Raymond Moody, author of the seminal book on the study of NDEs, “Life After Life”, has also taken an interest in shared death experiences, in which a perfectly healthy person accompanies a dying loved one through the first moments of their transition. Here are a few extracts from his book “Witnesses to life after life”.
“Shared death experiences can prove the existence of another universe, which we might call “celestial”. One of the arguments of critics of NDEs is that they are “fear of death” experiences invented in the mind of a person facing death.
Called the “dying brain hypothesis”, this theory asserts that all the phenomena of near-death experience are simply hallucinations of the brain as it approaches the end of its functional life.
Living through an NDE in perfect health?
But what if you were to have such an experience without being on the verge of death? What if you had an out-of-body experience, saw dead relatives, went through a tunnel of light and took stock of your life without being on the verge of death? What does it mean to be in perfect health and have these experiences?
One of the most profound elements of the near-death experience is the experience of light. In this element, the person is bathed in a light that seems to have substance, as if it were almost liquid.
This “mystical” light is also present in many shared death experiences. It is described as a “crystalline light”, emitting “purity”, “love” and “peace”.
Light transforms us
This is no ordinary light, but a Light that profoundly transforms those who encounter it.
One woman described this Light as follows: “When Mom died, everyone present saw the room fill with light from inside the house. Everyone present saw the room fill with the light of an ‘angelic presence’.
Many of my fellow researchers believe that it is the encounter with this light that leads to positive changes in the personality of those who have had a near-death experience.
A soothing light
Sharon Nelson told me about her contact with light on her sister’s deathbed and its long-term effects. “About ten years ago, my beloved sister was dying of cancer at home, in her bedroom. I was there with my other sister and my brother-in-law. About a week before my sister’s death, a brilliant white light invaded the room. It was a light that we all saw and that never left us. I felt an intense love and connection with everyone in the room, including other “souls” who were not visible but whose presence we felt. As far as I was concerned, I saw nothing but this white light and my sick sister. At the time, I didn’t understand what was happening, but I realize now that I was experiencing what my dying sister was experiencing. What a revelation! Words fail me to express the impact this experience had on me. The wisdom and peace of that light have not left me since.”
Often, the deceased appears much younger in their spiritual body, and generally much happier. The witness has the feeling that the deceased was happy to be rid of their physical body and is looking forward to the next stage of their existence.
A Light that gives joy
“The night Jim died, I was sitting next to him, holding his hand, when we both left our bodies and started flying through the air! It was incredible, frightening and confusing. We left the hospital room and started flying over the city. As we did so, beautiful music, the like of which I had never heard before, began to play. As the music grew, we began to rise above the city. Above us, there was a brilliant light and we headed straight towards it. The light was beautiful, vibrant and powerful. I felt comfortable and happy to be near her, and Jim smiled as he stared up at her. The last time I saw him, he was smiling very broadly.
A woman who called herself a “devout non-believer” was stunned when she accompanied her husband through a light tunnel at the moment of his death. They were heading towards a light when an “angel” pulled her back and she suddenly found herself sitting next to her husband again. She was delighted with the experience, which helped her to accept the reality of her husband’s death. “I was brought up not to believe in religion or God,” she says. “But now I believe in spirituality. Religion seems very artificial to me, but I can’t deny the spiritual dimension of what happened when my husband died. It brought me a peace and faith in the afterlife that I didn’t think possible”.
The body is only a temporary envelope
The person returning from an IME or shared death experience is almost always convinced that the body we live in is only a mortal envelope, and that our spirit is eternal. “I know now that we live forever”; “I’m no longer afraid of death because it’s just another plane of existence”: I’ve heard these comments thousands of times.
Witness to joy
June says: “The day my father died, he was peaceful and calm. He asked for water, but other than that we were sitting, completely transfixed by beautiful music that seemed to come out of the air. My father lay back on the sofa and seemed to fade away. Then, to my great surprise, I had the impression that his spiritual body had straightened up. He was beaming with joy. I heard him say “goodbye”, and right in front of him stood my previously deceased mother and aunt. There are no words to describe the appearance of these three spirits. In any case, my mother looked at me with great joy. And then that was it. The spirit bodies vanished and I was left alone with my father’s body.” “As you can imagine, I was never the same again. I was in touch with my mother, my aunt, my father and God all at the same time. Since that day, I feel like I’m walking on air.
June’s story left me and many others speechless. Even after all these years, I still wonder: if this isn’t evidence of life after life, what is?”
See also the article “IME and the end of life” and the article on end-of-life experiences.
