A 1982 Gallup poll revealed more than 8 Million Near Death Experiences  in the United States alone.........

What is a Near-Death Experience (NDE)?

Although most people who have come close to death say they remember nothing, as many as a third may later report that "something happened."  That "something" might be a near-death experience, an NDE.

No two NDEs are identical, but when numerous NDE reports are considered together, a pattern becomes evident.  Any single experience is likely to include one or more of these aspects of the overall pattern:

• Feeling that the "self" has left the body and is hovering overhead.  The person may later be able to describe who was where and what happened, sometimes in detail.

• Moving through a dark space or tunnel.

• Experiencing intensely powerful emotions, ranging from bliss to extreme distress.

• Encountering a light.  It is usually described as golden or white, and as being magnetic and loving; rarely, it is perceived as a reflection of the fires of hell.

• Receiving some variant of the message "It is not yet your time."

• Meeting others: may be deceased loved ones, recognized from life or not; sacred beings; unidentified entities and/or "beings of light"; sometimes symbols from one's own or other religious traditions.

• A life review, seeing and re-experiencing major and trivial events of one's life, sometimes from the perspective of the other people involved, and coming to some conclusion about the adequacy of that life and what changes are needed.

• Having a sense of understanding everything, of knowing how the universe works.

• Reaching a boundary, a cliff, fence, water, some kind of barrier that may not be crossed if one is to return to life.

• In some cases, entering a city or library.

• Rarely, receiving previously unknown information about one's life, e.g., adoption or hidden parentage, deceased siblings, glimpses into future events.

• Decision to return may be voluntary or involuntary.  If voluntary, usually associated with unfinished service to loved ones.

• Returning to the body.

Most NDEs are pleasurable, but others are deeply distressing.  In either case, virtually all NDErs sooner or later come to see the experience as beneficial.