February 1, 2005

  Newsletter

Vol. 04 No. 02 Ed. 1


The Near-Death Newsletter is a free semi-monthly newsletter which is emailed to subscribers every 1st of the month and on every 15th of the month. The mission of this newsletter is to inform, enlighten, entertain, and aid the public in understanding the latest in all things concerning the NDE and related phenomena by promoting IANDS (International Association for Near-Death Studies), NDE researchers, experiencers, multimedia resources, and events. Disclaimer: This newsletter is not affiliated with IANDS; but the creator of this newsletter, Kevin Williams, is a member of IANDS who is dedicated to the IANDS mission.

IANDS is the premier organization for NDE research. Membership gives you access to subscribe to their prestigious Journal of Near-Death Studies and their newsletter Vital Signs. You can join online right from their website. Get connected with the people and organization which will likely provide the world with the evidence of our survival after death.


 Table of Contents


 

Archive of NDEs in the News - Read all the major news articles concerning the NDE and related phenomena from 1995 to current. This is a permanent archive to ensure that these news articles will always be available on the internet. The Near-Death News section of this Near-Death Newsletter will soon be available in syndication so stay tuned!

 
    Volunteers Needed For Important NDE Research
  CHARLOTTSVILLE, VIRGINIA ------------------------ (P.M.H. Atwater'a Website)
 

If you have had a NDE or other unexplained experience, you are invited to correspond with Dr. Bruce Greyson and his team of researchers. Please send your name and postal address and/or e-mail address to the corresponding researcher. Contact Dr. Greyson at cbg4d@virginia.edu to report NDEs, or contact Dr. Jim Tucker at jbt8n@virginia.edu to report children with memories of previous lives, or contact Dr. Emily Kelly at ewc2r@virginia.edu to report any other experiences, such as apparitions, deathbed visions, and communications from deceased loves ones. [Read more]

 
EAST WINDSOR HILL, CONNECTICUT --------------------------- (IANDS website)

Join IANDS and receive a free copy of P.M.H. Atwater's 480-page "encyclopedia of the NDE." "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Near-Death Experience" has been called "the Ultimate NDE Guide". Ken Ring, Ph.D. had this to say about Atwater's guide: "This book by PMH Atwater is to me the definitive work on near-death experiences, and stands somewhere between being a Bible for the field and an encyclopedia of it. It is a tremendous achievement - and its warm, compulsively readable, engaging, provocative and fun as well." This offer is good while supplies last. Visit IANDS join page for more information about becoming a member.... [Read more]

 
(Feb. 1, 2005)   ---------------------- (Near-Death Newsletter)

Researchers at Wichita State University are investigating the after-effects of the NDE by learning more about its impact on peoples' lives. If you have had a NDE and decide to participate, you will be asked to answer an anonymous questionnaire which will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Any information obtained in this study will remain confidential and anonymous. Visit their website to decide if you would like to participate ... [Read more]

 
DENTON, TEXAS ----------------------------------------- (The North Texas Daily)

Consciousness may be more than just a product of brain activity, according to Dr. Jan Holden, a professor in NT's department of Counseling Development and Higher Education. Holden is involved with a study on near-death experiences at the University of Virginia, which started last March ... With this in mind, Holden designed a method of proving this phenomenon. A laptop computer that opens flat hangs on the ceiling with the screen facing away from the floor. A series of animations runs once the computer starts up. Holden's husband, a computer software engineer, developed the program. With this study, Holden hopes to provide support for the theory that consciousness is more than a product of brain activity. "If consciousness is a product of the brain, then when the brain dies, consciousness dies. If the brain is like a cell phone in the field of consciousness, then when the brain dies, consciousness continues," she said. .... [Read more]

    Visit the IANDS website.
 
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA

The inspiration for NBC's new drama “Medium” is participating in a University of Virginia study that seeks to prove whether the living can talk to the dead. "Medium" tells the real-life story of Allison DuBois, an Arizona mother of three who claims to see dead people and helps police solve murder cases ... “We know it can be done. There is a history of mediums who worked under these conditions in the '20s and '30s and did quite well,” Kelly said. “It's a matter of identifying someone who can do well under these conditions.” This is the first study that UVa has conducted studies with mediums in 30 years. The Division of Perceptual Studies typically researches reincarnation, near-death experiences, death bed visions and out-of-body experiences..... [Read more]

    Read about the Scole psychic study of the '20s and '30s.
 
WASHINGTON, DC

Abstract: The spatial unity of self and body is challenged by various philosophical considerations and several phenomena, perhaps most notoriously the "out-of-body experience" (OBE) during which one's visual perspective and one's self are experienced to have departed from their habitual position within one's body. Although researchers started examining isolated aspects of the self, the neurocognitive processes of OBEs have not been investigated experimentally to further our understanding of the self. With the use of evoked potential mapping, we show the selective activation of the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) at 330-400 ms after stimulus onset when healthy volunteers imagined themselves in the position and visual perspective that generally are reported by people experiencing spontaneous OBEs..... [Read more]

 
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

Steve Green says he was ready to make funeral arrangements after his brother had been hit by a car and declared dead on a Franklin County road. Now, he's hoping those arrangements won't be necessary. Just as a medical examiner was unzipping a body bag Monday night to examine Larry Green's body to determine a cause of death, he discovered Larry Green was breathing. That was two hours after he'd been hit by a car and pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical technicians..... [Read more]

    Watch the online news video about this story.
 
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

If you have evidence of the existence of a spiritual world, a world of help and guidance and sympathy, then you can hold to it in spite of every denial of the materialists, who can only base their denial on the absence of any sensory stimulus to their material organism. Such a world may exist all round us, and yet can only be spiritually discerned. The faculty of discernment does exist in some people, and their positive evidence overweighs a wilderness of negation from people whose perceptions are limited to the bodily senses..... [Read more]

 
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

The creators of “What the BLEEP Do We Know?” and the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), have created a free Study Guide to be used by individuals and groups to maximize the personal benefit each viewer can receive from the film. The Guide is a free gift to fans of the movie. It is intended to help spread the value that is available by focusing on, understanding, integrating, and embodying many of the principles offered in the film. Written, compiled, and edited by the IONS staff and other professionals, the Guide provides a framework for individuals and groups to explore, discuss, and deepen their involvement with “What the BLEEP's” primary themes..... [Read more]

    You will need to have the free Adobe Reader installed to read the PDF file.
 
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Research in near-death experiences suggests that after death a person is still alive in some other form. British scientists report that many people who have been brought back to life in emergency rooms are able to recount in detail how their souls had exited their bodies and floated above the medical personnel. Reincarnation treatment is gaining approval from more and more people. In such treatment, patients could find what body parts were injured in their previous lives. In some cases, this treatment has been more effective in diagnosis than CT, MRI and blood tests..... [Read more]

 
EUGENE, OREGON

Only a few weeks later, Crystal Houser was dead. Her new heart and lungs seemed fine, her death unexpected and quick ... Nichols suffered from an elevated type of pulmonary hypertension - a hole in her heart ... She almost didn't make it. Like Houser, Nichols had a severe reaction to some of the post-surgery medicines she was required to take ... Her life in the balance, Nichols said she had a dream or near-death experience in the hospital in which she was greeted by several deceased family members - and a girl with blond hair she didn't recognize. Nichols said she wanted to go with the family members and girl, who made it clear to her that "it was not my time" to join them. Nichols believes the girl was the blond-haired Houser..... [Read more]

 
NELSON, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Police in Nelson, B.C., have found the body of a young woman who disappeared last March, and they credit a local psychic for pointing them in the right direction. Kimberley Anne Sarjeant was last seen walking alone in a popular hiking spot near Nelson. Police say they used every tool at their disposal to try to find her, including search dogs, helicopters and infrared heat detectors. When none of the standard techniques seemed to work, Sgt. Steve Bank called on a local psychic for help .... [Read more]

 
JACKSON COUNTY, OREGON

The paramedics called RVMC and told the hospital to assemble the cardiology team. Gross and a team of assistants were waiting for Day when the ambulance arrived. "He looked dead," Gross recalled. Twenty-one minutes after Day rolled into the hospital, Gross had opened an artery in his leg, inserted a wire in the artery, guided it to Day's damaged heart and installed a stent to repair the damaged coronary artery. Day remembers looking down at his body, watching from the ceiling while doctors worked to save his heart — an "out-of-body" experience like those reported by many people who have hovered between life and death .... [Read more]

 
VALLENTUNA, SWEDEN

Esoteric and spiritual teachers have known for ages that our body is programmable by language, words and thought. This has now been scientifically proven and explained. The human DNA is a biological Internet and superior in many aspects to the artificial one. The latest Russian scientific research directly or indirectly explains phenomena such as clairvoyance, intuition, spontaneous and remote acts of healing, self healing, affirmation techniques, unusual light/auras around people (namely spiritual masters), mind's influence on weather patterns and much more..... [Read more]

 
PETROLIA, CALIFORNIA

At the other extreme was "Why We Should Love Osama Bin Laden," in which Kevin Williams, who maintains near-death.com, an otherwise estimable clearinghouse for near-death experiences, tells us: "Although I believe that Bin Laden should be captured and imprisoned, I believe that we should love the man as we should love everyone -- unconditionally. . . . [the] terrorist attacks are really a cry out for help and it is our obligation to help them.".... [Read more]

    Read Kevin Williams' article Why We Should Love Osama Bin Laden.
 
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO

Tafoya believes his ability to crack codes came after an out-of-body experience he had in 1977 while at his father's funeral. "During my experience, I heard a voice that said: 'it's all in the numbers,'" Tafoya said. "That's when the ability came." Like he predicted Sept. 11, 2001, Tafoya believes that 2005 holds some political events. Through his mathematical equation, Tafoya determined that 2005 will be an action year because the digits 2 + 0 + 0 + 5 = 7..... [Read more]

 
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

Dangerous levels of climate change could be reached in just over 20 years if nothing is done to stop global warming, a WWF-UK study claims. At current rates, the Earth will be 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels some time between 2026 and 2060, says a paper by Dr Mark New of Oxford University. Temperatures in the Arctic could rise by three times this amount, he says. It would lead to a loss of summer sea ice and tundra vegetation, with polar bears and other animals dying out ... [Read more]

 
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

Einstein's general relativity theory allows for the existence of "wormholes" or gateways connecting parallel universes, sometimes called "Einstein-Rosen bridges." But it is still unknown whether quantum corrections make such a journey possible or not. Although once considered a preposterous idea, the concept of the "multiverse"—that our universe coexists with an infinite number of parallel universes—has recently generated much interest among physicists from several directions ... [Read more]

    Read about the NDE "wormhole" to another dimension.
 
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

A controversial euthanasia campaigner nicknamed Dr. Death is to run suicide seminars in Australia where people will learn how to make their own "death tablet''. Dr. Philip Nitschke says that the so-called "Peanut Pill" - named after a slang term for barbiturates - will be "more reliable and far more effective'' than other methods of suicide ... Dr Nitschke, 57, the director of Exit International. Australia's voluntary euthanasia organisation, said that 30 of his 3,000 members will meet at a secret location in the Australian outback to work on the deadly recipe later this year. At the end of the weekend workshop, each will leave with a 10g "death pill'' that they have made themselves ... [Read more]

    Visit the website "Fierce Goodbye: A Faith-Based Perspective on Suicide".
    Visit Dr. Philip Nitschke's website "Exit International".
    Buy the DVD documentary "Fierce Goodbye".
 


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Q & A with P.M.H. Atwater, L.H.D., Ph.D. (Hon.)
An in-depth look at the near-death phenomenon

In this section of the newsletter, P.M.H. Atwater will answer questions submitted to her from subscribers to this newsletter. Atwater's contribution to near-death studies is considered to be one of the most important as her first two books, Beyond the Light and Coming Back to Life, are considered to be the "Bibles" of the NDE by researchers and enthusiasts. Her latest books are entitled We Live Forever: The Real Truth About Death and The New Children and Near-Death Experiences. If you have a question which you would like her to answer for this column, just email your question to Kevin Williams at http://www.near-death.com/contact.html for consideration. For more information about P.M.H. Atwater's contribution to near-death studies, download her press kit here.

 

QUESTION:  "Have you come across any near-death experiencers who were blind or deaf?" -- Jeffrey.

P.M.H. Atwater'S REPLY: I encountered some adult near-death experiencers who were blind, most of them since birth, in my research, but no children who were. Of the adult experiencers, all of them claimed to see and clearly during their near-death episode. What amazed me is that those who were blind since birth - never saw - recognized colors instantly and knew what color was which just by the site of it, and used the right words to describe what they saw - even if it was to describe people who entered their hospital room, people they had never before touched, heard, or were around ... [Read more here]

| PMH Atwater's website | Marketplace (a public service) | Her research on this website |


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Books on the NDE


  At the NDE Online Store you can find NDE products such as books, documentaries, movies, music, magazines, and journals. More NDE media products are coming.

 

This is one of the greatest NDE stories ever told. It was first released on July 10, 2000, and now a second edition will be released this February 15th. Not since Betty Eadie's "Embraced by the Light" has a NDE story been so utterly different from most others or more compelling. Perhaps no one but Howard Storm has fallen to such great depths, then risen to such great heights, and lived to tell about it. Rather than being welcomed by light beings immediately after death, Howard was tortured by monstrous beings of depravity. But a simple childhood prayer allowed him to be rescued by Jesus himself and be taken to heaven. As it was with Betty Eadie, Howard's story is a great message of hope and a great message of redemption. Anne Rice, who wrote the Foreword of Howard's book, had this to say about it: “This is a book you devour from cover to cover, and pass on to others. This is a book you will quote in your daily conversation. Storm was meant to write it and we were meant to read it.” Anne Rice read the manuscript and was so overwhelmed, she volunteered to provide the foreword. [Read more]

 
    Mysteries of Consciousness
by David D. Weisher MD

Are you the sum aggregate of an epiphenomenon of random firing neurons that simply no longer exists after the complex system dies or are you a spirit that temporarily resides in this “brain machine” that is liberated upon the death of this complex neurological system? These two philosophies are not only basic, they are opposite and opposing. Both can not be truth. Either Life is a koas between two nothings or it is a complex and dynamic co-existence between the physical and spiritual worlds. This book examines this question like no other because of the unique background of the author. Not only a neurologist which gives him a position of some authority on this subject but he is also an engineer which contribute a degree of logic to the equation. [Read more]

    Read an interesting NDE excerpt from "Mysteries of Consciousness"
 
    Tranceformers: Shamans of the 21st Century (Ebook)
by John Jay Harper, Ph.D.
 

John Jay Harper is a clinical hypnotherapist in Spokane, Washington who has written an ebook that integrates the NDE within the framework of both science and religion; specifically it is a theory on the operation of cosmic consciousness itself. His passion for learning about the hereafter was inspired by a 1988 after-death visitation with a deceased colleague - an experience which changed him from skeptic to mystic. It was this close encounter and the myriad of questions it generated which relentlessly drove him to solve the riddle of life after death and publish his findings. His book has recently been released as an ebook which is the only version that reflects Earth Changes predictions and includes overall major textual improvements. His ebook is available for immediate purchase and download at his website.

  "Tranceformers: Shamans of the 21st Century" (paperback)

 
 

Ever wanted to know about some of the most fascinating moments in religious history? Moments when prophets and world religions were born? Final words and moments of the great prophets? Out-of-body experiences which led to the prophet's missions? Near-death experiences and afterlife visions experienced by the prophets, saints, mystics and sages? If so, this book is for you! Culled from some of the most remote ancient texts on world religion, these expressive moments in religious history are compiled in the actual words of those who witnessed or recorded these events. [Read more]

 

Take a fantastic voyage through other dimensions. McKnight was one of the first, and most successful, researchers to work with Robert Monroe and The Monroe Institute in Virginia. She spent eleven years doing research in a laboratory setting. With the help of Monroe and his Hemi-Sync technology that put her into altered states of consciousness, she explored and reported on various levels of non-physical reality. Written for every soul on the planet, these unforgettable adventures emphasize that all of us have angels and spirit guides waiting to help us discover the inner workings of the multiple worlds in which we exist and to which we will all one day journey. [Read more]

 

From the great popularizer of alternative medicine, here is a collection of essays about his travels to South America in the early 1970s in search of information on altered states of consciousness, drug use in other cultures, and other matters having to do with the complementarity of mind and body. Andrew Weil's experiences during this time laid the foundation for his mission to restore the connection between medicine and nature. In The Marriage of the Sun and Moon, now updated with a new preface by the author, the esteemed Dr. Weil first attempts to empower patients to take fuller charge of their destinies. [Read more]

    Visit Dr. Weil's website.
 

Peter Russell went from being a strict atheist and scientist to discovering a profound personal synthesis of the mystical and the scientific. That transition is the basis of his book which he blends physics, psychology, and philosophy to reach a new worldview in which consciousness is a fundamental quality of creation. Russell shows how all the ingredients for this worldview are in place; it remains only to put the pieces together and explore the new picture of reality that emerges. Integrating a deep knowledge of science with his own experiences of meditation, Russell arrives at a universe similar to that described by many mystics - one in which the inner and outer worlds no longer conflict. The bridge between them, he shows, is light, and this book invites readers to cross that bridge to find new meaning in God and a deeper significance in spiritual practice. [Read more]

    Visit Peter Russell's wonderful website.
 

The famous NDE skeptic's latest book challenges the reader to reconsider key concepts such as personality, free will, and the soul. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? Exciting new developments in brain science are opening up the debate on these issues. Blackmore combines the perspectives of philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience - and serves as a launch pad for further exploration of this "last great mystery of science."  [Read more]

    Visit Susan Blackmore's website.
 
    Secrets and Mysteries of the World
by Sylvia Browne

From the Great Pyramid to Stonehenge, Sylvia reveals amazing facts about some of the world's most mysterious sites. The truth behind sacred and controversial objects such as the Shroud of Turin and the Holy Grail are brought to light; and fascinating and mystifying topics such as crop circles, the Lost Continent of Atlantis, UFOs, Easter Island, and much more are examined and clarified. Sylvia tears away the obscure and timeworn explanations that hide the underlying truths about these fascinating subjects. [Read more]

    Read Sylvia Browne's NDE testimony.


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IANDS in the Spotlight


    International Association of Near-Death Studies website

IANDS is the premier research organization in the field of near-death studies. If you haven't yet joined this wonderful organization, I encourage you to join online at their membership page. There are many benefits for being a member. Their quarterly newsletter Vital Signs alone is worth becoming a member. You will also be receiving the only scholarly journal in NDE studies, the Journal of Near-Death Studies. Visit their website by checking out the excellent links below. Also, learn how you can raise funds for IANDS near-death research by merely doing your usual online shopping (and at no extra cost to you - but you get many benefits).

SEPTEMBER 8 - 10, 2005
IANDS Annual Conference
"Message and Meaning:
Using the Near-Death Experience as a Tool for Living"
Check out the IANDS Conference information page.

Hotel reservations can now be made at:

Virginia Beach Resort Hotel & Conference Center

2800 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach, VA USA 23451

(800) 468-2722    www.virginiabeachresort.com

Mention IANDS to receive a $95 per night rate

(instead of the normal $135).


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Odds and Ends


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"In the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing." - Robert G. Ingersoll

 

Recommended

NDE Books

On Life After Death

by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

This is the world-famous best-seller by the woman who popularized the field of thanatology as a subject for general social commentary.

Life After Life

by Raymond Moody

Dr. Moody investigated more than 100 case studies of people who experienced a NDE and in 1975 published this best-seller.

Mindsight

by Kenneth Ring, et al.

Dr. Ring and associates investigated the astonishing claim that blind persons, including those blind from birth, can actually "see" during a NDE. They present their findings in scrupulous detail and include fascinating case histories.

The New Children and Near Death Experiences

by P.M.H. Atwater

P.M.H. Atwater provides compelling evidence for the existence of a generation of children who experienced a NDE and represent the spiritual evolution of the human race. Atwater shows that understanding the NDEs of children can help us prepare for a quantum leap in the evolution of humanity.

Where God Lives

by Melvin Morse

Dr. Morse presents the scientific evidence of life after death which is being overlooked by skeptics such as the existence of a location in our brains that communicates with God and the universe.

Light and Death

by Michael Sabom

Dr. Sabom combined scientific research and dramatic narrative in the first book to seriously explore the relationship between the NDE and traditional Christian experience.

Lessons from the Light

by Kenneth Ring, Evelyn Elsaesser Valarino

An outstanding book that presents intriguing evidence to support the theory that NDEs are an authentic, objective experience, and not the hallucination of a dying brain.

Blessing in Disguise

by Barbara Rommer

Even the most horrifying NDEs are a spiritual wake-up call that causes the person to stop, look back, and review past choices which makes it the ultimate learning experience.

Descent Into Death

by Howard Storm

An atheistic professor dies, goes to hell, is rescued by Jesus, is shown the future, returns to life, then becomes a minister.

Ordered to Return

by George Ritchie

This is the profound NDE testimony which inspired Raymond Moody to begin his groundbreaking research of the NDE.

Embraced by the Light

by Betty Eadie

A woman describes one of the most detailed and profound NDE ever documented and becomes a New York Times bestseller.

When Ego Dies

by Diane Corcoran, et al

A compilation of NDE and mystical conversion experiences described in their very own words.

After The Light

by Kimberly Clark Sharp

Kimberly's profound life-changing NDE led her to conclude that death is not to be fear; therefore, a life without fear can be lived to the fullest.

Love Is The Link

by Pamela Kircher

A seasoned hospice doctor shares her experience of near-death and dying in this unique and deeply moving book.

The Truth In The Light

by Peter & Elizabeth Fenwick

One of the world's foremost NDE experts conducted a thorough study of more than 300 NDEs and presents his analysis.

Journey Of Souls

by Michael Newton

A hypnotherapist regressed clients back to a point in time between past lives -- the time before birth and after death -- to discovery what happens after death.

Hello From Heaven

by Bill & Judy Guggenheim

This is the "Bible" of the after-death communication (ADC) phenomenon and the groundbreaking study in the field.

Saved By The Light

by Dannion Brinkley, Paul Perry

Brinkley recounts how his own NDEs brought him before 13 angelic instructors in the "cathedral of knowledge" where he was given visions of the future.

We Live Forever: The Real Truth About Death

by P.M.H. Atwater

Based on Atwater's 25 years of research, personal stories, and her own NDE in 1977

Closer To The Light

by Melvin Morse, Paul Perry

One of the best books on the NDEs of children by a renowned pediatrician and leader in the field of NDE research.

The Place We Call Home

by Robert Grant

"This is the handbook we need to help us prepare for the realms to come." -- George Ritchie, Jr., M.D., author of Return from Tomorrow

God At The Speed Of Light

by T. Lee Baumann

Learn how quantum physics, NDE research, and religious studies share a common central theme: the god-like nature of light.