SECTION VII
Chapter 4. Near-Death Experiences and Reincarnation

  Stories of an afterlife have been common in many of the world's religions.
However it wasn't until the mid 1970's, when psychiatrist Raymond Moody
M.D. wrote the book LIFE AFTER LIFE, that a flurry of cases of what Moody
called "near-death experiences" were documented and scientifically researched.

  A great deal of excitement was generated by Moody's research, because of
the important SIMILARITIES shared by the individuals who had "Near-Death"
experiences. Typically, the NDE individual experienced one or more of the
following phases:

 (1) experiencing a spiritual out of body flight.
 (2) passing through a great tunnel, sometimes ending with a being of Light
     at the other end.
 (3) meeting with relatives/friends who have previously died.

  These phases are described in more detail below.

PHASE ONE: Out of Body Sensations:

   One common experience was to find oneself flying at the ceiling, looking down 
on the physical body that has been left behind.  For example, one woman 
described what happened after she went into shock during an operation, as 
follows:

  "Bang, I left! The next thing I was aware of was floating on the ceiling.
  And seeing (the anesthetist) down there, with his hat on his head.. it
  was so vivid. I'm very near-sighted, by the way, which was another of the
  startling things that happened when I left my body... And my first thought
  was, 'Jesus, I can see! ... I could read the numbers on the machine behind
  my head and I was just so thrilled."

  This woman later reported that her anesthesiologist had confirmed the numbers
  she read as correct, although later he had moved away since, and there was no
  way she could find him to corroborate her story. (Ian Wilson, THE AFTER DEATH
  EXPERIENCE, p 131)

   Ian Wilson in his book, THE AFTER DEATH EXPERIENCE, tries to focus on
whether the nearly-deceased had gained REAL knowledge during this out of
body experience.  For example, if the woman above could recite actual numbers
on the machine's dial, and of course had NOT seen the numbers before the
near-death experience then this would be an excellent test!  Of course,
it is also important to talk to the doctor alone, to make sure they were
not only "humoring" the patient, by agreeing with anything that would make
them possibly fell better. Unfortunately to date, no evidence has been
scientifically documented to prove or disprove this claim.

PHASE TWO: Being Hurled Through a Giant Tunnel of Light

  For many, the out of body experience is only the first phase. The next
step involves going through a tunnel, usually ending in an extraordinary
light. One NDE individual described it this way:

  "Next I was hurtling down this dark tunnel at a high speed, not touching
  the sides. It made a sort of swishing sound.  At the end of the tunnel was
  this yellow-white light.  And then I said, "This must be what it feels
  like to die.  I feel no pain at all." (AFTER DEATH EXPERIENCE P 138)

PHASE THREE: On the "OTHER" Side

  Sometimes the NDE individual sees a beautiful city, populated with people
in white robes, beautiful music, etc. Others see dead relatives, others "feel"
their presence-- "communicat(ing) without talking with our voices." Sometimes
there is a being of Light who reads thoughts and reviews the deceased person's
life.

  A next phase can be the choice or commandment to return to life, sometimes
by a Being of Light representing God, Jesus or Buddha--but other times by
another authority figure, such as a relative or employer. According to
Melvin Morse, M.D.'s TRANSFORMED BY THE LIGHT (Villard; 1992) one 45-year
Mid-western teacher saw Elvis Presley in an intense light:

  "I entered into a dark tunnel and suddenly I was in a place filled up with
  love and a beautiful, bright light.  The place seemed holy.  My father, who
  had died two years earlier, was there, as were my grandparents.  Everyone
  was happy to see me, but my father told me it was not my time and I would be
  going back.  Just as I turned to go, I caught sight of Elvis! He was
  standing in this place of intense bright light.  He just came over to me,
  took my hand and said: 'Hi, Bev, do you remember me?'"

Near-Death Experiences of Agnostics

  It appears near-death experiences are universal--ie unrelated to one's
religion. Even atheists have been known to experience them:

   Dr Ring describes the account of the near-death experience of Professor
Patrick Gallagher, an atheist who had the following NDE after a terrible car
accident:

   "I was floating in the air above the body...and viewing it down sort of at
  a diagonal angle...I noticed that I could fly at a phenomenal rate of speed
  and it seemed to produce a feeling of great joy and sense of actually
  flying in this total fashion...Then I noticed that there was a dark area
  ahead of me and as I approached it I thought that it was some sort of a
  tunnel and immediately, without further thought, I entered into it and then
  flew with an even greater sense of the joy of light...'I noticed a sort of
  circular light at a great distance which I assumed to be the end of the tunnel
  as I was roaring through it...I was in different surroundings where
  everything seemed to be similarly illuminated by that same light, and, uh,
  I saw other things in it, too... I saw my father there, who had been dead
  some twenty five years. I also felt and saw of course that everyone was in
  a state of absolute compassion to everyone else...It made me feel that...
  there was nothing but love...It just seemed like the real thing, just to
  feel this sense of total love in every direction. (Later) I did feel,
  because of my children and the woman I was married to then, the urge to
  return... but I don't recall the trip back. (Ring HEADING TOWARD OMEGA,
  PP 39-40 as reported in THE AFTER DEATH EXPERIENCE pp. 146-147)

Review of Near-Death Experiences in Other Cultures:

  There are similarities with the above mentioned near-death experiences
with other cultures.--For example, the elements delineated above of
experiencing a "self", looking down on the physical body, meeting a being
of Light, and reviewing one's life all have parallels in the ancient
Egyptian religion.  (The ancient Egyptians believed all people had a soul,
or "ka" which was released upon death.  There is a journey that ends with
the ka giving an account of his life before the god Osiris, described as a
Being of Light.) The Egyptian BOOK OF THE DEAD describes confessions made by
the deceased:

  I have not done falsehood... I have not deprived the orphan of his
  property...I have not caused pain, I have not made hungry, I have not
  made to weep, I have not killed, I have not made suffering for anyone...

  Plato's REPUBLIC tells of the great warrior Armenias who was revived back
to life after he had been "killed" in battle.  He likewise, described how
his soul had traveled to a spiritual world where he saw a great Being of God.
The deceased was given the decision as to what form he wanted to assume in
his reincarnation on earth--Typically a wise and virtuous philosopher would
choose well, but an ignorant person, might make an uninformed, even absurd
choice.

  There are cultural differences in reported near death experiences. Dr. Morse
cited the studies of Dr. Nsama Mumbwe of the University of Zambia, who was
interested in whether or not near-death experiences were singularly an American
experience.  What he found was that there were similar experiences by peoples
in difference cultures--but that these were experiences were INTERPRETED very
differently:

  *Many Africans who experienced an near-death experience felt it was
a spell or bad omen.

  *Many Japanese reported seeing long, dark rivers and beautiful flowers.
(These are common symbols in Japanese art.)

 *People in India reported seeing a giant bureaucracy.

 *Both in the U.S. and in England, it is common for people with a near-
death experience to say they were sent back due to love or for duty.

  Other documented accounts of nonChristian cultures point to viewing the
afterlife as a paradise. The Sioux Indians of Dakota told the story
(as recounted by Mary Eastman) of an Indian named Ahak-tah who appeared
dead for forty-eight hours, but recovered.  During that period he described
a near-death experience that took him to a beautiful land of tall trees
and singing birds.  There he met the spirits of his forefathers and his
uncle.  Although he felt hungry, he was warned not to eat the food he saw
there--else he would have stayed there forever and not returned back to
life on earth.

  Another account is given of a slave woman who was to be sacrificed in a
burial ceremony of a Viking chief around 922 A.D. According to this account
given by an Arab ambassador who witnessed the scene, she was hoisted above a
flame three times:

  "The first time they lifted her she said: 'Look! I see my father and
  mother.' The second time she said; 'Look! I see all my dead relatives
  sitting around.' The third time she said: 'Look! I see my master sitting
  in paradise, and paradise is beautiful and green and together with him
  are men and young boys. He calls on me.  Let me join him then!"
  (From Johannes Bronsted, THE VIKINGS, p 282 as recounted by the AFTER
  DEATH EXPERIENCE, p. 160)

  Interestingly, the subject of near-death experiences is taken up in the
ancient Tibetian BOOK OF THE DEAD.  Here it explains that the appearances of
deceased relatives and surroundings are merely projections or illusions created
for the deceased to convey a sense of familiarity: "It is quite sufficient for
you (the deceased) to know that these apparitions are your own thought forms."

  As explained by a modern authority on the Tibetian religion, Dr.
Evans-Wentz, this means:

  "Accordingly, for a Buddhist... as for a Hindu, or a Moslem or a Christian,
  the Bardo (after death) experiences would be appropriately different: the
  Buddhist's or the Hindu's thought-forms...would give rise to corresponding
  visions of the deities of the Buddhist or Hindu Pantheon; a Moslem's.
  to visions of the Moslem Paradise; a Christian's, to visions of the
  Christian heaven, or an American Indian's to visions of the Happy Hunting
  Ground. (Evans-Wetz(ed.) THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, p 32)
  Are AFTERDEATH EXPERIENCES Real or "Mental"?, as reported in Ian Wilson's
  THE AFTERDEATH EXPERIENCE)

Are Near-Death Experiences "REAL" or "MENTAL" Experiences?

  Skeptics are quick to point out that individuals who have undergone
"near-death" experiences have never really died.  That is, their heart and
breathing may have ceased--but new definitions of death now state that all
electrical activity in the brain  must also have halted!  There are no known
cases of individuals recovering after being "brain dead".

  This means, that all individuals undergoing "near-death" experiences still
had brain activity going on, although their other bodily functions may have
stopped.  Critics argue, possibly complex chemical reactions are at the base
of these spiritual-like visions.

   Scientists are evaluating endorphins, which are released from the trauma
of dying, as a possible cause of the feelings of euphoria and visions of
heaven. For example, the neurotransmitter serotonin is being studied for a
possible role in the near-death experience. Compression of the optic nerve
due to the lack of oxygen is being considered as the cause of the image of a
tunnel. According to Dr Ronald Siegel, PhD, a psycho-pharmacologist in the
department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the UCLA School of
Medicine:

  "We can produce the fog, the tunnel, the light and an out-of-body
  experience. This proves that the near-death "phenomenon arises from common
  structures in the brain and nervous system."
  (Ronald K. Siegel, in Greyson and Flynn, THE NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE, p 110)

   Out of body experiences have been reported by individuals while they
were NOT near death. They can occur, for example, during meditation,
during a period when one is relaxing and about to fall asleep, during
drug sessions (such as marijuana) and also in cases of epilepsy and migrane.
Interestingly, one survey found that 50% of marijuana users had reported
an out of body experience.(Susan Blackmore "Near-Death Experiences: In or
Out of the Body? SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Fall 1991, Vol. 15, No1, p 34-41).

  According to Susan Blackmore, tunnels "are experienced in epilepsy and
migraine, when falling asleep, meditating, or just relaxing, with pressure
on both eyeballs, and with certain drugs, such as LSD, psilocybin, and
mescaline." (Ibid).  Ms. Blackmore also describes a model developed by the
neurobiologist Jack Cowan--that shows how an increase in electrical activity
on the visual cortex can give the illusion that one is moving forward into
a tunnel.

    According to some neuroscientists (such as Peter Brugger of the University 
Hospital in Zurich) out-of-body experiences are probably phantom sensations 
similar to what amputees feel as "ghost" sensations when they have lost a limb.  
People who see their double, often as a mirror image, may have damaged their 
parietal lobes (which are responsible for distinguishing between the body and 
surrounding space).  Out-of-body experiences may result from temporary activity 
of certain brain regions, says Brugger, who believes "Ghosts are probably 
nothing more but also nothing less than phantoms [sensations] of the body."
   
   The Canadian neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield electrically stimulating certain
sites of the temporal lobes of patients' brains.  Some reported that these
stimulations caused them to experience vivid strong memories--as if they
were actually "seeing" these occurrences. It is also known that epilepsy in
the temporal lobes can produce similar experiences--and can affect other
limbic structures of the brain which are associated with memory-- such as
the amygdala and hippocampus.  Some researchers believe this could be the
site of the brain where patients are experiencing their life review scenes.

  Other clinical studies have shown that people who have a large number of 
paranormal experiences (including near-death experiences), also have "different" 
reactions within their temporal-lobe when stimulated, than the rest of the 
population. The implications of this study would indicate that some people have 
a level of brain functioning that allows them to experience near-death and other 
paranormal experiences. (James Mauro, "Bright Lights, Big Mystery-- Near-death 
experiences have become a cottage industry--but how real are they?" PSYCHOLOGY 
TODAY, July/Aug 1992, p 57, quoting a study by Vernon Neppe MD).

  Another study conducted by psychologist Kenneth Ring PHD, found that a
large number of persons having afterdeath experiences had reported "a
greater incidence of childhood abuse and trauma". Again, the implications
were that the people had responded to their childhood trauma by a
process psychologists refer to as "dissociation"--whereby reality had
become so painful for the person that they withdrew into a world of their
own imagination. (To Ring, however, this did not invalidate the spiritual
nature of their experience.)

   Of course, other scientists are taking the reports of near-death
experiences very seriously, and are attempting to devise appropriate
scientific tests to "prove" they are real.  Some patients have claimed to
have overheard conversations in adjacent rooms, to have read the dials of
machines in the operating room that were too high for them to have seen, etc.
Further scientific research is going on in this area, to try and test if
these claims are indeed accurate.

Aftermath of Near-Death Experiences

  Regardless of the true reality of their experience, almost without
exception, the near-death experience left the individual with a new outlook
on life, and a loss of any fear of death.  For example, one patient of Dr.
Ring related:

  "My sense of values has altered completely since the whole thing.
  Materialism to me is an evil thing...Things like Rolls-Royces don't mean
  a thing.  I enjoy the trees, and being by the sea -- things Nature has to
  offer which before I had never even noticed." (Paul Pickering, "
  the Dead", OBSERVER magazine, December 12, 1976 p 31)

  Ring quoted another patient as follows:

  "I used to be afraid of death.  Now, it seems like that, you know, it
  was a little scary at first, the wandering aspect, but talking to God and
  the warmth I felt when I was with Him, You know--it was really--Oh! I just
  get the chills thinking about it, it was so GOOD, you know? And I feel that
  when my time for death comes, that I won't be afraid to go."(Ring, LIFE
  AT DEATH, P 178)

A Look at Other Mental Sightings, other than NDE

  There have been numerous reports of people who have seen or felt the
presence of those who have died.  For example, a mother reported that
she saw her 8 year old daughter who had died two weeks earlier:

  " ... as I sat down after my lunch, I distinctly saw her in the chair
  opposite, just as we always sat at this time.  I was conscious of my
  brain questioning what my eyes saw, and I was also conscious that there
  was no real solidity about what I saw, but that if I moved, the vision
  would fade.  I was, of course, in some state of shock or grief, but was
  overjoyed to see my daughter so clearly." The report continued that she
  heard her daughter also speak very clearly on how her foot had gotten
  better.  This had been a matter of great importance to her daughter,
  but had been almost forgotten by the mother due to all the other medical
  problems faced by her child. (Wilson, THE AFTER DEATH EXPERIENCE, p 87)"

  Despite the large number of reports such as the one above, there are
complicating factors--such as hallucinations and fraud--which the serious
researcher must carefully consider in evaluating these reports.

     For example: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the famous author of Sherlock
Holmes, was a believer in spirits and made a fool of himself sometimes
because he easily fell for frauds: In one case, some girls showed pictures
of themselves playing with FAIRIES in their local woods. Doyle stated he
believed these pictures were authentic.  (Skeptics later found that the
"fairies" were obvious cutouts from pictures of fairies that appeared in a
book. It was also later disclosed that one of the girls worked for a photo
shop.  An excellent account of this occurs in James Randi, FLIM-FLAM--PSYCHICS
ESP, UNICORNS, AND OTHER DELUSIONS).

   Conan Doyle was also completely fooled by a university prank that
supposedly photographed the spirit of a monk during an all-night vigil
at the "haunted" Bristol Manor in England. After presenting the photograph
at a lecture several years later, Sir Arthur was embarrassed by a student
who stood up and proclaimed that the picture of the monk was actually
himself dressed up in a monk's costume with a double exposure against the
Manor's background.

  There has been evidence that some "ghost" sightings are, in actuality,
hallucinations conjured up BY THE MIND! An interesting case was documented
where a young woman patient named "Ruth" kept experiencing the ghost of
her father--this despite the fact that her father was still ALIVE, and
lived thousands of miles away.  According to Ian Wilson in his book,
THE AFTER-DEATH EXPERIENCE:

  "These experiences were so real to Ruth that she would see her father
  sit beside her on the bed, hear him speak to her, feel him when he touched
  her, and even smell soap on his body or alcohol on his breath.  The trigger
  to such hauntings seems to have been ... that while she was still a child
  this father had cruelly raped Ruth, and mentally he was still 'possessing'
  her."

She was hooked up to an electroencephalograph by a neurophysiologist: After
watching television for awhile, she was asked to conjure up her 'ghost'.
Although no camera was able to record anything, the electroencephalograph
registered that her brain perceived some figure standing in front of the
television screen. (Wilson, THE AFTER DEATH EXPERIENCE, p 89-90)

  As of this writing, it has NOT been proven whether all "sightings" are due
to fraud or hallucination--and some researchers are busy trying to find an
example of one that they can prove is REAL.

Eastern Belief in Dualism--Rebirth Through Reincarnation

  Reincarnation, which developed in the East, is the belief that upon death,
the soul is reborn into a new body--in a cycle that has been repeated over and
over again for countless eons. Many reincarnation beliefs hold that the soul
exists in a limbo-like state before being encased into a new physical body.
Others (such as those of the Jains) believe that there is no interval of time
involved before a new body is obtained. In eastern religions, it is not
uncommon to find those who claim to communicate with the dead in semi-hypnotic
states.

  Ian Wilson, in his book THE AFTER DEATH EXPERIENCE, reviewed the claims of
various children in India, who claimed to remember previous life experiences.
He noted that almost without exception the claims were made by a child in a
poor family who remembered living in a wealthy family-- AND NOT THE OTHER WAY
AROUND! Per Wilson:

  "Thus in India or Sri Lanka a poor family can have much to gain, and very
  little to lose, by representing their child as the reincarnation of a
  recently deceased member of a rich family. If the rich family can be
  persuaded to believe the claim, then they are unlikely to let their
  unfortunate dead relative continue to suffer in his new incarnation.  They
  will try to do something to impress the child's, and thereby the whole
  poor family's lot." (op cit., pp 33-34).

  Skeptics of reincarnation also point out that believers can not describe
how the mechanism of reincarnation came into being.  Going back into time,
there were less than one tenth of the people in ancient times as there is
now.  Assuming the number of souls in the universe to be constant--this
means that the additional souls were stored in

   (1) animals or insects
   (2) souls on other planets
   (3) a twilight zone queue area, where one waits for an available body

   If one accepts the scientific findings that the earth was created roughly
four billion years ago and the universe roughly ten billion years ago--then
one has to withdraw to belief in multiple Big Bangs (and a large soul
holding area in between), or better yet--parallel universes.

   The reincarnation of souls formed the basis of belief for many ancient
religions--including the ancient mystery religions of Greece. While
philosophers such as Plato fully embraced the belief in a spirit that
could be reincarnated in a future life, there was a minority view of
philosophers that were skeptical of how such a mechanism took place.
Lucretius (c 98-55 BC), a follower of the Epicureans, questioned how
there could be a spirit-like soul that possesses knowledge independent
of the body because:

  * When the body is severely wounded, the mind is also affected.
  * When one is drunk, the body AND the mind are both affected.
  * The mind ages with the body.  Babies are born with few if any mental
  abilities.  Learning over time greatly enhances our mental capabilities.
  As the body breaks down from age, mental capacity can diminish also.
  * "Understanding" does not occur at random in the body--say in the feet or
    hands. It occurs only in one physical place--the brain.
  * If the soul is immortal, why can't we remember actions from our previous
    lives?

(Lucretius' arguments appear again in Chapter 6--the Mind under the topic of
Dualism--ie whether the human mind is comprised of a spirit substance rather
than being of the body?)

Claims of Reincarnation Through Hypnosis

  Some individuals HAVE claimed to possess memories of previous lives. The 
scientific study of individuals who, under hypnosis, have claimed to
remember earlier lives has yielded important information on how the brain
works.  In 1969, a woman known under the pseudo-name of Jane Evans, was
placed into a deep trance, by a hypno-therapist who believed in reincarnation.
Under the deep trance she "remembered" six previous life experiences:  One
of them was as Livonia, wife of a tutor to the family of the Roman legate
Constantius. Livonia lived in the fourth century AD in the Roman province of
Eboracum (the Roman name for York, England). Historians brought in to
investigate the case were especially impressed with the amount of detail
that Jane Evans recalled in her hypnotic state. For example, Jane remembered
the following scene:

   "Oh, poor domina. Oh! She is waiting for Constantius, but she does not
  know that Curio is going to tell her that Constantius has rejected her and
  has married the daughter of Maximianus--Theodora--and he is bringing her
  here.  He is bringing the Princess Theodora here and yet the domina is
  waiting for him here--what can we do?"

Interestingly, Jane Evans could also recall Roman character names, that were
unknown to the historians called in to verify her claims.

  The puzzle however, was solved when Melvin Harris, a writer and broadcaster,
came across the historical novel, "THE LIVING WOOD, written by Louis de Wohl
in 1947 in a used book store. This book specifically wrote on the lives of
Constantine, Constantius, and Helena.  In it were all the scenes described
by Jane Evans--even using the same terminology (for example "domina" which is
Latin for mistress). Even more convincing was the fact that the "unknown"
historical names used by Jane in her regressed states corresponded to the
FICITIONAL characters invented by the author-- such as Curio, Valerius, Hilary,
and Marcus Favonius Facilis.  (The novel was written twenty two years before
Jane Evans was regressed, so there could be no doubt as to which account
appeared first.) (Wilson, THE AFTER DEATH EXPERIENCE, pp 42-47)  Although
sources for some of the other lives described by Jane Evans have not been
discovered as of this date, based on the above evidence given, it would seem
highly probable that they exist too.--That is, there are hundreds of thousands
of stories one would have to pour through to discover the exact one Jane
Evans was remembering.--It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.)

   It has been well known by psychologists that unconscious memories can
act as cameras in holding "snapshots" of details from books, films, and
events in our lives. These details/events are NOT accessible to conscious
memory, yet can be tapped into using hypnosis.  In other words there are
pools of memory that exist in our brain, which our memory is not consciously
wired to.

   Probably most people have experienced this to a small degree. For example,
I often have found myself struggling to remember some detail I once knew, such
as someone's name.  When another person states it for me, suddenly, with this
assistance, I remember the name myself and in a flash, it's as if I'd had a
revelation and could now retrieve additional details on this person that were
lost before.   A Finnish psychiatrist, Dr Reima Kampman, has demonstrated that
he can sometimes re-hypnotize some subjects and persuade them to reveal the
source of their "previous life experience" which had been buried in this
hidden memory (termed cryptomnesia). (Wilson, THE AFTERDEATH EXPERIENCE, p 45,
Reina Kampman, "Hypnotically induced Multiple Personality; An Experimental
Study;, "INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL HYPNOSIS, Vol 24
No 3, July 1976, pp 215-217).

  "Deja vu" is basically the same phenomenon, although on a smaller scale
than a full-blown reincarnation.  As such, deja vu is a feeling that we've
met a person before, or somehow been at a new place before.  Psychologists
believe this can be explained by a synthesis of memories that have been
stored in our unconscious and somehow triggered into surfacing into our
higher levels of awareness.

Conclusion:

  It is too early for science to rule whether or not "Near-Death" experiences
are a chemical reaction to death OR a genuine taste of the afterlife. Without
doubt, the greatest mystery each of us must confront in our own lifetime, is
to confront the reality of our own future, impending death.  I believe the
research done in the area of near-death experiences is important--even if it
only shows that our last sensation of life is some naturally occurring
drug-induced high.  This author has never taken illicit drugs nor believes
that it is morally right to do so, except in unusual situations where they
can be used to humanely alleviate pain for the seriously ill and injured.

   Still, if one is about to die--or depart from the land of the flesh
(whichever is the reader's perspective) surely it is a comforting feeling
to anticipate that our last human sensations will likely be a pleasant one.