The
noted outcomes characteristic of near-death experiencers below have been gleaned from
the work of Kenneth Ring and
Evelyn
Elsaesser-Valarino, NDE researchers, who wrote a whole book largely about
the aftereffects of such experiences. Aside from their scrutiny of NDEs
themselves, they also included some data concerning other types of mystical /
paranormal experiences in order to form some allusions to the clear similarities
of the data for the different types of experience, suggestive of what Rhea
A. White had
also theorized, that many of the same aftereffects can and do apply, regardless
of type of experience. In her review
of Ring's and Valerino's book,
Lessons From the Light, White states
this unequivocally, but with the understandable proviso that there are trends of
differences in terms primarily of degree. People who have NDEs, for
example, frequently lose their fear of death entirely, brought home to them --
literally sometimes, in the Light! This is not nearly so likely to be the
result for someone who has, say, a dejá vu or psychic
experience.
The pondering of the value and effect of these experiences has been probably
uninterruptedly in process since well before Plato. Although the 'north'
of his internal compass points solidly toward religion, and the approach and
language of parapsychology would just not occur to him, Mircea Eliade
[1907-1986] recognized the impact of such encounters, which he has simply called
religious experiences, and speaks of the "fascinating mystery" out of
which perfect fullness of being flowers. Concerning what he
described as these "acts of manifestation of the sacred," he used the
word hierophany to mean "Something Sacred Shows itself to
us." Many people who had anything but spiritual inclinations before
their EHEs, from that moment forward have come to appreciate his point of
view.
The well-studied aftereffects extant in the literature concerning NDEs given
below come from Lessons From the Light: What We Can Learn From the
Near-Death Experience, by Kenneth Ring and Evelyn Elsaesser Valarino.
Look at them from the standpoint of other types of exceptional experiences
familiar to you for comparison. If you have had any such experience/s, how
much of this resonates with your life, post-Experience [EHE]?
Overall, most near-death experiencers, and by extension, exceptional human
experiencers . . .
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Appreciate life more fully.
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Experience increased feelings of
self-worth, self acceptance, self confidence and out-going-ness.
This can be quite noticeable.
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Have a more compassionate regard for others and, indeed, for all life.
One of the more outstanding characteristics is their desire to be of
service, which aligns with the moral consciousness mentioned
below. The authors say this "concern for others" is
often expressed within the context of a need to pass on to others, to
life, something of that Light experienced by many NDErs [and other
Experiencers/EHEers] to the point that "in some cases [this urge] is
almost unquenchable."
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Feel a heightened ecological sensitivity
and proactive concern. [It is possible that many-to-most of our
vocationally committed activists and service-devoted leaders in many
fields are so because of having had such experiences.]*
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Experience a decreased interest in purely materialistic and self-seeking values.
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Are
no longer attracted to the rewards of competitive ladder-scaling taken
for granted in the business and professional world. In Ring's and
Valarino's words, "Caring, rather than achieving is what really
matters." [It is easy to see how these more magnetic
personalities can become outstanding leaders, even if not intentionally,
based on that natural sense of caring that invokes service-in-action for
its own sake.]*
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Have
a personally unprecedented hunger for knowledge, especially insofar as
it fosters their own post-EHE spiritual quest. Many NDErs and
those who have had mystical or cosmic experiences come
back with memories of taking in vast quantities of knowledge, such
as answers to all their possible questions and more. Yet
they do not often come back with much of that still consciously
available to them, which is part of what fuels this hunger.
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Become more universalistic in religious/spiritual orientation.
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Become more inclusive and spiritual in feeling and expression.
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Become aware their fear of death is most often completely extinguished
[particularly for NDEers; many who have had EHEs other than NDEs, mystical
or cosmic-oneness-type experiences or OBEs also say this is
so or their fear of death is definitely markedly decreased. On this
website, these are referred to as death-transcendent
EHEs.]*.
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Have a deep-rooted conviction, based on their direct experience, that some form of life after death awaits us, which becomes unshakable and a source of enormous comfort
and strength.
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Spontaneously experience
more frequently, or are aware of increased powers of higher sense perception, increased psychic
abilities, intuitive awareness, and/or the gift of healing.
[Also, many Experiencers note the increase of serendipitous
synchronicities in their lives.]*
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No
longer merely believe in the existence of an infinite spiritual
intelligence. Rather, they know directly, experientially Spirit / God /
Goddess / All That Is exists [especially true of NDEers and those who have or
have had other types of death-transcendent
experiences]*.
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Have
an increased
reverence for all life.
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Have
a clear
moral understanding.
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Have
a more
positive, confident outlook on life, in spite of continued evidence that
doesn’t support positive outlook.
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Are
less
judgmental of others; rather, they are clearly interested in and appreciative of
differences in other people.
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See
all of life as resplendent with meaning and that each person's life is
invested with sacred purpose. They have a passionate drive to know
and to fulfill their own life's mission.
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"In short," Ring and Elsaesser-Valarino conclude, "The NDE
[/EHE] seems to unleash normally dormant aspects of the human potential for higher consciousness and to increase one's capacity to relate more sensitively to other persons and the world at large."
Wherever you see Similarly, White observes that the transformed worldview EHEs engender culminates
in
"a
spontaneous development of moral consciousness
and
reverence for all life."
Further, White says,
"We think it is likely that the basic meanings revealed by these
experiences, once they become potentiated into EHEs [i.e., once
they become active agents for transforming the experiencers'
identity, life and worldview], are the key to the evolution of
consciousness and also to saving planet Earth because of the
types of changed consciousness that are associated with EHEs."
If EHEers did not have the courage to share their experiences, the rest of the
world, including other Experiencers, would never know, as was the case in the
Western world, not that many years ago. That crucial difference that will
ensure the survival of our world is in our deeply processing them, letting their
influence grow within, and also in our being able and willing to share them with
each other -- if [again, as White says] enough of us do
it.
Kenneth Ring did an informal study in some of his classes in which a number
of people shared their near-death experiences. Much as other researchers
have discovered since, EHE
empaths -- those who
have either not had such Experiences, or have thus far not been so profoundly
influenced by their own anomalous and exceptional experiences to where they have
matured into full-blown EHEs -- also may go through essentially the same
characteristic shift in consciousness. There is a contagious quality to
the impact of these personal Experiences, when they are shared with other
people, that contributes significantly toward this growing collective consciousness
shift, profiled from many areas of research as these Aftereffects. In
short, you certainly don't have to have had anything as dramatic as a near-death
experience or any remembered experience of this general nature at all in order
to make that qualitative Shift.
-----
*
[Anything bracketed in this list is RR's commentary or has come from other
commentary or research sources.]
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Culture, context, and origin of EHEs can play a powerful role in how
we may be enabled [or sometimes less-abled] toward
understanding, accepting, integrating, valuing, and utilizing such
Gifts as EEs/EHEs. Compare these several different
experiential points of view, which basically all point to the
same characteristics of shifted consciousness, which PMH Atwater
describes as "Brain Shift / Spirit Shift":
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1. |
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An
overview of the five-stage EHE Process: Drs.
Rhea White and Suzanne Brown, as a result of their
research and an exhaustive review of the pertinent literature
in the early 1990s, identify five stages within the EHE
process itself. Two other short articles delineate the
whole 5-stage EHE Process. One by R.
A. White offers an objective view, and S.
V. Brown counterbalances
with a subjective view. Another even more direct
trait-related article by White is this one: Brief
Overview of Exceptional Human Experiences.
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2. |
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Near-Death
Experiences model [Kenneth
Ring ; Evelyn
Elsaesser-Valarino]
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3. |
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Cultural
Creatives' Values [Paul
H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson]
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4. |
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Shamanic
Vocation [Holger
Kalweit]
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5. |
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Translucent
Experiences [Arjuna
Ardagh]
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6. |
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Mystical
Experiences [Louann
Stahl]
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7. |
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The
long-studied observations of the Spiritual
Emergence Network [Stanislav
and Christina Grof]
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8. |
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Presencing
/ Presence [Peter M.
Senge, C.
Otto Scharmer, Joseph
Jaworski, Betty
Sue Flowers, and also Eleanor Rosch, whose work
extensively supports this perspective.]
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9. |
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Theory
U [C. Otto Scharmer;
this and Presence (#7) are closely related.]
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10. |
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Brain
Shift / Spirit Shift [PMH
Atwater's NDE-based model describes these
aftereffects in the context of an explicitly unique
consciousness.]
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11. |
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The
collaborative, life-long lived inquiry and experiences of Sri
Aurobindo Ghose and Mirra Alfasa [aka, The Mother] [see Satprem,
essential biographer for both]
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The surprisingly universal focus, by the time one has made a
clear commitment suggestive of the values and meaning-filled lives
shared with such emphasis, regardless of whichever "lens"
one might look through, is about a lifepath of service to others, to
the good of the whole, and to the Earth as a sacred being.
What particularly stands out is the reverence for all life that lives
in Experiencers [EHEers, no matter which model you use], as well as in
EHE Empaths, and their passionate and compassionate altruistic
instrumentality within community and for the world, which could be
deemed an active expression of "moral consciousness."
The more profoundly Shifting the experience, the more fully the
Experiencer recognizes the sacredness of all life as a Living Whole.
Such EHEers live and speak and act within the perceived context of
[our] ONENESS, as if there is a Singular Consciousness that pervades
and is recognizable, accessible, and communicative from within all
beings and being, even the most seemingly inanimate.
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