Dr. Raymond Moody, Dr. Bruce Greyson, Dr. Jeffrey Long – Elements of NDEs
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Nine Elements of the Near-Death Experiences
Dr. Raymond Moody
1. A Strange Sound: A buzzing, or ringing noise, while having a sense of being dead.
2. Peace and Painlessness: While people are dying, they may be in intense pain, but as soon as they leave the body the pain vanishes and they experience peace.
3. Out-of-Body Experience: The dying often have the sensation of rising up and floating above their own body while it is surrounded by a medical team, and watching it down below, while feeling comfortable. They experience the feeling of being in a spiritual body that appears to be a sort of living energy field.
4. The Tunnel Experience: The next experience is that of being drawn into darkness through a tunnel, at an extremely high speed, until reaching a realm of radiant golden-white light. Also, although they sometimes report feeling scared, they do not sense that they were on the way to hell or that they fell into it.
5. Rising Rapidly into the Heavens: Instead of a tunnel, some people report rising suddenly into the heavens and seeing the Earth and the celestial sphere as they would be seen by astronauts in space.
6. People of Light: Once on the other side of the tunnel, or after they have risen into the heavens, the dying meet people who glow with an inner light. Often they find that friends and relatives who have already died are there to greet them.
7. The Being of Light: After meeting the people of light, the dying often meet a powerful spiritual being whom some have identified as God, Jesus, or some religious figure.
8. The Life Review: The Being of Light presents the dying with a panoramic review of everything they have ever done. That is, they relive every act they have ever done to other people and come away feeling that love is the most important thing in life.
9. Reluctance to Return: The Being of Light sometimes tells the dying that they must return to life. Other times, they are given a choice of staying or returning. In either case, they are reluctant to return. The people who choose to return do so only because of loved ones they do not wish to leave behind.
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The Twelve Elements of NDEs
Dr. Jeffrey Long
According to Evidence of the Afterlife, no two near-death experiences are identical. When, however, many near-death experiences are studied, a common pattern of elements emerges, which usually occur in consistent order. Here is a list of the twelve main NDE elements that have been identified. Each element is followed by a number indicating what percentage of the 613 people included in the Evidence of the Afterlife study experienced the element in question. Significantly, only 33.8 percent reported passing into of through a tunnel, and only 22.2 percent said they experienced a life review.
1. Out-of-body experience (OBE): Separation of consciousness from the physical body – 75.4 percent
2. Heightened senses – 74.4 percent
3. Intense and generally positive emotions or feelings – 76.2 percent
4. Passing into or through a tunnel – 33.8 percent
5. Encountering a mystical or brilliant light – 64.6 percent
6. Encountering other beings, either mystical beings or deceased relatives or friends – 57.3 percent
7. A sense of alteration of time and space – 60.5 percent
8. Life review – 22.2 percent
9. Encountering unworldly (“heavenly”) realms – 40.6 percent
10. Encountering or learning special knowledge – 56 percent (31.5 percent answered that they felt they understood everything “about the universe”; 31.3 percent felt they understood everything “about myself and others”)
11. Encountering a boundary or barrier – 31 percent
12. Return to the body, either voluntary or involuntary – 58.5 percent
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Greyson NDE Scale
Dr. Bruce Greyson
Professor & Psychiatrist Bruce Greyson developed this scale to measure the depth of an individual’s near-death experience. The following is a copy of the scale as presented in an article entitled “Altered States” by Lee Graves in the Summer 2007 edition of the University of Virginia Magazine.
1. Did time seem to speed up or slow down?
0 = No
1 = Time seemed to go faster or slower than usual
2 = Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning
2. Were your thoughts speeded up?
0 = No
1 = Faster than usual
2 = Incredibly fast
3. Did scenes from your past come back to you?
0 = No
1 = I remembered many past events
2 = My past flashed before me, out of my control
4. Did you suddenly seem to understand everything?
0 = No
1 = Everything about myself or others
2 = Everything about the universe
5. Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness?
0 = No
1 = Relief or calmness
2 = Incredible peace or pleasantness
6. Did you have a feeling of joy?
0 = No
1 = Happiness
2 = Incredible joy
7. Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe?
0 = No
1 = I felt no longer in conflict with nature
2 = I felt united or one with the world
8. Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light?
0 = No
1 = An unusually bright light
2 = A light clearly of mystical or other-worldly origin
9. Were your senses more vivid than usual?
0 = No
1 = More vivid than usual
2 = Incredibly more vivid
10. Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere, as if by extrasensory perception (ESP)?
0 = No
1 = Yes, but the facts have not been checked out
2 = Yes, and the facts have been checked out
11. Did scenes from the future come to you?
0 = No
1 = Scenes from my personal future
2 = Scenes from the world’s future
12. Did you feel separated from your body?
0 = No
1 = I lost awareness of my body
2 = I clearly left my body and existed outside it
13. Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world?
0 = No
1 = Some unfamiliar and strange place
2 = A clearly mystical or unearthly realm
14. Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice?
0 = No
1 = I heard a voice I could not identify
2 = I encountered a definite being, or a voice clearly of mystical or unearthly origin
15. Did you see deceased or religious spirits?
0 = No
1 = I sensed their presence
2 = I actually saw them
16. Did you come to a border or point of no return?
0 = No
1 = I came to a definite conscious decision to “return” to life
2 = I came to a barrier that I was not permitted to cross; or was “sent back” against my will.
A score of 7 or higher is considered a NDE for research purposes. The mean score among a large sample of near-death experiences is 15.
The following appendage on scoring was not included in the above article – see references here.
SCORING:
Sum of all 16 items = total NDE Scale score
Among a criterion group of NDErs, the mean score on this scale was 15 with a standard deviation of 7.84; we therefore use a score of 7 or greater (1 standard deviation below the mean) as the cut-off point for identifying an experience as an NDE.
Sum of items 1-4 = cognitive component
Sum of items 5-8 = affective component
Sum of items 9-12 = paranormal component
Sum of items 13-16 = transcendental component
SCORING TYPE OF NDE:
Cognitive type = cognitive component score 5 or higher
Transcendental type = cognitive component score less than 5 and transcendental component score 5 or higher
Affective type = cognitive and transcendental component scores each less than five, and affective component score 5 or higher
Paranormal type = cognitive, transcendental, and affective component scores each less than 5, and paranormal component score 5 or greater
Unclassifiable = no component score 5 or greater
