A comprehensive essay on the current state of studies into the fascinating phenomenon of near death experiences (NDE’s).

Definitely worth reading if this sort of thing interests you….

What we now know […] is that during a close brush with death or other extreme circumstances, 10-20% of people—an estimated 5% of the adult world population—report a lucid, real or hyperreal experience comprising five aspects. Although these aspects resemble stages, I use the term aspect because, although they tend to occur in the following order, not all experiencers (NDErs) report all aspects, and the middle three can occur in any order and can sometimes overlap:

• Exit: Perceiving one’s consciousness leaving the body. The specifics vary among NDErs: For example, some report exiting through the head, some through the toes, some through the chest, and some through a total lifting out of the body.
• Material: Perceiving the material world from a position outside the physical body. Perception during this aspect is “normal plus:” Objects appear and sounds sound identical to perception in the body, and, in addition, physically exceptional capacities exist, such as the ability to “see” in any direction, to both see and see through physical objects such as walls, to “hear” the unspoken thoughts of living people in the vicinity, and to move “at the speed of thought” to other physical locations.
• Transition: Perceiving rapid movement toward and/or through a material or non-material space toward a transmaterial location. This space may be open, either dark or illuminated, or it may take the form of a structure, often a tunnel, the specific description of which varies among NDErs.
• Transmaterial: Perceiving and interacting with entities and environments not of the material world. The entities can include deceased loved ones and/or other spiritual beings, both recognized and not, with whom the NDEr communicates telepathically—directly mind-to-mind. The environments can include earthlike locations of unearthly beauty, vast structures, and cities of light. This aspect often includes a life review in which, typically, the NDEr simultaneously re-views—sees again—every moment of their earthly life while also re-experiencing it; experiencing being each person with whom they interacted in it, feeling directly the effect that their actions had on the other; and perceiving it from a “higher” or “spiritual” perspective. This aspect may also include memories of past lives and glimpses into the future, both personal and global, and typically ends with the NDEr either being told they must return to, choosing to return to, or simply finding themselves back in their physical body. When they choose to return, it is virtually always to serve one or more living people or to serve humanity at large.
• Re-entry: Perceiving consciousness re-entering the body. Again, when an NDE includes this aspect, the NDEr may describe reentry in any of several ways.

Read the full essay: Anomalous Cognition and Veridical Perception During Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)