The Art of Dying

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A major and relatively rapid shift is underway in the field of medicine. In the past 10 years, medical professionals have gone from looking upon spirituality with a skeptical if not cynical eye, to embracing it enthusiastically. Consider these developments: Sabom, M. (1998). Light and death: One doctor’s fascinating account of near-death experiences. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

A 7-year-old girl described having an experience in the pediatric intensive care unit of St. Mary’s Hospital. She described feeling very calm and peaceful, clearly the beginnings of a near-death experience. She was observing herself from the end of the bed, and, again, she was standing next to a boy whom she did not know. Suddenly there was the most brilliant light shining from my husband’s chest, and as this light lifted upward, there was the most beautiful music and singing voices. My own chest seemed filled with infinite joy, and my heart felt as if it was lifting to join this light and music. Suddenly, there was a hand on my shoulder, and a nurse said, ‘‘Sorry, love. He’s just gone.’’ I lost sight of the light and the music and felt so bereft at being left behind.

4. The Testimony Of Dr Peter Fenwick

Grice, Elizabeth (23 June 2008). "How to give death a good name". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009 . Retrieved 18 April 2012. Animals can’t tell us what is happening as they approach death. Rover can’t say, “I see my old pal Fido in the corner. He has come to get me.” So we have to rely on observation and inference, which are subject to error. Still, here are a couple of suggestive cases. The data available suggest that NDE phenomena are described differently in different cultures. Tunnels, for example, seem to be a particularly Western feature. Take, for example, the journey from this dimension to an otherworldly dimension. Japanese NDErs do not report tunnels. Instead, they have caves. People will walk towards a cave, which will be the entrance to the new reality. Quite often, they report having come up to a dark river where there was a boatman. This feature is absolutely inherent in their culture. Among hunter-gathers, the transitional journey most often involved a river. They reported going on journeys, most commonly by getting into a boat and paddling for three days before arriving at an otherworldly area.

The person expresses a deep sense of happiness and tranquility about the encounter. Then, shortly afterwards, they die. Most people die within about 10 minutes of a DBV.

Prospective Studies of NDEs

But increasingly, science presents us with a picture of a much more mechanical universe in which there is no absolute morality and man has no purpose and no personal responsibility except to his culture and his biology. We no longer live in an age when faith is sufficient; we demand data, and we are driven by data. And it is data - data that apparently throws some light on our current concepts of Heaven and Hell - that the near-death experience seems to offer.