Do you know someone who has had a near-death experience (NDE)? Many of those who have had a NDE stated seeing a tunnel with bright lights and deceased family members coming to greet them.
Many scientists play NDE events down, proposing that they are due to a lack of oxygen to the brain and usually happen just before someone loses consciousness. They point to fighter pilots who experience the same phenomena when they become unconscious due to flight acceleration, as well as the lack of being able to reproduce the near-death experience in a controlled setting.
While understanding the position of these scientists, I have always been intrigued by the stories I have heard from others about their NDEs. As a mentalist, I have studied psychology and the paranormal and have always hoped for some explanation about NDE events. Therefore, I was stunned when I read the book, “The ESP Enigma” by Diane Hennacy Powell, MD, where she reports on a controlled experiment on NDE.
Dr. Michael Sabom is a cardiologist who conducted an experiment – with permission – on a patient who was going to have a brain operation. Under very close observation, the operation involved lowering the patient’s body temperature to 60 degrees. Her heart and breathing stopped and her brain waves stopped on the EEG. Clinically speaking, she was “brain dead.”
Additionally, to perform the operation to remove a life threatening aneurysm from the patient’s brain – which was successful – all of the blood had to be drained from her head. Unclinically speaking – she was dead.
When she regained consciousness after the operation, she spoke of her experience and related seeing a tunnel, bright lights and her deceased family members coming to meet her.
She also reported what was said and done by the operating staff during her operation, even though her eyes were taped shut and she wore earplugs specially molded to her ears to prevent her hearing anything subconsciously. (This is referred to as an out-of-body experience or OBE.)
No heartbeat; no breathing; brain dead and no blood in her head, yet she experienced something amazing. And since she was able to relate what was going on in the operating room when she was “brain dead,” this provides an argument against scientists who feel that people experience NDEs immediately before losing consciousness. It also, in my opinion, provides an argument for those who have experienced OBEs while not being dead.
With no blood in the head and no brain waves, this patient experienced her deceased relatives coming to meet her. It couldn’t have been in her imagination, because she didn’t have one at the time of her operation – because she was brain dead. Fascinating.
If you want to read more, pick up “The ESP Enigma – The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena.” It’s an eye-opening book and filled with well-dcoumented information.
If you have stories of your own NDE or OBE, send them along to me or comment below.
This is an amazing story, thank you for sharing!