Visitors At The End Of Life Finding Meaning And Purpose In Near Death Phenomena

This book is about how, when, and why our dead visit us. Allan Kellehear--a medical sociologist and expert on death, dying, and palliative care--has gathered data and conducted studies on deathbed visions across cultures.

About 30 percent of hospice patients report a “visitation” by someone who is not there, a phenomenon known in end-of-life care as a deathbed vision. These visions can be of dead friends or family members and occur on average three days before death. Strikingly, individuals from wildly diverse geographic regions and religions—from New York to Japan to Moldova to Papua New Guinea—report similar visions. Appearances of our dead during serious illness, crises, or bereavement are as old as the historical record. But in recent years, we have tended to explain them in either the fantastical terms of the supernatural or the reductive terms of neuroscience. This book is about how, when, and why our dead visit us. Allan Kellehear—a medical sociologist and expert on death, dying, and palliative care—has gathered data and conducted studies on these experiences across cultures. He also draws on the long-neglected work of early anthropologists who developed cultural explanations about why the dead visit. Deathbed visions conform to the rituals that underpin basic social relations and expectations—customs of greeting, support, exchange, gift-giving, and vigils—because the dead must communicate with us in a social language that we recognize. Kellehear emphasizes the personal consequences for those who encounter these visions, revealing their significance for how the dying person makes meaning of their experiences. Providing vital understanding of a widespread yet mysterious phenomenon, Visitors at the End of Life offers insights for palliative care professionals, researchers, and the bereaved.

Despite widespread skepticism on the matter, a significant number of people today have stories of religious experience—moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death experiences of the afterlife, encounters with angels, heavenly voices, and premonitions. How should rationally minded people respond? What would your reaction be if someone told you that, one night while sitting alone, she saw through the window a brilliant light descend from the sky until it was so large that it filled the room—and that it radiated a feeling of “pure love”? And what would you say if a friend confided that one night he woke up and could not move, felt he was being suffocated, and sensed an evil spirit in the room? By default in the secular age we are skeptical about anything mysterious or supernatural. More likely than not, most people would respond to the stories above with embarrassment and concern about the person’s grasp of reality, or they would attempt to explain them away through rational or scientific means. But the truth is that religious experiences like these are not as uncommon as they seem—although talking about such experiences often is. This is the case even in a faith tradition such as Christianity, despite the Bible’s numerous accounts of miraculous and mysterious happenings. In Encountering Mystery, noted biblical scholar Dale Allison makes the argument that stories of religious experience are meaningful and not to be marginalized—and that we have a moral prerogative to lovingly engage with such stories regardless of whether we have had similar experiences. Through a close look at phenomena such as moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death experiences of the afterlife, encounters with angels, heavenly voices, and premonitions, Allison shows how ordinary practices of faith need not be at odds with individual religious experiences. Above all, he enjoins us to be honest about the persistence of religious experience in a secular age and to make space for those who encounter mystery in their lives.

This book is about contemporary senses of life after death in the United States, Japan, and China. By collecting and examining hundreds of interviews with people from all walks of life in these three societies, the book presents and compares personally held beliefs, experiences, and interactions with the concept of life after death. Three major aspects covered by the book Include, but are certainly not limited to, the enduring tradition of Japanese ancestor veneration, China’s transition from state-sponsored materialism to the increasing belief in some form of afterlife, as well as the diversity in senses of, or disbelief in, life after death in the United States. Through these diverse first-hand testimonies the book reveals that underlying these changes in each society there is a shift from collective to individual belief, with people developing their own visions of what may, or may not, happen after death. This book will be valuable reading for students of Anthropology as well as Religious, Cultural, Asian and American Studies. It will also be an impactful resource for professionals such as doctors, nurses, and hospice workers.

A doctor recounts patient stories from her five-year clinical study of Near-Death Experiences, revealing how this phenomenon is more powerful than we realize Dr. Penny Sartori is a registered nurse who began researching Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) in 1995 after one of her long-term intensive care patients begged her to let him die in peace. Inspired by this encounter, she went on to research NDEs in a PhD program, where she learned profound spiritual lessons and made startling discoveries that she now shares in The Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences. During her academic work, Dr. Sartori studied three samples of ICU patients during a five-year period. Here, she recounts the eye-opening stories of those patients who experienced NDEs and out-of-body experiences (OBEs). In one group, as many as 18% of patients experienced an NDE—though Patient #10 stood out among the others. After being unresponsive, he awoke to report he had experienced an OBE. He was able to describe what happened in the hospital room while he was unconscious and claimed he met not only his deceased father but a Jesus-like figure. Most shocking of all, he had regained the use of his hand—which had been paralyzed since birth. When talking about the biggest takeaways from her research, Dr. Sartori shares how her findings have made her question the common belief that the brain gives rise to consciousness. Most importantly, she has gained a deeper appreciation for death—an experience she now views with less fear and anxiety. In addition to detailing dozens of case studies, The Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences also discusses childhood NDEs, the differences in NDEs among different cultures, and the after-effects of NDEs.

Compassion-Based Approaches in Loss and Grief introduces clinicians to a wide array of strategies and frameworks for engaging clients throughout the loss experience, particularly when those experiences have a protracted course. In the book, clinicians and researchers from around the world and from a variety of fields explore ways to cultivate compassion and how to implement compassion-based clinical practices specifically designed to address loss, grief, and bereavement. Students, scholars, and mental health and healthcare professionals will come away from this important book with a deepened understanding of compassion-based approaches and strategies for enhancing distress tolerance, maintaining focus, and identifying the clinical interventions best suited to clients’ needs.

Every day, all over the world, an increasing number of people are reporting near-death experiences (and related phenomena). This book is a collection of the best stories and quotes I have come across in 40-plus years of studying NDEs. It shines a bright light on the universal truths that are championed by NDEs and reveals, in life-changing technicolor, how to apply these truths to our everyday lives. This book was first published under the title Love The Person You're With. All 60 chapters of that book are included in this one. 31 additional chapters have been added. The book is being published under a new title to reach more people. New content has been added to explore some topics in greater depth. Other tweaks, including enhanced references, have been added to make the book easier to read, remember, and study. The book includes stories and quotes from 52 experiencers and 10 researchers, including Howard Storm, Tom Sawyer, Reinee Pasarow, Dianne Morrissey, Oliver John Calvert, Erica McKenzie, Andy Petro, Amy Call, Mary Jo Rapini, Anne Horn, Ellyn Dye, Mellen-Thomas Benedict, Ryan Rampton, Natalie Sudman, Amphianda Baskett, Mary Neal, Julie Aubier, Julian of Norwich, Barbara Harris Whitfield, Anita Moorjani, Jeff Olsen, Cami Renfrow, Louisa Peck, Ana Cecilia, Peter Panagore, Alon Anava, Tricia Barker, Samuel Bercholz, Arthur Yensen, George Ritchie, Linda Stewart, Cecil Willy, Lorna Byrne, Rene Jorgensen, Mary Deioma, Krystal Winzer, David Sunfellow, Kenneth Ring, Laurin Bellg, Jeffrey Long, Sheila, Dennis, and Matthew Linn, Kevin Williams, Barbara R. Rommer, and John W. Price. Along with fantastic content, this book has a companion website that showcases the experiencers, researchers, and remarkable videos that are featured in the book: http: //thepurposeoflife-nde.com

The Near Death Experience: A Reader is the most comprehensive collection of NDE cases and interpretations ever assembled. This book encompasses a broad range of disciplines: psychological researchers discuss cognitive models and Jungian theories of meaningful archetypal phenomena; the biological perspectivedescribes how brains near death may produce soothing endorphins, optical illusions, and convincing hallucinations. Philosophers present empirical analyses and images in archetypal theories, and the symbolic language of comparative phenomenological theories. Christian, Jewish and Mormon responses to NDEs outline the religious perspective, and the mystical and spiritual interpretations of NDEs are also explored.