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.

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.

Abstract: In this response to Keith Augustine's paper, I discuss the question of the nature and causation of near-death experiences (NDEs) with hallucinatory features. The attribution of hallucinations to either a brain mechanism or a peek into the afterworld raises fundamental questions about both the epistemology and ontology of our neuroscience, and of our scientific models of an afterlife. It also raises questions about the physiological state of the brain giving rise to NDEs that arise in very different situations and are clearly unlikely to have a unitary cause. These fundamental questions can be answered only in proper prospective trials when both the brain physiology and psychological variables of the experiencer are known.

Abstract: This paper is a sociological commentary on the leading paper by Keith Augustine. It discusses the relationship between social expectations and culture as well as extending the discussion about the possibility that near-death experiences may not be a singular entity. I suggest there are sound grounds for developing a typology of experiences that have different and or overlapping causes and phenomenology.

Abstract: This article illustrates the changes in thought and feeling states within gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender near-death experiences, and implications for the coming out process for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered experiencers.

Abstract: This commentary responds to Keith Augustine's article on the hallucinatory nature of near-death experiences (NDEs). It draws attention to his misreading of an important point made in my book Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience (Fox, 2003) regarding claims made by some NDErs to have traveled into outer space, reinforces the need for a thorough consideration of the epistemological complexities involved in asserting or denying a "common core" to NDEs, and ends by supporting the point made by Augustine that there is a pressing need for more crosscultural studies of the "core" phenomenon itself.

Abstract: Keith Augustine raises questions regarding Pam Reynolds's near-death experience (NDE) while undergoing cerebral aneurysm surgery using the hypothermic cardiac arrest ("standstill") procedure. I specifically address questions regarding anesthesia and brainstem auditory evoked response procedures; and the relation of Reynolds's NDE to "standstill" and life after death.

Article responding to criticisms of another article concerning paranormal perception in near-death experiences.

Editor's abstract and note: In this commentary, Charles Tart critiques Keith Augustine's deconstruction of Pam Reynolds's near-death experience (NDE) while undergoing cerebral aneurysm surgery using the hypothermic cardiac arrest ("standstill") procedure. However, after drafting this initial response to Augustine's paper, family medical problems prevented Tart from researching and polishing his comments as thoroughly as he would have wished. He has approved our publication of this commentary but regrets taht it is not up to his usual standard.

Abstract: Keith Augustine has provided a legitimate and cogent critique of a transcendental interpretation of near-death experiences, exposing weaknesses in the research methodology, paucity of the data, and gaps in the arguments. He offers evidence from psychophysiological and cultural correlates of NDEs that he interprets as favoring a hallucinatory understanding of these phenomena. however, his analysis relies on idiosyncratic definitions of psychological concepts, reads unidirectional causality into bivariate correlations, and underestimates the empirical predictions of the separation hypothesis. Despite less than compelling evidence for the transcendental hypothesis, it accounts for NDE phenomenology better than the materialist model.

Article discussing Ernesto Bozzano's study on the subject of physical phenomena around the time of someone's death, including a critique of his dogmatic approach to the interpretation of the cases, and the use of cases lacking relevant information.

Abstract: Keith Augustine's critique of studies of veridical perception in near-death experiences is based on unsubstantiated speculation from the popular media, rather than on supportive data or peer-reviewed literature. Nevertheless, addressing the issues he raises would improve the methodology of near-death research and strengthen the evidential database for veridical perception.

Article purporting that near-death experience (NDE) reports are sometimes open to multiple interpretations, that different kinds of NDEs should be distinguished according to their diverse physiological mechanisms, and that transformations following NDEs but not other hallucinatory experiences require special explanation if NDEs are hallucinations.

Obituary of Ian Stevenson, a survival researcher and founder of the University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies.

Obituary of George Gordon Ritchie, Jr., physician, speaker, and author of "Return From Tomorrow" and "My Life After Dying."

Abstract: Keith Augustine raises questions about my report of a case of veridical out-of-body perception during a near-death experience (NDE). His analysis is based not on my original description of the case but rather on a distorted account in a magazine written by two college students who misrepresented the facts and made unwarranted assumptions to support their beliefs.

Article surveying near-death experiences (NDEs) incorporating out-of-body discrepancies, bodily sensations, encounters with living persons and fictional characters, random or insignificant memories, returns from a point of no return, hallucinatory imagery, and unfulfilled predictions. Though attempts to accommodate hallucinatory NDEs within a survivalist framework are possible, they signal a failure to take the empirical evidence against a survivalist interpretation of NDEs seriously.

Abstract: Keith Augustine claims that near-death experiences are actually hallucinations. However, this proposition has several serious problems that I explicate in this commentary.

Abstract: Keith Augustine has provided a useful survey of the psychological and neurological correlates of near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences. The empirical findings he cites may prove awkward to accommodate under current separationist accounts of these experiences, although proponents of the separationist approach may be able to refine their theories so as to enhance their predictive power in this regard.

Article responding to objections raised against another article. The author concedes some of the objections up to a point, but concludes that they neither strengthen the case for a survivalist interpretation of near-death experiences, nor weaken the case against one.

Article that serves as Part 1 of a critique of survivalist interpretations of near-death experiences (NDEs), reviews the quality of the evidence for veridical observations during NDEs, and finds the case for veridical paranormal perception during NDEs wanting.

Obituary for Rhea White, the founder and director of the Exceptional Human Experience Network. The text describes her professional career and publications.