Near Death Experiences are Often Very Different But the Message is Usually the Same

Paradise: Ascent of the Blessed (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A small number of people that have nearly died claim to have Near Death Experiences (NDEs). Out of those people, those that say their experiences were positive are the vast majority. Still some of those that have Near Death Experiences say that their experience was dreadful and frightening.

There are certain themes to those that have NDEs in the West as compared to those that experience them in other cultures. The typical NDE that is recounted in the United States involves a white light, perhaps a tunnel, sometimes a life review, usually a meeting of relatives, and maybe a meeting with an enlightened being(s) (angelic beings and even God). In other cultures, the NDEs are generally interpreted according to their cultural and spiritual beliefs.

So do we discount NDEs, because different people are reporting different experiences even within the same culture?

Clearly some Near Death Experiences are fabricated or embellished. We can guess this based on inconsistencies in their stories, lack of emotion expressed, and also an agenda of promoting a particular religion or proving a particular religious book.

Over the decades this has become more common. It used to be that many fundamentalist Christians denounced NDEs as the work of Satan. They did this based on the fact that the older accounts almost always reported no meeting with Jesus. Over the years, Christians have begun to embrace NDEs since many true believers are now recounting "biblical" Near Death Experiences and some sort of encounter with Jesus. These accounts to me are highly suspect, since they are of a relatively recent origin (happening over the last decade or so) and they are pushing a particular religious agenda.

But there are so many Near Death Experiences that people have claimed to have had that are backed up by medical personnel. Although most of these "good cases" should not have experienced anything, they recount what was said during a medical procedure or they relate something to others that shouldn't be known by the person who experienced the NDE. So I think the answer is clearly that we cannot explain away a lot of these good NDEs simply because there appear to be some fraudulent accounts and often the NDEs appear to be different.

Yet there does appear to be an overriding theme to nearly all of the good NDEs that seem to be based on some hard evidence and solid accounts. The theme is that this life is a learning experience and that what we are here to learn is how to have love for ourselves and others. This is a rather simple message being delivered by those that seem to have experienced real NDEs. This message also seems to be rather universal.

Although Near Death Experiences often appear to be a bit different for each individual and are often different for each particular culture or even historical period. The message that is delivered is usually very much the same. It is that we are here to learn to love and to practice compassion in our daily life until it is our time to transcend this earthly existence.

A simple message of love is being delivered by those that experience what appear to be real Near Death Experiences but it is certainly a revolutionary way of being if practiced as prescribed. 

 

Grant