Abstract: This review supports cardiologist Pim van Lommel's continuity claim for human existence in his recently published book 'Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience' (2010). Van Lommel and colleagues (van Lommel, van Wees, Meyers, & Elfferich, 2001) studied NDEs among 344 Dutch hospital patients who had been resuscitated following cardiac arrest. From their and...
Among other authors, Joel Ibrahim Kreps (2009) has recently published accounts of Muslim near-death experiences (NDEs). With the present paper, we aim to contribute to the growing number of non-Western NDE reports by providing summaries of eight additional Muslim NDEs, seven translated from the original Italian source (Giovetti, 2007) and one from an English source (Lerma, 2009), and to provide...
Muslim near-death experiences (NDEs) have been rarely reported by comparison to the incidence of NDEs reported in other groups. Recently, after Kreps (2009) found no NDEs in a sample from Pakistan and Kashmir, he concluded Muslim NDEs may even be nonexistent. However, in Arak City, Iran, we easily identified 19 Iranian Muslims who reported having experienced an NDE. Thirty participants claiming...
Art making offers the opportunity to reflect upon ineffable experiences, including those surrounding death and dying. This article examines the artwork of two research participants who each reported a near-death experience (NDE). A transpersonal model was used to elicit the narratives and artwork of two individuals: one who experienced a pleasant NDE and one who experienced a distressing NDE....
Ernest Hemingway is one of the most popular and widely acclaimed American writers of the 20th century. His works and life epitomize the image of the hyper-masculine hero, facing the cruelties of life with 'grace under pressure'. Most of his writings have a quasi-autobiographical quality, which allowed many commentators to draw comparisons between his personality and his art. Here, we examine...
Klemenc-Ketis and colleagues’ novel report of hyper capnia and hypokalemia associated with near-death experiences (NDEs) [1] was somewhat surprising, as Sabom [2] had previously reported lower than normal carbon dioxide levels measured at the time of a patient’s NDE, and Parnia and colleagues, in a prospective study of 63 cardiac arrest survivors, had found no signifi cant association of either...
This article is concerned with a remarkable experience recounted by St Jerome, which has a number of features associated with reports of `near-death experiences' (NDEs). Curiously, commentators who have explored patristic and mediaeval accounts of NDEs have hitherto neglected this account. The aetiology and significance of NDEs is disputed; however, it is likely that the negative aspects of St...
Foreword by Gavin Flood Acknowledgements Abbreviations of Primary Sources Introduction Part I 1. Comparison, Universalism, and the Rehabilitation of the Comparative 'Similar' 2. Early Civilizations, Contact, Diffusion, and Cultural Continuity 3. Near-Death Experience Part II 4. Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt 5. Sumerian and Old Babylonian Mesopotamia 6. Vedic India 7. Pre-Buddhist China 8....
AimTo measure brain activity in near-death experiencers during a meditative state.MethodsIn two separate experiments, brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) during a Meditation condition and a Control condition. In the Meditation condition, participants were asked to mentally visualize and emotionally connect with the...