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Guest Editorial: NDE as a Threshold Experience (open access)

Guest Editorial: NDE as a Threshold Experience

Abstract: My investigation has shown me that near-death experiences (NDEs) are not some kind of anomaly but, rather, are part of the larger genre of transformations of consciousness. The clue I believe most researchers have missed is stress -- specifically, the intensity that comes from that stress (known in shamanism as "high stress"). I believe the entire pattern of aftereffects and the degree to which people change can be traced to that factor. It's the intensity that shifts experiencers into what I call a "threshold experience" -- one that straddles the boundary between this world and other worlds, between brain and that which lies beyond what the brain can access, between reality and miracles, mind and spirit, life and death, heaven and hell, sanity and insanity. Once we humans understand this shift, we can begin to unravel how the transformation process works. At the threshold of who we think we are and what lies beyond body and brain is the core of ancient mysteries. We are transformed by the Oneness we find there.
Date: Summer 2011
Creator: Atwater, P. M. H.
System: The UNT Digital Library