Explain the distinctive features of a near death experience (NDE).

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Explain the distinctive features of a near death experience (NDE)

It is estimated that only 5% of the population will have a NDE, this being a time when an individual is pronounced clinically dead but for some reason survives death and lives to try explain why and how they had this experience. Experiences like this are usually life changing. NDE are the link between whether there actually exist a separation between the physical body and the soul this is because the features of NDE’s are purely personal and take place in an individuals mind; there are no signs from the physical body that this experience has ever taken place. Dr Raymond moody paid a great interest in these experiences and by interviewing people who had claims of NDE’s he could identify many distinct features his research was published in ‘life after life’ which was said to have “rekindled an understanding of the importance of spirituality in our daily lives”(the phenomena of death.)

Ineffability which means ‘inexpressible’ is the first of Moody’s 15 distinctive features, it is where a person has linguistical difficulty with giving a description of what they have experienced because as many people have said “there are just no words to express what I am trying to say.” One woman said this was due to the fact that the world we live in is 3 dimensional but the next life definitely isn’t so we do not have adequate vocabulary to describe it.

A person who has a near death experience will most probably have it in the presence of medical staff or spectators who presume and pronounce their death. On many occasions people have told of ‘hearing the news’ (the 2nd feature) from doctors that they are dead. One example comes from a man who was thought to be dead after a car accident he recalls hearing a woman say  “yeah he’s dead ” but as if the man thought to himself  ‘no I don’t want to die’ after hearing this news he regained signs of life. Another feature that is to do with hearing is the noise that many people have experienced when close to death. There have been accounts that describe this noise as an extremely unpleasant buzzing, roaring or whistling one man says ‘ it made me feel very uncomfortable…. I will never forget that noise’. However there have also been cases of the noise being more pleasant and taking the form of Japanese bells and music.

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The feelings that people experience while near death have had similarities, they are described as ‘extremely pleasant sensations’ during the earlier stages in the experience these include feelings of peace and quiet, warmth, comfort and solitude. All feelings you would not associate with a near death experience. One example is from a man who after a severe head injury lost all signs of life: “At the point of injury there was a momentary flash of pain, but all the pain vanished… the day was bitterly cold, yet while I was in blackness all I felt was warmth and the ...

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