Read Online Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences by Jeffrey Long, Paul Perry - Free Book Online
Authors: Jeffrey Long, Paul Perry
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etc.)?” To this question 46.0 percent of NDErs answered “Yes,” 22.2 percent answered “Uncertain,” and 31.8 percent answered “No.” Many went on to describe what they meant.
One such description came from Mark, a young man who was found to have an obstructed artery in his heart. The cardiologist tried to insert a device called a stent into the artery, but a complication developed requiring emergency surgery. While recovering from surgery, Mark’s weakened heart stopped.
As the doctors worked feverishly to bring him back, Mark took a journey down “the most beautiful road I have ever seen,” one that took him through a mountain paradise. As he took a walk through this heavenly place, Mark began to hear a voice that seemed to be “from nowhere, yet everywhere.”
“Mark!- You must go back!.”
“Go back? No! No! I can’t go back!.”
Again the voice said, “You must return; I have given you [a] task; you have not finished.”
“No, no, please, God, no! Let me stay.”
With lightning speed, I was naked moving backward through the darkest of darkness. There were lightning bolts all about me, from my feet to the top of my head. Enormous lightning bolts! Going in all directions into the darkness. Despite the brightness of the lightning, the light from it did not penetrate the awful darkness.
Mark recovered. Later, when he described his experience for the NDERF website, Mark indicated that of all the sensory events of that day, one that stood out was the unique clarity of the sound. As Mark said:
All sound was incredibly clear. The voice of the Supreme Being seemed to emanate from nowhere but at the same time from everywhere. Words did not come from the mouths of beings, but from the aura around them.
Here are some other descriptions from NDErs that emphasize the quality of sound during their NDEs:
[I heard] sound, and it wasn’t like the sound we hear in our ears. It didn’t seem to be coming from anywhere; it was just there. It did not seem to be there because of vibration or wind or anything. I can’t describe it.
Clearer and crisper, as if in a chamber of silence listening to whispers.
Superclear. I am slightly hard of hearing. During that time I could hear everything. Superhearing would be a better term.
SOUNDS OF SILENCE
Before you assume that NDEs always produce a stereophonic treat, consider this: the NDERF study found that the absence of sound during a near-death experience is more common than prior research has revealed. In our study, many NDErs experienced noticeable silence during their NDE. And that silence seems to be comforting for most who experience it. One eloquent NDEr said,
I left my body to the wonderful sound of silence, pure loving, graceful silence.
Another respondent, Joseph, described an experience that took place during an asthma attack that was so severe his medications had no effect and he began to thrash for breath. As Joseph told it:
I could feel myself thrashing, but it was this other feeling that I was most concerned about. There was this overwhelming feeling of energy coming over my entire body. I tried to fight it off with willpower, but it kept coming stronger and stronger and stronger, and finally I couldn’t keep it at bay any longer. I remember thinking to myself, “I just can’t do it anymore.”
Then as soon as I thought it, pop! This stillness came over me and my thoughts, [and] I wasn’t scared anymore. It was insanely quiet, and I realized that I was still there—and standing, no less (which was impossible due to the fact that I [had] just collapsed backward a few minutes earlier)—and then it dawned on me that I had just passed on. Wow!
This profound lack of sound seems to have had a deep effect. Joseph wrote:
There was no sound at all. It was the most peaceful silence I have ever experienced. Kind of like being submerged in water, with no one else around to make a sound. Thick, thick silence.
The experience was not uncomfortable for
One such description came from Mark, a young man who was found to have an obstructed artery in his heart. The cardiologist tried to insert a device called a stent into the artery, but a complication developed requiring emergency surgery. While recovering from surgery, Mark’s weakened heart stopped.
As the doctors worked feverishly to bring him back, Mark took a journey down “the most beautiful road I have ever seen,” one that took him through a mountain paradise. As he took a walk through this heavenly place, Mark began to hear a voice that seemed to be “from nowhere, yet everywhere.”
“Mark!- You must go back!.”
“Go back? No! No! I can’t go back!.”
Again the voice said, “You must return; I have given you [a] task; you have not finished.”
“No, no, please, God, no! Let me stay.”
With lightning speed, I was naked moving backward through the darkest of darkness. There were lightning bolts all about me, from my feet to the top of my head. Enormous lightning bolts! Going in all directions into the darkness. Despite the brightness of the lightning, the light from it did not penetrate the awful darkness.
Mark recovered. Later, when he described his experience for the NDERF website, Mark indicated that of all the sensory events of that day, one that stood out was the unique clarity of the sound. As Mark said:
All sound was incredibly clear. The voice of the Supreme Being seemed to emanate from nowhere but at the same time from everywhere. Words did not come from the mouths of beings, but from the aura around them.
Here are some other descriptions from NDErs that emphasize the quality of sound during their NDEs:
[I heard] sound, and it wasn’t like the sound we hear in our ears. It didn’t seem to be coming from anywhere; it was just there. It did not seem to be there because of vibration or wind or anything. I can’t describe it.
Clearer and crisper, as if in a chamber of silence listening to whispers.
Superclear. I am slightly hard of hearing. During that time I could hear everything. Superhearing would be a better term.
SOUNDS OF SILENCE
Before you assume that NDEs always produce a stereophonic treat, consider this: the NDERF study found that the absence of sound during a near-death experience is more common than prior research has revealed. In our study, many NDErs experienced noticeable silence during their NDE. And that silence seems to be comforting for most who experience it. One eloquent NDEr said,
I left my body to the wonderful sound of silence, pure loving, graceful silence.
Another respondent, Joseph, described an experience that took place during an asthma attack that was so severe his medications had no effect and he began to thrash for breath. As Joseph told it:
I could feel myself thrashing, but it was this other feeling that I was most concerned about. There was this overwhelming feeling of energy coming over my entire body. I tried to fight it off with willpower, but it kept coming stronger and stronger and stronger, and finally I couldn’t keep it at bay any longer. I remember thinking to myself, “I just can’t do it anymore.”
Then as soon as I thought it, pop! This stillness came over me and my thoughts, [and] I wasn’t scared anymore. It was insanely quiet, and I realized that I was still there—and standing, no less (which was impossible due to the fact that I [had] just collapsed backward a few minutes earlier)—and then it dawned on me that I had just passed on. Wow!
This profound lack of sound seems to have had a deep effect. Joseph wrote:
There was no sound at all. It was the most peaceful silence I have ever experienced. Kind of like being submerged in water, with no one else around to make a sound. Thick, thick silence.
The experience was not uncomfortable for
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