Near-Death Experiences

Do you believe in near-death experiences (NDEs)? Many people have had them, according to research.
Their descriptions of the experience are consistent.

What is an NDE?

The following traits are indicative of NDEs:

1) Sense of being dead

2) Peace & Painlessness
3) Out-of-Body Experience
4) Tunnel Experience (dark – does not have to be a tunnel, per se)
5) People of Light (meeting you, may be deceased people you know or people you don't know
who feel like friends)
6) Being of Light (God or not God, God a part of, can send you back)
7) Life Review (not just a flash)
8) Reluctance to Return
9) Personality Transformation (see below)

A person does not have to have all of these traits in order to have had an NDE. Most people have one
or two. Those who have all nine are considered to have had a “full-blown” NDE.

Background

In 1992, a book was published by Dr. Melvin Morse entitled Transformed by the Light: The Powerful
Effect of Near-Death Experiences on People's Lives. It was a follow up to his book Closer to the Light:
Learning from the Near-Death Experiences of Children (1991). It was/is his quest to research and
interview people who have had NDEs. He fully believes that they happen.

Transformation Study

Dr. Morse conducted what he called the “Transformations Study”. A total of 350 adults, sex matched
and age matched, were interviewed. They made sure that all economic, religious, and ethnic groups
were represented. Control groups were used, but the data given weight was from those who had had an
NDE as a child. Ten years had to have passed since the NDE to qualify for the study. The theory was
that those who had had this experience as children were less likely to have made up the event due to
cultural biases. Participants were referred by physicians and also responded to requests. Both
believers and non-believers were interviewed. Depending on the culture, some had positive reactions
to the NDE while others, such as in a study of Africa participants, believe that the experience had
something to do with being “bewitched”.

The study was called “The Transformation Study” because people who have experienced an NDE are
transformed in some way, such as having their fear of death decreased, developing psychic abilities or
having a new zest for life as well as a purpose (the goal didn't have to be major to be important to
them). Some people even have an increase in intelligence (because of a part of the brain not before
used or tapping into a higher intelligence? More about the effects of NDEs on the brain below.)

Several different tests were used in the study, ranging from adaptation to life, death anxiety, life
attitude, values, to evaluations of claims of psychic powers. The questions regarding death anxieties
were subtly hidden so as not to reveal what the test was all about.

Temporal Lobe of the Brain

In previous research, Dr. Morse believed he had shown that all of the elements of the NDE come from
the temporal lobe, the area of the brain just above the ears. The right temporal lobe, along with the
complex brain organ called the hippocampus, makes humans unique from previous species of mankind
– not the size of our brain. This area is responsible for complex language, self-consciousness, long-
term planning, day dreams, and “soulful thought”. People who lose this area due to surgery or brain
damage are, as a famed neurosurgeon put it, “soulless automatons who act like zombies.” Researchers
have rewired this part of the brain with interesting results. For example, Dr. James Kube linked
neurotic behavior with abnormal currents of electricity in the temporal lobes. He says this behavior is
caused by suppressed memory that has become closed circuits of neurons. These closed circuits cause
nervous energy that leads to neurosis. Dr. Morse believes that the electromagnetic energy of the NDE
erases these closed circuits. A tremendous amount of energy is released during the NDE. It is
generated internally and probably reaches its peak when the person is bathed in the light. This energy
is funneled through the right temporal lobe which is altered by the experience. The temporal lobe, in
turn, has a profound effect upon the various structures of the brain and the electromagnetic field that
surrounds the body. The person who has an NDE may look the same, but their electrochemical makeup
is very different than what it used to be. The human body is a machine driven by energy. When that
energy changes, so does the machine. This electromagnetic theory provides a solid explanation for
telepathic communications and the seeing of apparitions at the point of death. These two types of
experiences represent nothing more than a person's ability to sense another person's electrical field.

In his first book he called this area “the seat of the soul” because all of the elements of the NDE except
the experience of the mystical light were either generated or passed through this area. By finding their
location in the brain, he believes they proved that they were real. They came to realize that virtually all
psychic and mystical experiences begin in the temporal lobe. Numerous scientific researchers have
documented that every element of the NDE – the out-of-body experience, traveling up the tunnel,
seeing dead relatives, having a life review, seeing visions of heaven – can be found to reside in the right
temporal lobe.

The Light

Seeing the light comes at a time when the brain has little energy of its own. Dr. Morse proposes that
the portion of the NDE that leads to the positive changes in personality is somehow contained in the
light. Those who experience the light live very firmly in the now, savoring life as it happens, making
as much of it as they can. They aren't afraid to live or to die.

My Own Experience

There were dozens of case studies used in the book that I will not include here. I have my own
evidence as well as knowing someone else who conveyed in detail her experience. After questioning
her following things I had learned in this book, I believe her experience was real. Not to mention she is
not the type to make something like this up.

As for me, I believe for the most part that after reading this book that I had my own NDE. I will not go
into details here, as they are very personal. It depends on the day, however. Some days I don't believe
it and other days I do. I can say that while I have not experienced the transformation in personality that
those who have also claimed to have seen the light have, I have had some abrupt changes in thinking
that have lead to a more hopeful outlook on life.

Conclusion

The exploration of NDEs can have wide-reaching implications for patients, family and friends, and
doctors of the person who experiences the NDE. It can restore dignity to death and open a line of
communication that allows healing to occur. It can alleviate the guilt that doctors feel when they do not
find the “right answer” to save someone's life or when it is impossible to do so. Families and friends
can be comforted knowing their loved one is not suffering. It can explain death-bed proclamations and
behavior.

More research needs to be done on the subject, and more case studies evaluated. I am not one to
dismiss anything outright. There are some things that happen in this world that defy human
comprehension and “logic”. While Dr. Morse's theories are certainly possible, it is ultimately the
person themselves who can decide whether their experience was real – and that is more important than
any cumulative research.