Near death experiences validated by Einstein's theory of relativity and new science

Near death experience illustration

In the 1970's many people talked about the near death experiences at cocktail parties and random social gatherings, when Raymond Moody's book became a best seller. Life After Life  was written in 1975 and opened the door to the discussion about people who have been reported dead who returned to life with a recollection of similar events involving going through a tunnel and experiencing a vision of light and a feeling of peace. But the experiences related in the book were anecdotal, just as those recorded by history, whereas new science offers a view of the near death experience more objectively and that seems to intersect religious views as well.



That intersection of science and religion allows us to see the validity of the near death experiences from a perspective that offers concrete details of what occurs as the person dies and how some of the events give all of us a new way of looking at time and space.



Moody is both a psychologist and a physician with degrees, training and experience in both areas.  His anecdotal records include an overview of the many cases of near death experiences he has assessed as a foundation of understanding shared experiences in the transition from what we call life to another level of consciousness. His work has also led to the study of the near death experience from a spiritual view that incorporates the knowledge that life may be continuous.



Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, gave an interview in which he said how much he had been influenced by Moody's work, “When I first read this book while in graduate school back in 1971, I decided to devote my life to studying these two areas and teaching others what I learned in regard to how to be more loving and how to gain wisdom from our lives and the lives of others. This is what has led to the Chicken Soup for the Soul books and my books on how to live more successful lives". (Except from the Barnes & Noble "Meet The Writer" Interview with Jack Canfield).



While the spiritual side of the issue of the near death experience offers valuable information in interpreting the anecdotal experiences, new data objectifies the information supporting both the scientific and spiritual perspectives. 



The prism of that science is offered by C.D. Rollins, who, with his mechanical engineering degree as background, looks at the near death experience using the new physics. He examines the theory of relativity as the foundation for his summary view of what happens when a person dies and returns to talk about the experience. Rollins reminds us how Albert Einstein moved science to a whole new level with his theory of relativity that is able to explain certain paradoxes, like the position of Mercury in the heavens and how its positions vary in ways that cannot be explained by a scientific perspective of the old world of Isaac Newton.



Einstein's theory is based on the relativity of certain conditions and events. A famous quote explains his assessment of how experience and evidence can be measured. He said, “Time and space are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live.” He understood that time and space are relative and how we measure them in our world may not be not our full reality. Time and space can be on a continuous spectrum and not finite increments as we see and use them in our lives. This brings a new view to the near death experiences. 



If time and space are continuous, than it makes sense, according to Rollins, that the near death experience is part of that. He looks at life as a checkerboard of “nows,” with experience viewed as what is happening in the present. Those who have died and returned to report the details of their experiences speak of time and space as being infinite, which correlates with Einstein's view. So everything might be viewed in terms of what is happening in the present and that the past and future are simply other “nows.”.



Rollins goes on to conclude that “The near-death experience indicates that indeed some form of consciousness might exist, perhaps on an entirely new game board full of "nows" or perhaps in one big super-"now" that stretches to infinity. The "nows" in these new realms of existence may not be polygons, but instead be smooth fluid shapes that can move around on their own, or blend and merge with other "nows", or fission into infinite new "nows." Time may move differently, perhaps at right angles to our current perception of time, or perhaps along some oblique angle. The geometry of reality in these other realms must be beyond our imagining.



Also our consciousness may step down, back into a “now” in the physical universe when a child is born. This is sometimes called reincarnation. Wherever our consciousness touches this reality, creating “nows” we see our past and future lives.”



ABC News reported recent research on the near death experiences that was published in the British medical journal Lancet. The research offers objective evidence that the reports of an estimated 7 million people who have reported near death experiences are accurate. 



The study included an assessment of the experiences of 344 patients in the Netherlands who were successfully resuscitated following cardiac arrest. They were evaluated from 10 hospitals in the Netherlands. Researchers examined the patients within a week after the patients had experienced clinical deaths and been resuscitated. 18 percent of these patients were able to recall some portion of what happened when they were clinically dead and 8 to 12 percent were able to report the near death experiences that offer similar details given in the anecdotal research of people like Raymond Moody. Most of those who reported near death experiences said they had seen lights at the end of tunnels and spoke with dead relatives and friends.



While history as far back as the Greeks give us an overview of the death experience, that even Plato's famous book, The Republic, offers in his Story of Er, the balance of science and faith is seen in the near death experience.  Those who have had these experiences often relate a spiritual view, of seeing a being of light filled with love that appears to serve as a guide. Some say it is Jesus, while others might say it was Buddha. But the concept of a spirit being is often part of the details given by those who have had near death experiences. And science tells us that what they experience is valid and that all time may be a spectrum in which we live as on a Rollins checkerboard, simply moving from one form of the present to another.