Near-Death Experiences - Tales and Meaning

Have you had a near-death experience? How do you know if it can be called a "near-death experience"?  How many people really have such a thing or is it just some new age trend?

What causes a near-death experience and why doesn't everyone have one when they have come close to dying?  Do children have near-death experiences as well as adults? What does one feel like? What does it look like and will anyone believe me when I say I have had a very profound and life changing Near Death Experience (NDE)?

These are many of the questions that are asked when I open the discussion to the highly charged topic of Near Death Experiences. 

The Fact Of The Matter Is......

It has been estimated that at least 13 million adult's in just the United States alone have reported experiencing what are now commonly called Near Death Experiences.  Imagine how many more millions there are world-wide who have journeyed to the other side and come back to tell about it.

The term Near Death Experience or NDE was popularized by Dr. Raymond Moody in his books, "Life After Life" and "The Light Beyond."  Dr. Moody undertook a scientific investigation of an experience that has happened to not only millions of adults, but scores of children as well. He described the classic events that happen during an NDE and identified what are now referred to as the classic Near-Death Experience.

I, personally had three NDE's when I was a child. My mother often talked about the times that I almost died and I vaguely recalled some strange memories that became lost and not recovered until my adulthood. All three instances where due to serious medical situations between the ages of seven and eleven years old.

You can read about other children's experience of near death in the excellent compilation and study, Children of the New Millennium :Children's Near-Death Experiences and the Evolution of Humankind  by P. M. H. Atwater.

How Does Someone Know They Had A Near-Death Experience?

A simple answer to this question is that you know you have had and near-death experience when you believe that you have.

The details of my NDE's were recalled years later in hypnotherapy when I was working on the issue of clinical depression. Most of my life, I have not wanted to be on this planet and have always had a life long yearning to "go home."  Under hypnosis, I was able to recall in some detail what my experiences were like and how they have profoundly affected me during this life's journey.

Others have spontaneous recall of the events that occurred to them as they lingered along the veil between this life and the next.  There are many different events that can happen and not all NDE's are the same. Some are even frightening.  Some are blissful. Some are without detail but full of feeling and emotions.

There are those who could be said to have had a near-death experience even without having been near dying!  Near-death experiences come in many forms, shapes and sizes.

You Don't Have To Die To Have Had an NDE.

You know you have had an NDE when you have a life altering event in which you feel you can never be the same person as you were or that your life will never be the same in some profound way.

Many mystics and saints have recorded experiences that look and sound very much like the experiences that Dr. Moody catalogued to describe the characteristics of a near-death experience. To read a list of what makes us a classically defined NDE, click here.

Do I Need To Fit The Studies To Say I Have Had An NDE?

The answer to this question is "no."  In one of my near-death experiences, my experience did not fit the classic definition of an NDE. I did experience a bright light but rather than go toward the light or be returned from the light, I was drawn to a place of neutrailty between the dark and the light.

I spent what seemed to be an enormously long time in a fully enclosed egg shaped container far out among the stars.  I seemed to have been presented with a choice between the dark and the light and, perhaps because I was only a child, I was unable to choose and remained frozen in this state until I was called back.  I firmly believe that I would have stayed there forever if my mother had not had such a great need for me to be with her in this lifetime.

Visions, a sense of God or something greater than oneself, encountering sacred beings or deceased ancestors, downloading new knowledge in complete form, and other similar events are often associated with an NDE.  But, it is not WHAT happens that helps you determine if you have and a near-death experience, but rather, TO WHAT DEGREE you are profoundly affected.

Maybe I Was Just Hallucinating!

Maybe. If that is what you prefer to believe and it makes you feeler better, safer or somehow soothed, then allow yourself that thought. Having an NDE can often be frightening and for some people it is more important to reframe the experience into something that they can understand and associate with more easily.

Near-death experiences are no longer a strange, off-beat subject. But, there can still be a stigma against such a magical, mystical experience. If you have had, or believe you have had, a near-death experience, and you wish to explore more about its meaning, its purpose and what to do next.  Then, please call me, Honor Heart, for a spiritual consultation.

Unfolding the meaning and the plan behind your personal NDE can be an exciting and worthwhile endeavor. I spent years exploring the meaning of my childhood dying experiences and have come to a place of peace while living on this planet at this time in human evolutionary history.

My depression has been relieved and I no longer yearn to "go home" as I once did. I suggest a spiritual reading and consultation for anyone who has unanswered questions and unfinished emotions concerning an experience that is so life-altering, so life-affecting and so very profound as an NDE.

In Love and Service,