The other day, a radio show called The People’s Pharmacy focused on the issue of near-death experiences (NDE). Everything has an acronym (EHAA). The research done on NDEs has yielded fascinating results about consciousness and how these experiences affect people’s lives, but still, I don't think I'll volunteer for a study. People who have experiences near-death experiences undergo dramatic changes in values and beliefs, including a greater appreciation for life, greater compassion for others, a heightened sense of purpose and self-understanding, and a desire to learn. Time after time, children who have had an NDE have shown tendencies towards heightened altruism, happiness, and connections to others. Why is this? Do they feel lucky to be alive?
One NDE researcher conjectures that we see ourselves as a bag of bones with all our physical identities attached: man, American, adult, organ grinder, Hindu, etc., and that when we start to slip away from our body we see how ephemeral those identities are and what separation they can cause. When we come back, we then begin to see ourselves as part of something bigger, something less material. Of course, Errol is just a pup, with a very different consciousness that my own (I think). I don’t imagine he was listing his identities as he slipped into (and, thank god, out of) the hereafter on day 1. But whatever happened, Errol has been saved from death more than once and he is the happiest, hoppiest person I’ve ever known. And he certainly isn’t preoccupied with his identity.
You can hear the story for yourself. Certainly, some of the NDE crowd out there are quacks, but still, the science is pretty amazing and the stories are compelling.
