An introduction to religious and spiritual experience

Life After Life,
published 
in 1975, brought such experiences to the world’s attention, much research 
has been done.
 
Kenneth Ring, a psychologist in Connecticut undertook 
scientific research into NDEs. Using carefully crafted statistical analyses, 
he concluded that Moody’s initial findings were generally correct. In 
his first book, 
Life at Death 
(1980), Ring developed the Weighted 
Core Experience Index to measure the most frequently recurring 
elements in 102 cases, and found that the core NDE tends to fall into 
five stages. These were peace (60%); body separation (37%); entering the 
darkness (23%); seeing the light (16%); entering the light (10%). Bruce 
Greyson, a psychiatrist then at the University of Connecticut, proposed a 
fourfold typology of NDEs: cognitive, affective
, 
paranormal and 
transcendental.
George Gallup studied the phenomenon statistically, and reported 
in 1982 that ‘about 15 percent of all adult Americans, or about 23 million 
people, said they had a close brush with death’ involving an unusual 
experience, roughly one in twenty Americans.
Various other studies have been undertaken on NDEs, notably by the 
Dutchman Pim van Lommel, who led a 13-year study of 344 cardiac 
arrest patients in 10 hospitals, of whom 41 reported NDEs. The study 

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Dying and Death
163
also had an 8-year follow-up. The results were published in 
The Lancet 
in 
2001. These were his findings:
Awareness of being dead: 
50%
Positive emotions: 
56%
OBE 24%
Moving through a tunnel 
31%
Communication with the light 
23%
Observation of colours 
23%
Observation of celestial landscape 
29%
Meeting with deceased persons 
32%
Life review 
13%
Presence of border 
8%
Peter and Elizabeth Fenwick investigated over 300 NDEs in 
The Truth 
in the Light. 
In 
Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience
, 
Dr Mark Fox gives a considered appraisal of various responses, scientific 
and theological, to the NDE and includes a study of the RERC archive 
accounts.
Professor Paul Badham’s Occasional Paper 
Religious and Near-Death 
Experience in Relation to Belief in a Future Life 
gives an overview of 
NDEs from sources as varied as St Paul, Tibetan Buddhism and A. J. Ayer 
and discusses what these experiences might mean. He draws attention to 
the various interpretations of the Being of Light.
Concerning the Being of Light which contemporary experiencers see 
and name in accordance with their own tradition, this also is in accord 
with the 
Tibetan Book of the Dead
where we read, ‘The 
Dharmakaya
(deity) of clear light will appear in what ever shape will benefit 
all beings.’ Commenting on this verse for his English translation 
Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup says, ‘To appeal to a Shaivite devotee, the 
form of Shiva is assumed; to a Buddhist the form of the Buddha. . . to 
a Christian, the form of Jesus; to a Muslim the form of the Prophet; 
and so for other religious devotees; and for all manner and conditions 
of mankind a form appropriate to the occasion.’
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As many NDEs occurred during a heart attack this has made such cases 
valuable for further research as patients were in a similar physiological 
state, many in Intensive Therapy Units. Penny Sartori, an ITU nurse 
researching NDEs obtained her PhD in the subject with Peter Fenwick 
and Paul Badham. Although she had placed pictures up on top of 
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Religious and Spiritual Experience
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cupboards in wards, in the hope that during the OBE stage, they would 
be seen, none were. However, patients reporting NDEs were able to 
describe correctly the procedures which had been undertaken during 
resuscitation attempts, while those without NDEs had no idea what had 
happened and were unable to guess correctly. Penny found that about 
25% of her patients reported NDEs.
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Most people who have had such an experience are convinced of 
continuation.
I have never really feared death since. It opens up marvellous possibili-
ties! If this life were all we had, I should think it most illogical and 
rather a poor deal for many. As it is, my experience suggests there may 
be something much more meaningful hereafter. I hope so.
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Others, like the well-known atheist philosopher A. J. Ayer, ultimately 
return to their long-held view that death will be the end for them, even if 
they have been temporarily shaken out of this assumption:
His first response was to think that, ‘on the face of it, these experiences 
are rather strong evidence that death does not put an end to conscious-
ness.’ However after rehearsing some of the philosophical problems 
associated with life after death, his conclusion was more modest: 
namely that ‘my recent experiences have slightly weakened my convic-
tion that my genuine death, which is due fairly soon, will be the end of 
me, though I continue to hope it will.’
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However they are interpreted, these fascinating experiences are now far 
more widely reported, and due to advances in resuscitation techniques, are 
on the increase, and so are set to continue to provide a valuable source of 
material for study. Their similarities and differences to religious expecta-
tion make them of particular interest for the study of religious experience.