What is a “near-death experience” (NDE)? Dr. Raymond A. Moody’s definition

June 24, 1:31 AMNear Death Experiences ExaminerAlan Hippleheuser

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by Yhancik

Just last week, a mother watched a young child being pulled from an Indiana hotel swimming pool. The child was not breathing. One adult immediately started CPR. A friend of this child told the adult, “You have to get the water out first.” When the drowning child was turned on his side, water spilled out of his mouth and lungs, and he started to breathe again. The advice of the young observer may have saved this boy’s life.

Was this a near-death experience? The mother telling me this story labeled it as a recent near death experience. Her son was the one who gave the advice to “get the water out.” But does this story fit what we expect as a “near-death experience?”

The answer is “yes” and “no”. Certainly, the child in this account had stopped breathing, and when anybody stops breathing, they are apparently dead or near death, so this would qualify as a “close call with death”. But the term “near-death experience” was coined in a 1975 book by Raymond A. Moody, Jr. Ph. D., M.D., Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon--Survival of Bodily Death.

Definition.   Moody, in “Life After Life” defines a “Near Death Experience” or NDE as an experience that fits one of the following criteria:

1. The experiences of a person who was resuscitated after having been thought, adjudged, or pronounced clinically dead by their doctors;
2. The experiences of a person who, in the course of accidents or severe injury or illness, came very close to physical death;
3. The experiences of a person who, as they died, told them to other people who were present. Later, these other people reported the content of the death experience.

These experiences are usually reported by people who experienced them, except for people in the third category, who were witnesses of the experiences of the dying.

One phenomenal aspect of these experiences that caused Moody’s book to be a long-time bestseller: these experiences have what Moody called “striking similarity among the accounts of the experiences themselves.”

Common elements of a near-death experience (NDE).  Dr. Moody discusses the following elements that are related by those having near-death experiences (NDErs). Moody summarized these 15 elements from a group of 150 cases. While these elements are not experienced by everyone having a near-death experience, most people report having around 8 of these common experiences. Moody is careful to explain that no one person experienced all of these elements, and that there are persons who experienced none of these elements.

• Ineffability. NDErs often express how it is impossible to express their experience, or “there are just no words to express what I am trying to say.”
• Hearing the News. NDErs sometimes tell that they heard their doctor or others present during their dying event mention that they were dead.
• Feelings of Peace and Quiet. NDErs often describe “wonderful feelings” of peace, bliss, comfort and ease.
• The Noise. Some NDErs report unusual sounds at or near death. These sounds can be very unpleasant or in contrast, musical.
• The Dark Tunnel. In some cases, NDErs report being pulled through what Moody called “a dark space,” but was also described as “an enclosure, a tunnel, a funnel, a vacuum, a void, a sewer, a valley and a cylinder.”
• Out of the Body. NDErs often report being aware that they are separate from their earthly bodies. This experience for some participants can be filled with fear; for others, quite enjoyable.
• Meeting Others. NDErs often report meeting other “beings” in their experience, and report them as deceased persons they new earlier in life or sometimes as “spirit beings.”
• Being of Light. An experience with a very bright light often has long-term significance to NDErs. Moody said it “is certainly the element which has the most profound effect upon the individual.”
• The Review. NDErs sometimes report a life review that is visual, fast, and might contain nearly every experience from their life.
• The Border or Limit. Occasionally, NDErs described a place that they could not pass through, like a mist or body of water.
• Coming Back. This is a common experience as NDErs did not die; they came back after having experiences. Moody said the accounts he had collected “present an extremely varied picture.”
• Telling Others. Most NDErs do not receive acceptance at the relating of their NDE and often resolve to keep it private, believing that they are unique.
• Effects on Lives. Most NDErs report having a change in perception after these experiences, and some acquire new abilities.
• New Views of Death. Moody says that the NDE “has a profound effect upon one’s attitude towards physical death, especially for those who had not previously expected that anything took place after death.”
• Corroboration. Occasionally, NDErs will explain what happened while they were “clinically dead” with accuracy to their doctor or other onlookers.

Most other authors and organizations who discuss and research NDEs use some form of Moody’s list of 15 elements.

Dr. Moody is still lecturing, writing and consulting and will celebrate his 65th birthday on June 30. For more information, visit his website at www.lifeafterlife.com. This website features a new DVD from Dr. Moody called "When Loved Ones Die: a guide for the grief stricken." The website also announces that Dr. Moody will be lecturing this weekend through July 5th at the International Institute of Integral Human Sciences World Conference in Montreal, Canada.

Many others have contributed to the research of near-death experiences, including Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, George Ritchie, P.M.H. Atwater, Bruce Greyson, Kenneth Ring, Michael Sabom and many others, who will be the subject of future articles.