Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience (55 page)

30. Schwartz,
Opening to the Infinite.

31. Schwartz,
Opening to the Infinite.

32. A. M. Abell,
Talks with the Great Composers
(Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany: G. E. Schroeder Verlag, 1964), 19–21; Kelly and Kelly,
Irreducible Mind,
chap. 7, “Genius,” 423–94.

33. J. B. Alexander, “Uri’s Impact on the U.S. Army,” posted on http://www.urigeller.com (1996); R. Jahn and B. Dunne,
Margins of Reality: The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World
(New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987).

34. E. W. Davis,
Teleportation Physics Study,
Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Material Command, Edwards Air Force Base CA 93524–7–7048 (2006), www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/teleport.pdf; A. Zeilinger,
Einsteins Spuk
[Einstein’s Phantom] (Munich: Bertelsmann, 2005).

35. L. Shuhuang et al., “Some Experiments on the Transfer of Objects Performed by Unusual Abilities of the Human Body,”
Nature Journal (People’s Republic of China
) 4, no. 9 (1981): 652, Defense Intelligence Agency Requirements and Validation Branch, DIA Translation LN731–8–83, Intelligence Information Report No. 6010511683 (1983); S. Kongzhi, L. Xianggao, and Z. Liangzhong, “Research into Paranormal Ability to Break Through Spatial Barriers,” trans. Defense Intelligence Agency,
Chinese Journal of Somatic Science,
First Issue, 22 (1990); W. Banghui, “Evidence of the Existence of Abnormal States of Matter,” trans. Defense Intelligence Agency,
Chinese Journal of Somatic Science,
First Issue, 36 (1990).

36. D. Radin,
Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality
(New York: Paraview Pocket Books, 2006); A. Goswami, R. E. Reed, and M. Goswami,
The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World
(New York: Jeremy Tarcher/Putman, 1993); A. Goswami,
Physics of the Soul: The Quantum Book of Living, Dying, Reincarnation and Immortality
(Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing 2001).

Chapter 15: Some Implications of NDE Studies

1. For the general U.S. population figures, see the Association of Religion Data Archives: http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_234_1.asp. For the survey of doctors, see F. A. Curlin et al., “Religious Characteristics of U.S. Physicians,”
Journal of General Internal Medicine
20, no. 7 (2005): 629–34; the
Nature
article on scientists is E. J. Larson and L. Witham, “Scientists Are Still Keeping the Faith,”
Nature
386 (1997): 235–36; compare with J. H. Leuba,
The Belief in God and Immortality: A Psychological, Anthropological and Statistical Study
(Boston: Sherman, French, 1926). For the figure of 7 percent, see E. J. Larson and L. Witham, “Leading Scientists Still Reject God,”
Nature
394 (1998): 313.

2. Dick Swaab, “Als we alles bewust moesten doen, zouden wij geen leven hebben” [If We Would Do Everything at a Conscious Level, It Should Be Very Difficult to Live], interview with Dick Swaab by G. Klaasen,
KRO Magazine
47 (2009): 10–13.

3. J. Fisher,
The Case for Reincarnation
(Mississisauga, Ontario: Collins Publishers, 1984), 27.

4. I. Stevenson,
Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect
(Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1997).

5. Stevenson,
Reincarnation and Biology.

6. Fisher,
Case for Reincarnation.

7. Fisher,
Case for Reincarnation.

8. P. Stark,
De hele waarheid: Verhalen uit de praktijk van orgaantransplantatie
[The Whole Truth: Real-Life Organ Transplantation Stories] (Breda, the Netherlands: Papieren Tijger, 2005).

9. E. Kompanje, “Geven en Nemen: De praktijk van postmortale orgaandonatie” [Give and Take: The Practice of Postmortem Organ Donation] (Ph.D. diss., Erasmus University, Rotterdam, 1999).

10. “Model Protocol Postmortem Organ and Tissue Donation,” http://www.transplantatiestichting.nl. The protocol is available in Dutch only on this site. For more information, see also the Web site of the Eurotransplant International Foundation, http://www.eurotransplant.nl; the Web site of the NHS Evidence Health Information Resources (UK), especially the document “Organ Donation—a Protocol,” http://www.library.nhs.uk/SpecialistLibrarySearch/download.aspx?resID=155999; and the Web site
The Gift of a Lifetime
(USA), especially the page “Understanding Donation,” http://www.organtransplants.org/understanding/death/.

11. “Model Protocol” (in Dutch).

12. “Model Protocol” (in Dutch).

13. “Model Protocol” (in Dutch).

14. “Model Protocol” (in Dutch).

15. For organ transplantation guidelines, see “Model Protocol” (in Dutch). See also the Web site of the Eurotransplant International Foundation, http://www.eurotransplant.nl; the Web site of the NHS Evidence Health Information Resources (UK), especially the document “Organ Donation—a Protocol,” http://www.library.nhs.uk/SpecialistLibrarySearch/download.aspx?resID=155999; and the Web site
The Gift of a Lifetime
(USA), especially the page “Understanding Donation,” http://www.organtransplants.org/understanding/death/. On the process of dying, see L. Emanuel, “Reexamining Death: The Asymptotic Model and a Bounded Zone Definition,”
Hastings Center Report
25 (1995): 27–35; and C. Machado and A. Shewmon, eds.,
Brain Death and Disorders of Consciousness
(New York and London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum, 2004). On the Lazarus syndrome, see J. E. Jordan, E. Dyess, and J. Cliett, “Unusual Spontaneous Movements In Brain-Dead Patients,”
Neurology
35 (1985): 1082. On physiological changes while brain-dead, see R. Wetzel et al., “Hemodynamic Responses in Brain Dead Organ Donor Patients,”
Anesthesia and Analgesia
64 (1985): 125–28; S. H. Pennefather, J. H. Dark, and R. E. Bullock, “Haemodynamic Responses to Surgery in Brain-Dead Organ Donors,”
Anaesthesia
48, no. 12 (1993): 1034–38.

16. Kompanje,
Geven en Nemen
[Give and Take]; D. Sperling,
Management of Post-mortem Pregnancy: Legal and Philosophical Aspects
(Aldershot, United Kingdom: Ashgate, 2006).

17. http://www.transplantatiestichting.nl.

18. See “Transplant Journey,”
The Gift of a Lifetime,
http://www.organtransplants.org. There are now 105,172 patients on the waiting list in the United States to receive an organ transplant. In 2006 a total of 14,754 organ donors were recovered in the United States (of which 28,931 organs were transplanted), and of these organ donors 8,022 were cadaveric donors, both brain-dead and nonbeating-heart organ donors, which represented a small increase over the total of 7,150 in 2004. Living donors decreased from 7,004 in 2004 to 6,732 in 2006. It is estimated that about 35 percent of potential donors never become donors because family members refuse to give consent.

19. D. Sanghavi, “When Does Death Start?”
New York Times,
December 20, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/magazine/20organ-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine. For UK transplant numbers, see “Organ Donation,” NHS Blood and Transplant, http://www.uktransplant.org.uk. A record number of donors were living donors; 954 people donated a kidney or a segment of their liver or lung, representing more than half of all donors. The highest number of nonbeating heart donor transplants took place: 579 transplants, a 35 percent increase over 2007–2008. The remaining 321 were brain death donors. About 7,800 patients were in 2009 listed in the United Kingdom as actively waiting for a transplant.

20. Kompanje,
Geven en Nemen
[Give and Take]; G. Lodewick,
Ik houd mijn hart vast: Andere dimensies van orgaandonatie
[With My Heart in My Mouth: Other Dimensions of Organ Donation] (Deventer, the Netherlands: Ankh-Hermes, 1998).

Chapter 16: Epilogue

1. D. Hammarskjöld,
Markings,
trans. Leif Sjöberg and W. H. Auden (New York: Knopf, 1964); J. Milton,
Paradise Lost
(1667), available online at http://www.literature.org/authors/milton-john/paradise-lost/.

2. E. Laszlo,
You Can Change the World: The Global Citizen’s Handbook for Living on Planet Earth
(New York: Select Books, 2003).

Appendix: The Practical Significance of NDE in Health Care

1. I. Corbeau, “Psychische problematiek en hulpverlening na een bde” [Psychological Problems and Support After an NDE],
Terugkeer
(
Tijdschrift rond bijna-dood ervaringen en zingeving
) [Return (Journal of Near-Death Experiences and Meaning)] 15, nos. 2–3 (2004): 16–22; L. R. Derogatis, R. S. Pilman, and L. Covi, “SCL–90: An Outpatient Psychiatric Rating Scale—A Preliminary Report,”
Psychopharmacology Bulletin
9 (1973): 13–27.

2. See http://www.merkawah.nl and http://www.iands.org.

3. J. la Puma et al., “Talking to Comatose Patients,”
Archives of Neurology
45 (1988): 20–22; P. Tosch, “Patients’ Recollections of Their Posttraumatic Coma,”
Journal of Neuroscience Nursing
20, no. 4 (1988): 223–28.

4. B. Greyson, “Incidence of Near-Death Experiences Following Attempted Suicide,”
Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
16, no. 1 (1986): 40–45; B. Greyson, “Near-Death Experiences Precipitated by Suicide Attempt: Lack of Influence of Psychopathology, Religion, and Expectations,”
Journal of Near-Death Studies
9 (1991): 183–88.

5. B. Greyson, “Near-Death Experiences and Anti-suicidal Attitudes,”
Omega
26 (1992–1993): 81–89.

6. H. Stolp, “De Gouden Vogel: Dagboek van een stervende jongen” (Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Lemniscaat, 1987), translated as
The Golden Bird
(New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1987); E. Elsaesser-Valarino,
Talking with Angel: About Illness, Death and Survival
(Edinburgh: Floris Books, 2005).

7. J. Lerma,
Into the Light: Real Life Stories About Angelic Visits, Visions of the Afterlife, and Other Pre-death Experiences
(Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2007); M. Callanan and P. Kelley,
Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs and Communications of the Dying
(New York: Poseidon Press, 1992); M. Nahm and B. Greyson, “Terminal Lucidity in Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia and Dementia: A Survey of the Literature,”
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
197, no. 12 (2009): 942–44.

8. Lerma,
Into the Light;
Callanan and Kelley,
Final Gifts.

9. E. Kübler-Ross,
On Death and Dying
(New York: Macmillan, 1969); E. Kübler-Ross,
Death, the Final Stage of Growth
(Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975).

10. B. Guggenheim and J. Guggenheim,
Hello from Heaven: A New Field of Research—After-Death Communication—Confirms That Life and Love Are Eternal
(New York: Bantam Books, 1995); M. Lensink,
Toevallige Signalen: Meer dan 100 verhalen over ervaringen rondom de dood
[Unexpected Signals: Over 100 Stories About Experiences Near Death] (Amsterdam: Schors, 2006); T. Waanders,
De dood en de jongen: Monument voor mijn gestorven zoon
[Death and the Boy: A Monument for My Dead Son] (Kampen, the Netherlands: Ten Have, 2006).

11. F. A. Curlin et al., “Religious Characteristics of U.S. Physicians,”
Journal of General Internal Medicine
20, no. 7 (2005): 629–34.

12. Kübler-Ross,
On Death and Dying;
Kübler-Ross,
Death;
M. de Hennezel,
La mort intime
[Intimate Death] (Paris: Éditions Robert Laffont, 1995); M. de Hennezel and J.-Y. Leloup,
L’art de mourir
[The Art of Dying] (Paris: Éditions Robert Laffont, 1997).

13. E. Brandt, “Minder euthanasie, meer meldingen” [Less Euthanasia, More Reports],
Medisch Contact
62, no. 19 (2007): 804–7.