A Brief Introduction to

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES

Though half a century has passed since Raymond Moody’s best-selling book Life after Life introduced near-death experiences (NDEs) to modern society (13-14 million copies sold), they nevertheless remain a much-neglected source of spiritual enlightenment. NDEs occur in a uniquely interdisciplinary context not well recognized or addressed in writings on the subject to date, and the communications that so many people recall having occurred during their NDEs have received far less attention that they merit. In particular, the “teachings and mandates” people report learning during these spiritual encounters directly contradict core tenets of institutional religion, science, and (notably) economics. The frequent occurrence of NDEs is well recognized, but no book highlights these contradictions or their significant implications.

Systematic study of these non-religion-based spiritual guides to ethical conduct—de facto authentic “guides directly from God” and other spirits—suggests that if we would just heed NDE teachings and mandates at the level of consciousness we pay to speed limit signs, they have extraordinary potential to eliminate poverty and other gross inequalities, halt and reverse humanity’s self-destructive course toward global climate catastrophe, and move us all beyond these trying anti-democratic times to a more humane world. NDE experiencers’ quotes concerning teachings and mandates should be bedrock and foundation in all attempts to understand the important and uniquely interdisciplinary context of the entire subject.

More broadly, few people are aware of the extraordinarily significant trove of relatively untapped spiritual documentation contained in the archives of NDE reports collected over these fifty years, much less their major ramifications relating to science, religion, economics and the environmentally existential threat of global warming. Beyond all that, the aggregate understandings collectively conveyed in the thousands of reports by people who briefly died, but were revived and/or recovered to tell what happened while they were “out,” constitute inarguably convincing evidence—unavailable in any other context—of the reality of a Supreme Creator of this universe and of living consciousness independent of the mortal body.

First priority in reading one’s way into understanding of NDEs is Moody’s book Life After Life.

Second priority should be any or all of the three books that uniquely highlight spiritual Teachings and Mandates (though the books don’t use these labels):  The Purpose of Life (2019) and 500 Quotes From Heaven (2020), both by David Sunfellow, and Impressions of Near-Death Experiences (2023) by Robert Christophor Coppes. Third priority is then writings by Ken Ring and others.

“Teachings” factually state truisms. Detailing many things we already know about the spirit realm, they coincidentally reveal priorities that flit by unnoticed when one merely reads NDE reports in the usual way. Some examples [paraphrased]: God wants to experience Godself, and does that through us; The universe is alive, and infused with consciousness encompassing all life and nature; God has a sense of humor; Allah has given many roads to get back to him, none has a monopoly on Heaven; [During my NDE] God said: [religion]“is a collection of rites and rituals…it has nothing whatsoever to do with me.”

“Mandates”—more directive than the teachings, and much fewer—address human purpose with a simple clarity not seen in other contexts. Examples [paraphrased] of things experiencers were told about why we exist and how we should be going about achieving our purpose while living this mortal lifetime include: We are to love and help others [represents dozens of similar quotes]; Love the unlovable; The big thing is always to seek knowledge, and to love one another; Change the world by helping others; Love plants and animals; Lighten up, don’t be so serious; Engage with life in the world; Overcome ego; Always  look for the lesson; Eat only pure unadulterated food.  Among the thousand or so quotes I analyzed, the instruction that we humans should love each other gets exponentially more emphasis than any other topic.