The phenomenon of near-death experience has several common characteristics. Below we will classify and list some typical examples.
1, the soul leaves the body and floats in the air.
Dr. Pim. Truck. Laumel of Cardiovascular Center of Dutch National Hospital is a famous scholar who studies near-death experience in contemporary times. He and his colleagues conducted an eight-year follow-up study on the near-death experience of 334 patients aged 26-92 who were successfully rescued in 1988- 1992, and published the research results in the international authoritative academic journal The Lancet in 20001+02, which attracted academic attention.
In Dr. Raman's research report, the most striking thing is the experience of some patients' souls in vitro, which is difficult to explain from the perspective of neurophysiology, because patients have completely died when they experience near-death experience, their hearts stop beating and breathing, their brain waves disappear, and their brain tissues are completely inactive. If people's thinking consciousness is produced by brain nerve activities, how can patients have conscious activities independent of the body, sober and orderly in the state of clinical death?
For example, a 44-year-old patient had a heart attack and fell on the lawn. Passers-by saw it and called an ambulance to the hospital for emergency treatment. At that time, the man had been declared clinically dead, and various medical indicators showed that the hope of rescue was very slim. But Dr. Raman is still a dead horse, and continues to give him cardiac pacing and artificial respiration. When preparing for artificial respiration, Dr. Raman found that the patient had dentures in his mouth, so he took them out of the patient's mouth. After an hour and a half of rescue, the patient finally got his heartbeat and blood pressure, but he was still in a coma. After waking up, the patient told Dr. Lamanna that he knew where his false teeth were. Dr Lamanna was very surprised, and then the patient explained, "Yes, you were there when I was taken to the hospital. You take my false teeth out of my mouth and put them in a car with many medicine bottles. There is a drawer under the car, so you put my dentures in that drawer. "
Dr. Raman was very surprised because he knew that the patient was in a deep coma. Through further conversation, Dr. Lamanna learned that the patient was floating in the air, looking down at the body lying in bed and the busy medical staff, and eagerly tried to communicate with the medical staff and asked them not to stop the rescue work, but his efforts were unsuccessful, and no one could see him in the air. All the rescue details and scenes described by the patient are consistent with the real situation at that time. If we attribute the patient's conscious activity at that time to his cranial nerve activity, how can we explain the fact that he can see everything clearly without brain activity?
Melvin Morse, M.D., author of George Washington University's book Closer to the Light, and Paul Perry, former editor-in-chief of American Health magazine, described such an out-of-body experience:
OG Farhat is a 63-year-old man. She is waiting for a heart transplant. A serious virus infection attacked her heart tissue, causing her heart to stop beating. She was rushed to the University of California Surgery Center. All her family came to the hospital, except her son-in-law, who stayed at home and didn't come.
Although the transplant operation went smoothly, at 2: 00 a.m. 15 a.m., the newly transplanted heart of Og suddenly stopped beating. The transplant team fought for more than three hours and finally rescued Og. In the morning, Og's family was told that the operation was successful, but they were not told any details.
When Og's family called to tell her son-in-law the good news. Her son-in-law also has news for them. The son-in-law said that he already knew the news of the successful operation. At 2 am, 15, he was sleeping and found Og beside the bed. Og told him not to worry, she would be fine, and told him to tell the news to her daughter. Og's son-in-law wrote down the news and time at that time, and then went to bed again.
Later, when Og woke up, her first sentence was: "Did you get my message?"
Dr. Paul Perri and Dr. Melvin Morse carefully studied the near-death experience of Og, and found that every detail had objective evidence, and even saw a note left by Og's son-in-law, which read the news.
Out-of-body experience is not only experienced by dying people, but also by some healthy people. Dr. Charles T. Tart, a professor at the University of California, described his experiments on some healthy people who claimed to be "out-of-body experiences" in the academic journal Journal of Near Death Studies published at 1998.
In the mid-1960s, Ms. Z, who had looked after their children, told her doctor that when she was a child, she often felt "spiritually awake" from a deep sleep, and her soul floated outside the body near the ceiling, overlooking her body from there. This experience is obviously different from dreaming. At first she thought it was a normal phenomenon in sleep. Later, I mentioned it to others once or twice before I realized that this was not the case, and she no longer mentioned it to others easily. She said she still had this experience sometimes. Dr. Tate told her that there were two theories about "separation of souls". One thinks that people's thoughts really leave the body for a short time, and the other thinks that it is completely an illusion. The doctor suggested that she could distinguish the two by writing down ten numbers from one to ten on ten pieces of paper, putting them face down in a box next to the table, and flipping through them before going to bed, but not looking. If she really had an out-of-body experience while sleeping, just read the note and remember the numbers written on it. The next morning, check whether the numbers in her memory match those on the note. A few weeks later, when Dr. Tate saw her again, she told Dr. Tate that she had tried seven times and the numbers she remembered were accurate every time.
Then Dr. Tate invited her to his laboratory for a four-night test. Every night, the doctor tests her with a commonly used electroencephalograph that can distinguish different stages of sleep, and continuously records the EEG data when she sleeps every night. He also tested her eye movements, skin resistance, heart rate, blood pressure and so on.
In order to determine whether she is really a "soul in vitro" when she feels in vitro, the doctor adopted the following procedure:
Every night, after the subject was lying in bed and the instrument showed that she was about to fall asleep, the doctor went to his office in the aisle, randomly opened the prepared random number table, dropped a coin on the table, chose the random number where the coin fell, and immediately wrote down the first five digits on a small piece of paper. Then put the note in an opaque clip, go back to the lab where the subject is, and put it on a shelf when the subject can't see the note. If a person's eyes are about 6.5 feet from the ground, he can clearly see the contents of the note. Other than that, the subject could not see the note. Then the doctor put the subject to sleep, and asked her to wake up immediately after the "out-of-body experience" phenomenon, so that he could know the instrument records when the "out-of-body experience" phenomenon occurred. She was also asked to write down the contents of the notes when the soul floated high enough, and wake up immediately after the phenomenon of "soul leaving the body" and tell the doctor its contents.
During the four-night test, Ms. Z * * * reported that she felt "soul floating" five times, three of which felt like part of her soul had an out-of-body experience, and two of them had an out-of-body experience. In the first three nights, Ms. Z reported that although she occasionally experienced a soul floating or leaving her body, she could not control it to float high enough to see the numbers in her notes (the numbers are different every night). On the fourth night of the test, the EEG showed that sometimes it was like the first stage of sleep, and sometimes it was like waking up briefly within 7 minutes from 5: 57 am. Then Ms. Z woke up and told the doctor that the number on the note was 25 132. The doctor wrote down the number and confirmed that it was indeed the number on the note. The chance of guessing five digits at random is one in a hundred thousand!
Kenneth Ring, a professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut, tells the story of a 48-year-old woman's near-death experience in her masterpiece "Towards Omega —— The Significance of Finding Near-death Experience":
"Bang, I left, and then I floated to the ceiling. When I look down, I can see the doctor's hat and head. I can tell my doctor, because his hat has a special sign, and the scene is very clear and vivid. I am very nearsighted. I had to walk fifteen feet to see what others could see 400 feet away, so this incident (seeing the special sign on the doctor's hat) surprised me very much. They connected me to a machine behind my head, and my first thought was, "Oh, my God, I can see it, I can't believe it, I can see it". I can read the numbers on the machine behind my head. Everything is clear. From where I am, I can see that the lampshade has fallen down. The top of the lampshade is dirty. I remember thinking, "We must tell the nurses about this".
Melvin Morse, M.D., George Washington University, and Paul Perry, former editor-in-chief of American Journal of Health, co-wrote "Towards the Light", which recorded another vivid out-of-body experience: a 25-year-old woman, Paula, had a cardiac arrest during a heart attack. After being rescued, she described: I floated on the ceiling and looked down. There are three. The doctor will come soon. After a brief examination, the doctor said, "She's dead". I slipped out of the room and came to the corridor. I saw my aunt, who is a nurse in this hospital. She is saying to others, "It's a pity that Paula used to be such a good little mother". I wonder why she used her old stuff. I tried to talk to them and tell them that I was still here, but I couldn't communicate with them. I can even sneak into another room. I heard a patient complain: "It's too noisy". The nurse said to her, "Paula next door is very ill." Then I floated back and saw that my husband had come. He said to the doctor, "What can I tell the children?" I think I may be dead. My second thought is not fear, but that it will be an interesting experience. I want to tell them, "I'm here. I can even see and hear them talking, but I can't communicate with them. This is very frustrating. When I watched them come to save me, the room became very bright and a colorful tent came down. Above me, in its center, a very bright lamp is flashing. I know the bright center is where I want to go. Then several people came out of the light. They are not gods or angels, but ordinary people like me. Finally I returned to my body. I saw the doctor shaking my shoulder and shouting, "Paula, Paula, come back". I went back to my body and woke up.
2. Go through the tunnel and talk to the light.
In the narration of many near-death experiencers, they once crossed a tunnel at a very high speed and saw extremely bright light at the end of the tunnel. For example, Dr Raymond Moody, who was the first to systematically study the near-death experience, mentioned the account of a near-death experiencer in her masterpiece "Life after Life": "The first thing happened like that, very quickly, and I passed through a dark and empty space at an extraordinary speed. I think you can compare it to a tunnel. I'm like riding a roller coaster in the park. It's incredible.
Dr Raymond Moody mentioned the near-death experience of a nine-year-old girl in her other book, Beyond Light. After she was rescued from appendectomy, she recalled: "I heard them say that my heart stopped beating." I found myself floating on the ceiling and looking down. I can see everything from there. Then I went to the corridor. I saw my mother crying. Then a beautiful lady came up to me and wanted to help me because she knew I was afraid. We walked through a tunnel. The tunnel is dark and long. We walked very fast. At the end of the tunnel, there is a bright lamp. I am very happy. "
Many near-death experiencers not only saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but also communicated with life in the light. In Beyond the Light, Dr Raymond Moody described the near-death experience of a boy aged1/kloc-0. In a serious traffic accident, the boy was hit by a car while riding a bicycle, and then people took him to the hospital. At that time, the boy's heartbeat and brain waves had stopped. When he was rescued, he recalled: "I don't remember being hit, but suddenly I looked down at myself. I saw that I was crushed under my bike, my leg was broken and I was bleeding. Then an ambulance came. I want to know why people are so anxious, because I think I am fine. The ambulance drove away. I tried to catch up with it. I'm on the ambulance. Follow it. I think I'm dead. I looked around and found myself in a tunnel. There is a bright light at the other end of the tunnel, which leads to the sky. I ran out of the tunnel with all my strength. In that case, I saw many people, but I didn't know any of them. I told them I had an accident, and then they said I had to go back. I'm not dead yet, and I have to go back to my parents and sister. I stayed in the park for a long time, at least I felt it for a long time. I think everyone there loves me very much and they are very happy themselves. The tunnel whirled like a whirlpool. I don't know why I am in the tunnel, but I don't want to go back in the light. I almost forgot my body. When I was climbing up in the tunnel, two people were helping me. I saw them coming out of the light. They have been accompanying me from the tunnel to the light. Then they told me that I had to go back. I came back from the tunnel and found myself lying in a hospital bed.
There is a case in a paper published in the Journal of Dying Research (16 (4) Xia 1998): Ms. C, aged 3 1, works as a nurse in a medical clinic. At the age of eight, she was sent to the hospital for examination because of hematuria. She accidentally ruptured the portal vein during a renal biopsy. When she was discharged from the hospital, she and her parents were warned not to do strenuous exercise. But when she got home, she climbed a tree, which caused her vein to rupture again and she fainted for two days. She was unfortunately infected with hepatitis when she was in hospital for blood transfusion, which made her health deteriorate rapidly. One day not long after, she told her mother, "I'm leaving." Soon she will be in the test tube. She saw a tunnel. She feels comfortable in the tunnel, which is unusual for her, because the tunnel is dark and she is afraid of the dark. At the other end of the tunnel, she saw the light, which she now calls the power of God. After leaving the tunnel, she met a man dressed in burlap. She asked, "Are you Jesus?" The man said no, but didn't tell him who it was, only that he had come to "help" her. Then Ms. C talked to him. They talked about death as a choice, and she could choose to stay or return to her body. She recalled that when they talked, her eyes could see her mother in the hospital through the tunnel. She said they made her feel her mother's feelings. Then she was told that her liver can be "repaired", but her kidney can't, because her kidney problem is a "karma carrier" and she is destined to be with her. She went on to discuss her life path with men. She made a wish that she could become a nurse. When she grows up, she will collect this information and share it with others. In return for this wish, she was assured that she would always be able to communicate with her other side. After she woke up, her liver recovered so quickly that even the medical staff were amazed and could not explain it. The next day's laboratory examination showed that she had no symptoms of hepatitis.
In the winter 2000 issue of the Journal of Dying Research (19 (2) Winter 2000), Dr. Richard J. Bonenfant described such an example:
It happened at a family gathering in the summer of 198 1. At that time, the client was swimming in the long Florida-shaped swimming pool at home. For years, she has been training herself to dive all the way in the swimming pool. When she reached the deeper end of the pool and was kicking the wall to return, a drunken guest jumped into the water directly above her. As a practical joke, he caught the client and dragged her to the bottom. Because the client just finished his first dive and didn't breathe, she struggled to get rid of him, but soon lost consciousness.
Then, the customer found himself floating slowly in the dark. Although she still feels confused and confused at this time, she is no longer afraid and panic about drowning. On the contrary, she feels comfortable and completely enthusiastic in the new environment.
She felt that she was slowly rising along an inclined angle, just like sitting on an invisible escalator. When she gradually adapted to the surrounding dark environment, she could see far away through the darkness. She saw a photo of her childhood in which her sister was still alive. This scene briefly appeared in a bright dark background, and the whole picture appeared in a box like a TV. In this scene, her sister is about 34 years old, wearing a ponytail and playing with a cat at home. Then a similar scene appeared, which was her dead dog. Neither scene is accompanied by any sound. Then she noticed a beam of light clearly appearing in front of her from a distance. As she approached the beam, its size and brightness gradually increased. She felt that she was crossing a dark tunnel, and the speed changed from slow to fast. She felt awe, peace and love. She recognized a beautiful woman in the light beam, dressed in white, with dark brown hair and blue eyes, and held out her hands. This angelic woman exudes a motherly feeling for her. At this time, her only thought is to hold those outstretched hands that give her a sense of security. Just as she was about to grab those hands, the man told her through her eyes that she had to go back before she died. Almost at the same time, the client found himself back in his own body. She was panting on the shore of the swimming pool. She was rescued from the swimming pool The whole near-death experience lasted about two minutes.
Dr Melvin Moss and Parry talked about such a vivid example in their other book, Being Changed by Light. Their patient described: "I asked if my cancer could be cured, and I prayed to it." However, just tell me that what we usually think of as prayer is actually a complaint, and what we are asking for is actually a punishment because we are not. The light reminds me of an enemy I hate most. I remember. Then, the light asked me to give all my energy to my enemies. I did it again. Suddenly, a light burst out of my body and came back to me like a mirror. I can clearly feel every cell in my body, and I can even see every cell in my body, emitting sound and light from my body. I cried and laughed, and I was shaking violently. I tried to calm down and adjust my breathing. When I was finally cured, Guangming told me that you had just experienced the first real prayer in your life. "
3. Goodbye to old friends and meet relatives.
Many people have described seeing dead relatives or friends in the process of near-death experience.
For example, in Professor Kenneth Ryan's new book Mindsight, a 45-year-old woman named Wedge Amipeg tells her near-death experience. This woman was born blind, so in her experience, she couldn't distinguish colors (because she was born without the concept of colors), but other descriptions are not much different from other near-death experiences. At first, her soul left her body and floated on the ceiling. She saw her body, and even saw the three rings she wore on her hand. Then she floated out of the ceiling and over the whole building. Then, she was sucked into a long tunnel. She crossed the tunnel at breakneck speed. At the end of the tunnel, there is a huge and bright lamp. She heard the music and rolled onto a meadow. She described that she was surrounded by grass, trees and many people. Everything, including herself, is made up of bright light. This place is full of light, in which she feels endless love. Then five people came to welcome her, two of whom were her classmates in the school for the blind. They died at the age of eleven and six respectively. These two students are not only blind, but also mentally retarded children. But now they look so beautiful, smart and healthy that they are no longer children. Amipeg also met a couple who took care of themselves when she was a child. The couple died many years ago. At last she saw her dead grandmother. They communicate with feelings, not words.
Lord William Barllet, a professor of physics at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Dublin, studied the near-death experience earlier, and he told a case that made him set foot in this field. His wife is an obstetrician. 1924 65438+1On the evening of October 24th, after coming back from the hospital, his wife eagerly told him something that happened in the hospital during the day.
A woman named Doris suffered from postpartum hemorrhage. Although the child is safe, she is on the verge of death. When the doctor looked helplessly at the dying patient. She suddenly looked eagerly at one direction of the room, and a bright smile appeared on her face. "Oh, great, great." "What's the big deal?" I asked. "I saw it." She answered. "What do you see?" "Lovely light? Wonderful life. " The sense of reality conveyed by her focused eyes is hard to describe in words. Then she seemed to concentrate in one place for a while, and she cried happily, "ha, it's dad!" Oh, he's very happy about my coming. He's so happy. It would be great if W (her husband) also came. "
The nurse showed her the baby in her arms. She looked at the child with interest. Then he said, "Do you think I have to stay for the sake of the children?" Then she looked in the same direction and said, "I can't? I can't stay. If you can see what I do, you will know that I can't stay. "
The maternal sister Vader died three months ago. She had a good relationship with her sister because she was pregnant at that time, so her family didn't tell her. To God's surprise, she saw her sister and her dead father at the same time:
She said to her father, "I'm coming." He turned to look at me and said, "He is so close to me." When she turned to look again, there was a puzzled expression on her face. "He took Vader" and then turned to me and said, "Vader is with him." He went on to say, "You really miss me, Dad; I am coming. "
Inspired by this story, Lord made a systematic study of this phenomenon. He also reported that the patient and some caregivers or relatives nearby saw the same near-death scene. His research report refutes the assertion that the near-death scene is a subjective wish, and some of them are inconsistent with the patient's life experience and original knowledge. For example, he once reported several cases in which children were deeply disappointed to see angels without wings.
The following is an excerpt from a paper published by Dr. Allen Kellerhill in the fall issue of 200/kloc-0, which tells the story of a near-death experience of a woman living in Kona, Hawaii:
After being ill for several weeks, Kalima finally "died". Her family and friends believed that she was dead, dug a grave for her and put her aside to prepare for the funeral. Just then, Camilla sighed and opened her eyes. A few days later, she gradually recovered from her weakness and told her family a strange story:
After my death, "I" seemed to leave my body, stand beside it and look at my body. I'm standing and I'm lying, but one is dead and the other is alive. I stared at my body for a few minutes, then turned around. I left the house and the village and walked all the way to the neighboring village. I saw a large group of people there? Oh, so many people. I remember this place is a small village with only a few families, but now I see a big place with hundreds of families and thousands of men, women and children. I know some of them, and they talk to me, which is really strange because I know they have been dead for many years. Everyone else is a stranger. They all look happy and carefree. Everyone's face is full of happiness, everyone's mouth is full of happy laughter, happy and loving words.
I left that village and went to the next village. I don't feel tired because I walk very lightly. I found that there are thousands of people here, just like the village in front, full of joy. I know some people and talk to some people. Then go on.
The narrative continues to describe her journey similar to the last one until she finally reaches a volcano that she seems to want to go to, where he is stopped by a small group of people who say to her, "You must go back to your body. When you are not dead. " Although she begged them to let her stay, they sent her back to her body. So she woke up.
4. Get knowledge and realize life.
There are many near-death experiencers who get many answers to questions about life, the world and the universe in the process of near-death. Here we only give two examples.
As we mentioned above, Dr. Kenneth Ryan's research on the near-death experience of blind daughter Amy Page. Amipeg also told Dr. Ryan: "(when she met Guang and her dead friend) I felt that I knew everything, and everything seemed so reasonable to me." I see, here, I will find the answer to life, this planet, God and everything. "Of all the people around Amipeg, one shines more brightly than others. Amipeg thinks he is Christ. This person communicated with her through telepathy, and she felt great love. Finally, life in the light tells Amipeg that she must go back. Before sending her back, the man showed Amy Peggy everything she had experienced since she was born. In this process, this person has been around Amipeg, kindly commenting on everything and helping her understand her life's behavior. Finally, the man said to Amipeg, "You must go back now. "So, like riding a roller coaster, she quickly returned to her body.
Professor Kenneth Ryan also tells such a famous and interesting example in his book Towards Mystery: 1978 In May, when Tom, then 33 years old and living near new york, was doing repair work under the truck, the things supporting the truck suddenly slipped and the truck hit his chest. His nine-year-old son called an ambulance. After being rescued, he described his near-death experience. Like many people, he passed through a tunnel at a very fast speed, and the end of the tunnel was extremely bright, pure, elegant but not harsh light. Beautiful light communicates with Tom like a person. The first thing Tom felt was to say to him, "Relax, everything is fine". Then he immediately relaxed and felt himself in a warm and comfortable environment. For the first time in his life, he felt what true pure love was. "That kind of love," said Tom, "can't be compared with the love for his wife and children." Next, Tom realized that in the communication with light, he gained an absolute and complete knowledge, and every question he had had an answer. About life, life, religion, and even some questions that he has never touched, Tom got the answer.
Interestingly, one morning shortly after his recovery, he woke up and mumbled a word "quantum". His wife asked, "What did you say?" Tom repeated: "Quantum". The wife asked again, "What the hell are you talking about?" Tom replied, "I don't know." Neither he nor his wife knew what the word meant at that time. Because Tom only has a high school education. One afternoon two weeks later, when he and his wife were watching TV, Tom suddenly said, "Max Planck, you will hear from him soon." Max Planck is the founder of quantum mechanics. His wife is confused again and doesn't know what he is talking about. In fact, Tom knew nothing at that time, just like his wife. From then on, Tom started