Reprint requests may be sent to Jody A. Long, J.D. at the above address

ABSTRACT: It is a common element, unique to the NDEs experience, to report seeing deceased beings. Frequently, those seen on the other side are religious beings or deceased relatives. This study analyzes the beings that were seen on the other side. The datum is broken down into the categories of familiar beings and unfamiliar beings. Of the 302 people who responded to the survey, 29% (88) saw familiar beings and 25.8% (78) saw unfamiliar beings. Of the 166 people who saw beings, 53% saw familiar beings, while 47% saw unfamiliar beings. The highest percentage of familiar beings seen were blood relatives (25.9%), followed by religious figures (22.9%). Implications are discussed against the backdrop of consciousness and the Soulmate myth of popular culture.

KEY WORDS: near-death experience; beings; Soulmates; soul mates; God, Jesus, angels, consciousness, relatives, soul, religious figures, soul cluster group

Studies done in the late 70's and early 80's provide much of the foundation for today's understandings of the near death experience (NDE). One of the distinguishing factors unique to NDEs is the reports of beings, deceased relatives, and the implications resulting from these contacts.

Michael B. Sabom took great care to document his studies in his book, Recollections of Death, published in 1982 (Sabom, 1982). He showed that what NDErs saw and heard while they were dead, had a factual basis. These people could accurately recall events happening around them. The Dutch NDE study in 2001, headed by Pim van Lommel, replicated the phenomena and described a patient's veridical perception out-of-body experience (van Lommel, 2001). Although there are scientists, such as Russell Noyes, who initially set out to prove that imminent death produced hallucinations of the mystical category with "intense visual imagery" representing "a more complete withdrawal from extreme circumstances (Noyes, 1984)," this cannot explain why experiencers can see, hear and accurately recall happenings in the same or other rooms.

Just as this out of body component is considered a core and real component unique to NDEs, so is the component of meeting beings during the experience. As noted by Charles Flynn, an early NDE researcher, he quoted the words of sociologist William I. Thomas, "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences" (Flynn, 1984, p. 279). The sentiments were echoed by Ken Ring by saying, "Such experiences ... tend to exert a powerful effect on a person's motivations, values, and conduct ... However one chooses to interpret near-death phenomena, they are unquestionably real in their effects" (p. 279).

Ken Ring noted in his study, that the presence of beings could be sensed and sometimes communicated with at the stage after a person leaves their body. (Ring, 1984) This may or may not be part of the tunnel phase. Further, twenty percent of the persons who had experienced a presence at this stage in their NDE, reported drastic changes in their lives based upon the contact with the deceased individual. He also noted that one-tenth of the experiencers went to the final stage he termed as "entering the light." Beings are more commonly seen during this stage. He commented on several persons who reported seeing deceased relatives (p. 34).

According to the Greyson NDE Scale, the transcendental component has the highest correlation with the other three components. (Greyson, 1984). This transcendental component is defined by Ken Ring, as a transpersonal experience. (Ring, 1984, p. 36). The NDE is a transpersonal state of consciousness in "which an individual transcends the usual ego boundaries as well as the dimensions of time and space" (p. 36). Therefore, based on Greyson's scale, beings play a crucial part in the transcendental nature of the NDE.

Interestingly, on Greyson's preliminary questionnaire, 26% saw beings. On the final NDE scale, the question reads "Did you see deceased spirits or religious figures?" and correlated the question as part of the transcendent component unique to the near death experience (Greyson, p. 53). Van Lommel noted that of 62 patients reporting a NDE, 32% met with deceased persons. (van Lommel, 2001).

Since beings represent a unique and transcendental part of the near death experience, this paper will explore what beings people encounter when they go to the other side. This paper represents the second part of a six part study to find out about Soulmates. The first study discussed the background of the Soulmate study as viewed through the lens of consciousness studies. This second paper will focus on relationships between the experiencer, the living, and those on the other side. I will also add to the knowledge of what categories of deceased beings or religious figures are most commonly reported.

Out of the 302 NDEs, 212 (70.1%) reported encountering beings. The beings were divided into familiar and unfamiliar categories based upon whether they described beings or not. Out of the 212 who reported encountering beings, only 166 (78%) described the beings they encountered. Each account was counted only once. Beings counted were those beings that were seen, sensed, and part of the universal consciousness.

In the familiar category, there were divisions for religious beings, blood relatives, relatives, and other. In the unfamiliar category, divisions were for male, female, genderless, and others. Although many people reported seeing more than one being during their experience, the count is one NDE and one being. For example, while Jesus may have been seen in the same experience as Grandma was seen, Jesus also appeared in 21 other different experiences. Grandma was tabulated once and Jesus was tabulated once for this one experience.

Analysis was also performed on the two categories: 

(1)  All beings; and 

(2)  Only familiar beings. 

Each group was then compared in terms of age of the experiencer at the time of the NDE and whether they saw multiple, one or two beings. Multiple NDEs and those that an age was not given could not be used.

Of the 302 people who responded to the survey, 29% (88) saw familiar beings and 25.8% (78) saw unfamiliar beings. Of the 166 people who saw beings, 53% saw familiar beings, while 47% saw unfamiliar beings. For those experiences who saw multiple beings, they may have been counted in several categories of familiar and unfamiliar beings. However, for each being that was seen, there was only one experience counted. For instance, in one account, a person may have seen Jesus and non-specific angels. Jesus would have been tabulated once under familiar religious figures, and there would be a tabulation mark for unfamiliar religious figures. Out of 166 experiencers who saw beings, this one experience would count only once as seeing Jesus. Also, of 166 experiencers who saw beings, this one experience would count only once as seeing non-specific angels. Therefore, it is valid to say that a total of 38 experiencers saw Jesus or a total of 9 experiencers saw angels. However, it would be incorrect to cross-compare those experiences seeing multiple beings by using all of the tabulated experiences below such as n=226. The break down of familiar and unfamiliar beings is as follows:

A t-test was done for whether there was any correlation to seeing beings, whether or not the beings were familiar, blood relatives, or religious figures. There is no correlation between age and what beings are seen where p value accepted as significant is p<0.01. However, there is a trend towards seeing familiar beings and blood relatives if p<0.05. Below are the results:

Using the same criteria as the t-test except breaking the data into age groups, the chi square table shows no correlation between age and what beings are seen, if any. The age groups used were children (0-17), ages 18-40, and age 41 and over. There was a trend (.099) towards the older an experiencer was at the time of their NDE, the higher chance they would encounter a familiar being.

I also tried smaller categories to see if it would make a difference. I used the ages 0-12, 13-17, 18-25, 26-40, 41-55, and 56 and over. There was a trend (.062) towards older people to see blood relatives. Although the correlation between expected and observed for seeing familiar beings was .094, there was no trend. Some age groups and others were down, with no clear pattern.

Lastly, the data were divided into how many beings were seen during the experience. It looks like the ratio of beings per experience is about the same regardless of whether or not the beings are familiar, and that it is slightly more common to see one being instead of many beings. Below are the results: