This episode circles around the Near Death Experience.
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Today’s topic will be the elements of an NDE or the Near Death Experience and circle around some of the individuals who laid down the ground work surrounding the NDE phenomenon.
Near Death Experience or the acronym and now almost colloquial term N.D.E., was coined by, as many know, psychiatrist, philosopher and author Dr. Raymond Moody in his book Life after Life, which circles around NDE’s.
But do you know who first introduced Moody to the phenomenon?
Before I plunge into that reveal, I should first throw some light upon what an NDE is. According to Wike “ A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death, which researchers describe as having similar characteristics.
Dr. Bruce Greyson, Professor & Psychiatrist authored a paper in 1999 entitled Defining Near Death Experiences in which he penned “Researchers have failed to distinguish definitions of near death experiences, criteria for identifying them and tests of those criteria” He reveals that the lack of consensus for a definition of a NDE’s is due to research methods that group individuals into the NDE phenomenon, despite if those individuals have:
- Been pronounced clinically dead
- Are simply judged to be near-death
- Have had a *near death like experience leading to a transformation. All of which might fall under the umbrella of an NDE.
According to Psychology Today there may occur elements of a NDE, where death is not imminent, “…such as while a person is under anesthesia” or under the influence of “…certain kinds of hallucinogenic drugs. Events that may prompt NDE-like phenomena also include fever, fainting, injury, and other physiological disruptions”.
Dr. Greyson contends that a non-consensus definition made it difficult to compare and contrast between research findings, resulting in the negative impact of non acceptance by academia towards the NDE topic.
Dr. Greyson has developed a NDE scale which measures the depth of an individuals’ NDE. The scale is a 16 item self-reporting questionnaire with a cut-off score of 7/32. A score of 7 or higher is considered a NDE for research purposes. The mean score amongst a large sample of near-death experiences is 15. Examples of some of the questions are…
- Did time seem to speed up or slow down?
- Did you feel separated from your body?
- Did you come to a border or point of no return?
Different scores will equate to 1 of the 4 components, being; cognitive, affective, paranormal or transcendental.
Interested in seeing the scale? please visit orbicletimes.com I will provide a link to Lee Graves article entitled “Altered States” Greyson NDE Scale (iands.org)
A near death experience or NDE is typically a result of life-threatening conditions that can occur prior to or during resuscitation and after being clinically dead and then the experiencer, at some point, recounts their subjective happenings, through what can be an emotional telling of a spiritual and or mystical moments.
Researchers have noted some common elements amongst these experiencers, such as; an out-of-body which accompanies near-death experience 76 percent of the time, moving through a tunnel, blackness, seeing known or unknown light sources or light beings, seeing or sensing deceased family members, telepathy, a panoramic life-review, feelings of immense love, wanting to stay behind the veil or continue on and their re-entry of their celestial body (or consciousness) – back into their physical form.
Many who have described such N.D. Experiences may not have even been pronounce clinically dead nor been given resuscitation but were able to return to the land of the living – a type of resurrection if you will.
“Some researchers use the term NDE whether the experiencer was clinically dead, near death, or neither” states Mr. Greyson author of a PDF entitled defining near-death experiences.
*Perhaps we need to use another name along side of Shared Death Experience for those non-clinical NDE’s, such as Near Death Like Experience or NDLE.
Since I am exploring Near Death, I think it may be important, although not my focus here, to provide a definition of death, that being…Cardiac Arrest, where the heart stops and Brain Death, where the brain stops working. Definitions may vary on a global scale so I am going to example from my country of origin – Canada.
If a segment of the medical community holds the power to declare patient death then there must be a working definition of death. According to CTV Montreal news the definition of death was revised in June, 2023 – updated clinical guidelines read ‘ “the permanent cessation of brain function, observable by the absence of consciousness and brainstem reflexes, including the ability to breathe independently” and applies to all people in all circumstances’.
Dr. Sam Shemie, an associate investigator with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre is quoted stating “The brain is what makes us human. The ability to be conscious, to interact with the environment, to see, feel, look, hear, have memories, have interactions, all those can be completely and permanently gone, yet you have a body that’s still functioning because of the body support machinery that we use,” (CTV News).
Such bodily supported medical machinery that the Dr. refers to, has no doubt played and will continue to contribute to the increased ND Experience.
As promised earlier, the reveal…, Dr. Moody is said to have coined the phrase NDE but it was his predecessor, a Dr. George G. Ritchie who steered Moody down the tunnel towards NDE research.
Dr. George G. Ritchie, M.D. Was born in Richmond, Va., 1923 and died in 2007. A few of his many accolades were, President of the Richmond Academy of General Practice, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, Founder and president of the Universal Youth Corps. Inc. He was also head of the Department of Psychiatry at the Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center. In 1986 he returned to private practice in Richmond until his retirement from that field in 1992. And oh, did I mention he was an experiencer of the near death kind!
It was December 1943 and Private Richie was stationed at camp Barkley Texas….he had just been chosen to attended the Medical college of Virgin and was waiting to be sent to Richmond to start classes in one weeks time but Ritchie contracted double pneumonia, and was sporting a temperature above 106 degrees, as a result he lost consciousness and was declared dead by a medical officer, twice. After 9 minutes he regained consciousness (YouTube).
His mystical happenings can be perused in his 1978 book entitled Return from Tomorrow which he wrote with the aid of Elizabeth Sherrill and chronicles his NDE -where you can read about his OBE as he “walked” the earth trying to communicate with the living but was ghosted (I know that feeling) flying above cities, seeing bright light, encountering Jesus, travelling through different realms of the afterlife and finally his confusing search for his physical body. After returning from the other side, Ritchie said “ Death is nothing more than a doorway, something you walk through” Return from Tomorrow.
Image cutesy of Christian Book
If you are interested in hearing his story then check out the link at orbicletimes.com George Ritchie’s Encounter with Christ (youtube.com)
Raymond Moody met Professor Ritchie during Moody’s undergraduate degree in Virginia, Ritchie told Moody of his NDE and from there, as they say, the rest is history. Ritchie’s telling is what led Moody to investigate over 150 cases of “…people declared clinically dead” which laid the foundation for his book Life After Life,
In the year 1975 Moody’s book “Life after Life” was published. In that same year there was yet another book launched in Germany which met with much fan fair that also dealt with the same subject matter. When that book was finally translated into English the title read Dying is Quite Different, perhaps not the greatest translation, which may have been why it’s next incarnation read To Die is Gain – The Experience of One’s Own Death by Johann Christoph Hampe (1913-1990).
Hampe was born in Poland and wore many hats, such as; German Lutheran minister, journalist, radio broadcaster, and author of 25 books. To Die is Gain was his most popular book and is said to be a cross between The Tibetan Book of the Dead and NDE reported experiences. Hampe was also a ND experiencer, after recovering from clinical death.
Here are some excerpts from Hampe’s book, To Die Is Gain which I found on WordPress Layreader book review.
Hampe writes…
“Reports given by the dying are close to mystical experience…A down-to-earth person belonging to our own day, a policeman whom the doctors were able to revive, chose these simple words: “…
Interesting in knowing what was said? Please visit my channel with the handle @orbicletimespodcast, – episode will be dropped by the end of April.
Hampe’s book had been out-of-print for over 50 years until a Gregory Shushan of Afterworlds Press tracked down Hampe’s heirs in Germany and thankfully was given the green light to reprint the book with the new subtitle “Near Death Experience and the Art of Dying Before We Die“.
RESIDUAL EFFICTS
Many ND Experiencers are transformed by their experience, which can lead to changes in attitudes and behavior. Some return healthier then when the left, others received downloads of information and many obtain physic abilities. Most, but not all NDE’rs return with a positive afterglow and lose their fear of death.
However, for some, the aftermath of experiencing such feelings of love and bliss along with the sometimes telepathic clause given to opt-in or out of the celestial experience while behind the veil, may have a negative physiological effect for the experiencer upon returning to this dimension.
A topic not much discussed, is the depression that may be experienced after such a life ( and death ) shifting event. For some experiencers, thoughts persist of returning to the other-side. Some experiencers have their marriages, careers and relationships dissolve along with other PTSD like symptoms. If you have thoughts of suicide OR self-harm please call/text the suicide crises Lifeline at 988. That number will work in Canada and the U.S.
How does one return to the land of the living with the same perspective? Some come back losing their religion but gain or strengthen their spirituality muscle, through various modes and modalities that are available, especially now.
What is it that compels people to actively listen to the accounts of NDE’s? I suppose we have always loved a good yarn – I mean, accounts of adventure, seeing new lands, celestial beings and returning back to their earthly dens to share their learnt lessons, a type of Odyssey and Iliad rolled into one.
Such telling’s, share a message of inspiration, hope, love and hopefully expand consciousness.
If you are unsure of where you stand regarding NDE’s and want to explore some more, there are many books, websites, podcasts and channels that provide first or second hand testimonials.
I hope you have enjoyed this little journey into Elements of the NDE.
If you have had an NDE or NDLE and care to share contact orbicletimespodcast@gmail.com
Take care,
Kelly-Jo
SIDE NOTE: ANCHOR/SPOTIFY IS THE PLATFORM I USE FOR MY INTERVIEWS, RECORDINGS, EDITING, AND LAUNCHING. SPOTIFY WILL BE CEASING MANY OF IT’S SERVICES AS OF JUNE, SO I AM NOT SURE WHAT PODCAST PLATFORM I WILL BE USING GOING FORWARD. I MAY JUST STICK WITH MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH HANDLE @ORBICLETIMESPODCAST, AT LEAST OVER THE SUMMER. TOO BAD FOR I ENJOYED HAVING AN ALL-IN-ONE PLATFORM WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY CONNECTED WITH THIS WEBPAGE -WORD Prior to Spotify.
REFERENCES/SOURCES
NDE34_defining-Mortality.pdf (virginia.edu)
Canada has new brain-based definition of death | CTV News
Altered States—VIRGINIA Magazine (uvamagazine.org)
Near-death experience – Wikipedia
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