Near-Death Experiences

A review of a book by Dr Bruce Greyson, an American Psychiatrist and neuro-psychologist: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-9275623/Psychiatrist-studies-near-death-accounts-says-make-happier.html  Quoting:-  . . .

Dr Greyson . . . has been collecting reports of near-death experiences for 50 years . . . as a trainee psychiatrist, he had been confronted by a patient . . . Holly, a 20-year-old student, and she was brought comatose to the hospital in Virginia after taking an overdose. The young Dr Greyson, hoping to discover exactly what pills she had swallowed, took Holly's roommate, Susan, to an interview room down the corridor. He was inexperienced and nervous — so nervous that, when his pager went off that morning, he'd spilled tomato sauce down his tie.

Holly regained consciousness the next day. When the doctor introduced himself at her bedside, she murmured: 'I know who you are. I remember you from last night.' She then told him she had 'followed' him and Susan down the corridor, to the interview room, and hovered over them as they talked. Though she had not spoken to Susan since the overdose, Holly was able to recount the conversation exactly. More eerie still, she remarked to Dr Greyson that he'd changed his tie. The one he wore earlier 'had a red stain on it'.

That inexplicable incident inspired the professor's investigation into near-death and out-of-body experiences that would span his whole career . . . the simplest explanation, he suggests, is that these experiences feel so convincing because they are objectively real, not hallucinations. He compares the stories to medieval travellers' tales — imagine an explorer, he says, who returns home after an adventure in far-off lands and describes an exotic animal he encountered that's able to travel for days across the desert without water. It's called a camel. The sceptical scientists he meets agree to hold a conference, to decide whether such a creature is biologically possible. Frustrated and upset at the implication that he's either deluded or a liar, the explorer decides to say nothing more. Camels might be impossible, according to science, but he knows what he saw.

It isn't only scientists who feel uncomfortable talking about near-death experiences. Al the lorry driver learned not to say anything to his wife. During his surgery, he became aware of his mother's presence beside him. She had died in her 50s, 20 years earlier, and now she appeared much younger, the way he remembered her as a child. She spoke to him, and guided the surgeon's hands. Al was profoundly moved that she was watching over him, and during his recovery felt thrilled to know that he would see her again when he finally died. But his wife didn't want to hear anything about this, and forbade him to talk about it. She married a happy-go-lucky guy, she said, 'not some Old Testament prophet'.

These glimpses of a life after death have a deep and permanent effect on most who report them.

John Wren-Lewis was travelling in Thailand when a thief on a bus slipped him poison, to rob him. He passed out and, as his pulse stopped, his wife, Ann, stopped the bus. John was unconscious for seven hours, during which he had what he could only describe as 'eternity consciousness'. For the rest of his life, he found joy in everything, even the things that had previously been unpleasant and irritating. 'The discovery that I could positively enjoy a cold — not merely wallow in the indulgence of a day in bed, but get a kick from the unusual sensations in my nose and throat — was a big surprise,' he said. 'I also started to enjoy tiredness and the many minor pains that afflict a 60-year-old body.'

That fresh appreciation of life and the ability to 'live in the present moment' is a common consequence of near-death experiences, and a testament to their power, says Dr Greyson. And so is a reduced fear of death. One especially tragic case involved a man called Henry, who lived with his mother on the family farm. Unable to cope after she died, he lay down on her grave and shot himself in the head. He didn't die — but he did see his mother again. 'Oh Henry,' she told him sadly, 'now look what you've done.' When he regained consciousness, far from feeling guilty or depressed, Henry was relieved. He was hideously disfigured, with half the right side of his face missing. But he knew beyond doubt that he would see his mother after he died, and that paradoxically gave him strength to go on living.

From a less authoritative source, these stories could seem mawkish or flaky. Told here with calm precision, and with a conversational flair, they are both absorbing and convincing. With so much evidence available for further investigation, the most vexing question now is not whether life continues in some form after we die, but why mainstream science is so resistant to the idea.

That in between state of life and death that some people experience is pretty rare.
Working in a hospital over the years, I have talked to a handful of people that either died from cardiac/respiratory arrest and were brought back through CPR, or died on the table during surgery... one other, not too long ago,  said he was electrocuted.  
I always ask if they recall but they all said no.

I’ve read about other cases where the personal experience with death is not so pleasant but rather filled with visions of hell. That’s what I am afraid of

Sary wrote:That in between state of life and death that some people experience is pretty rare.
Working in a hospital over the years, I have talked to a handful of people that either died from cardiac/respiratory arrest and were brought back through CPR, or died on the table during surgery... one other, not too long ago,  said he was electrocuted.  
I always ask if they recall but they all said no.

I’ve read about other cases where the personal experience with death is not so pleasant but rather filled with visions of hell. That’s what I am afraid of

It's important to remember that, if these experiences are real, people are only getting a glimpse of what it's like just after death, not the long-term experience, so they can't tell us much.

It could be that some would rather not say because it is such a personal and profound experience. Most people would not believe them anyway.
Yes, up until the brain has been deprived of oxygen for 10 minutes or so there is still a chance for life after that, you are really dead.
It is sad for the people that almost died but are brought back only to be trapped in body that can no longer function.

This article gives a good overview of the subject, and the comments are worth reading too:

https://unherd.com/2023/11/would-a-near-death-experience-change-you/