The term “Near-Death Experience” (NDE) was coined in 1975, when Dr. Raymond Moody published his research in the book Life After Life. Moody’s interest began after he had come across two similar accounts by two independent individuals who had nearly died. Both told amazing stories of passing into a bright clear light. Connecting the experience of the light to being near death, Moody then focused his research on people who had been pronounced clinically dead but had come back to the world of the living.

Today, over thirty years later, the research into this phenomenon has shown that this experience is not unique to people who have been close to death. The International Association of Near-Death Studies writes that, “Although being close to death is a fairly reliable ‘trigger,’ identical experiences happen under very different circumstances, even to people who are in no way close to physical death.”

In a survey, the International Association of Near-Death Studies found that 37 percent of people who had a “near-death” experience did so in a setting that could not be called life-threatening. Even so, these experiences were as real and life-changing as those experienced by people who were near to death. Both trauma and illness also produces the experience and religious mystics immersed in deep prayer or meditation may also experience the same phenomenon, as well as people under the influence of drugs like LSD.

From all of this it would seem evident that there are many different doors that open up to the same experience, no matter what we chose to label this phenomenon. It does seem very possible that it is a universal experience that has always been experienced by humans. Among the old Greeks, Plato’s story of the soldier Er who returns from the dead shows a remarkable resemblance to contemporary accounts. And among the ancient Shamanistic cultures we find journeys into the spirit world, which also seem similar to the NDE.  

Since Moody coined the term “near-death experience” in 1975 there has been a sharp increase in interest in this topic. There are thousands of reports of near-death experiences from all over the world and it is estimated that over 65 studies have been done involving more than 2,500 people who have had near-death experiences. Even though scholarly articles on the phenomenon go back all the way to 1889, the last thirty years has seen an explosion in written articles on the subject.