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Reincarnation beliefs among near-death experiencers.
Abstract
Several researchers have found that near-death experiences (NDEs) tend to increase belief in reincarnation. This study examined factors underlying this belief shift. The author used a questionnaire to compare the tendency toward belief in reincarnation among 43 near death experiencers (NDERs), 34 individuals merely interested in NDEs, and 30 nonexperiencer, noninterest controls. In addition, 14 NDERs were interviewed to gain insight into factors influencing NDERs' beliefs. NDERs' reincarnation belief shift appeared to be due to (1) direct knowledge of reincarnation gained by some NDERs in the NDE itself, (2) knowledge of reincarnation gained through a general psychic awakening following the NDE, or (3) exploration of alternative perceptions of reality following the NDE. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... Amber Wells, an undergraduate student of psychologist and near-death researcher Kenneth Ring, carried out a survey comparing near-death experiencers and non-experiencers who were interested in NDEs. She found that belief in reincarnation was equally strong in the experiencers and in the comparison group of non-experiencers (Wells, 1993). ...
... Those are the same percentages of belief in reincarnation that the Pew Research Center found among the American population as a whole. However, some near-death experiencers related their belief in reincarnation to specific events in their NDEs (Gallup & Proctor, 1982;Ring, 1980;Sutherland, 1992;Wells, 1993). ...
... In a qualitative study of 50 NDErs, Sutherland (1990) claimed many NDErs explicitly rejected their previously held views, particularly those associated with the major monotheistic traditions (e.g., Christian-ity). Instead, most (75%) had become sympathetic to alternative beliefs such as reincarnation, a finding also supported by Wells (1993). ...
... The belief that consciousness will remain, but individual identity and the physical body will be lost (disembodied spirit), represented the greatest difference between the three groups, with a very strong effect size. In accordance with Sutherland (1990) and Wells (1993), NDErs were also more likely than nonNDErs and those who had never been close to death to believe in reincarnation, however the figure was not quite as high as that reported in previous studies (75% in Sutherland's case). Participants attributed this belief to knowledge gained during their NDE (reliving past lives), a product of subsequent paranormal experiences following their NDE (suggestive of reincarnation) or a corollary of newfound spiritual beliefs that espoused belief in reincarnation (i.e., Buddhist, New Age beliefs). ...
Following near-death experiences (NDEs) many people report a new or increased belief in life after death, yet this construct has never been specifically examined. In this mixed-method analysis, 105 persons who had experienced a life-threatening event and 69 participants who had never come close to death completed an online survey measuring beliefs about the “self” after death. Those who reported having an NDE during a life-threatening event were significantly more likely to believe in postmortem continuation, particularly the persistence of consciousness and individual identity beyond death. Eighteen people were also independently interviewed to explore the thematic form and psychological antecedents for any revised beliefs. Results were highly convergent with survey data and suggested the phenomenological characteristics of NDEs played an important role. These findings offer more systematic empirical evidence for the idea that NDEs foster certain types of postmortem beliefs.
... Seventy percent of near-death experiencers (NDErs) return from their experiences believing in reincarnation (Wells, 1993). Often, they tell of being counseled about the life they lived, and given help in planning their following lives. ...
Hypothesizes that a near-death experience (NDE) is the subjective experience of having the state of consciousness in which a person experiences the last moment of his or her life being turned, in stages, into the state of consciousness experienced as the “point of no return.” The life review this, as is interpreted as a review of the states of consciousness experienced during our lives. Our responses to reviewing our own behaviors while in specific states reinforces and classifies them into those to repeat in future lives and those to avoid. We examine a modification of the traditional doctrine of reincarnation that takes into account biological and cultural evolution. This allows an understanding of how the attributes of NDEs could have undergone selection even though all opportunities for mating have already passed at the time of death.
... According to P. M. H. Atwater (1988), Charles Flynn (1986, Ring (1992), Cherie Sutherland (1990Sutherland ( , 1995Sutherland ( /1992, and others, NDErs tend towards postmaterialist values; some believe that they have been chosen for some unique but still unknown mission, and that God or some other supernatural force was responsible for their new sense of destiny. Many have a new or intensified belief in some form of life after death, including an increased belief in reincarnation (Wells, 1993). ...
This article provides a short summary of a representative survey on near-death experiences (NDEs) in Germany, which is the first of its kind in Europe. We tested several assumptions derived from previous research on NDEs, including the assumptions of a unified pattern of experience, the universality of the pattern, and the necessary link between NDEs and clinical death. We received replies from more than 2,000 persons, 4 percent of whom reported NDEs. The patterns of the NDEs did not seem to correspond to earlier findings: aside from being much more diverse, they also differed with respect to cultural variables, particularly the difference between religious interpretations and the differences between post-socialist East Germany and West Germany.
... Quizás los más importantes tengan que ver con la percepción del yo. Entre estos cambios se incluyen la pérdida del miedo a la muerte, el sentirse especialmente favorecido por Dios, un nuevo sentido del propósito de su vida y el incremento de la autoestima (67)(68)(69). Las relaciones con otras personas también sufren cambios significativos. Se ha reportado mayor compasión y amor por otros, una menor preocupación por las ganancias materiales, reconoci-mientos o estatus, mayor deseo de ayuda a otros y aumento en la habilidad para expresar los sentimientos (63,64,70). ...
Near-death experiences (NDE) are lucid events that take place when a person is so physically compromised that he would die if its condition does not improve. He is unconscious, without heartbeats and breath, and with a flat-line electroencephalogram. NDE may include some of the following elements: Out of the body experiences or separation of consciousness from the physical body, increase in sensory perception and intense emotions, travel into or through a tunnel, encounter with a brilliant light and mystical beings, deceased relatives or friends, a sense of alteration in time and space, visualization of unworldly realms and a special knowledge, encounter with a barrier or boundary, and a return to the body, either voluntary or involuntary. The fact that children NDE are similar to adult NDE is an evidence that these experiences are real and not due to pre-existing beliefs, cultural influences or previous experiences in the present life. The characteristics of NDE are similar worldwide. No evidence supports the physiological, psychological, neurochemical, and neuroanatomical hypothesis proposed to explain the NDE. Multifactorial models, based on the combination of all of them (brain anoxia or hypoxia, release of serotonin, endorphins and ketamine-like compounds) have also been proposed. Although physiological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors could interact in the NDE, the hypothesis proposed consist essentially in unsupported speculations about what might be happening during the NDE.
تجربة الاقتراب من الموت، أو NDE، هي ظاهرة جذبت انتباه الباحثين في القرن الماضي. وقد حازت هذه الظاهرة على اهتمام الباحثين وحتى عامة الناس في ايران في العقد الأخير. وقد فسرها البعض عمومًا على أنها نتاج نشاط الدماغ وأنها أوهام تشكلت بفعل التجربة. من ناحية أخرى، ذهب البعض الى صحة ما تم الإبلاغ عنه حول هذه الظاهرة، وتم استخدامها كدليل لإثبات أصول العقيدة، رغم وجود أدلة عقلية أو نقلية تثبت بطلانها. نسعى في هذه المقالة، ومن خلال التحليل المبني على مبادئ الحكمة المتعالية، الى البحث في هذه التجارب وإثبات أن ظاهرة تجربة الاقتراب من الموت بسبب انخفاض الارتباط بين الروح والجسد ليس لها أي تباين متأصل مع النوم أوالغيبوبة. وأن ما يشاهده من حصلت لهم ظاهرة الاقتراب من الموت، لا يختلف عما يشاهده الناس في الحلم أو الغيبوبة، وهو مشاهدات النفس في عالم الخيال.
Near-death experiences (NDEs) in Thailand do not demonstrate the episodes most noted in those collected in the West, but they do show consistent features. I argue that these features, including harbingers of death, visions of hell, the Lord of the underworld, and the benefits of making donations to Buddhist monks and temples, can be understood within the framework of beliefs and customs unique to Southeast Asia. The simplest explanation is that the phenomenology of NDEs at least in part fulfills the individuals' expectations of what they will experience at death. These expectations are most often derived from the experiencer's culture, subculture, or mix of cultures. Culture-bound expectations are, in turn, most often derived from religion. One case, quoted at length, shows features that suggest that the individual was experiencing stress as a result of living in both Thai and Chinese cultures. Although the phenomenology of Thai NDEs is at variance from those in the West, the typical episodes that appear in each seem to follow a comparable sequencing. This similarity in structure suggests that NDEs in both cultures have a common function.
Palabras clave: experiencias cercanas a la muerte, experiencias fuera del cuerpo, habilidades psíquicas, conciencia. Resumen. Las experiencias cercanas a la muerte (ECM) son eventos lúci-dos que ocurren cuando una persona está tan comprometida físicamente que moriría si su condición no lograra mejorar. Está inconsciente, sin latidos car-díacos detectables, sin respiración y los registros electroencefalográficos son planos. Las ECM pueden incluir algunos de los siguientes elementos: expe-riencias fuera del cuerpo o separación de la conciencia del cuerpo físico, in-cremento en la percepción sensorial, emociones intensas, viaje hacia o a tra-vés de un túnel, observación de una luz brillante, encuentro con seres místi-cos o familiares y amigos fallecidos, sentido de alteración del tiempo y el espa-cio, revisión de la vida, visualización de paisajes celestiales indescriptibles, en-cuentro con una barrera o límite, aprendizaje de un conocimiento especial y el regreso voluntario o involuntario al cuerpo físico. La similitud de las ECM en niños y adultos es una evidencia de que son reales y no debidas a creencias preexistentes, influencias culturales o experiencias previas en la vida actual. Las características de las ECM son parecidas en todo el mundo y en personas de diferentes culturas. No existen evidencias que apoyen las hipótesis psicoló-gicas, fisiológicas, neuroquímicas y neuroanatómicas para explicar las ECM. Se han propuesto modelos multifactoriales basados en la combinación de to-dos los factores señalados (hipoxia cerebral, liberación de serotonina, endorfi-nas o compuestos similares a la ketamina). Aunque los factores fisiológicos, psicológicos y socioculturales pueden interactuar en las ECM, las hipótesis que se han propuesto son meras especulaciones sin soportes sobre lo que ocu-rre durante una ECM. Abstract. Near-death experiences (NDE) are lucid events that take place when a person is so physically compromised that he would die if its condition does not improve. He is unconscious, without heartbeats and breath, and with a flat-line electroencephalogram. NDE may include some of the following ele-ments: Out of the body experiences or separation of consciousness from the physical body, increase in sensory perception and intense emotions, travel into or through a tunnel, encounter with a brilliant light and mystical beings, deceased relatives or friends, a sense of alteration in time and space, visualiza-tion of unworldly realms and a special knowledge, encounter with a barrier or boundary, and a return to the body, either voluntary or involuntary. The fact that children NDE are similar to adult NDE is an evidence that these experi-ences are real and not due to pre-existing beliefs, cultural influences or previ-ous experiences in the present life. The characteristics of NDE are similar worldwide. No evidence supports the physiological, psychological, neuro-chemical, and neuroanatomical hypothesis proposed to explain the NDE. Multifactorial models, based on the combination of all of them (brain anoxia or hypoxia, release of serotonin, endorphins and ketamine-like compounds) have also been proposed. Although physiological, psychological, and socio-cul-tural factors could interact in the NDE, the hypothesis proposed consist es-sentially in unsupported speculations about what might be happening during the NDE.
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