Abstract: In this editorial, I express my views on how to understand and reconcile contradictory revelations among near-death experiences (NDErs). I address the issue of an NDEr proselytizing one's own unique interpretations in response to life's deepest questions.

Abstract: In this paper, I present four apparent near-death experiences (NDEs) reported in Roman times. Despite their uncertain reliability, they contain features deserving attention. Three reports involve taking the wrong person to the realm of death by mistake ("mistake cases"), and even include the claim that the correct person had died after the NDEr revived ("correction cases"). Though common in Asia, such cases are absent in contemporary Western NDE reports. The fourth report contains an alleged correct future prediction and xenoglossy, the latter being a novum to NDE research. After introducing the four cases, I discuss their peculiar features and some related aspects of near-death states with a focus on their relevance for future NDE research.

Abstract: Given the dearth of Muslim near-death experiences (NDEs) in the literature, I decided to take advantage of my contacts in the Muslim community to find more of this material. After advertising unsuccessfully in both traditional media and Internet groups, I recruited a student resident of Pakistan who had considerable contacts and help there to visit the area of a major earthquake in the Kashmir area in the hope that this would be a fertile terrain to find additional NDE accounts. Once again the results were disappointing. I conclude that NDEs are specifically designed for people who need them, and the need in certain communities may not be as great because of the persistence of traditional faith in an afterlife and a Creator.

Abstract: In Peter Novak's recent work (2003), he suggested the hypothesis that the human self is intrinsically bifurcated and separates into distinct components of consciousness at death. He referred to the near-death literature for evidence of this separation. His analysis of this literature implied that the after-death experience is not sequentially determined but is shaped simultaneously by different events corresponding to those components of consciousness. His proposal to reconcile those components addressed the need for self-integration at death. However, proponents of postmodernism question the singularity of self-identity and propose the multiplicity of self-experience. Their challenge to the belief in a wholly integrated self brings into question the therapeutic value of recognizing self-division in death. If the self lacks a foundation, then it is fruitless to seek an illusory level of integration. Rather, self-division in death points to a more astute understanding of the emptiness of the self.

Abstract: In the modern literature, the so-called 'vision of Er,' told by Plato, and the 'vision of Thespesius,' recorded by Plutarch, have sometimes been cited as examples of ancient near-death experiences (NDEs). However, in a recent study, classicist Jan Bremmer (2002) impugned this interpretation. In this article, I offer a fresh analysis of these two texts that challenges Bremmer's stance and that vindicates the similarity between the ancient reports and modern NDEs. The vision of Er emerges as the oldest known direct account of an NDE. I add to these cases Plutarch's description of the 'vision of Timarchus' as an example of an ancient NDE provoked by extreme isolation. Comparison of these reports of NDEs from antiquity with modern analogues suggests a few additional characteristic traits of NDEs.

Abstract: Preliminary evidence suggests that both near-death experiencers (NDErs) and nonexperiencers who learn about near-death experiences (NDEs) show beneficial aftereffects. In this article I summarize the findings of an exploratory study to examine a small group process utilizing spiritual guidance and expressive arts for integrating NDE aftereffects. Eleven adult participants -- four NDErs and seven non-NDErs -- completed a pretest, initial posttest, and longitudinal posttest consisting of a revised version of the Omega Life Change Questionnaire (Rominger-LCQ) and the Human Spirituality Scale, as well as semistructured individual and group interviews. I also collected the expressive art participants created during sessions, photographed it, and used it to identify pictorial themes. Quantitative results included some significant differences and some nonsignificant trends indicating greater spirituality and life changes among NDErs compared to non-NDErs and, for all participants, from pre- to posttest. Qualitative interview material revealed participants had learned material on a number of topics of including a broader understanding of, and ability to communicate about, the NDE. Qualitative pictorial data revealed themes suggesting that both NDErs and non-NDErs had integrated positive aftereffects. The process described herein may benefit spiritual guides and directors, expressive art therapists, and therapists working with individuals who have had …

Abstract: The literature concerned with experiences of the dying contains numerous accounts reporting the sudden return of mental clarity shortly before death. These experiences can be described as Terminal Lucidity (TL). The most peculiar cases concern patients suffering from mental disability including mental illness or dementia. Despite the potential relevance of TL for developing new forms of therapies and for elaborating an improved understanding of the nature of human consciousness, very little has been published on this subject. In this paper I present a historical overview and selected case reports of TL of mentally ill or otherwise disabled patients, mainly drawing on the literature available in English and in German. Possible explanatory models of TL and their implications are discussed.

Study assessing the knowledge and attitudes of nurses in Italy toward near-death experiences (NDEs), through use of Nina Thornburg's Near-Death Phenomena Knowledge and Attitudes Questionnaire.

Study designed to develop a conceptual framework for the near-death experience (NDE), reflecting its nature and meaning for the patient and the critical care nurse. The study used naturalistic inquiry to examine the question: What is the nature and meaning of an NDE and how has it influenced the individual's view of the self, the future, and feelings and beliefs about life and death?

Study investigating electromagnetic effects among near-death experiencers (NDErs), people who reported a close brush with death without an NDE, and people who reported never having been close to death but who used their most life-changing event as a past reference point.

Article acknowledging the viability and potential value of the hypothesis underlying articles suggesting a relationship between near-death experiences (NDEs) and the body's arousal system, but also identifying substantial weaknesses in both the presented lines of evidence and the studies.

Article offering alternative arguments and conclusions to those Keith Augustine offered regarding discrepancies between some near-death experiencers' (NDErs') reports of events they perceived during their NDEs and objective information available about those events.

Article analyzing literature of the first quarter century of the field of near-death studies.

Article exploring the reasons why near-death experiences may not occur during induced cardiac arrest.

Article presenting arguments supporting the conclusion that the subtitle claims of an article published in "Nature" were not well-founded and that much research remains to be conducted to unravel the mystery of out-of-body experiences.

Article discussing the meaning of the clear light in dream yoga and in the near-death experience in order to inquire into the interpretation of its role in spiritual emancipation.

Article discussing the results of a study involving persons who experienced clinical death including both survivors who had near-death experiences (NDEs) and those who did not. Participants filled out questionnaires designed to identify changes in behavior following NDEs to compare the results between the two groups.

Study evaluating whether changes following heart transplant surgery parallel the history of the donors, based on the systemic memory hypothesis which predicts that all dynamical systems that contain recurrent feedback loops store information and energy to various degrees.

Article asserting that the field of near-death studies needs to embrace other models and groups of professionals if it hopes to understand the near-death phenomenon. According to the author, no one can validate a near-death experience (NDE) except the experiencer; it is the aftereffects that impart real meaning to the experience and give it greater impact, and the "classical NDE model" that guides most near-death research can be limiting and misleading.

Italian psychical researcher Ernesto Bozzano was a well-known student of parapsychological phenomena and a strong defender of the concept of survival of bodily death. This paper includes an excerpt of what Bozzano referred to as the phenomena of bilocation.

Article exposing some of the principal problem areas between near-death studies and modern physics, and suggesting a greater collaboration between the two fields. Specific illustrations are given where collaborative effort might be fruitful. The paper also suggests a broader perspective in performing the research, one that places greater emphasis on an otherworldly thrust in future research.

Article introducing the unifying paradigm of the quantum hologram as a non-local carrier of information, and investigating the interrelated phenomena of non-local communications and the electromagnetic zero-point field.

Paper elucidating the views upon death and dying expressed in the works of two Croatian writers, Dobrisa Cesaric and Miroslav Krleza. The paper concludes with a suggestion of an inquiry into the influence of the works by Cesaric and Krleza upon the ideas of modern elementary school and high school generations on death and dying.

Third part of a critique of survivalist interpretations of near-death experiences (NDEs), which considers psychophysiological and cultural correlates of NDEs suggesting that such experiences are solely products of individuals' minds rather than windows into a transcendental realm.