Abstract: Trauma and dissociation play a decisive role in initiating spiritual experience. This article explores transformational crises and spiritually transformative experiences (STEs) that occur within the context of trauma, physical illness, and mental disorders. Such growth or transformation may be a natural evolutionary process, in which the defense mechanism of dissociation plays a part....
Article comparing near-death experiences (NDEs) to the philosophy described in the spiritual text A Course in Miracles (1976). It provides an overview of the text's philosophy, previous literature comparing the text to NDEs, and an analysis of how the philosophies are similar and different, with references to specific cases.
E dgar Cayce told Harmon Bro that he had drowned as a young child. When I read about this experience, I began to consider the possibility that Cayce had had a near-death experience (NDE) combined with an out-of-body experience (OBE), during which he went to the other side and met God, probably in the form of Jesus. Such experiences are common in NDEs. We do know that Edgar, after his drowning...
An article titled "A Prospectively Studied Near-Death Experience with Corroborated Out-of-Body Perceptions and Unexplained Healing" by Penny Sartori, Paul Badham, and Peter Fenwick was published in the Journal of Near-Death Studies in 2006. The authors concluded that the reported case strengthened "the cumulative experience derived from many other individual cases that suggest that our current...
The professional neardeath literature contains cases in which neardeath experiencers reported that during their experiences (NDEs), they perceived phenomena in the material world that, based on the condition and position of their physical bodies, they should not have been able to perceive, and yet these perceptions were subsequently verified as accurate. Only a few of these cases of apparently...
Abstract: The Purpose of the exploratory research was to learn if adults who had childhood near-death experiences (NDEs) sometime between pre-birth to age 17 years had psychotherapy and if they believed it helped them achieve psychological integration of their NDEs. Participants completed three instruments: the NDE Scale (Greyson, 1990), the author-developed Childhood NDE and Psychotherapy...
Michael J. Rush discusses Penny Sartori's response to his critiques of her article "A Prospectively Studied Near-Death Experience with Corroborated Out-of-Body Perceptions and Unexplained Healing."
Abstract: In this article, I respond to a critique by Michael Rush of a 2006 article from this Journal in which I and my co-authors described a case of a near-death experience with veridical components and an inexplicable healing. I address each point from the critique in the order in which it was raised. Overall, I found most of the criticism to have been points I had already addressed in...
Abstract: Spiritual experiences are a potent means by which a person's attitudes and behaviors may changed, usually (but not always) in benevolent ways. This article presents examples from various times and places, many from the annals organized religion. Research into spiritually transformative experiences is reviewed as is a means to measure spiritual content in written or verbal reports: the...
DEATH STUDIES (formerly ANABIOSIS) is sponsored by the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS). The Journal publishes articles on near-death experiences and on the empirical effects and theoretical implications of such events, and on such related phenomena as out-of-body experiences, deathbed visions, after-death communication, the experiences of dying persons, comparable...
Abstract: In this paper, I describe the research method and key near-death experience (NDE) aftereffects- and integration-related findings of my dissertation research study (Gordon, 2007), the first published near-death studies research project to use the ethnographic method. I compare my findings with those of a comparable sociological study (Sutherland, 1995), with emphasis on NDE...
In this article I provide a rejoinder to Stuart Hameroff's and Chris Carter's responses to my article, "Could Pam Reynolds Hear?" (2011, this issue). I address some specifics of anesthesiology and neurosurgical technique to maintain my contention that Reynolds could hear through normal physical processes during her near-death experience.
In this paper I support the view that NDEs provide empirical support for mind-body substance dualism and argue that a systems-theoretical analysis of the evidence is required to obtain valid insights into the nature of the mind as a substantial object existing in addition to the body. Without such an approach, systems phenomena such as property emergence and property masking could lead to...
Between 1889 and 1903, several authors published papers in the French journal "Revue Philosophique de la France et de l'Etranger" and in a few other publications in which they discussed panoramic memory, changes of affect, and a sense of detachment from the body in dying persons. With a few exceptions these publications have been ignored in modern discussion of the phenomena of the dying....
A common theme noted among near-death experiencers (NDErs) is the affirmation of increased spirituality after their near-death experiences (NDEs). This study focused on the question of whether the Human Spirituality Scale (HSS), a commonly used spirituality measure, would exhibit a ceiling effect among NDErs. Thirty-seven participants from eight countries participated in the online study. HSS...
In recent decades, the Tibetan Book of the Dead (TBD) has attracted much attention from Westerners interested in Eastern spirituality and has been discussed in the literature on dying and near-death experiences. However, the history of the TBD has practically been ignored in that literature up to now. This history has been elaborated in detail by Tibetologist Bryan Cuevas (2003). To bring this...
Letter written to the editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies discussing near death experiences and EEG surges at the end of life, referencing a report by Lakhmir Chawla.
My investigation has shown me that near-death experiences (NDEs) are not some kind of anomaly but, rather, are part of the larger genre of transformations of consciousness. The clue I believe most researchers have missed is stress -- specifically, the intensity that comes from that stress (known in shamanism as "high stress"). I believe the entire pattern of aftereffects and the degree to which...
In this article, I reply to Gerald Woerlee's (2011, this issue) claim that during Pam Reynold's near-death experience (NDE), she actually could hear through normal means. I respond in terms of my 35 years experience as a clinical anesthesiologist, researcher into mechanisms of anesthesia and consciousness, and proponent of a theory of non-local consciousness put forth by mathematical physicist...
Letter written to the editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies discussing the flaws in a widely referenced Gallup poll about near-death experiences and calls for a new demographic study amongst various populations.
Abstract: The well-known Pam Reynolds near-death experience (NDE) occurred at the Barrow Neurological Institute during a medically well-documented period, which is why many people regard it as proof of the reality of a separable immaterial conscious mind. In this article, I use information from related publications from the Barrow to fill in lacunae in the published medical documentation of...
Google Books is a digital library covering out of print publications about a variety of topics, among them materials relevant for a history of discussions, observations, and collections of cases of out-of-body experiences and death-related phenomena such as near-death experiences, deathbed visions, and apparitions. In this article, I provide examples of copyright-free and cost-free sources from...
Near-death experiences (NDEs) and other transpersonal experiences -- those that transcend the usual personal experiential limits of space and/or time -- point to the existence and nature of God and ongoing personal consciousness following physical death. In this article, I review the history of these experiences prior to 1850 and of their study during three periods of scientific research...
Abstract: Near-death experiences (NDEs) and other transpersonal experiences -- those that transcend the usual personal experiential limits of space and/or time -- point to the existence and nature of God and ongoing personal consciousness following physical death. In this article, I review the history of these experiences prior to 1850 and of their study during three periods of scientific...