Stories (Bylichki and Byvalschiny) about Fainting (Obmiraniya) as a Form of Fixation of the Near-Death Experiences Model

Near-death experiences (NDEs) reported by Russians in the 19th and 20th centuries closely resemble modern accounts, suggesting a culturally transmitted model of NDE. Russian folklore, specifically the genres of bylichki and byvalschiny—oral stories about obmiraniya (a state near death where a person visits another world)—may preserve this model. Analysis of 55 such stories collected in the 1970s–1990s from the European part of the Soviet Union found many classic NDE elements: inexpressibility, peace, a path to another world with boundary crossing, darkness and movement, light, meeting others, heaven/hell/neutral places, an authoritative loving being, life review, a second boundary, decision to return (often by an authority figure), return,...

Study at a glance

Abstract

Background. Near-death experience (NDE) is an altered state of consciousness experienced at the moment of near death, which has a specific structure (which includes such elements as an out-of-body experience, a feeling of movement in a dark tunnel, a review of life, visions of bright light, other realities and meetings with the dead, and many others). The similarity of reports on the NDE of Russians in the 19th and 20th centuries with modern ones suggests the existence in Russian culture of a model of NDE — a set of ideas about the experiences of a dying person, which determines the formation of such an experience in a particular person. We assumed that Russian folklore is one of the forms of fixation of this model. Namely, we mean a genre of oral non-fabulous prose such as bylichki and byvalschiny (oral stories from the first and third person, respectively, about supernatural events that actually took place) about obmiraniya — cases when a person visits another world in a special state close to death. Objective. We conducted a search for the elements/components of NDE in the texts of stories — bylichki and byvalschiny — about obmiraniya. Methods. The material for our analysis is 55 texts of stories about obmiraniya collected by Russian philologists, folklorists and ethnographers in the 70s and 90s years of the last century in the European part of the Soviet Union. The modern model of the European NDE, which includes 25 elements and characteristics of this experience served as the categorical basis for analysis. Results. The following NDE elements/components were found in these texts: inexpressibility, a sense of peace and quiet, a path to another world involving crossing the boundary between worlds, and individual components of the "dark tunnel" element — closedness and movement, images of light, meeting others, images of another reality — heaven, hell and emotionally neutral places, such components of the "luminous being and contact with it" element as authority, contact, personification and love, a review of life, the second boundary, making a decision to return (more often the subject of the decision was not the visionary himself, but an authoritative character), return, the transformative effect of the NDE, unwillingness to tell anything about the experience. In the implicit form, there were such elements as the realism of the experience and the transcendent nature of the experiences. In isolated cases, the following elements were mentioned: unusual auditory sensations, OBE (the "separation of soul from body" component), understanding one's stay in the world of the dead, a change in the experience of time, such components of the "dark tunnel" element as darkness and light at the end of the tunnel, meeting with light/unity with it, a new attitude towards death and life, a luminous being and contact with it as the simultaneous coexistence of all five components of a given element (light, authority, contact, love, personification) and light as a separate component. Conclusions. It is concluded that the bylichki and byvalschiny about obmiraniya, capturing a significant number of NDE elements and their components, can act as carriers of the model of NDE.