Near Death Experience - (NDE) Bijna Dood ervaringen - (BDE)A near-death experience (
NDE) is a personal experience that encompasses multiple sensations of detachment from the body, levitation, an ambiance of security and warmth, and the presence of an all-loving being of light, sometimes interpreted as God. Many cultures revere NDEs as a paranormal and spiritual glimpse into the afterlife.
Such cases are usually reported after an individual has been pronounced clinically dead, or otherwise very close to death, hence the entitlement near-death experience. With recent developments in cardiac resuscitation techniques, the number of NDEs reported is continually increasing. The scientific community is very divided on the issue of NDEs, however. Skeptical scientists regard such experiences as hallucinatory: Paranormal scientists claim them to be evidence of an after life. The debate continues.
Popular interest in near-death experiences was initially sparked by Raymond Moody, Jr's 1975 book "Life After Life" and the founding of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) in 1978. According to a Gallup poll, approximately eight million Americans claim to have had a near-death experience. NDEs are among the phenomena studied in the fields of parapsychology, psychology, psychiatry, and hospital medicine.
