Statistics One Way to Chronicle the Spiritually Transformative Experience Phenomenon

Here's a barest beginning look at statistics from around the world of those who have had various types of anomalous experiences/EEs/EHEs.  If you have knowledge of sites or other sources with this kind of information for [for example] near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, spiritual or mystical experiences, after-death communications, send them and they will be posted here.  (Please check out the reliability / accuracy of your sources before sending us their information--please!)  Thanks.            As these begin to accrue, we will start looking at them from a more integrated and global perspective.           Various statistics have surfaced occasionally over the last 25 years suggesting, for example, from E. Elsaesser-Valarino's website [see web link below table] ..     5% or 15 million people in the USA have had NDEs [USA].     25% or 75 million have had OBEs [USA].     774 people/day in USA [Elsaesser-Valarino quotes Lock,2005] have NDEs.  That is 282,875 people/year.  The USA population just topped 300 million people in 2006, which is equal to about 1/20th of the world population now at well over six billion. There's no telling how off this figure is either way, but just for fun:  if there is even a rough correspondence in numbers, that would mean 282,875 x 20 = 5,651,500 people in the world may be having NDEs/year.     Valarino provides similar statistics for a few other countries., such as highlights from a study reported in Lancet in 2001, conducted by Dutch cardiologist, Pim van Lommel.  His research showed that out of 344 resuscitated cardiac patients, 18% reported having had a near-death experience, and 12% described a classic "core" NDE containing many or most of the main associated features [e.g., being out-of-body and viewing their body, meeting loved ones on the Other Side, moving toward or into the Light, meeting one or more light beings].     In Wales, research indicates a whopping 60% of people who have lost their spouses have had after-death communications with their mates.     Reported in Yvonne Kason's book,  A Farther Shore:  How Near-Death and Other Extraordinary Experiences Can Change Ordinary Lives:   "In 1989 a Gallup poll found that one of every three Americans believed he or she had had some type of mystical experience."   Quoted from Russell Targ's book,  Limitless Mind:   In 2001 the Gallup Poll that said "more than half the U.S. population reports having had psychic experiences.  These believers include two-thirds of the college graduates and university professors queried."     The following is from an article by R. A. McConnell (1977), in "The Resolution of Conflicting beliefs about the ESP Evidence" [in:  Journal of Parapsychology, vol. 41]:     "71% of ... respondents "said that psychic effects observed in themselves or in persons close to them have contributed significantly to their belief in ESP." This high statistic reinforces what NDE researcher Kenneth Ring had observed through informal surveys in some of his classes.  He describes this phenomenon as a "benign virus" that is very contagious.  An analogous descriptive phrase that comes to mind is, "Made a believer out of me!"              The above quotes from Kason and Targ seem to suggest there is a progression over time, which is exactly what grabbed my attention enough to make me do some more checking to verify this.  But statistics are infamous for our being able to take and bend them any old way without changing the actual data.  Also in this case the exact words used, such as "mystical experiences," "psychic experiences," "spiritual experiences," "paranormal experiences" can make a world full of difference in terms of how people respond, and probably usually on a gut level in the moment.  I have found other statistical studies and polls that have provided similarly high statistics, which as a whole is consistent, but they tend to be a bit up and down, roughly from 49% to 60% over the last three decades.   [See, e.g., A. M Greeley's article, "Mysticism Goes Mainstream."  American Health, vol. 6, pgs 47-49, 1987.  And E. Haraldsson and J. M. Houtkooper's "Psychic Experiences in the Multi-National Human Values Study:  Who Reports Them?" IN:  Journal of the American Society of Psychical Research, vol. 85, pgs 145-165.]    ------------- Online Resources: E. Elsaesser Valarino’s site statistics R. Targ's website, primarily about remote viewing, also distant healing gallup.org iands.org