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The Trigger of
Shared Death Visions: Dr. Raymond Moody's Research
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A phenomenon closely
related to DBVs and NDEs is
shared-death experiences (SDEs) as coined by
Dr. Raymond Moody. In these experiences,
bystanders who are close to a dying person
experience many of the same aspects of the NDE
along with the dying person, including leaving
their bodies, meeting beings of light, and
seeing the life review of the dying person.
These bystanders are themselves healthy and not
dying yet seem to share these experiences. This
phenomenon casts doubt upon the materialistic
theory that NDEs are caused by hallucinations of
a dying brain. In his book,
Glimpses of Eternity: An Investigation Into
Shared Death Experiences, Dr. Moody shares
the eyewitness accounts of those who have shared
the experiences of the dying. His book is filled
with case studies of SDEs and draws upon his
lifetime's research as well as recent findings.
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Table of Contents |
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1.
The Shared Death Experience of Johnny and His
Wife |
In one example of a shared death
experience, Dr. Moody reports about a woman who
experienced a vivid shared life review with her dying
husband named Johnny and included events she was
completely unaware unaware of:
"I was beside him
the whole time in the hospital and was holding onto him
when he died. When he did, he went right through my
body. It felt like an electric sensation, like when you
get your finger in the electrical socket, only much more
gentle.
"Anyway, when that happened our whole
life sprang up around us and just kind of swallowed up
the hospital room and everything in it in an instant.
There was light all around: a bright, white light that I
immediately knew - and Johnny knew - was Christ.
"Everything we ever did was there in that light. Plus I
saw things about Johnny... I saw him doing things before
we were married. You might think that some of it might
be embarrassing or personal, and it was. But there was
no need for privacy, as strange as that might seem.
These were things that Johnny did before we were
married. Still, I saw him with girls when he was very
young. Later I searched for them in his high school
yearbook and was able to find them, just based on what I
saw during the life review during his death.
"In
the middle of this life review, I saw myself there
holding onto his dead body, which didn't make me feel
bad because he was also completely alive, right beside
me, viewing our life together.
"By the way, the
life review was like a 'wraparound.' [Webmaster note:
This refers to 360 degree vision often experienced in
NDEs] I don't know how else to describe it. It was a
wraparound scene of everything Johnny and I experienced
together or apart. There is no way I could even put it
into words other than to say that all of this was in a
flash, right there at the bedside where my husband died.
"Then, right in the middle of this review, the child
that we lost to a miscarriage when I was still a
teenager stepped forth and embraced us. She was not a
figure of a person exactly as you would see a human
being, but more the outline or sweet, loving presence of
a little girl. The upshot of her being there any issues
we ever had regarding her loss were made whole and
resolved. I was reminded of the verse from the Bible
about 'the peace that passeth all understanding.' That's
how I felt when she was there.
"One of the funny
things about this wraparound view of our life was that
we had gone to Atlanta in the seventh grade, to the
state capital, where there was a diorama. So at one
point we were watching this wraparound and watching
ourselves in another wraparound - a diorama - where we
stood side-by-side as kids. I burst out laughing and
Johnny laughed too, right there beside me.
"Another thing that was strange about this wraparound
was that in certain parts of it were panels or dividers
that kept us from seeing all of it. I don't have the
words to this, but the screens or panels kept particular
parts of both of our lives invisible. I don't know what
was behind them but I do know that these were thoughts
from Christ, who said that someday we would be able to
see behind those panels too."
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2. A Dying Mother and Her Daughter's Shared
Death Experience |
In another
example, Dr. Moody documented the account of a
woman in her seventies who described a shared
death experience while tending to her dying
mother.
As her mother died
the light in the room suddenly became much
brighter and she felt a rocking motion through
her whole body. [Webmaster
Note: Such rocking motions are an
indication of an out-of-body experience.]
She then found herself seeing the room from a
different angle, from above and to the left side
of the bed instead of from the right side.
"This rocking forward
motion was very comfortable, and not at all like
a shudder and especially not like when a car you
are riding in lurches to the side and you get
nauseous. I did not feel uncomfortable but in
fact the opposite; I felt far more comfortable
and peaceful than I ever felt in my life.
"I don't know whether
I was out of my body or not because all the
other things that were going on held my
attention. I was just glued to scenes from my
mother's life that were flashing throughout the
room or around the bed. I cannot even tell
whether the room was there any more or if it
was, there was a whole section of it I hadn't
noticed before. I would compare it to the
surprise you would have if you had lived in the
same house for many years, but one day you
opened up at it and found a big secret
compartment you didn't know about. This thing
seemed so strange and yet perfectly natural at
the same time.
"The scenes that were
flashing around in midair contained things that
had happened to my mother, some of which I
remembered and others that I didn't. I could see
her looking at the scenes too, and she sure
recognized all of them, as I could tell by her
expression as she watched. This all happened at
once so there is no way of telling it that
matches the situation.
"The scenes of my
mother's life reminded me of old-fashioned
flashbulbs going off. When they did, I saw
scenes of her life like in one of the 3-D movies
of the 1950s.
"By the time the
flashes of her life were going on, she was out
of her body. I saw my father, who passed seven
years before, standing there where the head of
the bed would have been. By this point the bed
was kind of irrelevant and my father was
coaching my mother out of the body. I looked
right into his face and a recognition of love
passed between us, but he went right back to
focusing on my mother. He looked like a young
man, although he was 79 when he died. There was
a glow about or all through him - very vibrant.
He was full of life.
"One of his favorite
expressions was 'Look alive!' and he sure did
look alive when he was coaching my mother out of
her body. A part of her that was transparent
just stood right up, going through her body, and
she and my father glided off into the light and
disappeared.
"The room sort of
rocked again, or my body did, but this time
backward in the opposite direction and then
everything went back to normal.
"I felt great
tenderness from my mother and father. This
entire event overflowed with love and kindness.
Since that day I wonder: 'Is the world we live
in just a figment of our imagination?'"
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3. Links to Shared Death Experience Articles,
Videos and Books |
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