"Nothing can happen more beautiful than death." - Walt Whitman

=========================================
Near-Death Newsletter..............................................March 1, 2005
www.near-death.com .................................. Vol. 04, No. 03, Ed. 01
=========================================

The Near-Death Newsletter is a free semi-monthly newsletter which is
emailed to subscribers every 1st of the month and every 15th of the
month. The mission of this newsletter is to inform, enlighten, entertain,
and aid the public in understanding the latest in all things concerning
the NDE and related phenomena by promoting the International
Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), NDE researchers,
experiencers, multimedia resources, and events.

Disclaimer: This newsletter is not affiliated with IANDS; but is dedicated
to the IANDS mission.

Visit IANDS website at http://www.iands.org and join the premier
organization for NDE research.

Visit the NDE Online Store to find NDE multimedia products such as
NDE books, documentaries, movies, music, magazines, & journals.
http://associatesshop.filzhut.de/shop/index.php?ID=62ed2010a2e86954f2f1f2020e105\
6af

To SUBSCRIBE to the Near-Death Newsletter, email a blank message to:
neardeathnewsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To UNSUBSCRIBE from the Near-Death Newsletter, email a blank message to:
neardeathnewsletter-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

=========================================
The Online Version of the Near-Death Newsletter
=========================================

The online version of this newsletter can be found at this web page:
http://www.near-death.com/newsletters/2005/0301.html

For AOL and Compuserve users:
<a href="http://www.near-death.com/newsletters/2005/0301.html">Click here.</a>

=========================================
Table of Contents
=========================================

(1)....NDEs in the News
(2)....Q & A with Dr. PMH Atwater
(3)....Books on the NDE
(4)....IANDS in the Spotlight
(5)....Odds and Ends

=========================================
(1)....NDEs in the News
=========================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
News From P.M.H. Atwater
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
CHARLOTTSVILLE, VIRGINIA ----------- (P.M.H. Atwater's Website)
Check out the latest news from P.M.H. Atwater at her website.
Announcement: "The New Children and The Fifth World, Prophecy and
Evolution". Sign-up for "The Sacred Journey Carribean Cruise" for
Sept. 18-26, 2005. And much more...
http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/news.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Upcoming Conferences and Events
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--

*** March 18, 2005: Nursing Seminar in Franklin, Tennessee
Presenters include: PMH Atwater, Pam Kircher, Dannion Brinkley,
Henry Reed. http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/sched.html#oneheart

*** March 30 - April 3, 2005: 27th Annual EDEC Conference in
Albuquerque, NM. Association for Death Education and Counseling's
annual conference. http://www.adec.org/conf/index.htm

*** April 22 - 27, 2005: 7th Conference on Science & Consciousness in
Santa Fe, NM. Presenters include: Gary Schwartz, Stanislav &
Christiana Grof, Charles Tart, Lee Baumann, Peter Russell, and Joseph
Chilton Pearce. http://bizspirit.com/science/index.html

*** May 14 -15, 2005: International Parapsychology Conference in
Istanbul, Turkey. Presenters include: Gary Schwartz, P.M.H. Atwater,
Janet Cunningham, John Palmer. http://www.ipc-istanbul.org/eng/hakkimizda.asp

*** May 20 – 29, 2005: SSF-IIIHS International Conference Montreal,
QC, Canada. Presenters include: Raymond Moody, Melvin Morse,
Joyce Hawkes, Sean David Morton.
http://www.iiihs.org/conference_introduction_2005.htm

*** June 24 - 27, 2005: ASSC Annual Conference, Pasadena, California
Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness' annual conference
http://assc.caltech.edu/assc9/

*** August 17-20, 2005: TSC Annual Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark
Toward a Science of Consciousness annual conference.
http://www.cfs.ku.dk/tsc2005/

*** Sept. 8 - 10, 2005: IANDS Annual Conference, Virginia Beach, VA
"Message and Meaning: Using the Near-Death Experience as a Tool for
Living." http://www.iands.org/conf.html

*** Sept. 16 - 18, 2005: CEP Annual Conference, Oxford, UK
Consciousness and Experiential Psychology annual conference
http://www.warwick.ac.uk/cep/latest_conference.html

*** Sept. 18 - 26, 2005: P.M.H. Atwater's "Sacred Journey Carnival
Cruise". Puerto Rico, U.S. & British Virgin Islands. Call (800) 624-7718
for reservations. http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/cruise/cruise.html

*** Visit the NDE Events Around The World page for more conference info:
http://www.near-death.com/conferences.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
BBC Documentary "The Day I Died" To Be Shown On UKTV
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(March 6, 2005) ........................................................ (UKTV)
For those of you fortunate enough to watch the UK's premiere
documentary channel (BBC), one of the best NDE documentaries
ever produced will be shown on March 18, 20, and April 13, 2005.
The documentary features the NDE testimonies of Rev. Gordon Allen
and Pam Reynolds -- two extraordinary people who experienced
two extraordinary NDEs. Someday I hope the BBC will make this
documentary available for sale worldwide.
http://www.gordonallen.org/Joyce/gordonallen.html
*** Tell the BBC that you want "The Day I Died" available for sale
at the BBC feedback page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/feedback/
or the BBC contact page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/contactus/prog_info.shtml
*** Visit Rev. Gordon Allen's Christian Family website:
http://www.christianfamily.org/christianfamily.shtml
*** Read about Pam Reynolds' fascinating NDE:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence01.html
*** Read the BMJ Journal's articles mentioned in the documentary:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/326/7383/288
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/326/7383/288#29446
*** Download the PDF ebook about "The Day I Died":
http://www.near-death.com/ebooks/nde/bbc_the_day_i_died_article.pdf
*** You will need the Adobe PDF Reader to read it. Download it here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Some Heart Recipients Report Strange Changes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 27, 2005) TUCSON, ARIZONA ----------- (Arizona Daily Star)
People who get donor hearts, develop new and surprising tastes and
traits, then trace them to the donor. It's an eerie phenomenon that
has triggered controversy and skepticism ... No scientific evidence
exists to explain how characteristics of an organ donor might live on
in the person who gets their organ. But theories and speculation
abound, from the transforming power of beating a death sentence to
the notion that the body's cells store memory. Some blame the toxic
effects of potent transplant drugs and heavy anesthesia, while others
cite the psychological trauma of knowing someone had to die to save
a life. But even the self-described skeptics admit there may be more
to this than imagination, though they insist it happens to a minority
of patients.
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/63240.php
*** Read about Claire Sylvia's veridical dreams of her organ donor:
http://www.near-death.com/dreams.html
*** Purchase Claire Sylvia's book "A Change of Heart":
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446604690/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20
*** Purchase the video which profiles Claire Sylvia - "The Secret World of
Dreams":
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1568552769/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Spiritual Awakening and the Near-Death Experience
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 25, 2005) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK -------- (BeliefNet)
So in the early '70's, when I began to hear that ordinary men and women
injured in a car wreck, or having major surgery on the operating
table, felt their consciousness bathed in a flood of light, I got very excited.
Their descriptions didn't sound that different from the enlightenment I
was striving to reach by stilling the mind in meditation. By a lucky
break, I got the chance to correspond personally with the guru of the
near-death movement, the late Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross. She confirmed
my hopes: the experience of light and bliss was indeed connected with
something that happens at the time of death, or what our body believes
is death. Because I was nowhere near enlightenment despite all my
long hours of meditation, Dr. Kubler Ross's news opened to me a world
of spiritual possibilities I had not dreamed of before. And then, the
unthinkable happened: a member of my family had a near-death experience.
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/160/story_16084_1.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Doctor Talks About Near-Death Experiences
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(March 4, 2005) BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA ----------(KFYR TV)
Patrick Atkinson had a near-death experience at 13 when he drowned.
He describes leaving his body and traveling down a vast tunnel toward
a bright light ... a classic experience. It's not a bad experience, it's not
a painful experience, it's not a lonely experience ... because there are
people waiting for you. Along with the complete accompaniment of love.
This feeling of comfort of going home is one that people frequently
describe ... and another significant detail ... they usually lose their fear of
death.
http://www.kfyrtv.com/showNews.asp?whatStory=3579

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Man Revives After Being Dead More Than 90 Minutes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 25, 2005) GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ------- (PubNewswire)
Life after death has been chronicled in a new book from Revell entitled
"90 Minutes in Heaven". Immediately after being killed in a car accident
nearly fifteen years ago, Don Piper went to heaven. EMTs on the scene
determined he had been killed instantly after a semi had swerved into
his lane, crushing his car. But Piper was unaware of the chaos swirling
around his body on earth - he knew only that he was surrounded by
loved ones and friends, magnificent light, a sense of pure peace and the
most glorious music he had ever heard. "When I died, I didn't flow through
a long, dark tunnel. I had no sense of fading away or of coming back.
I never felt my body being transported into the light. I heard no voices
calling to me or anything else. Simultaneous with my last recollection
of seeing the bridge and the rain, a light enveloped me, with a brilliance
beyond earthly comprehension or description. Only that. In my next
moment of awareness, I was standing in heaven," writes Piper, in
90 Minutes in Heaven.
http://www.publishersnewswire.com/booknews/2005-02-0222-002.shtml
*** Purchase the book "90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Life and Death":
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0800759494/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Life is Sweeter After Near-Death Experiences
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 22, 2005) NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE ----------- (Tennessean)
This intimate understanding of matter may be at least one reason why
it is completely reasonable and rational for Degenhardt to explain so
matter-of-factly how his essence sat up one night and communicated
telepathically with his father. ''We were basking in each other's presence
and having this jubilant reunion,'' Degenhardt said. ''Then, I was back
in my body, back asleep.'' Shortly thereafter his mother came in to tell
him his father, who was hospitalized with cancer, had died. He told her
he already knew. That moment in 1982, when he was 20, changed
Degenhardt forever. He has been ridiculed and threatened with
institutionalization, yet the married father of twins from Murfreesboro
also has been treated as an expert on the mysteries of life and death.
He has been featured on talk shows such as Donohue and in a documentary
on near-death experiences by local TV anchor Demetria Kalodimos ...
This also is why Degenhardt, now 43, has just self-published a book,
Surviving Death, in which he answers the questions most commonly
asked by the people who have had near-death experiences, out-of-body
experiences and what they term ''spiritually transformative'' experiences,
the interesting and unexplainable that leaves lasting effects on a person.
The book will be available this Easter 2005.
http://www.tennessean.com/features/health/archives/05/01/65947053.shtml?Element_\
ID=65947053
*** Pre-order a copy of Scott Degenhardt's book "Surviving Death":
http://www.thedegshop.com/products.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Surviving A Kick In The Head
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Jan. 18, 2005) MELBOURNE, AUSTRAILIA ------------- (The Age)
I was walking a horse through a paddock and he kicked me in the
head ... Then I found myself sitting on the Hurricane fence of the
paddock where this had happened. There were a couple of ambulance
officers working on me and they looked quite frantic, so I guess they
were trying to revive me. I was told after the accident that my heart
had stopped and they had to get me going again. I remember sitting
there and just looking down with mild indifference, I wasn't emotional
or carried away. The world looked normal to me, there was no bright
light, or angels or anything. Then at one stage I basically shrugged
my shoulders and thought, "Oh well, I guess I'll go back now." There
was no pulling either way, no struggle. I was just comfortable, there
was no decision to make, I was always going to go back. I really felt
like I was me in a bodily form, sitting there on the fence, not a floating
spirit.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Surviving-a-kick-in-the-head/2005/01/17/1\
105810824882.html?oneclick=true

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
The Man Who Died a Hundred Times
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(March 2, 2005) ATLANTA, GEORGIA ---------------------- (News 11)
The fact that McClatchey got to the hospital alive was amazing enough.
What happened next made medical history. "He was so unstable that
he would literally be shocked, go back into regular rhythm long enough
to start to wake up and then he would fibrillate again, and lose
consciousness and we'd have to shock him again," Dr. Wilmer said.
In the first hour, McClatchey's heart stopped 50 times and he could
see it coming. "I remember seeing the heart monitor. It's kind of amazing
to watch your own heart ….And you know you have about three
or four seconds before you're gonna black out," he said.
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=59732

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Defibrillator Project Leads The Charge
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(March 02, 2005) MONTICELLO, MINNESOTA ---- (Monticello Times)
The Rotary Club has purchased seven defibrillators – which are used to
interrupt cases of sudden cardiac arrest – and is working with local
business owners to have the devices installed on their premises, with
employees trained to use them ... The Rotarians' goal, said Steve
Johnson, the program's committee chair, is to save lives ... Sudden
cardiac arrest (SCA) is usually caused by an electrical malfunction
of the heart called ventricular fibrillation: a quivering of the heart muscle
that makes it unable to pump blood. Once that circulation stops, a
person quickly loses consciousness and the ability to breathe. The
success of resuscitation drops by about 10 percent with each passing
minute, and after 10 minutes in cardiac arrest, a person's chance of
survival is only about 2 percent.
http://www.monticellotimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=10&SubSectionID=76&ArticleID=3\
49&TM=20005.11
*** Read the Red Cross' website about Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs):
http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/courses/aed.html
*** Browse through the variety of defibrillators available for sale:
http://www.americanaed.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
John Paul Writes of Near-Death Experience After 1981 Shooting
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 23, 2005) ROME, ITALY ---------------- (Los Angeles Times)
Felled by a would-be assassin's bullet, the leader of the Roman
Catholic Church lay close to death as he was rushed to a hospital.
Floating near unconsciousness, Pope John Paul II forgave his
attacker, yet somehow remained confident that he would live. "Oh,
my God! It was a difficult experience," the pope recalled. Finally
passing out in the hospital as doctors frantically gave him blood,
he nearly died: "I was practically on the other side," John Paul said.
These are some of the most personal, emotional passages from a
new book by the pope, due to be released today, in which he writes
for the first time about his feelings in the hours after the May 13, 1981,
assassination attempt. A Turkish gunman shot John Paul as he
rode in an open car through St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-popebook23feb23,1,7831283.st\
ory?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true
*** Read the following related articles: "Pope Is Put On Respirator":
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/02/25/pope_is_put_on_respi\
rator/
"Pope Was Near Death": http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp?cat=2&nid=24528
"Pope's Health Raises Questions About Life Support":
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-02-24-pope-inside_x.htm
"Pope Health Poses Vatican Dilemma":
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4250543.stm
"Pope's Ordeal Gets His Key Message Across":
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=229972005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Florida Judge Rules Terri Schiavo's Feeding Tube Will Be Removed
March 18th
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 25, 2005) PINELLAS PARK, FLORIDA --- (Associated Press)
A judge gave Terri Schiavo's husband permission to remove the
brain-damaged woman's feeding tube in three weeks, handing him
a victory in his effort to carry out what he says were his wife's wishes
not to be kept alive artificially ... The Schindlers do not believe their
daughter is in a persistent vegetative state as court-appointed doctors
have ruled. A leading Vatican cardinal also has weighed in on behalf
of keeping Terri Schiavo alive. "If Mr. Schiavo legally succeeded in
provoking the death of his wife, this would not only be tragic in itself,
but it would be a serious step toward legally approving euthanasia in
the United States," Cardinal Renato Martino, the head of the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace, told Vatican Radio on Thursday.
http://www.aclj.org/news/Read.aspx?ID=1228
*** Read a related news article from the Death With Dignity organization:
http://www.deathwithdignity.org/fss/news.asp
*** Read a related news article: "How ICU Nurses Prepare Families for
Withdrawal of Life Support":
http://stti.confex.com/stti/sos13/techprogram/paper_11751.htm
*** Read an article by Kevin Williams "Do We Have The Right To Die?"
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/suicide11.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Nurses of Hospice Patients Who Refuse Food and Fluids Report
Peaceful Deaths
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(July 25, 2003) BURLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS ---- (HealthGate)
A study in the July 24, 2003 issue of The New England Journal of
Medicine surveyed a group of Oregon hospice nurses and reported
that one-third of them had at least one patient who had refused to
eat or drink in order to hasten death. Furthermore, the nurses rated
92% of these patients deaths as good, meaning they were peaceful,
with little apparent suffering and pain. http://www.swedish.org/17601.cfm
*** Read the following related news articles:
"New England Journal of Medicine Study on Hospice Patients":
http://www.nhpco.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3840&openpage=3840
"Patients Who Refuse To Eat Die Peacefully":
http://www.nursing2003.com/pt/re/nursing/fulltext.00152193-200310000-00039.htm
"Withholding and Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatment":
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20001001/1555.html
"Is Withholding Hydration a Valid Comfort Measure in the Terminally ill?":
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstra\
ct&list_uids=3181763
"Comfort measures for the terminally ill. Is dehydration painful?":
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstra\
ct&list_uids=4056276

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Author Anne Rice Gives Lift to Pastor Howard Storm's "My Descent
Into Death"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 21, 2005) MCLEAN, VIRGINIA ------------------- (USA Today)
She is a best-selling author known for novels about vampires. He is
a minister who says he has seen and talked with angels. Anne Rice
and Howard Storm have never met, yet they are working together to
promote Storm's book,"My Descent Into Death: A Second Chance
at Life" ... While in the hospital, Storm says, he had a near-death
experience that didn't fit the stereotypical version — the one in which
people experience a bright light and the presence of love. Instead,
Storm says he was viciously attacked by creatures he sensed were
once human. During those attacks, he says, he heard a voice telling
him to pray. Storm knew no prayers but began murmuring lines from
the 23rd Psalm, the Pledge of Allegiance and The Star-Spangled Banner.
Then, he says, he was in the presence of Jesus and angels.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2005-02-21-rice-storm_x.htm
*** Read an excerpt from Rev. Howard Storm's book "My Descent Into Death":
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2005-02-21-descent-death_x.htm
*** Purchase Rev. Howard Storm's book "My Descent Into Death":
http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/catalog/display.pperl?0385513763

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Local Woman's "Grief Dreams" Are Part of New Book
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 24, 2005) GENEVA, NEW YORK ------- (Finger Lake Times)
Not long after Carin Cunningham's dad died of cancer in October 2003,
she and other members of her family began having dreams about him.
Dreams that left her looking for answers. After the first one, Cunningham
woke up feeling like her father, Frank Caravita, was still alive, because
he looked healthy and because it hadn't felt like a dream. Describing
the incidents as vivid visits, Cunningham said that during one dream
her father hugged her, and she actually felt the hug. "I can't even tell
you the emotions," she said. "You just know they're still around. It's very
comforting. You feel this joy." The Hillcrest Avenue mom and teacher
began looking for information on the Internet and came across a Web
site called www.griefdreams.com, which was seeking submissions for a
book, titled "Grief Dreams" by T.J. Wray and Ann Back Price.
http://www.fltimes.com/Main.asp?SectionID=38&SubSectionID=121&ArticleID=7460
*** Purchase the book "Grief Dreams": http://www.griefdreams.com/purchase.asp

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Angelic Visions
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Jan. 27, 2005) LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM ----- (The Guardian)
Canadian inventor Troy Hurtubise could rewrite the physics rulebook
if his newest creation lives up to the claims of its supporters, who
apparently include MIT engineers and French government officials.
"The Angel Light," they say, makes solid objects transparent ... His
newest creation would, literally, change the way physicists view the
world around us. The 8 ft long Angel Light, looking like a sci-fi laser
cannon, came to Hurtubise in a dream, as he says do most of his
inventions. "I saw it, the whole casing and everything, and I saw what
it could do," he told a Canadian newspaper. "I had the same dream
three times, and by the third time I had it in my head and I started to build
it."
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/sciences/story/0,12243,1399124,00.html
*** Visit Troy Hurtubise's Breakthrough Angel Light website:
http://www.americanantigravity.com/hurtubise.shtml
*** Read a related article: "Creativity and Inventions That Came From Dreams":
http://science.howstuffworks.com/dream7.htm
*** Read excellent articles about "Dream Incubation":
http://www.experiencefestival.com/dream_incubation
*** Read how your dreams are a connection to the afterlife:
http://www.near-death.com/dreams.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Ghosts In A Machine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(March 5, 2005) LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM ---- (Times Online)
What is it that triggers the brain to produce a religious experience?
Jerome Burne investigates ... For years brain researchers shied
away from exotic experiences such as hallucinations, near-death
experiences or "intimations of the divine", on the grounds that there
was no way to study them scientifically. But as consciousness has
become an academically respectable topic, it has become harder
to ignore "altered states". If memory and imagination can be linked
to the activity of groups of neurons, couldn't the experience of being
"at one with the universe" just be the result of brain cells firing?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8123-1509923,00.html
*** Read Olaf Blanke's "Out-of-Body Experience and Autoscopy of
Neurological Origin":
http://brain.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/127/2/243
*** Read about veridical perception in near-death experiences:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence02.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Brain Study Points To "Sixth Sense"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 25, 2005) WASHINGTON, DC ------------------ (Science Blog)
Following the Asian tsunami, scientists struggled to explain reports
that primitive aboriginal tribesmen had somehow sensed the impending
danger in time to join wild animals in a life-saving flight to higher ground.
A new theory suggests that the anterior cingulate cortex, described
by some scientists as part of the brain's "oops" center, may actually
function as an early warning system -- one that works at a subconscious
level to help us recognize and avoid high-risk situations. While some
scientists discount the existence of a sixth sense for danger, new
research from Washington University in St. Louis has identified a brain
region that clearly acts as an early warning system -- one that monitors
environmental cues, weighs possible consequences and helps us adjust
our behavior to avoid dangerous situations. "Our brains are better at
picking up subtle warning signs than we previously thought," said Joshua
Brown, Ph.D., a research associate in psychology in Arts & Sciences
and co-author of a study on these findings in the Feb. 18 issue of the
journal Science. http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/node/7036
*** Visit Dr. Joshua Brown's website: http://iac.wustl.edu/~jwbrown/
*** Read the article "Learned Predictions of Error Likelihood in the
Anterior Cingulate Cortex":
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/307/5712/1118

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Moving The Conscious Mind
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 14, 2005) DALLAS, TEXAS ---------------- (The UTD Mercury)
He said scientists have been able to teleport quantum particles for
some time now, and the conference posed the question if the same
could be done to a human body with its conscience. Barber said
there were debates regarding the relationship between consciousness
and quantum matter. Many argued consciousness was something
more complex than matter because it enables the way we "formulate
our experience." He noted Karl Pribram from Georgetown University
said "things" in the brain need to be thought of as "wave forms" rather
than plain matter. Others suggested the duality between matter and
consciousness, which could make the prospect of human teleportation
feasible. Barber says in his report - soon to be published in the English
Journal of Conscious Studies - that scientists and neurologists "thought
consciousness a case of matter and energy," and the artists saw it
as a "virtual reality where our attempts at explaining sensory input
creates something new from shared archetypes and metaphors."
http://www.theutdmercury.com/news/2005/02/14/LifeArts/Moving.The.Conscious.Mind-\
862712.shtml
*** Read the following related articles: "Quantum Games":
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2005/02/27/stories/2005022701071500.htm
"Michio Kaku: Mr. Parallel Universe":
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,9830,1419422,00.html
"Time Bandits: What Were Einstein and Godel Talking About":
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/?050228crat_atlarge
"Einstein's Miracle Year":
http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2005/02/20050204_b_main.asp
"In The Stars: Hawking's Beautiful Mind":
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050215-022440-3390r

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Trance States Stimulate Conscious Evolution
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(March 4, 2005) VENICE, CALIFORNIA --- (Phenomena Magazine)
When John Jay Harper's best friend, George, an optics physicist,
died of a heart attack in 1987, at age 40, Harper went to Alabama
and served as a pallbearer at the funeral. The two men had met two
decades earlier, while assigned to the U.S. Army Missile Command
in Germany, and had become fast friends. George's death sent
Harper into an intense grieving process. Seven months later and 2500
miles away at his new home in Silverdale, Washington, Harper awoke
about 4 o'clock one morning to find an image of George standing over
him in the master bedroom ... Though the act of seeing George's image
only lasted a couple of minutes, for Harper the passage of time felt
like a glimpse at eternity. It was a life altering experience, a mystical
awakening, that plunged Harper into ever deeper realms of scientific and
esoteric research consuming the next 15 years of his life.
http://www.phenomenamagazine.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=The+Ghost+Ins\
ide&action=page&obj_id=2715&type_id=5&cat_id=121&sub_id=0
*** Visit Dr. John Jay Harper's "Ancient Visions of Modern Wisdom"
website: http://www.johnjayharper.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Mysteries of the Mind
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 28, 2005) WASHINGTON, DC --- (U.S. News & World Report)
"Most of what we do every minute of every day is unconscious, "
says University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Paul Whelan. "Life would
be chaos if everything were on the forefront of our consciousness." ...
Says Clinton Kilts, a professor in the department of psychiatry and
behavioral sciences at Emory, "There is nothing that you do, there
is no thought that you have, there is no awareness, there is no lack
of awareness, there is nothing that marks your daily existence
that doesn't have a neural code. The greatest challenge for us is to
figure out how to design the study that will reveal these codes."
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/050228/health/28think.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
We Are The Final Frontier
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 10, 2005) LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -----(The Guardian)
Ian Sample asks leading scientists what comes next ... We will
invent our successors ... We will understand the human mind ... The
existence of parallel universes ... We will change our genetic makeup ...
We will find out if we are alone ... Humans become a collective intelligence ...
We'll understand thoughts and feelings ... The end of the individual ...
What if God lives in a part of our brain? ... What it means to be a
person ... Conscious machines ... Higher dimensions ... Humans are
less miraculous than we thought.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1409019,00.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
It's All in the Mind: Scientists Still Trying to Explain Deja Vu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 15, 2005) CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA ----- (Daily News)
There have been attempts at clearing up the phenomenon, which
some people see as evidence for the belief that after death the soul
passes to another body, whether human or animal. One point of
departure for researchers has been that a deja vu experience is
linked to an experience in a dream that has been half or totally
forgotten. Two French writers on the topic, Marc Tadie and his
brother Jean-Yves, point to this in their book "Le Sens de la Memoire."
It is characteristic of the experience that one is certain for a moment
that one has lived through this experience before, but can simply
not remember at what point in time. "In a dream the consciousness
can move freely in a space without limits, in which past and future
blend," the two Tadies say. In a contribution last year to the German
magazine Gehirn & Geist (Brain and Spirit, published by Heidelberg)
reference is made to research into memory processes conducted by
John Gabrieli and his team at Stanford University in California.
http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=500&fArticleId=2411407
*** Visit John Gabrieli's website at Stanford University:
http://gablab.stanford.edu/people/gabrieli/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
What The Bleep?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 23, 2005) TUCSON, ARIZONA --------------- (Explorer News)
According to the study guide, "'What the Bleep' proposes that there
is no solid, static universe 'out there,' waiting to be comprehended
by our probing minds, but that reality is so mutable, it is affected
by our very perception of it." The proposal is based on a widely
accepted tenant of quantum mechanics - physics at the subatomic
level - that describes the bizarre nature of electrons. Electrons, it so
happens, act like both waves and particles. As waves, they have no
precise location. They're more like fields of probability. As particles,
they stop being like probability fields and collapse into solid objects
that have a place in time. Even more bizarre, according to the study
guide, quantum physics shows that "unobserved electrons act differently
than measured ones. When they are not measured, electrons are
waves. When they are, they become particles." "What the Bleep Do
We Know" poses a question engaging to spiritual seekers like Rae:
What if human consciousness can collapse the possible into the actual?
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2005/02/23/northwest_-_pima_county/northwes\
t02.txt
*** Order the documentary DVD to be released March 15, 2005:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006UEVQ8/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20
*** Download the "What The Bleep" Study Guide (PDF):
http://www.bleepspace.com/download/WTBstudyGuide.pdf
*** Download the PDF reader from Adobe if you don't have it:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
*** Visit the "What The Bleep" website: http://www.whatthebleep.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Predicting the Future with Random Numbers?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 14, 2005) SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS ------- (Unknown Country)
The Global Consciousness Project is in the process of developing
data that suggests that there is a level of human emotion or thought
that can collectively affect random number generators, and that it is
at least somewhat predictive of large scale negative events, especially
those that are human-generated, such as the attack on the US World
Trade Center on September 11, 2001. If the data remains consistent,
then it could be that scientists will be able to predict the future. More
importantly, it will mean that each of us, on some level, knows at least
enough about the future to sense when something big is about to happen.
Individually, this awareness is apparently quite weak. Collectively, though,
if scientists can find no conventional explanation, then it would seem
that it is measurably strong. http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=4422
*** Visit Princeton University's Global Consciousness Project:
http://noosphere.princeton.edu/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
The Mystery Of The Earth's Magnetic Field Reversals May At
Last Be Solved
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
(Feb. 24, 2005) YARDLEY, PENNSYLVANIA --- (Popular Mechanics)
Some scientists suggest it is time for the poles to reverse ... Jeremy
Bloxham of Harvard University told scientists at last year's meeting
of the American Geophysical Union that the Earth's magnetic field
decreased by 10 percent during the past 150 years. There is a real,
albeit slight, chance that it could disappear entirely. The consequences
would be far worse than having to rely on GPS alone for navigation. The
sun is forever kicking cosmic sand in our face in the form of electrically
charged particles. The magnetic field diverts them, producing the astonishing
northern and southern lights. Without the magnetic field, the planet would
be a much more hostile place.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1282336.html
*** Read more about the Pole Shift predicted by NDErs:
Edgar Cayce's predictions: http://www.near-death.com/experiences/cayce11.html
Other NDE predictions: http://www.near-death.com/experiences/research32.html
Crystalinks website on Pole Shift: http://www.crystalinks.com/poleshifts.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Archive of NDEs in the News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Read all the major news articles concerning the NDE and related
phenomenon from 1995 to current. This is a permanent archive to
ensure that these news articles will always be available on the internet.
http://neardeath.home.comcast.net

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Free Email Alerts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
*** Sign up to receive free news email alerts from GOOGLE News
concerning the "near-death experience."
http://www.google.com/alerts?q=&hl=en

*** Sign up to recieve free news email alerts from YAHOO News
concerning the "near-death experience."
http://alerts.yahoo.com/

=========================================
(2)....Q and A with Dr. P.M.H. Atwater
........An in-depth look at the near-death phenomenon
=========================================

In this section of the newsletter, PMH Atwater will answer a question
submitted to her from subscribers to this newsletter. If you have a
question that you would like her to answer for this column, just email
your question to me at: webmaster@... for consideration.

P.M.H. Atwater's latest books are entitled
"The New Children and Near-Death Experiences"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591430208/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

"We Live Forever: The Real Truth About Death"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0876044925/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 26, 2005:
Take the Sacred Journey Cruise to the Caribbean with P.M.H. and
Terry Atwater for a Seminar at Sea. Learn more here:
http://www.near-death.com/atwater/special/cruise.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--

QUESTION: "I am a 54-year old male and suffered a near fatal air crash
when I was 25. During the incident, the helicopter of which I was a crew-
member was caught in a downdraught as we flew over a cliff. The aircraft
was thrown down the escarpment and dropped almost 1,800 feet in 4 - 5
seconds before regaining flight, missing the ground by approximately
100 feet. During this ordeal, I had the sensation of slow motion thinking
where my whole life and loved ones in it went through my thought processes.
At the end, I knew death was imminent yet instead of panic there was a
complete acceptance of what was about to occur and a complete peacefulness.
The only sense I was aware of was sight as I saw the blade going around
above me. The peace I felt was as if I had already passed over. Is there a
hidden message that I cannot fathom in this experience?"... Tony

ANSWER by PMH ATWATER: "First of all, let me say that it is common
for an individual in a life-threatening situation, child or adult, to have an
out-of-body experience and/or find his or herself engaged in a life review.
You never mentioned an out-of-body experience, but you did a life review.
Because these two elements occur with such frequency to people, they
have been trivialized by scientific and medical investigators as a mere
artifact of the brain, not to be taken seriously. What we find in near-death
research, however, is that ...
[Read more at http://www.near-death.com/atwater/index.html ]

P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D.
http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/
http://www.near-death.com/atwater.html
Marketplace (a public service):
http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/rosen.html

=========================================
(3)....Books on the NDE
=========================================

*** The NDE Online Store includes NDE books, videos, movies,
documentaries, magazines, and other media.
http://associatesshop.filzhut.de/shop/index.php?ID=62ed2010a2e86954f2f1f2020e105\
6af

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
My Descent into Death: A Second Chance at Life
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
by Howard Storm .....................................(Availability: Now)
This is one of the greatest NDE stories ever told. It was first
released on July 10, 2000, and now a second edition will be released
this February 15th. Not since Betty Eadie's "Embraced by the Light"
has a NDE story been so utterly different from most others or more
compelling. Perhaps no one but Howard Storm has fallen to such
great depths, then risen to such great heights, and lived to tell about
it. Rather than being welcomed by light beings immediately after death,
Howard was tortured by monstrous beings of depravity. But a simple
childhood prayer allowed him to be rescued by Jesus himself and be
taken to heaven. As it was with Betty Eadie, Howard's story is a
great message of hope and a great message of redemption. Anne Rice,
who wrote the Foreword of Howard's book, had this to say about it:
"This is a book you devour from cover to cover, and pass on to others.
This is a book you will quote in your daily conversation. Storm was
meant to write it and we were meant to read it." When Anne Rice read
Howard's manuscript she was so overwhelmed, she volunteered to
provide the foreword.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385513763/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Why I Live: Personal Testimonies of a Doctor of Metaphysical
Sciences in Cosmic Consciousness, Chakra Activation, Near-Death
Experience, and More
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
by Lionel Maithri ......................................... (Availability: Now)
Lionel Maithri was born in Sri Lanka and at the age of seven he had
a cosmic consciousness experience which implanted in him a source
of inner energy to find answers to all his questions. His life was
completely changed by this experience, but he was frustrated at
that time by his inability to verbalize what he experienced. In 1993,
he had a near-death experience during a by-pass surgery which
enhanced his spiritual development process. Details of these
experiences and their impact on his life are described in this book.
This book is a synthesis of his deep knowledge and wide experience.
His aim is to share with all others his own experience of what has
helped him in self-development throughout the course of his life.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1413474594/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Is There an Afterlife?: A Comprehensive Overview of the Evidence,
from East and West
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
by David Fontana ........................................ (Availability: Now)
Do aspects of our personality survive our physical body? The fruit
of many years research and experience by a world expert in the
field, Is There an Afterlife? presents the most complete survey to
date of the evidence, both historical and contemporary, for survival
of physical death. This evidence includes the study of mediumship,
poltergeists, the electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) and much more.
David Fontana also looks at the question of what survives, and has
some particularly interesting insights to share on the subject of
consciousness. Could consciousness be, as suggested by recent
brain research and quantum physics, primary to rather than dependent
on matter? Fontana completes this fascinating book by discussing the
possible nature of the afterlife, the common threads in Western and
Eastern traditions, group souls and reincarnation.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1903816904/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
Dreamways of the Iroquois: Honoring the Secret Wishes of the Soul
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
by Robert Moss ........................................... (Availability: Now)
The ancient teaching of the Iroquois Native Americans is that dreams
are experiences of the soul in which we may travel outside the body,
across time and space, and into other dimensions -- or receive visitations
from ancestors or spiritual guides. Dreams call us to remember our
sacred contracts and reclaim the knowledge that belonged to us, on
the levels of soul and spirit, before we entered our present life experience.
Robert Moss was called to these ways when he started dreaming in a
language he did not know, which proved to be an early form of the
Mohawk Iroquois language. From his personal experiences, he developed
a spirited approach to dreaming and living that he calls "active dreaming."
This book is at once a spiritual odyssey, a tribute to the deep wisdom
of the First Peoples, a guide to healing our lives through dreamwork, and
an invitation to soul recovery.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594770344/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence
That Points toward God
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
by Lee Strobel ............................................. (Availability: Now)
Cosmologists agree that the universe arose suddenly out of absolute
nothingness. But how? And how did it unfold with such painstaking
precision? As biologists continue to probe the cell, the more amazed
they are at its intricacies -- complexities so staggering that they
confound all naturalistic attempts to explain life's origins. Could it be
that the world looks designed because it really is designed? In his
most powerful and fascinating book yet, award-winning journalist and
former atheist Lee Strobel uncovers compelling evidence for
intelligent design from the fields of cosmology, physics, astronomy,
biochemistry, DNA research, and the study of human consciousness.
Lee Strobel was educated at Yale Law School and was the award-winning
legal editor of the Chicago Tribune and a spiritual skeptic until 1981.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310240506/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
The Road to Reality
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
by Roger Penrose ......................................... (Availability: Now)
This is arguably the most important work of science, aimed at the
general reader, to be published in living memory. This 1000-page
guide to the universe aims to provide a comprehensive account of
our present understanding of the physical universe, and the essentials
of its underlying mathematical theory. It attempts to convey an overall
understanding -- a feeling for the deep beauty and philosophical
connotations of the subject, as well as of its intricate logical
interconnections. Clearly, a work of this nature is challenging, but
no particular mathematical knowledge on the part of the reader is
assumed. This book provides a feeling for all the key issues and
deep current controversies, and counters the common complaint
that cutting-edge science is fundamentally inaccessible.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679454438/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
The Wisdom Paradox: The New Science of Wisdom and How the Mind
Can Grow Stronger as We Grow Older
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--
by Elkhonon Goldberg ....................................(Availability: Now)
In "The Wisdom Paradox," world-renowned neuropsychologist Elkhonon
Goldberg argues that though some mental abilities (such as recent-
memory recall) decline as the mind enters the "autumn season" of
our life span, the brain becomes more powerful in its ability to recognize
patterns. As a result, we are able to make decisions at more intuitive
and effective levels -- a late-emerging mental strength he terms "wisdom."
In lively, accessible prose, Goldberg delves into the mechanisms of the
mind, outlining how the elegant structures of the brain develop and
change over the course of a lifetime as they work increasingly in concert.
Goldberg is the author of "The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the
Civilized Mind" and is a clinical professor of neurology at the New York
University School of Medicine. He is in private practice in neuropsychology
and is an active researcher in the field of cognitive neuroscience.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592401104/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

=========================================
(4)....IANDS in the Spotlight
=========================================

IANDS is the premier research organization in the field of near-death
studies. If you haven't yet joined this wonderful organization, I encourage
you to join online at their membership page. There are many benefits for
being a member. Their quarterly newsletter Vital Signs is alone worth
becoming a member.

Home page: http://www.iands.org
Join IANDS: http://www.iands.org/joincard.html

SEPTEMBER 8 - 10, 2005 - IANDS Annual Conference
"Message and Meaning: Using the Near-Death Experience as a Tool for Living"

Hotel reservations can now be made at:
Virginia Beach Resort Hotel & Conference Center
2800 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach, VA USA 23451
(800) 468-2722 http://www.virginiabeachresort.com/
Mention IANDS to receive a $95 per night rate (instead of the normal $135).

Check out the IANDS Conference page for more info:
http://www.iands.org/conf.html

Get a Free Copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Near-Death Experience"
Join IANDS and receive a free copy of P.M.H. Atwater's 480-page
"encylopedia of the NDE." "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Near-Death
Experience" has been called "the Ultimate NDE Guide". Ken Ring, Ph.D.
had this to say about Atwater's guide: "This book by PMH Atwater is to
me the definitive work on near-death experiences, and stands somewhere
between being a Bible for the field and an encyclopedia of it. It is a
tremendous achievement - and its warm, compulsively readable, engaging,
provocative
and fun as well." This offer is good while supplies last. Visit IANDS join
page for more information about becoming a member:
https://www.iands.org/joincard.html

=========================================
(5)....Odds and Ends
=========================================

To UNSUBSCRIBE from this newsletter, send a blank email to:
neardeathnewsletter-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

To SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter, send a blank email to:
neardeathnewsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

This newsletter is currently hosted by Yahoo Groups. You can visit the
home page for this newsletter at Yahoo Groups for more information
about this free newsletter service:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/neardeathnewsletter/

Please feel free to share this newsletter with others.
Search for past issues of this newsletter:
http://www.near-death.com/newsletters.html

=========================================
Copyright (c) 2004 Near-Death Experiences & the Afterlife
=========================================