Clinical deathClinical deathViktória Petrová

SeptimaGymnázium A.

KmeťaBanská ŠtiavnicaConsultant: Mrs.

Nemcová2006/2007

Table of contents• 1. Opening• 2. Methodology• 3. Entity of death• 4. Near death experience• 4.1. Abstract model of NDE• 4.2. Important facts• 4.3. Incommunicability• 4.4. Listening to the message about death• 4.5. A feeling of peace and painlessness• 4.6. Hearing sounds such a buzzing• 4.7. A feeling of traveling through a tunnel• 4.8. Having an out-of-body-experience• 4.9. Seeing people, often-dead relatives• 4.10. Meeting a spiritual being such God• 4.11. Seeing a review of one’s life• 4.12. Limit• 4.13. Feeling reluctance against return to life• 4.14. The influence to the next life• 5. My opinion• 6. List of used literature

1. Opening• Natural, unnatural, violent death or because of illness• Many beliefs, religions• Want to know what goes after that• Hard to talk about death-at least two reasons:

1. Theme about death is taboo for our company-Discussion about death can be understood from psychological way as a form of indirect access to it. Many people think that to talk about death means to make its concept to realize its rules. To avoid this psychological trauma we decided not to speak about it, if it isn’t necessary.2. Problems with language-Words are referred to things and experiences that we sense by our physical senses. Death is something laying after limits of conscious experiences the most of us, because we didn’t experience it.

• „What will happen when a man dies?“This is the question, which people ask the most often and they can answer at least. Do we stop to live and only our remains will declare our life in this world? Will „the tallest being“ resuscitate us only when we will have the best marks in „the book of life“? Will we return like animals as hindoos believe or after many generations like another people?

2. Methodology

• My first contact with this theme-funny: friends were playing computer games...

• I rummaged in cupboard and found The light beyond

• My big interest in this theme

• Comparative method: The light beyond, Life after life

3. Entity of death

• Comparing death with nicer sides of our world:

1. Sleeping

2. Forgetting

=annihilation of mind forever

3. Mind continues in life but body stops to work. This continuing complexion has many names, e.g.: soul, mind, being, esprit, psyche, sense, and me.

4. Near death experience•4.1. Abstract model of NDE

Man is dying. When he goes to his biggest physical anguish, he hears that doctor declares him dead. He starts to hear sounds such a buzzing, some ringing and at the same time he has the feeling of traveling through a long tunnel. Suddenly, he is out of his physical body. He is looking at it from definite spacing as a viewer. He is looking at doctors resuscitating him from this unusual point of view and he is in the state of emotional exciting.

After a while he recovers one’s wits and he accustoms to this state. He notices that he still own some “body”, but it is very different and has other abilities than his body, which he left. In a short time new events are playing. The other people are coming to greet and help him. He notices spirits of his dead relatives and friends. After that in front of him is located high-being full of love, warm and light which he never saw.

This spiritual being asks him without using words and brings him to appreciation his own life by the panoramic contemplation of main events, which he experienced. In the certain moment he finds himself in front of some barrier or limit, which means some break between life on earth and the second life.

He finds out that he musts return, because the time of his death isn’t here. Here he resists, because he tried, what means the next life and he doesn’t want to return. In spite of this attitude he returns to his body and he lives.

Later he tries to describe this experience to his friends and relatives, but he has problems with it. He tries to find words to describe it, but finds out that it is really complicated. Then he finds out that people are laughing, so he stops to talk about this experience. This experience influences him and his opinions about death.

4.2. Important facts

   1. In spite of implicit similarities we don’t find two experiences among many different, which are absolutely same,(2)            2. Nobody includes in his speech all components of mentioned “ideal” experience. Many of them talked about eight and more and Some twelve components.(3)            3. No one of components of abstract experience is such that it’s found only once. Every component is found in many different stories.(4)            4. Neither of them is general to describing by every person. Some of them are very similar so they seem to be universal. (5)            5. The sequence of individual stadiums can be different from theoretic model. For example human can see the light being sooner or at the same time when he leaves his body, not like model says after some time. The sequence showing by model is typical and deviations are enough rare.

 6. How far in hypothetic model dying human comes depends on that he really was in the state of clinical death and how much time it took. The description of people that were really “dead” are richer and more complete than the description of them that weren’t really dead but they were near death. Also people that were dead a long term were farther than people that were dead a shorter term.

          7. Several people talk that they don’t remember anything from their state of “dead”. In connection with it found here next interesting circumstance. Many people that were in clinical death more times sometimes remember everything and sometimes nothing.

4.3. Incommunicability

• Linguistic problems by describing• 3-dimensional words• No superlatives, adjectives to describe• Incommunicable, inexpressible experiences• „The words I need to describe what I felt

and saw doesn´t exist“ or „I don´t know any words, adjectives or superlatives that can describe my experience“

“Well, I really have problems now when I want to tell you my experience because every words I know are three-dimensional. At the time I feel it I still thought about: ,When I was learning geometry, they always said us that here are only three dimensions and I always accepted it.´ But they were wrong. They are many. And, of course, the world we live in now is three dimensional, but the next certainly not. So now I have those problems. I must definite everything with three-dimensional words. Do you understand me? I can’t describe it better, but this definition isn’t complete. Unfortunately, I don’t know to tell you complete story.”

4.4. Listening to the message about death

“ I was in hospital, but doctors didn’t know, what is to me. So Dr. James, my doctor, sent me to radiologist to explore my loaf. At first they tried on my hand preparation, which they wanted to use because of my allergy on many medicaments. Nothing happened. When they jabbed it to me, my heart stopped to work. I heard that the radiologist went up to the telephone. I heard very clear that he dialed a phone number. He said: “Dr. James, I killed your patient, Mrs. Martin!” But I knew that I’m not dead. I wanted to move and tell them I’m alive, but I couldn’t. When they tried to bring me to life, I took notice that they were speaking about that medicament. The prick I didn’t feel. I didn’t feel anything when they touched me.”

In the next event, woman, that had several heart accidents, got a heart attack. She commemorates:

 “ Suddenly pain caught my breast as it were ferrous zone around me. Husband and

our friend heard that I fell. Immediately they ran up to me to help. I was in dark and through it I registered my husband’s voice. As it were in distance… He said: “ Now, it is bad, very bad.” And I thought:” That’s really bad.”

 A young man, considered being dead after the car accident, commemorates:” I heard

a woman that was there asking:, Is he dead?´ And someone answered:, Yes, he is.´”These types of messages are consistent with that, what doctors or the other people

being there remember. A doctor said:  “ One of my patients got heart attack before I operated her. I was near her and saw,

how her eyes amplified. A while we tried to bring her to life but unsuccessfully. I thought she was dead. I told to doctor working with me:” Try one more time and then we stop.” This time heart started to work and she returned. Later I asked her, if she remembered something from her dead. She said that she heard me saying:” Try one more time and then we stop.”

4.5. A feeling of peace and painlessness

• A feeling of neverending peace

• Big pains during accident suddenly disappear and then feeling of painlessness comes.

• No pain, no fear, only peace...

„ At the time of accident I felt short pain, but then it disappeared. I felt like flying in dark space. That day it was very cold, but while being in that darkness I was feeling only warm and extreme strain I have ever feel… I remember I thought: , Sure, I’m dead. ´ ”

4.6. Hearing sounds such a buzzing

• Hearing unusual sounds or phonetic sensations

• Hearing beatiful melody, bells, something like Japanese peal, ...

• Some buzz from head, the most beautiful sounds people have ever heard, lovely music

• Can be compared with cracking, roar or a wind

“ I heard something like bells. As they were far from me and a wind brings the sound up to me. It voiced like Japanese peal. It was only sound I registered at that time.”

4.7. A feeling of traveling through a tunnel

• a tunnel, well, cave, vacuum, funnel, fencing, emptiness, etc. • Using different names describe the same thing• Traveling with unbelievable gorgeous fast• Darkness around

“ It happened to me when I was a little boy- I was 9 years old. It was 27 years ago but it was as strong as I couldn’t forget. Once in the afternoon I got ill. I had to go to the nearest hospital. When we came there doctors decided to narcotize me but I didn’t know why because I was too young. They used ether. They clogged my nose with a piece of a textile and my heart stopped to work. I didn’t know what had happened but I really did. The first thing was- I want to describe as I felt that- that I heard rhythmic bang-bang. Then I moved- it can sound strange- throw a dark long space. It can be compared with some canal. Simply I can’t describe it…”

“ I had a very heady allergic reaction because of anesthetic and I stopped to breathe. The first what happened was- it played so fast- that I flew throw the darkness throw the black fencing with unbelievable fast. I can say it was a tunnel. I felt as I am on the train in a park and I travel throw that tunnel. It was a gorgeous fast.”

 A man during hard illness came as near to the death as his body started to

fade away: “I was in absolutely dark, black emptiness. It’s really hard to explain that,

but it seemed to be vacuum, simply through the darkness. I felt like in the roll, which was missing air. It was a feeling of strange disappearing, as I am half here and half somewhere away.”

A woman having NDE after car crash used example from television program: Absolute feeling of peace surrounded me, I hadn’t got any fear. I was in a

tunnel- in a tunnel made of concentric circles. A short time after that I saw a television program called TIME TUNNEL which people returned to past through spiral inlet in. it’s the most believable allegory I remember.”

4.8. Having an out-of-body experience

• Still identify ourselves with our bodies

• We have minds but treat them as something more evanescent than bodies because maybe they are only effect of chemic reactions in our brain.

• Big surprise for dying because of his position as a spectator by watching his body

“ I was 17 and with my brother we were working in a fairground. Once, in the afternoon, we decided to go swimming. Some friends went too. Somebody said: ´Swim over the lake!´ I had done it many times before, but that day I started to drown in the middle of the lake… I was still sinking. Suddenly, I felt I am out of my body, far from everybody, any I was alone in some space. I was still in the same highness watching my body sinking. I saw it from right and behind. I was feeling very lightly. “

-unthinkable imagination about existence out of body- refusing to put this reality together with death.

-Not understanding what happened and why here is look at body as spectator?-Different emotional reactions:the most- trying to return to body, but not know how to do it...then- having fear and feeling of panicbut some- positive feeling…-Different attitude to the body:fear or worry about bodybody as something foreignno feeling, no worry

“ I saw my body twisted in the car and people around coming. You know, I felt nothing to it. It looked like some foreign person or subject… I knew it was mine, but I didn’t care about it.”

- While to realise death and make it clear

“ It came to my mind that I’m dead and I didn’t feel any penitence. I didn’t imagine only where I would go. My mind and mining were the same as during the real life and I couldn’t understand everything to one time. I still repeated: ,Where am I going now? What should I do now? My god, I’m dead! It can’t be reality!´ Human doesn’t believe in his own death. The others are dying and we can’t imagine that it will happen to us.”

-„new body“=„spiritual body“ – it describe new body the bestHis attributes:

flyinginvisibleunheardcan´t catch anything or anyonemissing kinaesthetic perceptions=stress in leaders,hinges, muscles or

movementwithout-weight=flying through door and walls, another people or thingssimple and fast movementsome form, figure and deals as a real bodycomparing with: smog, cloud, smoke, vapour, something transparent, colour

wake, flock, field of force, and etc.

“ From every sides people were coming up to crashed car. I was standing in the middle of narrow pavement watching them. When they came up to me, they absolutely didn’t notice me. Simply they were walking and looking in front of themselves. When they came completely close, always I turned myself to avoid them. But they went over me without worries.”

time-freedom=tno importance of timeunlimited thinking=it is clearer, faster and people react more available

than in physical bodybetter senses for eyesight or hearingearlier reception=not hearing anybody, but knowing what everyone

wants to say before he does it

“I saw people around and I understood what they were talking about. I didn’t hear any voice speech, how I listen to radio or another people for example. It seemed like I knew what they were thinking about and what they were imagining. I knew it thanks my mind and no because of their words. Always I caught an idea before somebody opened mouth.”

feeling of loneliness

One man explained it like he saw and heard in hospital everything and everyone around him-doctors, nurses, and personnel working his duties. But he couldn’t communicate with them so he felt “desperately lonely”. Many people describe this feeling differently…

 Another one:

“ I was open-mouthed. I really hard understood what happened to me. I hadn’t got any troubles or worries… I didn’t talk to me:, Oh, I’m dead. I leave here my parents and I will never see them.´ Nothing so fell on my mind. But all that time I was reflecting, I was there alone, almost as some visitor from far. Like every relationships interrupted. Yes, it was, as love not exists. Everything was so technical. Really I don’t understand it.”

4.9. Seeing people, often dead relatives-Feelings of loneliness disperse in some time

-Another beings appear-often spirits of dead relatives or friends coming to help, but sometimes „guard spirits“ not belong to relatives -sometimes declare: it isn’t time for dying

 “ I had this NDE during delivery of my child. Delivery was so difficult and I was flooding. Doctor abandoned and said to my relatives that I’m dying. But all that time I was fully sensible. When I heard what he said I had feeling I’m going back into me. Suddenly I realise a huge of people around me flying under the ceiling. I knew everybody but they were dead. I met there my grandma and a girl from our school and many relatives and friends. It seemed like I saw only their faces and I reflected their presence. Everybody seemed very happy. It was so nice meeting and I was feeling that they came to secure or admit me. It seemed as I was arriving home and they came to welcome me. All that time the feel of lightness rounded me. It was wonderful while.”

4.10. Meeting a spiritual being such a god

-Maybe the most surprising and astonishing element and also moment that influences people the deepest in NDEs -unusual clear and bright light not harming eyes, not blinding, not defending to the other things around-love and warmth emanating from it-feeling of magnetic attraction -communication by motions–lying or non-understanding is out

–not in human´s maternal language –inexplicable, non-translatable

-questions: „Are you ready to die?” „Are you completed to die?” „What did you do with your life and what can you show me from it?” „Have you done something with your life what worth the effort is?”

-not blaming, but using to estimate and think about it

„I listened to the doctors when they stated that I’m dead. At that time I started to feel I was falling or I was flying through the dark, through some closed space. Words, which I can describe it with, not exist. Everything was completely black, only in the distance I saw some light. It was very clear and bright light-not big. When I approached, it swelled.I was tying to come to that light in the end because I felt that it is Christ. I hadn’t any fear. It was quite pleasant. I am a Galilean and immediately I combined light with Christ, who said: “I the light of the world.” So I said to myself: “If it is so and I have to die, than I know, who is waiting me in that end, in that light!”

„The first the light said me was that it asked me if I am ready to die and what I did in my life, what I can show it now.”

4.11. Seeing a review of one´s life-Being shows panoramic review of person’s life or can be without light being-Its aim=to bring person to appraising his life -the closest word we know to describe this review is remembrances-fast, chronological order, not time order– „it did in one moment“=sequel of visual pictures -unbelievably alive and real-feelings as in the past-seeing everything what people have ever done-from the most important thing to the least or only the most important things-emphasizing two things in life during the review: to learn to love the others and to achieve knowledge

“When the light came, the first what it said was:, What have you done in your life, what you want to show me now?´ It was something in this meaning. And then reviews to the past started. I thought:, What is it? What’s happening? ´ Suddenly I was in my childhood. And from there I was walking to the present through every year in my life.

Place of the beginning appeared. As a little girl I was playing by the river. There were also another scenes from that term; experiences with my sister, events by neighbors and every place, where I really lived. Then I appeared in the kindergarten. I commemorated to the time when I loved one toy. When it was destroyed I was crying a lot. It was really traumatic experience. There were next pictures from my life. I commemorated I was in girl scouting and I was going to camp in tents. I knew many moments from the time of my students´ years. For example, when I was chosen as one of the best students and I was so proud. And I came to my first years at university, where I was studying at the same time.

Everything goes in the same order as in my life. It was like you went out and you were watching everything three-dimensional and colored. Naturally, also in move. When I destroyed that toy I was looking at every my drift. As that little girl I was watching was someone foreign as in the cinema as some little girl that plays out on the playground among the others. Nevertheless I was that. I saw myself doing everything. That were all the things I have done because I remembered them.

By looking at the pictures I didn’t see the light. It had disappeared immediately after asking me what I have done in my life and then the review started. But I was feeling all the time that it was there with me that it went along with me because I felt its present and it sometimes said something. It wasn’t about it that it wanted to see my life and what I have done –it knew that- but it had chosen moments which it wanted to show me to my commemoration.

The light being still emphasized need for love. The best symbols of it were the places about my sister. Always we were trustees. Being showed me examples when I was very egoistic to her but many times I showed the love to her and I split with her. Being accented that I should do goodness how much I can. I didn’t feel any blames from her by it. When we get into the situation of my egoistic behavior Being said me that also this belong to the process of learning.

She was very interested in things about knowledge. She still emphasized moments of learning. She said me that I will still learn. Definitely too when she will come back to took me (because she had said me that I arrive now). It’s still necessary to learn.

The being said that this process is non-stop and now I have feeling that it continuous also after death. I think that every return to the past served to my edification.

Everything was unbelievably strange. I was there; I really saw that pictures and I were going through them. It was fantastically fast. At the same time it was too slowly to my understanding. From the time aspect it didn’t take much time. The light appeared then I saw all of those pictures and then light came back. I think it took less than five minutes.

Only once I had fear when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to finish my life. But I enjoyed that review. It was funny when I could return to my childhood and relive second time. It was return that you can’t allow by ordinary circumstances.”

4.12. Limit

• Approaching some limit: : mass of the water, gray fog, door, fence standing in the middle of the field or simply- the line

„ They took me to the hospital in critic state they marked as ignition and doctor said I wouldn’t handle it. He called my relatives because it shouldn’t be long. They came and stood around my bed. Until doctor anticipated my death it seemed my relatives went further. I saw them less and less. Then I lost my mind. I appeared in some unknown narrow canal, in some bosh big as a chair. My body could get into only and it seemed like my hands and arms were enclosed on it. I traveled into the darkness. By the drift down I saw beautiful cleaned door without door-handle. By their circumference rays of the brilliant light filtered inside and I felt everyone living there was happy, full of move, exciting and meaningful action. I was looking at it and I said:, So I am here, God. If you wanted me, take me.´ You should see it- he sent me quickly back, almost it took my breath.”

4.13. Feeling reluctance against return to life

• At the beginning: people want to return and not to die

at the end: people feel reluctance against return to life because of light being, peace, painlessness, ...

• A man said: „I would never like to leave light being.”

• Sometimes they want to return because of children or unfinished work

„I was thinking about staying there but suddenly I commemorate to my family, to my three children and my husband. It is too hard to explain the situation- I had very beautiful feeling, I was near the light being, really I didn’t want to return. But I am very responsible human so I knew I had some duties to my family. The return was the best way.”  

„I had ended three years at university but I had another one. I still repeated to myself:, I don’t want to die now.´ But I feel that if I were near the being longer I wouldn’t remember to my education because everything would eat up me.”

-return done by: God=he allows it himself=he wants to return love or vow=another person prays

„I stayed at my old aunt’s home during her chronic illness. I was helping by her nursing and all that time our family was praying for her. Many times she stopped to breath but always they sent her back. One day she looked at me and said:, Joan, I was there on the other side and it is beauty. I want to stay there but I can’t because you are praying for me to stay with you. Your vows keep me here. Please, don’t pray for me anymore. ´ We stopped to pray and her died.”

-screwed quickly through the dark tunnel they had traveled at the beginning of their NDE:

A man who “died” said, he was driven through the dark dale. He felt he was approaching to the end of the tunnel but at the same time he heard somebody calling his name. Then he was attracted back.

-small group of people: real return to physical body or return through a head-after return-characteristic emotions and moods

„I don’t remember how I returned to my body. As something carried me away, I slept and then suddenly I woke up in my bed. People in the room were on the same places as I saw during my NDE.”

„I was there above, under the ceiling and I was watching them as they were doing on me. When they put electrodes on my breast and my trunk was moved up, I fell into my body as some stone. And at that while I knew I am in my organism again.”

“ It seemed to me that my being has the small ending and the big ending. After car crash, after my hanging over my head it entranced inside. When it left my body, it was showed my big ending came out first but by return it seemed my small ending entranced first. “

“ When I got back I was crying for about one week because I had to live in this world despite I saw another one. I didn’t want to return.”

4.14. The influence to the next life-deeper life, interest in basic philosophic questions, more precious life-realising the physical body isn´t important-new abilities as intuition or clairvoyance

„At that time- it was before my departure at the university- I was living in a little town with very limited people. I was typical secondary Johnnie; if you weren’t in my band you were nothing.

But when I experienced it I wanted to find out more. I think at that time nobody knows anything about it because I have never gone out of my little world. I knew nothing about psychology or something like that.

But one thing was clear for me; it seemed I became older during one night. The new world had opened before me about that I thought it didn’t exist. Still I was repeating:, How many thing I need to know.´ Simply I found out that in the life exist something more than to go in the Friday’s evening out and to play football. How many miracles are here about which I apprehend nothing.”

“ I realized my spirit much more at that time than my physical body. The most important was spirit not the body. Before NDE it was opposite in my life. I was interested in my body and my mind weren’t interesting for me. But after my NDE I claim my body is the second and my spirit is the most important.”

„A thing the NDE gave me is I can sense the other’s needs for something. For example when I am in the lift in skyscraper where I am working and people entrance I can see their worries in their faces. Often I invite them to talk about it in my chancery.”

-not return as moral clear or made accomplished-emphasising knowledge is the most important and giving love to everyone-a man: „It doesn’t matter how old you are but you can’t stop to learn. I think it is process that never ends.”

5. My opinion

• Very scattered-heaven, hell-described as in the Bible–maybe new religion or sect

• Not clear opinion:

-not hallucination, vision, fantasy, imagination, made in brain-if it were so, people would know words to describe it

-not chemic reactions, not annihilation

• Transcendent world

• Good-new approach and attitude to life, full-fledged life

• Maybe in the future everyone could experience it

6. List of used literature

1.    1. Raymond Avery Moody: The light beyond 19892.    2. Raymond Avery Moody: Life after life 2001