by P.M.H.Atwater, L.H.D., Ph.D.

The near-death experience is defined as an intense awareness, sense, or experience of "otherworldliness," whether pleasant or unpleasant, that happens to people who are at the edge of death. It is of such magnitude that most experiencers are deeply affected - many to the point of making significant changes in their lives afterward because of what they went through.

The closer an individual is to physical death, the more apt he or she is to have one, although "near-death-like" experiences can occur without the threat of imminent death. We know now because of research done in Europe and North America that drugs, oxygen deprivation, temporal lobe seizures, psychological disorders, and other possible mediators are not causal, neither do they describe or account for the full range of near-death states and the aftereffects which follow. A signature feature of the phenomenon is that no matter how long an experiencer is without vital signs - no pulse, no breath, no indicators of brain activity - not only will little or no brain damage be found afterwards, but, the average individual will begin to display an unexplainable enhancement of intellect. It is a fact. . .most experiencers come back smarter than they were before. How long are these people without vital signs? I and most other researchers agree - somewhere between 5 to 20 minutes. It is not unusual for an experiencer to be without vital signs for about an hour. Nor is it unusual for them to revive in the morgue. . . much to the shock of morgue personnel. None of this is unusual.

Most cases with women arise from crises involving birth, miscarriage, rape, or hysterectomies. Most cases from men are heart-related or result from acts of violence. With kids, its either birth trauma or accidents, usually drownings or suffocation; a large number also emerge from surgery and situations of abuse. Near-death episodes are powerfully real, whether brief or lengthy, and defy the label of "hallucinations." None of us can consider ourselves to be professionals if we ignore or fail to study the impact this phenomenon has on experiencers, their families, and the general public who hears about them. Contrary to popular musings on the subject, there are clearly four types of near-death states. I discovered this in my own research which began in 1978 and currently numbers sessions with over 3,000 adult and 277 child experiencers. You all should have a copy of the chart on types. Follow along with me as I go over it. Please notice a subtle, psychological profile that seems to be present with each, as if predicative of who might have what type:

THE FOUR TYPES OF NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES

1) Initial Experience (sometimes referred to as the "non-experience") Involves elements such as a loving nothingness, the living dark, a friendly voice, or a brief out-of-body experience; perhaps a visitation of some kind. Usually experienced by those who seem to need the least amount of evidence for proof of survival, or who need the least amount of shakeup in their lives at that point in time. Often, this become a "seed" experience or an introduction to other ways of perceiving and recognizing reality.

Incident rate: 76% with child experiencers; 20% with adult experiencers

2) Unpleasant and/or Hell-like Experience (inner cleansing and self-confrontation) Encounter with a threatening void or stark limbo or hellish purgatory, or scenes of a startling and unexpected indifference, even "hauntings" from one's own past. Usually experienced by those who seem to have deeply suppressed or repressed guilts, fears, and angers, and/or those who expect some kind of punishment or discomfort after death.

Incident rate: 3% with child experiencers; 15% with adult experiencers

3) Pleasant and/or Heaven-like Experience (reassurance and self-validation) Heaven-like scenarios of loving family reunions with those who have died previously, reassuring religious figures or light beings, validation that life counts, affirmative and inspiring dialogue. Usually experienced by those who most need to know how loved they are and how important life is and how every effort has a purpose in the overall scheme of things.

Incident rate: 19% with child experiencers; 47% with adult experiencers

4) Transcendent Experience (expansive revelations, alternate realities) Exposure to otherworldly dimensions and scenes beyond the individual's frame of reference; sometimes includes revelations of greater truths. Seldom personal in content. Usually experienced by those who are ready for a "mind stretching" challenge and/or individuals who are more apt to utilize (to whatever degree) the truths that are revealed to them.

Incident rate: 2% with child experiencers; 18% with adult experiencers

Life reviews are common components of Pleasant and Unpleasant types, but seldom show up in Transcendent states - not at all with Initial ones. Whether the episode was brief and consisted of only one to three elements, as with Initial Experiences, or lengthy and filled with a complex range of elements, the deciding factor as to its impact is intensity. Please note that even simple experiences with hardly anything to them, if intense enough, can engender the same cascade of aftereffects as those which are more involved.

High stress exists as a commonality in what pushes human consciousness to transform how it functions. But what causes the peculiarities of high stress? Since the aftereffects of near-death states and consciousness transformations, no matter how caused, are the same or similar, and since near-death states can happen to anyone, at any age, I would like to use them as a model to explore the larger genre of transformations of consciousness. The personal needs of individual experiencers are an important aspect of both near-death scenario storylines and the event's timing Here's a synopsis of what I have noticed about this during the 23 years I have been conducting research: Most episodes happen during major junctures or times of unusual stress in the person's life, when spiritual guidance or direction would be most helpful.

• With young children, relatives and caregivers can be affected as well - to the degree that it's almost as if the child had the experience for them. Yet, the extent to which the episode transformed the youngster becomes important and more apparent as he or she matures, and can become a quiet but powerful directive in the life path chosen by the child once grown.

• Causes and conditions of death can reflect, at least symbolically, the experiencer's past or current psychological growth; maturity, or lack of it.

• The initial spirit greeters at death's threshold always match whatever is necessary to alert or calm the experiencer, be it adult or child.

• As the episode deepens, the scenario's message parallels almost exactly the subconscious needs of the individual at that moment in time.

• The life review and any session that covers lectures or advice reflects whatever was omitted, ignored, or not yet learned in life by the experiencer involved.

• Afterward, the experiencer's behavior tends to shift toward a desire to express that which has been undeveloped or partially developed - physically in the sense of brain function/nerve sensitivity, psychologically in the sense of personal growth/maturity, spiritually in the sense of a personal relationship with Deity or God - as if whatever traits are missing in the individual's overall maturing process are now being "filled in."

I never cease to be amazed at how forthcoming experiencers are when asked to evaluate what happened to them. Almost to a person they say, "I got what I needed." This blunt answer suggests that another agenda may be in force besides that of the personality self: perhaps that of a greater version of the self - the soul. Whatever the truth of this, and it may never be proved one way or the other, the need factor is plainly obvious as to timing, storyline, and outcome of near-death states - not in the sense of predetermination or wish fulfillment, but, rather, in terms of a subconscious "agenda" of a higher, more spiritual order. What impresses me the most is how the scenario people experience always catches their attention in the precise way and manner that is the most effective for them. Near-death scenarios hardly ever touch on what most of us might expect considering the gravity of that person's life choices and deeds.

The subtle psychological profile I discovered to be present with each type seems somehow to be "predictive" in the sense of who has what. This profile is consistent with the vast majority of people I had sessions with - regardless of their race, educational level, status, religious beliefs, or location. Although much more research needs to be done to establish how universal this pattern is, so far it has withstood the scrutiny of researchers and experiencers alike.

Looking again at the four types, you could shorten their general description to read like this: 1) Initial Experience - awakening to a greater reality. 2) Unpleasant Experience - untangling false perceptions; Pleasant Experience - recognizing true values and priorities; Transcendent Experience - embracing universal oneness.

When you shorten the subtle psychological profile in this manner, it becomes illustrative of development stages in the growth of human consciousness, both personally and en masse, as consciousness expands to embrace the responsibility we all share as members of the same universal family.

Because of what I have seen in my research, I no longer consider near-death states to be any sort of anomaly. Rather, I consider them to be part of the larger genre of transformations of consciousness, no matter how caused. Because the aftereffects of all of these states, if the occurrence was intense enough, are the same or similar, I now refer to the entire process of transforming consciousness as a brain shift/spirit shift.

Near-death cases are on the increase. Even way back in 1997, U. S. News & World Report estimated over fifteen million in the United States alone. Judging from the extent to which experiencers change - irrespective of personal beliefs and preferences - and the long-term effects of those changes, and we have every reason to believe this is historical, it is evident to me that evolution is involved. And it is also evident to me that transformations of consciousness, especially near-death states, may indeed be the "engine" that drives evolution. The way consciousness is evolving today bears the mark of forces far greater than anything we can isolate or define through research. Experiencers return from transformative states convinced of a mission they are to do, a job they must perform for The Greater Plan of Humankind. They speak of love and oneness, cooperation and service, making a difference in society. And they talk about God. What are we to make of all of this? What are we to conclude?

That there is more to life than we think there is. And that people like myself, for I am a near-death experiencer as well as a researcher, can be so transformed by the intensity of an otherworldly experience. . . that they are never the same again.

For more information about Dr. Atwater's work: cinemind.com/atwater