Anatomy of a Near-Death Experience

How near-death experiences fit into the big picture of afterlife evidence and insights.

Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV, author of Answers About The Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and founder of the trusted psychic and medium directory, BestPsychicDirectory.com.

Photo by Erlend Ekseth on Unsplash

When anyone has been immersed in a field for a decade or more, it’s easy to forget what it’s like to be a newcomer. Experts in various fields are famous for using industry jargon the average person doesn’t understand. I’ve now been investigating the afterlife for twenty-seven years, so it’s essential that I do not assume that my readers know what may seem to me like common knowledge.

I’ve been discussing near-death experiences (NDEs) in my articles since the birth of Bob Olson Connect, but I’ve never written an article that covers a basic description and stages of the NDE. Below are what I think are the most important insights about this fascinating subject that anyone learning about the afterlife ought to know.

Overview of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)

Near-death experiences are spiritual experiences that occur when someone physically dies for a few seconds or minutes and then comes back to life. While dead, these people visit the spiritual realm to experience a journey that will be remembered for the rest of their lives. Even if they are technically dead for only a few seconds, it often feels to the near-death experiencer like the event took place over minutes or even hours.

The NDE typically begins as an out-of-body experience (OBE) where the person sees their physical body before them. After first realizing that they are dead, the person often begins to feel fearful about being alone in this unfamiliar setting.

“Oh my goodness, the surgeon and nurses are around my body, but they can’t hear or see that I’m right here in the corner of the room by the ceiling!”

It is at this point when most near-death experiencers are met by a spiritual being (occasionally more than one) with whom they communicate telepathically. This will usually be a spirit guide, but it may also be a deceased loved one, such as a spouse, parent, grandparent, or sibling who died before them.

“Hello, Bob. It’s me, Caleb. I’m your spirit guide. You might not remember me now, but we knew one another before you were born.”

“Say what? Um, okay, Caleb. Nice to meet you—again. I’m so glad you’re here. I must say that the closer I get to you, the calmer and more peaceful I feel. And... oh my goodness, I can feel your love for me. I’ve never felt so deeply loved in all my life.”

Although there are many variables possible during the near-death experience, after having the out-of-body experience and meeting with one or more spiritual beings, the person goes on to have such profound experiences that they are forever changed for the remainder of their human lifetime once they return to their physical body and life.

Typical Stages of the Near-Death Experience

The stages differ from one person to another, but these stages classically occur with most near-death experiences.

As mentioned, most near-death experiencers begin by recognizing that they are out of their body. In many cases, the person initially sees his body before him. If he dies during surgery, for instance, he is looking at his body while watching the doctors and nurses attempt to resuscitate him. Many of the people who’ve experienced NDEs have told me that they were surprised to feel almost no connection with their bodies. They knew it was their body, but they felt emotionally disconnected from it.

Some people never saw their bodies but found themselves in some alternate place. Natalie Sudman, author of Application of Impossible Things, is a near-death experiencer who found herself on a stage-like platform in front of thousands of nonphysical beings after her vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Iraq. She told me she was riding in the Land Rover at one moment, then blinked and found herself standing in front of an auditorium filled with these spiritual beings all wearing white robes. Natalie became aware that she was downloading information about her physical life experiences to these beings.

Some near-death experiencers found themselves traveling to distant lands. Simply by thinking about a place, they would instantly find themselves there. Some travel to see friends or relatives, even if they live across the country or the world. Others traveled to countries they had never visited as if they were on vacation, and they could describe these locations with detailed accuracy long after their NDE.

Many near-death experiencers found themselves floating in darkness, but not a scary darkness. Many have told me there is light within this darkness, which some have described as “a velvety darkness.”

Several people talked about hearing a beautiful, melodic sound somewhere in the background of their environment, which they could also smell, feel, and taste. They realized that their senses were all connected. A few described this sound as resonating like the faint ring after a wind chime has rung.

From this point, the average near-death experiencer moved toward a brilliant, radiant light that is much brighter than our sun, but it doesn’t hurt their eyes. This light emanated intense love and made them feel incredibly safe and joyful. Some referred to this light as God, Source, or Creative Intelligence.

I found it especially interesting that some people said the light came to them (it surrounded them like a warm blanket), while others said they moved toward it. Those that moved toward it said it happened automatically, effortlessly. They didn’t need to know the way; they were drawn toward the light. This is often where the tunnel we’ve all heard about comes into play. Those who had a tunnel experience say they traveled through the tunnel toward this light.

Often, once near-death experiencers reached the light (or the light reached them), they were typically met by a spiritual being (a greeter) if they hadn’t met one already. If they had already met a spiritual being soon after dying, that greeter may have accompanied them through the tunnel or met them again once they were in the light.

People have described this spiritual greeter as a spirit, an angel, a saint, a light being, or a religious figure (usually associated with the near-death experiencer’s religious beliefs). Sometimes, the spiritual being was a deceased relative or pet.

Some people met more than one spiritual being, such as a few deceased family members or friends. Others said they were met by one spirit but felt the presence of other spirits nearby. The spiritual greeter’s presence made the person feel comforted, loved, and safe. The closer the greeter came to them, the more these feelings grew. And if the spirit communicated with the person, it occurred telepathically. In this way, the spiritual being knew everything the person was thinking, so communication was utterly authentic.

Whenever the spiritual greeter was a deceased loved one, there were often messages about love, forgiveness, and pride that the spirit felt toward the near-death experiencer. Often, this was a joyful reunion. Occasionally, the spirit interacted with a more serious tone, especially if the spirit had instructions for the person to alter the course of his life after returning to his body.

Numerous near-death experiencers then went through what’s known as a life review. This is where they reviewed their choices, words, and actions in life and felt the impact of how their behavior affected others. Some described this as watching a three-dimensional movie on a panoramic screen that spanned between 180 and 360 degrees around them.

In most cases, any spiritual beings in attendance did not judge the person for how they lived. Instead, any spirits present usually counseled the person not to judge himself for behavior around which he was ashamed or regretful. The purpose of the life review, the spirits pointed out, is to learn and grow from this insight, not feel remorse about what they reviewed.

The spiritual being or beings sometimes told the person having the near-death experience why she needed to go back or, at least, what she still needed to accomplish in her life. This was when the near-death experiencer was told that this was not her time to die and that she would have to return to her physical body and life.

Almost all near-death experiencers admitted to not wanting to come back. Some attempted to argue their case for staying in the spirit world. Even those people with families and other loved ones here in the physical dimension—and with generally happy lives—usually wanted to stay in the spirit world. Although some feel a sense of guilt around that admission once they’ve returned, especially those with young children, the fact that they thought this way teaches us a lot about our true spiritual essence. We learn that there is peacefulness and emotional detachment from the physical world while in the spiritual dimension.

This is not to say that our loved ones in spirit do not have love and compassion for us. They most certainly do, and their love has an intensity far beyond our human comprehension. But what we learn from near-death experiences is that those in spirit do not worry about us. They know we are all going to be just fine. They know we are eternal beings having a brief human experience and that we, too, will return home to the spirit world in what feels like a split second to them.

If I could make a faint comparison that might illustrate this situation, it would be like a family taking a vacation together. When one family member decides to return home earlier than the rest, that family member may feel happy to be home and be at peace knowing that the others will be coming home soon.

In the end, all near-death experiencers found themselves back in their physical bodies, at which point they often needed to heal from whatever it was that caused them to die temporarily. (If they didn’t return to their bodies, it wasn’t an NDE—it was a death.)

These are the typical stages of a near-death experience. Not every NDE includes all these stages, and not necessarily in the order I presented. And indeed, there are stages that occur that I haven’t mentioned. Nonetheless, this is what is common and characteristic of the average NDE.

A Life-Changing Event

For most people who have an NDE, the event is apt to qualify as the most intense personal experience of their lifetime. Most also claim that it is convincing evidence for the survival of consciousness such that they no longer fear death. Many near-death experiencers walk away from the experience with a renewed sense of purpose in their life.

It’s important to mention that many people who have experienced an NDE have had severe physical challenges upon their return to their bodies. Whatever injuries occurred that led to the near-death experience now needed to be healed. So, while many of us might think, “Well, that sounds like a cool experience,” the NDE usually accompanies a traumatic physical event.

As compelling as these experiences can be, NDEs are not available to everyone. They tend to occur quite unpredictably, and there appear to be no qualifying characteristics to foresee who will have one and who will not. Therefore, many of us will only know the near-death experience as a vicarious experience.

The NDEs of children hold extra weight as evidence of life after death because children have fewer expectations and less established beliefs about the afterlife. Children’s descriptions of NDEs are less likely to be interpreted through the eyes of their religious beliefs or what they’ve been taught. They tell us what they experienced rather than what they thought those things meant. For example, children are more likely to call a spiritual being a bright light or a lady in white. In contrast, adults are more likely to give their spiritual greeter an identity, such as a religious figure.

Furthermore, most children have no concept of death and have never formed an opinion of the afterlife, so this gives researchers the ability to compare children’s NDE descriptions with the often belief-tarnished reports of adults. These comparisons of child and adult NDEs help us to confirm the adults’ accounts with increased reliability.

For example, children have been known to describe their tunnel experiences as traveling through a noodle or sliding down a slide. Most adults today will use the word tunnel. I find it especially interesting that adults began using the word tunnel more often in the late 1970s after Raymond Moody’s book, Life After Life, became a bestseller.

Moody’s 1992 documentary (named after his book) presents interviews with people who have had near-death experiences. What I found most interesting in this documentary was how information obtained during an NDE was later confirmed after the person returned to life and told others their story.

In one case, a woman was able to confirm as true what she witnessed during her near-death experience while on a hospital operating table. She confirmed what she heard her brother-in-law say on the telephone in the hallway (that he was going to miss out on playing golf because his sister-in-law had just passed), what she saw her sister doing in another state (searching for her car keys to go to the store), and that there was a red sneaker on the windowsill outside a hospital window (the same hospital where she was getting her surgery). All these details were outside this woman’s ability to hear, see, or know while in the surgery room, yet they were all confirmed after her NDE.

For those of us who have not had a near-death experience and may never have one, we can only learn about this experience vicariously through the stories of those who have had one. Yet even the vicarious experience of hearing the details of an actual near-death experience can offer profound insights about the spiritual dimension and even life itself.

If I were asked to label one vicarious experience as the most beneficial of all vicarious experiences in my investigation of the survival of consciousness after death, it would be the near-death experience. For more than two decades, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing numerous near-death experiencers. Above all other vicarious experiences, these interviews have provided me with instrumental insights I might never have gained otherwise.

In 2011, I began recording some of these interviews on video and audio for my online show, Afterlife TV, to share these vicarious experiences with others. It seemed a shame to be the sole beneficiary of these interviews. These NDE interviews provided insights that helped answer some monumental questions. For example, Natalie Sudman’s ability to articulate the detailed account of her near-death experience was significant in furthering my understanding that the purpose of having a human life is purely to have experiences, both positive and negative.

Several near-death experiencers explained that, even if they had remained dead and their spiritual bodies went into the eternal light, they always knew that everything was going to be all right for the human beings they would be leaving behind.

Overall, my NDE interviews illustrated that bad things happening to us as human beings are never a punishment, never an oversight, and not the result of anyone being rejected or ignored by the powers that be. Ultimately, what they shared about their NDEs referenced a big-picture perspective that our human existence is a temporary experience from which we learn and grow.

Our spiritual existence—our natural state of being—is eternal and free from harm or suffering. Hence, the reason these near-death experiencers felt that everything was going to be all right no matter the outcome was because humans always return to our true, eternal state as spiritual beings. Moreover, most people in spirit describe the human lifetime as occurring in the blink of an eye. We learn this same message from readings with mediums, between-lives regressions, spirit contact with hypnosis, and even dream visitations.

Final Thoughts

For most people, having an NDE is a positive experience—some might even say life-changing. Here are a few examples:

Anita Moorjani, author of Dying to Be Me, learned from her near-death experience that her fears caused the cancer that led to her experience. This revelation led her to write her book and share her message about fear and healing at worldwide lectures.

Dr. Eben Alexander, author of Proof of Heaven, learned from his near-death experience that proper health can only be achieved when we realize that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of life but merely a transition.

Dannion Brinkley, author of Saved by the Light, was filled with such a profound sense of service and compassion after his near-death experiences (he had more than one) that this led to his work as a hospice volunteer, sitting at the bedside of thousands of dying veterans, many as they took their final breath.

As you might expect, not everyone’s near-death experience has led to obvious life-changing consequences. I know one man who has had three NDEs and struggles through life due to the same health issues that led to his NDEs. I also know people whose NDEs were extraordinary and deeply spiritual, yet their lives have changed very little. This being true, most near-death experiencers consider their NDE to be one of the most enlightening, loving, profound, and memorable experiences of their lifetime, even if their lives were not dramatically changed by their experience.

That said, most say that they no longer fear death since the event, which is a result that holds far-reaching benefits. A fear of death can be at the root of several maladies, including anxiety, mysophobia (fear of germs), and hypochondria. Other near-death experiencers say that they look forward to returning to the spiritual dimension they knew in their NDE, yet without wanting to rush through life to get there. Rather than wishing to be in the peace and joy of the afterlife, most near-death experiencers feel a renewed sense of purpose here, even if they don’t know precisely what that purpose is. These insights and results are life-changing by themselves, even if the person’s day-to-day life doesn’t appear very different.

Below, I’m going to share with you my interview with near-death experiencer MarVeena Meek, which I recorded in 2015. Of all my NDE interviews on Afterlife TV, this one didn’t get seen by many people, yet it is a perfect example of a typical NDE. MarVeena also has a delightful, sweet personality, so I think you’ll enjoy hearing her story about being a rodeo trick rider and having a near-death experience.

With love,
Bob

Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV, author of Answers About The Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and creator of the reputable directory of psychics and mediums, BestPsychicDirectory.com. His latest venture is Bob Olson Connect, where you can read Bob’s articles before they become books.

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