Near Death Experiences

[GreywolfNYC]

I've done some reading on this subject, mostly by Raymond Moody and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, and I've known three people who claim that they've had a near death experience. Does anyone here believe that they've had one?

[Jazza]

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I've known three people who claim that they've had a near death experience

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you really need to define near death experience, because taken literally this post is not very interesting and you look dumb

[GreywolfNYC]

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I've known three people who claim that they've had a near death experience

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you really need to define near death experience, because taken literally this post is not very interesting and you look dumb

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I expected some trolls to reply to this thread. Congrats. You stepped right up there to be the first.

[Jazza]

i wasn't trying to troll, i was saying that of course people have had near death experiences, all that is required is for a person to come close to death, doesn't this happen often?

[GreywolfNYC]

No. The term "near death experience" (or NDE) has a specific meaning in the medical and scientific communities. Please try using Google if you're not familiar with it.

[Jazza]

i didn't get any medical or scientific sites when i googled it

[Ghazban]

Please explain what you mean by a near death experience. I was in a coma once-- does that count?

[Johnny Richter]

I think the poster might mean like seeing and moving towards the "white light", or having an out of body expierience where you can see yourself in whatever state your physical body is in.

I remember one lady stating that when she got into a car accident she saw a white light and talked to a greater power saying that it wasn't her time to go. Then they all wake up reborn christians for some reason?

Not exactly something i belive in, but i've never expierienced it either.

[LittleOldLady]

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I think the poster might mean like seeing and moving towards the "white light", or having an out of body expierience where you can see yourself in whatever state your physical body is in.

I remember one lady stating that when she got into a car accident she saw a white light and talked to a greater power saying that it wasn't her time to go. Then they all wake up reborn christians for some reason?

Not exactly something i belive in, but i've never expierienced it either.

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OK, I have had two such experiences--white light, out of body--and I was nowhere near death either time. Over the last 50 years I have had a number of bizarre experiences--visions, hallucinations, distortions of space and time, etc.--and have periodically sought medical assistance for these issues. The problem was always diagnosed as a psychiatric issue--a panic or anxiety disorder. However, just last month this was determined to be a neurological disorder--something called atypical migraine (migraine without a headache). This is genetic, and there is not a whole lot to be done about it. Basically I was relieved to get the right diagnosis...finally.

However, the migraine thing does not account for the really freaky part of this. Each time I had the out of body white light thing, I took someone else with me. The first time I was in college, and the experience occurred with a friend of mine, not the closest of my friends, but a good friend nonetheless. When it was over and we reentered our bodies, we simply fled without saying a word, and I went to student health the next day--and they sent me to a psychiatrist. Three years later he came looking for me, and we for the first (and last so far) time discussed in detail what we experienced--which was exactly the same for both of us. Ten years ago, he and I got back in touch. He is now a widower living on the Gulf Coast and a clinical psychologist. We basically avoid discussing this experience (he calls it the "intense" experience; I call it "the thing we don't talk about")--it is the elephant in the room. However, last month when I was having the problems which led to the migraine diagnosis, we talked about it a little and decided that the migraine explained what I experienced but can't explain the fact that he experienced it too. In fact he told me that when we got back in touch 10 years ago, at first he felt a weird vibe when he was around me, but not anymore. The second time was with my husband in the early years of our marriage--and we don't discuss it or much of anything else these days. I don't exactly understand my ability to take someone else to this white light place, but it sure hasn't made me a born-again Christian.

As for a near death experience, I have had one of those in the sense that I damn near died. It was, well, interesting and not what I would have expected. I was having a heart attack and didn't know it--women can get heart attacks with very mild and vague symptoms, When I finally had a symptom (cold sweat) I figured I knew what it was and called the alarm number. While I was talking to the emergency dispatcher, I started to fade out and I knew I was dying. It was actually quite pleasant and not at all scary. The dispatcher called me back, and I came back. I decided at that time that I wanted to stay in this world--it was a conscious decision. From that point on I knew I was going to live for a while yet--although I gather that the medical personnel were none too sure of that for several days. I have found it a very positive and liberating thing to have faced my own death and to have found it not horrible.

LOL

[Nigel]

I saw a show on this where one hospital wrote messages on the back side of the lights above the ER operating tables.

So far, none of the NDE people where able to relay what was written despite believing they had an out of body experience.

I'm not saying I have an opinion one way or the other, I just found this interesting when I saw it.