NDEs By The Numbers: Compilation Of Typical NDE Elements: Otherworldly Realms, Entities, etc

From the most common NDE elements to the least common according to scientific, retrospective studies of Near Death Experiences. Weighted averages are from the book by D.J. Kadagian, The Crossing Over Experience, pp. 55-62.

The frequencies with which NDErs in various studies experience certain phenomena points towards something more objectively real than merely subjective. Here are the weighted averages in prospective vs retrospective NDE studies respectively:

Tunnel: 31% vs 33% [notice the similarity!]
Life Review: 15% vs 14%
Border is reached: 20% vs 25%
Heightened understanding: 25% vs 31%
See deceased love ones: 39% vs 38%
Encounter spiritual beings: 35% vs 51%
See or enter bright light: 35% vs 51%
Encounter otherworldly landscapes and colours: 35% vs 56%
Heightened senses: 48% vs 57%
Time – past, present, future are one: 45% vs 63%
OBE: 37% vs 65%
Overwhelming sense of peace: 64% vs 77%

* Kadagian, The Crossing Over Experience, pp. 55-62.
The above results are remarkably similar. Plus an exception proves the rule: the statistic for the OBE state isn’t so similar (37% vs 65%), but that category is difficult to define by researchers and to judge for the experiencers. For example, I’ve even seen on the NDERF database that an experiencer clearly had an OBE (seeing her physical body from above), but she wasn’t in a spiritual body anymore but just a point of consciousness, so she didn’t tick the box of having had an OBE…

In contrast, the tunnel and life review are easier to define, and these are found in amazingly similar frequencies across studies: Tunnel: 31% vs 33% Life Review: 15% vs 14% What are the chances of that if it’s merely a creation of the individual’s psyche?

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