Solving the riddle of frightening near-death experiences: Some testable hypotheses and a perspective based on A course in miracles.

Abstract

This article discusses three varieties of frightening near-death experiences (NDEs), as distinguished in the typology of Bruce Greyson and Nancy Evans Bush (1992). "Inverted" and hellish NDEs are analyzed in terms of the terror of ego-death that results in resistance to the experience and inability to surrender to it. The third kind, experiences of a "meaningless void," may reflect an "emergence reaction" to inadequate anesthesia. Testable hypotheses stemming from this analysis are presented, and the relevance of the conception of reality based on teaching found in A Course in Miracles for understanding NDEs is indicated. Finally, the ontological status of both tran scendent and frightening NDEs is briefly considered.In 1978, a dark cloud of chilling testimony began to penetrate into the previously luminous sky of reports of near-death experiences (NDEs). Maurice Rawlings, a cardiologist, in his book Beyond Death 's Door (1978), claimed to have found many cases of persons who de scribed frightening or even hellish encounters in their near-death episodes and suggested that their hitherto unnoticed existence was largely attributable to the fact that most near-death researchers had interviewed their respondents too long after the actual near-death

The Darker Side of Near-Death Experiences

“…Unpleasant NDEs have also been called "hellish experiences" (e.g., Rawlings, 1978Rawlings, , 1980, "frightening NDEs" (e.g., Jambor, 1997;Ring, 1994aRing, , 1994bRing, , 1996, and "painful NDEs" (Ellwood, 2001), but those terms are applicable to only one variety of unpleasant experience. They have also been called "distressing NDEs" (e.g., Bush, 2009;Bush & Greyson, 2014;Cassol, Martial, Annen, et al, 2019;Ellwood, 1996;Greyson & Bush, 1992) and "less-than-positive NDEs" (e.g., Rommer, 2000Rommer, , 2002, but those labels struck some researchers as too mild to convey the intense emotions evoked by these experiences.…”

“…Their typology had some overlap with Garfield's altered states types 2, 3, and 4. They suggested that the most common type, which Ring later labeled "inverted NDEs" (Ring, 1994a), contained phenomenological features typical of pleasant NDEs, such as a bright light, a tunnel, a sense of leaving the body, and a life review, but were experienced as terrifying rather than comforting. Many experiencers identified the loss of ego control as the frightening aspect of the inverted NDE, and Greyson and Bush (1992) noted that some inverted NDEs eventually converted to pleasant experiences, a phenomenon noted previously by Lindley, Bryan, and Conley (1981) and by Sabom (1982).…”

“…The third and least common type identified by Greyson and Bush (1992), the "hellish NDE," was described as visiting hell-like regions and encountering demonic beings, corresponding to Garfield's altered state type 2. Grey (1985) and Ring (1994a) regarded hellish NDEs as a more intense and culturally derived version of inverted NDEs.…”

“…(3) Hellish (Greyson & Bush, 1992), which may be a culturally-derived version of inverted NDEs (Grey, 1985;Ring, 1994a) (3a) Entity-centered hellish (Ellwood, 1996) (3b) Fire-centered hellish (Ellwood, 1996) (3c) Vortex-centered hellish (Ellwood, 1996) (4) Instructional (Gibson, 1996);…”

“…(3) if the experiencers were raised to expect Hell, fire, and brimstone; and (4) so the experiencers could act as a moral messenger to others. Ring (1994a) argued that "frightening NDEs are themselves illusory phastasmagories thrown up by the ego in response to the threat of its own seeming imminent annihilation" (p. 22). He cited support for that perspective in A Course in Miracles (Schucman, Thetford, & Wapnick, 1975), which posits that the only thing that is real is divine love and acceptance and that anything else, including your ego, is an illusion.…”