal injuries suffered in a car accident appears to have been left behind during the thirty-two-year-old former paratrooper's NDE. He described it as “wonderful. No noise. Everything is quiet. Everything happens at the same time.” (I-4) A pedestrian accident left another man with multiple skull and leg fractures and subsequent cardiac arrest. Regarding his NDE: “It’s indescribable how you feel. It's truly indescribable. It was so peaceful and calm. As I say, if I had a choice, I would go back there. It's indescribable." (I-8) Emergency open cardiac surgery was performed without anesthesia at the hospital bed of a 54-year-old patient at the Athlanta VA Medical Center. Immediately before the procedure, the man lost consciousness due to profound shock (pericardial tamponade). Before being unconscious, “it hurt so much, it was like someone was hitting you with a hammer with every heartbeat. Every blow was painful." A little later, during NDE: It was the most beautiful moment in the whole world when I left this body!.. Everything I saw was extremely pleasant! I can't think of anything in the world or outside the world that could compare this to. Even the most excellent moments in life cannot be compared to what I experienced.” (I-65)
11 However, periods of momentary sadness during NDE were felt by some as they "saw" the efforts of others to resurrect their lifeless physical body. A 37-year-old housewife from Florida recalled an episode of encephalitis, or brain infection, when she was four years old, during which she was unconscious and not showing signs of life. She remembered "looking down" at her mother from a point near the ceiling, feeling: The greatest thing I remember was feeling so sad that I couldn't let her know that I was okay. . Somehow, I knew that I was fine, but I didn’t know how to tell her. I just looked *But+ there was a very quiet, peaceful feeling. In fact, it was a good feeling.” (I-28-1) Similar sentiments were expressed by a forty-six-year-old man from northern Georgia as he recounted his NDE during a cardiac arrest in January 1978: “I felt bad because my wife was crying and seemed helpless and that was it. You know. But it was nice. It doesn't hurt." (I-63-2) Sadness was mentioned by a 73-year-old French teacher from Florida when she talked about her NDE, which occurred during a serious infectious disease and grand mal seizures at age fifteen: I split up and sat much higher there, watching my own convulsions, and my mother and my maid were screaming and yelling because they thought I was dead. I felt so sorry for them and for my body. Just deep, deep sadness. I could still feel the sadness. But I felt that I was free there and there was no reason to suffer. I had no pain and I was completely free." (I-54-1) Another happy NDE of one woman was interrupted by feelings of remorse over having to leave her children during a post-operative complication that left her on the brink of death and physical unconsciousness: “Yes, yes, I was happy until then.” until I remembered the children. Until then, I was happy that I was dying. I really, really was. It was just a jubilant, cheerful feeling.” (I-41) Feelings of loneliness and fear were sometimes recalled from the moment when a person felt drawn into a region of darkness or vacuum during NDE. Shortly after a nephrectomy (surgical removal of a kidney) at the University of Florida in 1976, a twenty-three-year-old college student collapsed due to an unexpected post-operative complication. In the first parts of her NDE: “There was total blackness all around. If you move very fast, you can feel the walls closing in on you. I felt alone and a little scared.” (I-29) A similar darkness enveloped a 56-year-old man in the final stages of his NDE and “scared” him: “The next thing I remember was how I found myself in complete, complete darkness. It was a very dark place, and I didn’t know where I was, what I was doing there or what was happening and I started to get scared.” (I-8) In each case in which unpleasant emotions (e.g., sadness, loneliness, fear) were encountered during the NDE, they were perceived as short-term experiences as opposed to the pleasant NDE, the overall content described later as pleasurable. One might speculate that this overall evaluation might have been different (i.e., unpleasant) if the experience had abruptly ended at the point at which the unpleasant emotion was experienced. Be that as it may, this was not the case with any of the interviewees in this study. Separation from the Physical Body All individuals in this study who reported NDE described it as taking place outside of their physical bodies. They felt a "core" part of themselves was separate from the physical body, and this part was capable of perceiving objects and events visually. During NDE, the "separate entity" became the person's sole "conscious" identity, with the physical body left behind as an "empty shell." This dichotomy between the "separate entity" and the unconscious physical body, following cardiac arrest and NDE in February 1976, was described by a 54-year-old construction worker from Georgia in the following manner: "I recognized myself lying there about the same as looking at a dead worm or something." . I had no desire to go back into it.” (I-65) 93 percent of individuals perceived their “separate self” as an invisible, intangible object. This was the description given by a forty-eight-year-old firefighter from northern Florida who fell into a deep uremic (kidney failure) coma at the University of Florida during his NDE, while "separated" from his physical body, "there was no sense of being, there was more looks like a spirit If you think about it, you can feel your own clothes next to your skin. But there was nothing like this. There was no sensory sensation that was anything close to the essence.” (I-53) A similar description was given by an 84-year-old retired teacher from Illinois who experienced NDE during severe complications following a hysterectomy in the 1930s: “I was light, airy, and felt transparent.” (I-46) She was so impressed by her own experience then that she wrote the following poems to capture this feeling: Floating under the ceiling, I looked down
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The first serious attention to the process of death was paid in the 60s in connection with the publication of a book entitled “On Death and Dying”, written by the famous Swedish psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. She worked with a former Nazi concentration camp prisoner and became convinced that something unexpected happens at the moment of death.
Doctor Raymond Moody While still a young philosophy student, I came across an experience with Dr. George Ritchie, a psychiatrist from Virginia.
It was announced that Ritchie died of double pneumonia, but he experienced a state of clinical death, which as such had not yet been studied and recognized at that time.
Moody collected similar stories for his future bestseller Life After Life, which began the study of the phenomenon of near-death experiences.
Gradually, scientists from other specialties joined this work. Among them is the American cardiologist Dr. Michael Sabom(Sabom), who published the results of his observations in 1982: “Memories of Death: Medical Research.” Skeptical at first, Sabom sought medical confirmation that such cases were real by testing whether the patient could describe the resuscitation techniques used on him. If so, he could only see them from his floating, disembodied state.
Sabom and Moody asked the scientific community for permission to seriously study this phenomenon. Subsequently it was created International Association for the Study of Near-Death Phenomena- a place where scientists could exchange discoveries and ideas.
In Britain, a branch of this Association was opened Margot Gray, psychologist and practitioner in clinical psychotherapy. Margot herself had a near-death experience while traveling in India in 1976. Her research appeared in the book Back from the Dead.
We largely owe the legalization of these works in the eyes of the scientific community to Dr. Kenneth Ring. He was able to show that religious beliefs, age and nationality are not reflected in experience. As a person interested in altered states of consciousness, he only had to hear the story of what he saw during clinical death to become seriously interested in this problem.
This happened in 1977, and since then Ring has been studying clinical death and related phenomena. It was Ring who created the International Association.
In 1992, Dr. Ring published the results of an in-depth study of near-death experiences compared to alleged "temporary abductions" of people by aliens. Such an idea seemed extremely provocative, if not absurd. But Project Omega showed that these phenomena clearly have something in common.
In both cases, the person is in an altered state of consciousness and experiences similar unusual visual sensations. In the future, both of them return with changed outlooks on life and with enhanced psychic abilities. Dr. Ring believes that, unlike us, such people have a different perception of reality.
David Lorimer, former teacher from Wingester, Chairman of the Association (1992). He says:
“Some scientists describe near-death visions as pure hallucinations because their education causes them to react that way. We have recorded many examples of clinical death without cerebral inoxia (oxygen starvation of the brain). We have now developed a program for classifying and sorting many letters reporting this phenomenon. We will then conduct a scientific study and publish the results in scientific journal articles.”
Dr. Peter Fenwick works as a consultant in neurophysiology at St. Thomas's Hospital and Model Hospital, London. He is also the President of the Association. Dr. Fenwick believes that the mystery of near-death experiences can be explained in more accessible terms:
“The answer depends on whether I adhere to the scientific or conventional point of view. Both can be taken into account. Maybe there is a connection with quantum mechanics. A global perspective on life after death could help us understand its reality, rather than finding a way around it.”
The question naturally arises: is there any other evidence, independent of the descriptions given by people who have experienced death, that would confirm the reality of what we call the death experience? Many people report that when they were outside their body, they saw events taking place in the physical world. Are any of these reports corroborated by other witnesses known to be present?
In a fairly large number of cases, this question can be answered absolutely affirmatively - “Yes!” Moreover, the descriptions of events contained in the testimonies of people who have had out-of-body experiences are very accurate.
Several doctors said they simply could not understand how patients with no medical knowledge could describe the resuscitation procedure in such detail and correctly, while the doctors performing the resuscitation knew for sure that the patients were dead.
On several occasions, patients have reported the astonishment that doctors and others have received when they tell them what happened while they were “dead.”
For example, one girl said that while she was dead and outside her body, she went into another room, where she saw her older sister, who was crying and whispering: “Oh, Katie, please don’t die!” Later, her sister was extremely surprised when Katie told her where she saw her and what she (sister) said at that time.
Kazatsky Oleg Nikolaevich. Yeritsyan Mariam Rafaelovna
Life after life. Review of materials.
Annotation:This collection summarizes existing knowledge about the phenomenon of life after life. The works of R. Moody, A. Ford, M. Sabom, P. Kalinovsky were widely used. Now Russia is entering a new and bright period in its history, interest in spiritual knowledge and spiritual practices is growing everywhere. We hope that this book will help people remember (namely remember, not learn again!) about theirimmortality . We believe that any light shed on this mystery will be for the benefit of all mankind. It is very important that a person has an idea of how the transition to another world occurs. We will try to understand step by step this important issue for everyone. They may object to us: “Anyone who has not died has no right to talk about death. Since no one has yet returned from there, we cannot reliably know what is happening there.” There is a simple answer to this: there are such cases of return. "Today's world is spoiled and does not want to hear about the reality of the spirit and responsibility for sins. It is much more pleasant to think that God is not very strict and that we are safe under a loving God who will not demand an answer. It is better to feel that salvation is assured. In our age we "We wait for pleasant things and often see what we expect. However, the reality is different. The hour of death is the time of the devil's temptation. The fate of a person in eternity depends mainly on how she herself looks at her death and how she prepares for it." Planet Earth is a certain energy and natural environment. To live on planet Earth, you need a certain physical body, a certain “suit” that is most adapted to the conditions of life on Earth. When this “suit” is worn out and a person’s working time (business trip period) on Earth is over, this “suit” does not wash out. The old suit is discarded and the person receives a new suit, a new body. Well, certain laws of the planet itself, the laws of the Universe, do not allow a person to simply “jump” from one suit to another. To change a costume, a person must first die (drop the costume) and then be born again (receive a new costume). As an example of why you shouldn’t be afraid of death, let’s give the story of a soldier who experienced clinical death. This happened in 1917. “Physical death is nothing. You really don’t have to be afraid of it. Some of my friends grieved for me when I passed away. They believed that I really died. But this is what actually happened. I remember perfectly how it all happened. I waited in the bend of the trench for my time to take over the post. It was a beautiful evening, I had no premonition of danger, but suddenly I heard the howl of a shell. There was an explosion somewhere behind. I involuntarily squatted down, but it was too late. Something hit me so hard, hard and hard - in the back of my head. I fell and while I was falling, without noticing even temporarily any loss of consciousness, I found myself outside of myself! You see how simply I am telling this so that you can understand everything better. You will find out for yourself how little this death means... Five seconds later I was standing next to my body and helping two of my comrades carry it along the trench to the dressing room. They thought I was just unconscious, but alive. I didn’t know whether I jumped out of my body forever or temporarily due to the concussion from the shell explosion. You see how little death means, even violent death in war!.. My comrades need not fear death. Some are afraid of it - of course, behind this there is a fear that you can be destroyed, that you will disappear. I was also afraid of this, many soldiers are afraid of death, but they rarely have time to think about it... My body was placed on a stretcher. I kept wanting to know when I would be inside him again. You see, I was so little “dead” that I imagined that I was still alive... I started a new chapter in my life. I'll tell you how I felt. It was like I had been running for a long time until I was sweating, losing my breath, and throwing off my clothes. This clothing was my body; it seemedIf I hadn't thrown it off, I would have suffocated ... My body was taken first to the dressing room, and from there to the morgue. I stood next to him the whole night, but didn’t think about anything, just looked... I still felt like I was waking up in my own body. Then I lost consciousness and fell fast asleep. When I woke up, I saw that my body had disappeared. How I looked for him!.. But soon I stopped looking. Then came the shock! It fell on me suddenly, without warning: I was killed by a German shell, I’m dead!.. What is it like to be dead! I just felt free and easy. My being seemed to expand... I’m probably still in some kind of body, but I can’t tell you much about it. It doesn't interest me. It is comfortable, does not hurt, does not get tired. It seems to be shaped like my old body. There is some subtle difference here, but I can't analyze it... I think I fell asleep for the second time... and finally woke up." We will also give a well-known story about a soldier’s prayer. During World War II, a Red Army soldier was killed in battle Alexander Zaitsev. His friend found in the pocket of the dead man’s tunic a poem written on the eve of the battle. Listen, God, never before in my life I haven't talked to you, but today I want to greet You. You know, from childhood they always told me, That You don’t exist, and I’m a fool to believe. I have never contemplated your creations. And then last night I looked To the starry sky that was above me. I suddenly realized, admiring their twinkling, How cruel deception can be. I don’t know, God, will you give me your hand? But I will tell you and you will understand me. Isn't it strange that in the midst of the most terrible hell Suddenly the light was revealed to me and I saw You? Other than that I have nothing to say. I also want to say that, as you know, The battle will be fierce; Perhaps at night I will knock on You. And so, although until now I have not been Your friend, Will You let me in when I come? But I think I'm crying. My God, You see what happened to me What have I seen today? Farewell, my God! I'm going, I'm unlikely to return. How strange it is that now I am not afraid of death. Faith in God came quite suddenly and this faith destroyed the fear of death. Thus, death as a phenomenon has many aspects, none of which can be called tragic. Death is not a hopeless situation, but a transition from one plane of existence to another. This is not an event that should be feared or feared. We need to understand that our deceased loved ones do not go away. They live in the same Universe as us. The difference is that they are freer than us. Both our worlds are one and the same.
4. Research by Mikhail Sabom
6. Sages about immortality
Plato defined death as the separation of the incorporeal part of a living being, i.e. the Soul, from its physical part, i.e. bodies. Moreover, this non-corporeal part of a person has fewer limitations than his physical body. In his works, Plato often says that the Soul, having separated from the body, can meet and talk with the Souls of other people. After the death of the body, the soul moves to the next stage of existence, and how at the new stage it is looked after by guardian angels. This information surprisingly coincides with modern knowledge, which we will talk about in the last chapters of our collection. In the tenth book of the Republic, Plato tells the myth of Er, the Greek soldier. Er fought in a battle in which many Greeks were killed. Er's body, like the other bodies of his compatriots, was laid on the altar to be burned. After some time, Er came to life. He describes what he saw during his journey in the other world. Er reports that when his Soul left his body, he joined other Souls and they followed the paths that led from the Earth to the kingdom of the future life. Here Er and other souls were stopped and judged by some sacred beings. They were shown everything that they had accomplished during their earthly existence. However, Er himself was not tried. Other souls asked him to return back to people to tell them that there was another world. After this, Er returned to his body. He doesn't remember how this happened. He simply woke up on a funeral pyre. Plato also says that the body is the prison of the soul, and that death is liberation from this prison. According to Plato, the Soul comes into the human body from a higher and more divine realm of existence. Birth is sleep and oblivion, since the Soul, having been born in the body, passes from a state of greatest awareness to a lower level of consciousness and forgets the truths known from out-of-body experience. And this information coincides with what is currently known. (See Chapter 10) Death, on the contrary, is awakening and remembrance. Plato notes that the Soul, separated from the body, can think and reason more clearly than before, and distinguish things much more clearly, see the essence of things. Moreover, after death the Soul appears before a judge who shows the person's deeds, both good and bad. Here are a few quotes from Plato's works. "Death is the separation of the incorporeal part of a living personality, the soul, from its material part - the body." “The soul is not subject to time. The soul can meet and talk with spirits, with the guardian spirit.” “On the way from earth to the future life, souls undergo judgment. Higher beings judge people.” Thales of Miletus, Greek sage who lived in the 6th century BC. e. taught that there is no difference between life and death. "Then why, - asked his opponent, - aren't you dying?" - "Because, - answered Thales, - that it won't make any difference." The oldest book that talks about life after life should be considered Egyptian Book of the Dead(circa 1450 BC). It contains very complete instructions on what should be done to make life in the other world happy. Tibetan "Book of the Dead" - This is an instruction that tells how a person dies. Unlike the Egyptian “Book of the Dead,” which was placed in the tomb as a guide for the soul in the other world, the Tibetan book was intended not only for the dying, but also for the living. This book was compiled over many centuries from the teachings of the sages of Tibet, transmitted orally. It was recorded in the 8th century AD, but even then it was carefully hidden so that it would not fall into the hands of random people. The Tibetan “Book of the Dead” writes that death is an art, you need to prepare for it and you need to be able to meet it. The reading of this book was part of the funeral ceremony. It was also read to a dying person in the last seconds of his life. The book helped the dying man prepare for what he would soon see. This book also helped those living to think correctly about death and not to detain the dying person with their love and emotions, so that he could leave in the right spiritual state, freed from all physical worries. The book contains descriptions of the stages that the Soul experiences after physical death. These descriptions are strikingly similar to what people who experienced clinical death reported. Also, the Tibetan book describes the moments when the Soul is separated from the body. For some time, the Soul plunges into oblivion and is, as it were, in emptiness, although it retains consciousness. A person is very surprised that he is outside his physical body. He sees his relatives and friends weeping over his body, which they are preparing for burial. But when he wants to talk to them, no one sees or hears him. He does not yet realize that he has died, and therefore is confused. When he finally realizes that he has died, he does not know where to go or what to do for some time. Therefore, he does not remain for long in the place where he lived. He notices that he still has a body, which is made of an immaterial substance. In this body he can pass through walls without encountering the slightest obstacle. Movement in space occurs instantly, as soon as he thinks about the place where he would like to go. If during earthly life he was blind or deaf, he will be surprised to discover that he has become sighted and can hear. All of his physical disabilities no longer exist. He may meet other beings in the same state. The book also describes the feeling of immense joy and peace that comes after some time. A person also sees something like a mirror, which reflects his whole life on Earth and all his deeds - good and not so good. ... In the 50s of the twentieth century in the novel James Age "Death in the Family" the state of the soul after death was described. She stays near the grave for some time, wanders around the surrounding places among familiar people, and then goes where she is supposed to. Ernest Hemingway describes a case of temporary death in his novel "A Farewell to Arms!". The story is narrated by the hero of the novel, but apparently what was described happened to the author himself. [: "I felt that I had completely escaped from myself and was flying, and flying, and flying, caught up in a whirlwind. I flew out quickly, all as I was, and I knew that I was dead and that it was in vain to think that you were dying, that’s all."] There are similar descriptions in the domestic literature. In the story Leo Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" the deceased passes through a dark cave, sees pictures of his entire past life and the appearance of a bright light. I had a similar experience Arthur Ford- author of a famous book "Life after death", excerpts from which we widely use in our collection. This is how the author describes his experiences. "I was sick and in critical condition. The doctors did not think I would survive, but, like all good doctors, they continued to do everything they could. I was in the hospital and my friends were told that I would not survive the coming night As if from the outside, without feeling anything other than some curiosity, I heard the doctor say to the nurse: “Give him an injection, he needs to calm down.” I seemed to understand what this meant, but I was not afraid. I just felt I wonder how long it will be before I die. Then I found myself floating through the air above my bed. I saw my body, but did not show any interest in it. I was overcome by a feeling of peace, a feeling that everything around me was good. Then I plunged into a void in which time did not exist. When consciousness returned to me, I found myself flying through space, without any effort, without feeling my body as before. And yet it was still me. Here a green valley appeared, surrounded by mountains, all bathed in the brightest light and so colorful that it is impossible to describe. People came to me from everywhere - people whom I had previously known and believed that they had already died. I knew them all. And although I had not thought about many of them for years, it seemed to me that I was being greeted by those to whom I was attached. It was the personality itself that was recognized rather than its physical characteristics. Their ages have changed. Those who died old became young, and those who died in childhood grew older. I often traveled abroad, where I was greeted by friends who introduced me to local customs and sights that a visitor would like to see. So it was now. I have never been given such a great reception. They showed me everything they thought I should see. In my memory there remain as clear impressions of these places as of those countries where I happened to visit in my earthly life. The beauty of the sunrise seen from the peaks of the Swiss Alps, the Blue Grotto of Capri, the hot dusty roads of India are as powerfully imprinted in my memory as the spiritual world that I know I have visited. The memory of this never faded with time. It's all as vivid and real in my memory as anything else I've ever known. One surprise awaited me: I did not see some people who, according to my assumptions, should have been there, and asked about them. At that same moment, it was as if a thin transparent veil fell before my eyes. The light dimmed and the colors lost their shine and brightness. I could no longer see those with whom I had just spoken, but through the haze I saw those whom I was asking about. They also looked real, but as I looked at them, I felt my body getting heavier and my head filling with thoughts about earthly things. It became clear to me that I now see a lower realm of existence. I called them; it seemed to me that they heard me, but I myself could not hear the answer. Then everything disappeared and in front of me was a creature that looked like a symbol of eternal youth and kindness, radiating strength and wisdom. It said, "Don't worry about them. They can always come here whenever they want, if they want it most." Everyone there was busy. Everyone was constantly doing some mysterious things and looked happy. Some of those with whom I had been intimate in the past seemed to show little interest in me now. Others, whom I had previously known only slightly, became my companions here. I realized that all this was correct and natural. Here our relationships were determined by the law of spiritual kinship. At some point - I had no concept of time here - I found myself in front of a dazzling white building. When I went inside, I was asked to wait in the huge lobby. I was told that I had to stay here until some kind of decision was made in my case. Through the opening of the wide doors, I could distinguish two long tables at which people were sitting and talking - about me. Feeling guilty, I began to review my own life. The picture turned out not very pleasant. The people at the long tables were doing the same thing, but the things in my life that bothered me most didn't seem to interest them very much. Things that are usually considered sins, that I was warned about since childhood, were barely mentioned by them. But serious attention was drawn to such qualities of mine as manifestations of selfishness, narcissism, and stupidity. The word "wastefulness" was repeated again and again, but not in the sense of ordinary intemperance, but in the sense of a waste of strength, talents and favorable opportunities. On the other side of the scale were simple good deeds that we all do from time to time, without giving them much importance. The "judges" tried to determine the main direction of my life. They mentioned that I had not yet “finished what he knew he should have finished.” It turns out that there was some kind of goal in my life, and I did not achieve it. My life had a plan, but I misunderstood it. “They are going to send me back to earth,” I thought, and I must admit, I didn’t like it. I never found out what kind of people these “judges” were. When I was told that I had to return to my body, I had to overcome my own resistance - I did not want to return to this broken and sick body of mine that I left in the Coral Gables hospital. I now stood in front of the door and realized that if I walked through it now, I would find myself in the same place where I was before. I decided I wouldn't go. Like a capricious child, I began to twist and rest my feet against the wall. Suddenly I felt as if I had been thrown into space. I opened my eyes and saw the nurse's face. I was in a coma for over two weeks."
2. The departure of sinners
A person who has spent his entire life searching for material goods and pleasures, who has never thought about God or his own soul, never finds happiness. Also, there are no people around him who truly love him. The departure of such a person, embittered at everyone and everything, is often very difficult. He is not ready to leave, and that is why he dies in despair and fear. A person who experienced temporary death could see the spirits waiting for him. These spirits were supposed to repay him for the suffering that he caused to other people. After returning to life, such a person, as a rule, changed his behavior for the better. Such visions are written about in one of the Christian books: “Before death, the veil hiding the invisible world is lifted by the hand of death, and the dying person sees what is invisible to everyone else around him. The righteous, who depart in peace, see good, bright things and find peace and peace of mind... sometimes when dying For the righteous there is a light, a fragrance, perceived by all present... What will an unrepentant sinner see? What could appear to him from the spiritual world, except the spirits of evil, with whom during his lifetime he entered into an invisible but close community? And now they will meet him to take what belongs to them into their eternal company, into the pitch darkness." Archimandrite Panteleimon writes about sinners: "Having passed into the afterlife, they will all clearly and in detail see their sins on earth. They will be tormented by their conscience, which will become very clear after death. They will also be tormented by desires to which the flesh was accustomed during earthly life, since it is more difficult to satisfy them "It is impossible. They did not strive for the spiritual, but now it is too late; and they will be tormented by distance from God and the proximity of evil spirits." Voltaire suffered greatly before his death. He complained: "I am abandoned by God and people". Turning to God, he asked for another six months of life and promised to become better. The dying Talleyrand saw terrible pictures of hell: "I'm suffering, oh God!" Such visions are the last chance that the Lord gives for a sinful person. This is His call to understand that life is not lived well, and that we need to turn to God in prayer. Repentance and a plea for forgiveness can calm the tormented Soul and ease its fate.
3. Child care
In 1919, during the Civil War, one writer met a widow who had recently lost her only 12-year-old son. He was struck by his mother's calm attitude towards her loss, and she told him about how it happened. The son became seriously ill, and there was a moment when the mother realized that the child was dying. In despair, she remembered the great elder Hieromonk V., who lived in a monastery on the edge of the city. She found an elder in the church, rushed to him and began to beg him to save her child. The elder replied: “I can beg him. But will you take upon yourself all the sins that your son will commit later? What if he becomes a robber or murderer?” These words amazed her and revealed to her something she had never thought about before. The boy's mother and the elder looked at each other in silence for several minutes, as if testing. Then the elder went to the altar, and she returned home, where she found the boy already dead. The woman ended her story with the words: “This death of a being dear to me opened the doors of eternity for me. That is why I am so calm. I understood the mercy of God.”. Often children know that they are dying. Sometimes they talk about it without fear. During illness, children become more serious, as if they had immediately matured. Many people who have seen children die say that in children, as in adults, their facial features take on an expression of peace shortly before leaving. Dr. Kübler-Ross considers this state of rest to be a sign that heralds the imminence of departure. Children at this time can see those who have already died, especially those they loved. One day, sitting at the bedside of a seriously ill child, she talked to him. I often received the answer to my question: “No, I feel good now, dad and Petya are waiting for me.” It turned out that the father and brother of the sick girl died earlier. There are many other similar messages. Children often saw that their relatives were waiting for them, and always only those who had already died. In the last hours of their lives, they never saw their relatives still living on Earth greet them. Nurses working in children's hospitals say that before their death, children often talk with deceased relatives or friends. Cases are described when children saw people who had already passed away, whose death they did not yet know. In addition to their relatives, they can see other deceased children with whom they played, as well as guardian angels. This helps children become familiar with the place they are going to. Seriously ill children, aged from two to seven years, have episodes of the soul leaving the body not only when the body dies, but sometimes even earlier, for example, in semi-oblivion and in sleep. The following case is described in one of the medical journals. The girl, after several episodes of leaving the body, told how good everything she saw was. Her mom didn't like it. Finally, the girl told her father how she met her brother and how good their meeting was. Having finished the story, she added: “But I never had a brother.” Her father began to cry and told her that she did have a brother, but he died three months before she was born and they never told her about him. Sick children are usually very afraid of being alone. They ask mom or nurse not to leave. And then suddenly the child says to his mother with the thoughtfulness of an adult: "Mom, go home, rest, I'm not alone now". Maybe the child sees his father or brother who has passed away and knows that they are waiting for him and will help him.
5. Sudden transition
The soul can leave the body suddenly as a result of an accident or accident, as well as under the influence of strong emotions. Often, care is provoked by an external influence on the human psyche - a threat or suggestion. One such case is described by Dr. Raymond Moody. His patient, a strong, middle-aged man, received intramuscular injections once a week. They can be done painlessly by inserting a needle while slapping your palm on the buttock. The splash is not strong, it should be very sharp and short. There is no pain, but the patient may shudder from surprise. His patient had already received two or three such injections, but each time he was restless, waiting for this harmless injection. At his last visit to the doctor, after receiving an injection, he fell face down on the floor without breathing and without a pulse. The doctor, in alarm, rushed to turn him on his back to perform a cardiac massage, but he suddenly sighed, and after a few minutes they were talking peacefully and laughing about what had happened. The doctor did not attach any importance to all this - a simple fainting. Two days later the doctor left for a month's vacation. The next injection was administered by his deputy. The same thing happened as after the previous injection. The patient fell, but this time he did not return to life. In the book "Frank Tales of a Wanderer" The following case is described. The peasant convoy drove up to a flowing pond with drifting ice. The young peasant wanted to bathe and began to undress. They dissuade him and don’t let him in. He breaks free. “Oh, well, here you go!” - and, jokingly, they pour cold water from a bucket on him. He cries out: “Oh, how good,” and calmly lies down on the ground and dies. An autopsy did not determine the cause of death. Michel Montaigne in the first volume of his "Experiences" describes such a case. There was a war between King Ferdinand and the widow of the Hungarian King John. At the Battle of Buda, the German commander Reischach saw the body of a horseman carried out of the battle, who fought in front of everyone with excellent courage. Reishakh decided to find out who this horseman was. The dead man's armor was removed. It turned out that it was his own son. Everyone around him started crying. He didn’t say a word, didn’t shed a tear. Straightening up to his full height, he stood there with his eyes riveted on the dead body. The power of his grief was so great that he, numb, fell to the ground dead.
6. Suicide
Are there any differences in the experiences of those who die naturally and those who commit suicide? We can say that the experiences of suicides returned to life on earth were far from joyful. A man who commits suicide after the departure of his beloved wife finds himself in such terrible conditions that he cannot find words to describe them. As one woman said , "if you leave this world with a suffering soul, your Soul will suffer there too". This suggests that the conflict that the person tried to resolve through suicide remains in life after life, but new difficulties appear. In another world, he will no longer be able to do anything to solve his problems, and, in addition, he has to see the tragic consequences of what he has done. One man, depressed by his wife's departure, shot himself, "died", but was later revived. He tells: "I didn't end up where my wife was. I ended up in a terrible place... I immediately saw what a mistake I had made... I thought, I wish I hadn't done this." As a result of their actions, suicides experience great suffering. By their actions they caused grief to others. They cry, ask for forgiveness from those to whom they are guilty, but they are not heard. Others who experienced this unpleasant state said that they felt that they were doomed to remain in this situation for a long time. They said that suicide is a great misfortune, which is accompanied by cruel punishment. Punishment for the fact that a person prematurely wanted to free himself from fulfilling a certain life purpose.
Chapter 8. After leaving
1. State of the Soul immediately after leaving
There are stories that people saw something similar to a large scientific center. In huge halls people work in complete selflessness. There are complex machines, diagrams and drawings all around. It’s as if some kind of complex research is underway. Sometimes people see what they expected to see. Christians see angels, the Mother of God, Jesus Christ, patriarchs. Hindus see Hindu temples. Non-believers see figures in white, young men, sometimes they see nothing, but they feel someone’s presence. They can also see light. But, in any case, they did not want to return to life on Earth. Christian teaching promises a meeting with departed loved ones and teaches that the Soul will very soon be met by a guardian angel, to whom one must pray during life. The angel will guide and accompany the soul during its first steps in the new world. Most people describe their new state as extremely pleasant and bright. The longer a person is outside the body, the more vivid his experiences. A woman who was brought back to life after a heart attack describes her condition this way: “I began to experience completely unusual sensations. I felt nothing but peace, relief, just peace. I found that all my worries had disappeared, and I thought to myself: “How peaceful and good, and there is no pain.” Almost everyone who had a similar experience spoke of peace and quiet. They were surrounded by love and felt safe. However, there are isolated stories that some went out not into the light, but into the “dull darkness,” into the “gray twilight,” into darkness. There are stories about repulsive figures, a lake of fire, and so on. Christian writers warn that evil spirits can take any form in order to mislead the soul by giving false advice. We will return to this issue a little later. A person may also hear some noise, sometimes unpleasant. In some cases, this may be soft melodic music. Often, simultaneously with the sound effect, people have the feeling of moving at very high speed through some dark space - a tunnel. Often those who have returned to life cannot accurately find words to describe the events that happened to them. These events lie outside of human experience, and therefore it is really difficult for people to describe what happened. Many people emphasize this. “There are simply no words to express what I want to say. There is no such thing on Earth. There are no such words in our language. This is not our world of three dimensions.” One woman described it very succinctly: “It’s a real problem for me to try to explain this to you now, because all the words that I know are three-dimensional. At the same time, when I was experiencing this, I kept thinking: “Well, when I took geometry, they taught me that there are only three dimensions, and I always believed that. But this is not true. There are more of them. Yes, of course, our world in which we now live is three-dimensional, but the other world is most definitely not three-dimensional. And that's why it's so hard to tell you about it. I have to describe it to you in words that are three dimensional. This is the best way to explain what I mean, but this explanation is not entirely adequate. I can't really give you the full picture." There are striking similarities in all the stories about the dying experience, despite the fact that the narrators are completely different people. After the transition, some change occurs in the emotional sphere of the individual. She loses interest in her body and what happens to it. No one regretted the material losses, but there remained love for family, concern for abandoned children, and sometimes there was even a desire to go back, despite the fact that “there” is better than on Earth.
2. Glowing creature.
Many people brought back to life describe an amazing meeting with a luminous being, from whom emanates such love and warmth as they have never met. The Soul that has left the body in the presence of the Light experiences its indescribable love and feels that it is safe. Here's how one patient describes his experience: "In the presence of the Light, you experience indescribable love and security. It is difficult to convey. The Light is absolute love. In His presence, you understand what you could be." Also, almost everyone claims that the creature had a personality. A person feels an irresistible attraction to this light and is inexplicably drawn to it. A person in his presence feels complete relief and warmth. Light has always brought love, understanding and peace. The descriptions of otherworldly light are very interesting. This is not the kind of sunlight we are used to on Earth. Those who tried to describe this light found it difficult to find words: “It was not light, but the absence of darkness, complete and complete. This light did not create shadows, there was simply an absence of darkness. The light was not visible, but it was everywhere, you were in the light.” Saint Gregory Palamas wrote: “During mystical contemplation, a person sees not with the intellect and not with the body, but with the spirit; he knows with complete confidence that he supernaturally perceives a light that surpasses all other light, but he does not know by what organ he perceives this light.”. It is written in the sacred books that people perceive this light when they see or feel the presence of heavenly spiritual forces. This light shone at the baptism of Jesus Christ, at His resurrection, at the transfiguration on Mount Tabor. When the figures of the Mother of God, angels, and saints appear to those living on Earth in a dream or in reality, they are always surrounded by light, often a blindingly bright light. Light is understood in different ways. Religious people consider the light to be Jesus Christ. It is interesting that the “Tibetan Book of the Dead” also writes about meeting the light and that, when approaching the light, one should try to feel only love and sympathy. There is an interesting description in the New Testament of the Bible in the book “The Acts of the Holy Apostles,” chapter 26, where the Apostle Paul talks about his conversion to Christianity. He persecuted Christians until his famous vision and revelation on the road to Damascus. This is how this light is described: 13. In the middle of the day, on the road, I saw, sir, a light from the sky, surpassing the radiance of the sun, shining around me and those walking with me. 14. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Hebrew: “Saul, Saul! (“Paul, Paul!”) Why are you persecuting Me? It’s hard for you to go against the pricks.”
3. First trial
Soon after its appearance, the luminous creature begins to talk to the person who has come. Often people claim that they did not hear any sounds coming from the creature. There was a direct transfer of thoughts. Although this communication did not take place in the person’s native language, he understood everything perfectly. One woman describes her experience this way: “When the Light came, He asked me: “What have you done in your life? What can you show Me?" And then these pictures began to appear. They were very clear, three-dimensional and colorful. And they moved. My whole life passed before my eyes. Here I am, still a little girl. Then I got married. The time that stood before my eyes for the longest time was when I accepted Jesus Christ. That was many years ago." She continues: "In every episode, and the Light chose them, He showed me the most important thing. He did not blame, but kind of instructed me that I need to learn love and just study, acquire knowledge, because this is a continuous process, and I will continue it after that how He will come for me a second time. The Light said that this time I will come back." Thus, the luminous being asks a person questions that allow him to evaluate his life: “Are you prepared for death?”, “Are you ready to die?”, “What have you done in your life that you can show me?”, “What significant things have you done in your life?” These questions are asked without judgment. They feel only love and support, no matter what the answer may be. The content of the questions forces a person to rethink the purpose and meaning of his life. Also, a creature of light shows him pictures of the most important events of his life, passing before a person’s mind’s eye, often in reverse order. The only intention of a being from light is to help a person analyze the path he has traveled, to learn certain lessons from everything he has passed. While watching, the luminous creature emphasized that the two most important things in life are : learn to love other people And to get knowledge, that is, to get rid of ignorance. Christianity has always taught that soon after the death of the body the Soul comes to its first judgment. Each of us, after we leave, will see our entire past life and will be able to appreciate it. We will see not only our deeds, but also their consequences. "At the end of a man is the revelation of his works"(Sirach 2:27). Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov writes about the first trial: “After the end of earthly life, there is a private trial. It is more of self-awareness, lynching, than a judicial verdict, it is a trial of conscience before the face of God.”. The review of their earthly life, which people brought back to life talk about, is a private court, a court of their own consciousness. In essence, this is not a trial, but a self-assessment of one’s life on earth, the Lord’s help to the Soul entering the second part of its life. The soul is shown all its actions, thoughts, feelings, as well as their consequences for other people. When you see your deeds that have brought suffering to other people, you may feel remorse, grief, and a desire to improve. At this first judgment the Soul feels naked. Deception and concealment are not possible. During life we hide a lot, but here everything is visible, including thoughts and intentions. The motives are also visible: if something was done out of love for others, the Soul rejoices, if for selfish reasons, it is ashamed. Seeing the Light, the Soul experiences joy and bliss. Light is love, understanding and compassion. In His presence, envy, anger, hatred are impossible, no negative emotions are possible. The first court sums up the results, evaluates what has been done during earthly life, shows the soul its mistakes and directs it to the right path.
4. Return
At some point, a person discovers that he has approached a certain barrier or border that separates earthly and subsequent life. At this moment, a person is given the opportunity to choose - to remain in another world or return to earthly life. The glowing creature may ask: "Are you ready to die?" Sometimes a person is ordered to return to Earth against his will. His soul has already managed to get used to the feeling of joy, love and peace, but its time has not come yet. One person describes his condition after returning as follows: “From the moment this happened, I always think about what I did in my life and what I should do next? I began to think: how did I live? Did I live well: for everyone or just for myself? Previously, I would react to something simply impulsively, but now I began to weigh everything. Now it seems to me that any action, any business should first be thoroughly thought through and then done. Now I try to build my life on more meaningful things, on things that bring joy to both my soul and heart. I try to avoid prejudice and not judge people. I try to do only good, because it is good for everyone, not just me. And it seems to me that I have now begun to understand life much better. I feel that I owe this to what happened to me, that is, to my experience of death, to what I saw and experienced then.” Another person said the following: "Our mind is a much more important part of us than the look and shape of our body. After this happened to me, the mind began to interest me more than the body. The body is only a shell for the mind. Now I don't care what I look like. The most important thing in a person is consciousness, his rational principle." One woman says almost the same thing: “It has made life so much more valuable to me.” Sometimes after such events a person begins to think that his purpose on Earth is to learn to love his neighbor. In conclusion, we would like to cite an excerpt from one testimony, which contains most of the episodes discussed above. In addition, there is one unique moment in this narrative: a luminous creature tells a person in advance about imminent death, but subsequently decides to save his life. “At the time it happened, I was suffering from severe attacks of bronchial asthma and emphysema; I still have such attacks now. One day, during a severe coughing attack, I apparently damaged a vertebra in the lower part of the spine. On Monday evening I fell asleep and slept peacefully through the night. But early on Tuesday morning, I woke up in terrible pain. I turned from side to side to get a more comfortable position. Just at that moment a light appeared in the corner of the room, under the ceiling. It was just a glowing ball-like ball, not too big, no more than 12-15 inches in diameter, and as soon as it appeared, a strange feeling took over me. I can't call it a feeling of horror, no, it wasn't like that. It was a feeling of complete peace and incredible relief. I saw the hand that the light extended to me. As soon as he did this, I felt like something was pulling me out and that I was leaving my body. I looked back and saw myself lying on the bed as I continued to move along the ceiling of the room. Now that I left my body, I took the same form as the light. I had a feeling - I will use my own words to describe all this, since I never heard anyone talk about anything like it - that this form was definitely of a spiritual nature. It was not a body, but rather just a puff of smoke or steam. It looked almost like a cloud of cigarette smoke, as we see it at the moment when it floats near the lamp. However, this form was painted. I distinguished orange, yellow and also, not very clearly, indigo and blue. This spiritual essence did not have a form similar to that of the body. She was more or less round, but she had what I will call hands. I remember this because when the light came down to me, I could take his outstretched hand with my hand. At the same time, the palm and arm belonging to my body remained motionless - I could see them when I rose towards the light. But then, when I did not use these spiritual hands, my spirit again took on a spherical shape. So, I was drawn to the same place where the light was, and we began to move through the ceiling and wall of the room into the corridor, then through the corridor down, along the floors and so on to the bottom floor of the hospital. We passed through doors and walls without any difficulty. It was as if they simply parted in front of us as we approached them. Everything looked like we were traveling. I know we were moving, but the speed wasn't too fast. At some point I suddenly realized, almost instantly, that we had reached the recovery room. Before that, I didn’t even know where this room was in this hospital, but we were there and I was again under the ceiling of the room, in the corner. I saw doctors and nurses walking around in their green coats, I saw beds standing there. This creature said, or rather showed me: “This is where you will be when they bring you after the operation. They will put you on that bed over there, but you will not wake up. You will not know anything that happens to you from the moment you are placed to the operating room until I come for you some time later." I don't want to say that all this was said in words. It was not an audible voice, because then those in the room would have heard it, but they did not. It was more than just my own idea. It was all so vivid that I can’t say I didn’t hear it or feel it. It was something very specific that was conveyed to me. While I was in this spiritual form, I perceived everything I saw much faster compared to my normal state. I was quite surprised: “This is what he wants to show me.” I instantly understood everything he meant. This was certainly the case. I saw the bed that was immediately to the right, as you entered the room, I understood that this was the bed on which I would lie, and that he was showing me all this for a specific purpose. Then he told me why. He showed me all this because he didn't want me to be afraid of the moment when my spirit leaves my body, but he wants me to know what awaits me. He wanted to convince me not to be afraid, because he would not come to me right away, that first I would have to go through other sensations, but that he would guard me and in the end would be with me. Immediately after I joined him for this post-op journey and became a spirit myself, we became one in a sense, but we were also separate at the same time. But as far as I could tell, he was completely in charge. Even when we passed through walls and ceilings, it seemed that we were so united that no force could separate me from him. At the same time, there was a feeling of peace, calm and clarity that I had never experienced before. So after he told me all this, he took me back to my room. I saw my body still lying in the position in which I had left it, and at the same instant I entered it. I suppose I was outside my body for about five or ten minutes, but the normal passage of time has nothing to do with that state. I don't even remember if I thought about it at the time. Now all this is so surprising to me. It was all so vivid and real, more real than in ordinary life. The next morning I was no longer sick at all. As I shaved, I noticed that my hands weren't shaking like they had been for six or eight weeks before. I knew I was going to die, but it didn't sadden me or frighten me. I didn't think, say, "What could I do to avoid this?" I was ready. On Thursday afternoon, that is, the day before the operation, I was in my room when I became restless. My wife and I had a son, and we also took in a nephew, with whom we had quite a lot of trouble. So I decided to write one letter to my wife and another to my nephew, stating what was bothering me and hiding the letters so that they could only be found after the operation. After I wrote two pages of a letter to my wife, it was as if something inside me broke and I burst into tears. It was the first time I cried so hard. I was afraid that with my sobs I would attract the attention of the sisters, and they would come running to find out what had happened. But I didn't hear the door open. This time I felt his presence again, but this time I did not see any light. Thoughts or words only reached me, as before. He told me: “Jack, why are you crying? I think you will be fine with me.” I replied: “Yes, I’m crying. I really want to go to you.” The voice asked, “Then why are you crying?” I replied: “We have a rather difficult relationship with our nephew, you know, and I’m afraid that my wife won’t know how to raise him.” I tried to put into words how I felt and how I wanted to help my wife raise him. I also said that my presence could put everything in place. After that, thoughts came to me from this creature: “Since you ask for another and think about others, Jack, I will help you with this. You will live until your nephew becomes a grown man.” I stopped crying and tore up the letter I had written so that my wife wouldn’t accidentally find it. Dr. Coleman came to see me that evening and told me that there would be many difficulties with the operation, so that I would not be surprised if after the operation I woke up and found myself surrounded by hoses, pipes, machines, and that it might take some time for me to recovered from anesthesia. I didn't tell him anything about my experience, so I just nodded and said that I would take into account everything he said. The next morning I was operated on. The operation took a long time, but was successful. When I woke up, Dr. Coleman was next to me. I told him, “I know exactly where I am now.” He asked, “What bed are you on?” I said, “The one first on the right is where you leave the hall.” He laughed, but, of course, thought that I was talking while under anesthesia. I wanted to tell him what had happened to me, but just at that moment Dr. Watt came in and asked: “He is awake. What do you want to do?” Dr. Coleman replied, “There’s really nothing to do. I’ve never been so shocked in my life as I am now. I’m here with all my equipment, and it turns out he doesn’t need anything.” When I was able to get out of bed and look around the room, I saw that I was on the same bed that the light had shown me a few days ago. This happened three years ago, but I remember everything just as vividly as then. This is the most fantastic thing in my life and I have changed a lot after this. I've only told my wife, my brother, my pastor, and now you. I'm not trying to make any radical change in your life and I don't mean to brag. It’s just that after this incident I no longer have any doubts. I know there is life after death." Literature Arthur Ford. Life after death. Raymond Moody. Life after life. Pyotr Kalinovsky. Death and after. M. Sabom. "Memories of Death." S.I.Ozhegov, N.Yu.Shvedova. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, publishing house "Az", 1992. V. Dal, Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language (modern spelling of words), publishing house "Citadel", Moscow, 1998.