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Authors: Jeffrey Long, Paul Perry
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Joseph; rather, it was like being in a “state of meditation.” This intense silence, which Joseph links to a sense of peace, has carried over into his life. Now, says Joseph, he is much calmer and low- key than before his experience:
The things I got aggravated over in the past no longer have the same effect. If I go into my memory, I seem to have the ability to feel it all over again at will.
All five of the human senses of seeing, hearing, touch, taste, and smell have been described in NDEs. Heightened senses, enhanced vision and hearing, and accelerated consciousness are some of the most dramatic aspects of NDEs. Clearly, these enhanced senses are not in keeping with the clinical meaning of
unconscious
or
clinically dead.
It is medically inexplicable for anyone to have a heightened sense of consciousness while being at the brink of death. These experiences are not dreams or illusory fragments of memory from a dying brain. Near-death experiences are real. There are no other experiences of altered consciousness in which the experiences are so lucid, consciousness is so enhanced, and the experiences are so consistently ordered as in NDEs. The NDERF study, and virtually every study published in this field, shows this consistent pattern of heightened senses and consciousness, which leads some to call the experience a “lucid death.” 4
SKEPTICS: NDERS MAY NOT BE NEAR DEATH
Still, there are those in the scientific community who don’t believe that a lucid death takes place. Some of them feel that in prior near-death-experience studies the definition of
near death
was too loose and that it included those who are not physically near death. Perhaps, the skeptics speculate, prior NDE studies included many case studies of those who were not truly near death. The lucid experiences would be explained by the fact that these people did not really have a close brush with death.
For the NDERF research we took these concerns into consideration. The NDERF study included only those people who reported an imminent, life-threatening event at the time of their NDE. The NDERF definition of such an event is very strict and includes only events in which people are physically compromised to the extent that death would be imminent without a change in their physical condition. Generally speaking, the individual reports being so physically compromised that they are unconscious and often clinically dead. Anyone who does not fit this definition is not included in our study.
One of the more common skeptical “explanations” of NDE has been hypoxia.
Hypoxia
means reduced oxygen levels in the blood and the tissues of the body, including the brain. Hypoxia may occur in a variety of conditions including cardiac arrest and other life-threatening events that result in loss of consciousness. Most doctors are quite familiar with the symptoms of hypoxia, which may include headaches, confusion, memory loss, and fatigue. As hypoxia worsens, it may result in increasing confusion and finally unconsciousness. If you have ever found yourself extremely short of breath for any reason, you may have experienced some of the symptoms of hypoxia. If so, unless your hypoxia was so severe that it was a life-threatening event, I am sure what you experienced had nothing in common with the elements of a near-death experience. Near-death experiences almost never have confused memories that are typical of the experience of hypoxia. The fact that highly lucid and organized near-death experiences occur at a time of severe hypoxia is further evidence of the extraordinary and inexplicable state of consciousness that typically occurs during NDEs.
RESPONDING TO THE “OPRAH FACTOR”
Another appropriate concern from the skeptics is whether the content of people’s reported NDEs is influenced by how much they know about NDEs at the time of their experience. Some of the more clever researchers call this the “Oprah factor” because of the great job Oprah Winfrey’s
The things I got aggravated over in the past no longer have the same effect. If I go into my memory, I seem to have the ability to feel it all over again at will.
All five of the human senses of seeing, hearing, touch, taste, and smell have been described in NDEs. Heightened senses, enhanced vision and hearing, and accelerated consciousness are some of the most dramatic aspects of NDEs. Clearly, these enhanced senses are not in keeping with the clinical meaning of
unconscious
or
clinically dead.
It is medically inexplicable for anyone to have a heightened sense of consciousness while being at the brink of death. These experiences are not dreams or illusory fragments of memory from a dying brain. Near-death experiences are real. There are no other experiences of altered consciousness in which the experiences are so lucid, consciousness is so enhanced, and the experiences are so consistently ordered as in NDEs. The NDERF study, and virtually every study published in this field, shows this consistent pattern of heightened senses and consciousness, which leads some to call the experience a “lucid death.” 4
SKEPTICS: NDERS MAY NOT BE NEAR DEATH
Still, there are those in the scientific community who don’t believe that a lucid death takes place. Some of them feel that in prior near-death-experience studies the definition of
near death
was too loose and that it included those who are not physically near death. Perhaps, the skeptics speculate, prior NDE studies included many case studies of those who were not truly near death. The lucid experiences would be explained by the fact that these people did not really have a close brush with death.
For the NDERF research we took these concerns into consideration. The NDERF study included only those people who reported an imminent, life-threatening event at the time of their NDE. The NDERF definition of such an event is very strict and includes only events in which people are physically compromised to the extent that death would be imminent without a change in their physical condition. Generally speaking, the individual reports being so physically compromised that they are unconscious and often clinically dead. Anyone who does not fit this definition is not included in our study.
One of the more common skeptical “explanations” of NDE has been hypoxia.
Hypoxia
means reduced oxygen levels in the blood and the tissues of the body, including the brain. Hypoxia may occur in a variety of conditions including cardiac arrest and other life-threatening events that result in loss of consciousness. Most doctors are quite familiar with the symptoms of hypoxia, which may include headaches, confusion, memory loss, and fatigue. As hypoxia worsens, it may result in increasing confusion and finally unconsciousness. If you have ever found yourself extremely short of breath for any reason, you may have experienced some of the symptoms of hypoxia. If so, unless your hypoxia was so severe that it was a life-threatening event, I am sure what you experienced had nothing in common with the elements of a near-death experience. Near-death experiences almost never have confused memories that are typical of the experience of hypoxia. The fact that highly lucid and organized near-death experiences occur at a time of severe hypoxia is further evidence of the extraordinary and inexplicable state of consciousness that typically occurs during NDEs.
RESPONDING TO THE “OPRAH FACTOR”
Another appropriate concern from the skeptics is whether the content of people’s reported NDEs is influenced by how much they know about NDEs at the time of their experience. Some of the more clever researchers call this the “Oprah factor” because of the great job Oprah Winfrey’s
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