"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell,
a Hell of Heaven." - John Milton

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Near-Death Newsletter.............................................. April 15,
2005
www.near-death.com ..................................Vol. 04, No. 04, Ed. 02
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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
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The Online Version of the Near-Death Newsletter
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Table of Contents
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(1).... NDEs in the News
(2).... Books on the NDE
(3).... IANDS in the Spotlight
(4).... Odds and Ends

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(1)....NDEs in the News
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News From P.M.H. Atwater
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CHARLOTTSVILLE, VIRGINIA ----------- (P.M.H. Atwater's Website)
Check out the latest news from P.M.H. Atwater on this web page:
http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/news.html
Sign-up for "The Sacred Journey Carribean Cruise" for Sept. 18-26, 2005
at this web page: http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/cruise/cruise.html
Special workshop sharings are planned. Check out the website
www.pmhatwater.com for details about this wonderful adventure on
Carnival Lines. Sign up by calling Vanguard Tours at 1-800-624-7718
and making your reservation. We need at least 35 signups by June 1st
or the Cruise will be canceled. This is an exciting opportunity to go
deeper into spirit while, at the same time, learning easy, simple ways to
make your life more effective and more fun. See you in September!
(This Cruise is especially geared to near-death experiencers and those like
them who are interested in things spiritual and sacred.)

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Survivors Tell of Life After Near-Death Experiences
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EXETER, NEW HAMPSHIRE -------------------- (Exeter News-Letter)
"My heart literally burst," Rodgers said. "The priest was waiting for
me when I got to the hospital to give me last rites. I remember looking at
him and at the doctors, and everything went black." From there, Rodgers
said he heard the doctors crack his chest, heard medical terms being used,
and also visited the hospital chapel - while the medical team was operating
on him. "There were people in the chapel crying, a man who lost his
daughter that day, another woman. There was no priest there, just those
people," Rodgers said. "It was very odd." Rodgers said when he visited the
chapel after his recovery it looked exactly as he'd seen it earlier, though he'd
never actually been inside.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/exeter/04152005/news/37090.htm

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Matters of Life and Death
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ANCHORAGE, ALASKA ----- (Anchorage Daily News)
I was visiting my neighbor Don, a retired fisherman, when he got
talking about an old school friend who nearly drowned after falling
through the ice while clamming. When the lifesaving crew reached
him, his buddy punched the first rescuer in the head. Later, he told
Don that he had heard glorious music, seen bright lights and felt warm
and content. He was more than a little ticked at being pulled back
onto the dark, freezing shore. "After that he wasn't afraid of anything,"
Don told me. Hertz, our electrician, used to be a logger. He once was
hit by afalling tree and had what he knows was a vision of the next
world. He says he felt completely free as he hovered above the people
who eventually brought him back to life. Hertz is Catholic and seems
to accept death better than most of us do.
http://www.adn.com/life/story/6352695p-6229997c.html

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Seeing the Light: Hovering on the Edge of Life, People Tell What
They Saw and Felt While Near Death
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DECATUR, ILLINOIS ------------------------------------ (Herald & Review)
In that instance, Clack felt the sensation of rising out of bed, pain-free,
moving into "the pure white light. I could feel the warmth of the light, the
cool freshness of the air rushing around me, the sweet scent of a field of
wildflowers and the most beautiful soft music I had ever heard." "Without
question, I was entering paradise, but as I did, I was also seeing myself
lying on the bed below and watching the doctors and nurses frantically
trying to resuscitate meand stop the blood flow." When it occurred to
her that leaving her family and new baby would not only be a shock but a
hardship, she came back to that "aching body, convulsing and begging
them to let me go back." That experience has enabled her to know the
material values of the world aren't as important as family and love.
http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2005/04/18/life/1007308.txt

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Howard Storm's Story Continues With Book and Mission
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CINCINNATI, OHIO ---------------------------------- (The Cincinnati Post)
[Howard Storm] spent three years at the United Theological Seminary
in Dayton and became pastor of Zion United Church of Christ in Norwood,
where he has served for the past 14 years ... In two weeks, his resignaion
from Zion United will become official. He will then devote himself to a
non-profit he calls Mission to Belize. The focus is on the Mayan village
of San Victor, situated in a flat stretch of cane country about a mile from
the Mexican border. "If the people there were any poorer, they'd be dead,"
Howard said ... Every other month or so, Howard puts together teams of
whoever wants to go - a batch of 50 from Brossart and Holy Cross high
schools is heading down for 10 days in June, followed by church groups
from Evansville and Mason ... On an early visit there three years ago, he
asked the people what the village needed most. "The universal answer
was, 'We need a church,'" he says.
http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050409/LIFE02/504090305/1\
007/LIFE
*** Zion United Church of Christ in Norwood, OH:
http://www.zionchurchnorwood.org/
*** Howard Storm's NDE testimony:
http://www.near-death.com/storm.html
*** "My Descent into Death: A Second Chance at Life" by Howard Storm:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385513763/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

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What Happens After We Die?
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BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS ------------------------------ (WBUR.org)
Most people say they believe in an afterlife. Over the centuries
artists, poets and philosophers have struggled to capture celestial
splendor in words and images.It seems that we are all anxious to
believe in heaven as a blissful resting place, a kind of reward for all
our earthly labors -- yet few of us know much about it -- and it's clear
that people have questions. Books dealing with the subject like "The Five
People You Meet in Heaven" and "Left Behind" are nnial bestsellers.
So why is it that we are so interested in what happens after we die?
Is heaven a particularly Western obsession? And what are the
important differences between how other faiths understand the afterlife?
Exploring life after death, human notions of immortality.
http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2005/04/20050408_b_main.asp

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Is Anybody Out There
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM ----------------------- (Times Online)
Dr. Peter Fenwick, a neuropsychiatrist at the Institute of Psychiatry,
in London, works on near-death experiences. Fenwick is also chair
of the Scientific and Medical Network, which held its annual Mystics
and Scientists conference last weekend. Charla Devereux, of the
network, says: "Research into the paranormal is becoming more
accepted by the scientific establishment, particularly among
younger academics. There will always be scepticism, but that's no
problem as long as minds aren't closed. And on the other side there
is still a lot of flakiness. o it can be difficult walking a central road to
get the best from both sides." Patricia Robertson has conducted
triple-blind experiments on mediums alongside Professor Roy. She
says: "We are convinced that some mediums can impart to a sitter
information about people who have died that they couldn't possibly
know in any normally accepted way. I'm not saying that it comes from
the dead, but the most plausible explanation is that the information
is coming from the deceased personalities."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8123-1559001,00.html
*** Scientific and Medical Network website:
http://www.datadiwan.de/SciMedNet/home.htm
*** The Scotsman news article about Peter Fenwick:
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=609&id=999952003

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Blind Man Displays "Sixth Sense"
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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA --------- (Disabilities.AFreePress.com)
Scientists writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience have described
their experiments with a completely blind British man who "possesses
an apparent sixth sense that lets him recognize emotions on people's
faces." This 52-year-old lab subject somehow uses a part of his brain not
normally used for sight to process visual signals linked to emotions.
When the scientists showed him images of circles and squares, he
could only guess at what they were at an accuracy no greater than
chance expectation. But when he was presented with photos of happy,
sad or fearful human faces, his accuracy rate became uncanny, far
beyond chance. Brain scans taken when he was sensing the faces showed
an activation of the brain's right amygdala, which responds to non-verbal
emotional signs.
http://www.disabilities.afreepress.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=295470&cp=30945\
9

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Colorful Evidence of Ever-lasting Life; True Story Backed with Astounding
Lifetime Art and Gauguin Book Collection Ccoming to Auction
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BREMERTON, WASHINGTON --------------------------------- (PRWeb)
With a reputation as a painter of spirits and angels, near-death
experiencer eter Teekamp is auctioning coincidence on eBay.
Convinced after a lifetime of connections and discoveries that his life's work
was meant to help make the point in a powerful way that we have all been
here before. Teekamp believes the only way to illustrate that fact is
with the physical evidence of more than 200 of his paintings and 250
drawings dating back to the early 1970'S ... As completely ironic and
unbelievable as it sounds, in December 2003 Teekamp discovered and
purchased what is believed to be a century-old Gauguin masterpiece
charcoal drawing. The unsigned charcoal is understood to be one of the first
Tahitian Gauguin compositions that was said to have 'not survived' ...
The phenomenal chains of coincidence and well-researched art and quotes
from Gauguin come in the form of a manuscript, a journal filled with
sparks and Hollywood In addition to the mystical Teekamp art collection
and the publicized Gauguin drawing, this one-of-a-kind auction adds a
bonus gift to the successful bidder of 50% net book royalties for the next
five years for the yet unpublished true story.
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/4/emw227177.htm
*** Peter Teekamp: The Reincarnation of Paul Gauguin?
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/art02.html
*** Peter Teekamp's art gallery: http://www.peterteekamp.com/

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Total Recall
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CALCUTTA, INDIA ----------------------------------------- (The Telegraph)
A three-decade-old Indo-American research project suggests reincarnation
might actually be a scientific fact ... Bangalore's National Institute
of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) and the University of
Virginia have been studying and documenting reincarnation since 1974.
The three-decade-old research is now throwing up results. "We now have
enough evidence to believe in reincarnation," says Dr Satwant Pasricha,
head of department, clinical psychology, NIMHANS ... One of Pasricha's
early subjects was Naresh Kumar. He was born in 1981 in Baznagar,
a village near Lucknow. By the age of four, Naresh was talking of a
past life. He called himself Mushir Ali, and said he had lived in a nearby
village, Kakori and had died in a road accident while carrying mangoes
in his horse-cart. The researchers thought it was significant that Naresh's
favourite game as a child was to tie a rope to his bed and pretend to
drive a horse-cart. When Naresh's parents took him to Kakori, he said
he recognised Mushir Ali's family, friends and relatives. The researcher
points out that Naresh was born with a depression on his chest — and
Mushir Ali's post-mortem report said he had been hit at the same spot.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050410/asp/look/story_4592540.asp
*** NIMHANS website: http://www.nimhans.kar.nic.in/
*** Division of Personality Studies, University of Virginia website:
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/psychiatric/stevenson.cfm
*** The Near-Death Experiences of Hindus:
http://www.near-death.com/hindu.html

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Edgar Cayce Film Wins Sedona Film Festival Award, Honors
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HOPKINSVILLE, KENTUCKY ----------------------- (Kentucky New Era)
A documentary film about Hopkinsville native and renowned psychic
Edgar Cayce won the Directors' Choice Award Sunday at the 11th
annual Sedona International Film Festival in Sedona, Ariz. "Edgar
Cayce, Beautiful Dreamer" was also selected as the "Festival Favorite"
and "Most Thought-Provoking Documentary" during the four-day event ...
The hourlong documentary traces Cayce's life from his birth near
Hopkinsville in 1877 to his death in Virginia Beach, Va., in 1945. Using
his skills as a clairvoyant, Cayce is credited with more than 14,000
medical diagnoses and readings while under hypnosis. He is known
worldwide as the "Sleeping Prophet."
http://www.kentuckynewera.com/articles/stories/public/200503/08/04by_news.html
*** "Edgar Cayce: The Beautiful Dreamer" (VHS or DVD)
http://www.caycecures.com/Holiday/catalog/beautiful.htm
Edgar Cayce's near-death experiences:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/cayce01.html

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Will Asteroid Destroy the Earth?
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SEOUL, KOREA ---------------------------------------- (The Korea Times)
Will an asteroid hit Earth this century, threatening to end all life
as featured by such disaster movies as ``Armageddon'' and ``Deep
Impact?'' Experts point out there is no cause for public concern as
an actual collision is very unlikely despite recent reports on the
substantial odds of an asteroid catastrophe in the mid-2030s. "Current
risk analysis of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), including 2004 MN4,
indicates that no Earth encounters are of big concern for this century,''
said Yonsei University professor Byun Yong-ik. Byun added that NEAs
have constantly passed nearby or sometimes hit the Earth for the
past 4.6 billion years after the solar system was formed and there is
no reason to worry now.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200504/kt2005041818355112350.htm
*** The NDE Interpretation of the Book of Revelation is Symbolic:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/cayce10.html

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Hang in There: The 25-Year Wait for Immortality
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NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK ----------------------- (Live Science)
Time may indeed be on your side. If you can just last another quarter
century. By then, people will start lives that could last 1,000 years
or more. Our human genomes will be modified to include the genetic
material of microorganisms that live in the soil, enabling us to break
down the junk proteins that our cells amass over time and which they
can't digest on their own. People will have the option of looking and
feeling the way they did at 20 for the rest of their lives, or opt for an
older look if they get bored. Of course, everyone will be required to go
in for age rejuvenation therapy once every decade or so, but that will
be a small price to pay for near-immortality. This may sound like
science fiction, but Aubrey de Grey thinks this could be our reality
in as little as 25 years. Other scientists caution that it is far from clear
whether and for how long science can stall the inevitable.
http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050411_aubrey_interview.html
*** Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence's website:
http://www.gen.cam.ac.uk/sens/

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Matrix Loaded: In Your Brain, Soon
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM ------------------------------- (GG2.net)
Japanese entertainment giant Sony has patented an idea for transmitting
data directly into the brain, with the goal of enabling a person to
see movies and play video games in which they smell, taste and,
perhaps, even feel things -- the patent, which is based only on a theory
and not on any invention, marks the first step towards a "real-life Matrix".
In the science fiction film of that name, cyber-reality is projected into the
brains of people via an electrode feed at the back of their necks. In Sony's
patent, the technique will be entirely non-invasive -- it will not use brain
implants or other surgery to manipulate the brain. The patent has few
details, describing only a device that will fire pulses of ultrasound at the
head, to modify the firing patterns of neurons in targeted parts of the brain.
The aim, it says, is to create "sensory experiences", ranging from
moving images to tastes and sounds.
http://www.gg2.net/viewnews.asp?nid=241&tid=in_fe&catid=Interviews%20&%20Feature\
s
*** Read about the NDE Matrix:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J177356EA
Article: Parallel Universes, the Matrix, and Superintelligence:
http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0585.html

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Is Consciousness Definable? Four Brain Scientists and Four
Different Answers.
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WASHINGTON, DC -------------------------------------------------- (PBS.org)
One problem is that there are too many definitions! And getting these
four guests to agree on what consciousness is and what causes it, is
a fun but hopeless task that is revelatory at the same time. These
four leading brain scientists couldn't even agree on at what level a
simple "memory" was stored, whether as a gross "brain circuit," at
the synapse between nerve cells, or in the microstructure of the nerve
cells as some sort of quantum effect. But why should it be any different
now? Philosophers have debated the "mind-body problem" and the
existence of "free will" for thousands of years. However, never before
have we been in a position to examine the brain with such precision.
Even as we begin to understand the deep science that underlies our
cognitive processes, there is no letup in arguments whether we are
anything other than automata, just reacting to stimuli -- vastly more
complex than a bacterium to be sure -- but fundamentally little different.
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/closertotruth/explore/show_12.html
*** Download the transcripts of this show in PDF format:
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/closertotruth/transcripts/312_consciousness.pdf

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New Virtual Reality Chair to Explore Frontier of Telepresence
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ALBERTA, CANADA -------------------------------------- (ExpressNews)
Computer scientists at the U of A have already created technology
allowing people to sit across from three-dimensional recreations of
each other, even though in reality they may be thousands of miles
apart ... Imagine a world, for example, where professors of surgery
transmit hand and scalpel movements, as well as what they see while
operating, thousands of miles across a computer network, where it is
recreated in an operating room ... Families separated by travel will
spend meals together through what is called "telepresence," said
Boulanger. "You would wear special goggles - and we're working on
that - which would allow you to see your wife sitting in front of you,
having a day-to-day conversation. In the future you will have virtual
encounters like this, people you want to be part of a meeting sitting
beside you virtually and having a conversation."
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=6476
*** Related articles on transcendental consciousness:
Charles Tart on Consciousness as Virtual Reality:
http://www.paradigm-sys.com/cttart/sci-docs/ctt90-mpasa.html
http://www.paradigm-sys.com/cttart/sci-docs/ctt91-mecgv.html
David Bohm's on Dreams as Virtual Reality:
http://www.escapefromwatchtower.com/virtualreality.html
IBM on the Quantum Realm as Virtual Reality:
http://www.research.ibm.com/quantuminfo/teleportation/
Top Scientist on Life as Virtual Reality:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1358588,00.html
New Technology Enhances Computer Virtual Reality:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050326001659.htm
Ingo Swann Calls Remote Viewing a Virtual Reality:
http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2005/03/kurzweil.html
Charles Tart on the After-Death State as Virtual Reality:
http://www.esalenctr.org/display/confpage.cfm?confid=9&pageid=121&pgtype=1
NDEs, Autoscopy, and Bilocation as Virtual Reality:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/research11.html

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Finding My Religion: Fred Alan Wolf from "What the Bleep
Do We Know?" on Spirituality
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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA ------------------------------- (SF Gate)
The surprise indie hit film "What the Bleep Do We Know?" tackles
some of life's biggest questions, without really answering them:
Where have we been? Why are we here? Where are we going? Part
documentary, part feature, it's a quirky film that draws parallels
between the mysteries of quantum physics -- a mind-expanding field
whose findings suggest many so-called laws of science are a lot less
ironclad than we once thought -- and some of humankind's most
vexing spiritual queries.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2005/04/04/findrelig.DTL
*** Related news articles:
What The Bleep Do We Know? website: http://www.whatthebleep.com/
The Universe of Fred Alan Wolf: http://www.stardrive.org/fred.shtml

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California Panel OKs Right-To-Die Measure
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SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA ---------------------- (Associated Press)
A legislative committee Tuesday approved a measure modeled after
an Oregon law that would allow the terminally ill to end their lives with
a doctor's assistance ... Supporters said the measure would give
people with no more than six months to live the choice to end their
lives with a self-administered drug prescribed by a physician ... Former
Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts testified for the bill, saying Oregon's
assisted-suicide law — the only one of its kind in the nation — has
been used sparingly and properly and has led to better care for people
facing death. "The law has broad and deep political and public support
in our state," she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050413/ap_on_re_us/assisted_suicid\
e_2
*** Yahoo! News full-coverage on Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl=fc&in=US&cat=Assisted_Suicide
Contact your Assembly representatives and encouraging them to
support right-to-die laws:
http://capwiz.com/endoflifechoices/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7221251

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Because She's Earned It
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WASHINGTON, DC ---------------------------------------- (Townhall.com)
I want Terri Schiavo to die because I believe she's earned it. I don't
view death as the end of the journey of a human soul. I view it as a
transition ... I cannot believe that it is God's plan that the life experiences
of a man; wisdom gained, lessons learned and love experienced,
should, upon death, disappear as if they never were. I believe that
there's something to follow the life we know on this earth; and I believe
that most of the people fighting to keep the body of Terri Schiavo
alive feel the same way. These feelings give rise to some questions of
my own; questions for the devoutly religious people who are fighting
to keep Terri Schiavo alive. Do you believe in God's promise of
everlasting life? Do you believe that the reward for a life well spent
on this earth is a life with God in heaven after you die? If you do, then
a few more questions if you will. Do you believe that the human
soul can make the transition to everlasting life while the human body
that carried that soul through life clings to life on this earth? If you do,
then you must surely believe that Terri Schiavo has earned and is
already enjoying her reward in heaven. That being the case, why is it
so important to you that the now-unneeded body of Terri Schiavo is
kept alive?
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/nealboortz/nb20050324.shtml

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Experts Say Schiavo Case Prompts Need For Education
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BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA ------------------- (Associated Press)
Dr. Ronald Cranford, a brain death expert at the University of Minnesota,
represented Michael Schiavo at a 2002 court hearing, testifying that
he was convinced Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state.
Cranford said medical providers could face additional legal and ethical
issues in coming years as a large portion of the country's population
passes retirement age. He said many Americans, including himself and
his wife, may refuse to enter a nursing home even if their health is
declining. "That's a controversial issue, but it's a fact of life," he said.
In North Dakota, a bill awaiting Gov. John Hoeven's signature, would
combine parts of the states existing laws for living wills and durable
powers of attorney for health care. Wetzel and others who supported
the measure say it will make the delicate matter of registering how
one wants to be cared for in one's final days less confusing. Jane
Voglewede, a lawyer for MeritCare Health System of Fargo, said
widespread publicity about the Schiavo case has left many North Dakotans
with the incorrect perception that medical, legal and ethical questions
about withholding or ending life-sustaining treatment are unsettled.
Many of those issues have been decided, she said. It was the lack
of a binding document showing Schiavo's medical wishes that made
the case difficult to resolve, Voglewede said. "It's not whether or not
you can do this. It's whether she made her wishes clear," Voglewede said.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/11354928.htm
*** Related news articles of interest:
Doctors Explain the "Persistent Vegetative State":
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/23/TERMS.TMP

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Haven't Filled Out a Living Will Yet? Download It Now (PDF format)
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SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA ------------ (Near-Death Newsletter)
For the sake of your family, download the "Five Wishes" Living Will
now. The Five Wishes Living Will is unique in that it is valid in 36 states
and was created by the nation's leading experts in end-of-life care
with the help of the Amercian Bar Association. It serves the function
of BOTH a living will AND a durable power of attorney so you don't
need to have both. And it is void of "lawyer speak" and is very easy
to use. All you have to do is check a box, circle a direction, or write
a few sentences. The Five Wishes Living Will has been featured on
CNN and NBC's Today Show and in the pages of Time and Money
magazines. Newspapers have called "Five Wishes" the first "living
will with a heart."
http://www.near-death.com/ebooks/end_of_life/five_wishes_living_will.pdf
*** Then submit your completed Five Wishes document to the
U.S. Living Will Registry: http://www.uslivingwillregistry.com/default.htm

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Archive of NDEs in the News
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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

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Free Email Alerts
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*** 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."
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(2)....Books on the NDE
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*** The NDE Online Store includes NDE books, videos, movies,
documentaries, magazines, and other media.
http://associatesshop.filzhut.de/shop/index.php?ID=62ed2010a2e86954f2f1f2020e105\
6af

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Extra-Dimensional Universe: Where the Paranormal Becomes Normal
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by John R. Violette --------------------------------- (Availability: May 2005)
The author explains the science of events such as UFOs and abductions,
mystical and psychic phenomena, and the near-death experience -- events
that shouldn't exist in a 3-D world, but which happen everyday. An
advancement of the classic theories of R. M. Bucke and P. D.
Ouspensky, this book presents the larger framework of space and time
necessary for understanding how psychic phenomena happen and why
some people experience it while others don't. In the tradition of recent
bestsellers "The Holographic Universe" and "The Field," independent
scholar Violette explains why a 3-D worldview simply doesn't work and
why expanded consciousness is the missing link in current extra-dimensional
theories.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1571744460/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

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The Vision: Out-of-Body Revelations of Divine Wisdom
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by Jaap Hiddinga ----------------------------------- (Availability: May 2005)
Visions and out-of-body experiences are not uncommon, but few have
been experienced in such depth, and articulated with such clarity,
as those of Jaap Hiddinga. He began to have them as a young child,
and out of the thousands he has accumulated since then he presents
here some of the most powerful. They range from the Christ awareness
that came into the world at the birth of Jesus to travels in other dimensions,
in other times, in this universe and beyond. Along the way he raises
questions and suggests answers about the origins of Christianity, the
nature of the quantum world, the links between the earthly and spiritual
worlds, and the future of humanity.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1905047053/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

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Eternity and Me: The Everlasting Things in Life and Death
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by Allan Kellehear ----------------------------------------- (Availability: Now)
The forty short reflections in this book address the ways in which we
face the prospect of death and loss. The first twenty reflections are
designed to be read by (or to) anyone living with a life-threatening
illness; the other twenty are reflections on living with grief, especially
bereavement. Each reflection is based on a single story drawn from
one of three sources: Dr. Kellehear's professional experience with
individuals living with dying or loss; his own experiences and stories
from childhood; and the retelling of some of the great myths and legends
about life, love, and death, selected from around the world-from Ireland to
Japan, from Melanesia to China. These reflections are stories about
how we can make the most of life in the shadow of death and loss.
They are designed to instill hope and meaning in the difficult times
that can accompany human mortality.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0895032988/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

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The Farewell Chronicles: On how We Really Respond to Death
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by Anneli Rufus ------------------------------------- (Availability: May 2005)
The longer we live, the more people around us will die. This book
helps us tell the truth - to ourselves, to the dead, and to each other.
Revisiting the deaths of many people she has known including loved
ones, casual acquaintances, children and adults, friends and enemies -
prize-winning journalist Anneli Rufus gives powerful, eloquent voice
to everyone who has ever lost anyone and whose reactions wouldn't
fit into the standard template of "feel sad, cry, then get over it."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1569243816/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

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Mystery of Reincarnation: The Evidence and Analysis of Rebirth
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by J. Allan Danelek -------------------------------- (Availability: May 2005)
In 1952, an American housewife under hypnosis recalled living a
previous life in eighteenth century Ireland as Bridey Murphy. This
case became widely publicized and sparked a Western interest in
reincarnation that continues today. With arguments supporting and
debunking the validity of the famous Bridey Murphy case and the
plausibility of rebirth, how can one intelligently decide if reincarnation
is fantasy or truth? Examining the debate from viewpoints of science,
religion, psychology, and logic, J. Allan Danelek helps readers
understand this controversial issue from all sides. He takes a discerning
look at past life regression, scientific explanations, common
religious/philosophical objections, and reincarnationist concepts in
Gnostic Christianity. Danelek also poses theories that explain the
mechanical process and purpose of rebirth.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/073870704X/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

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Physicalism, or Something Near Enough
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by Jaegwon Kim and Harry Frankfurt ------- (Availability: May 2005)
Contemporary discussions in philosophy of mind have largely been
shaped by physicalism, the doctrine that all phenomena are ultimately
physical. Here, Jaegwon Kim presents the most comprehensive and
systematic presentation yet of his influential ideas on the mind-body
problem. He seeks to determine, after half a century of debate: How
much physicalism can we lay claim to? He begins by laying out mental
causation and consciousness as the two principal challenges to
contemporary physicalism. How can minds exercise their causal
powers in a physical world? Is a physicalist account of consciousness
possible? Mind-body reduction is required to save mental causation.
But are minds physically reducible? Kim argues that all but one type of
mental phenomena is reducible, including intentional mental phenomena,
such as beliefs and desires. The apparent exceptions are the intrinsic, felt
qualities of conscious experiences ("qualia"). Kim argues, however,
that certain relational properties of qualia, in particular their similarities
and differences, are behaviorally manifest and hence in principle reducible,
and that it is these relational properties of qualia that are central to their
cognitive roles. The causal efficacy of qualia, therefore, is not entirely
lost. According to the author, then, while physicalism is not the whole
truth, it is the truth near enough.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0691113750/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

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Animals on the Other Side
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by Sylvia Browne and Chris DuFresne ------------- (Availability: Now)
The renowned psychic Sylvia Browne and her son explain for pet owners
what animals experience when their life on earth is over and what is
waiting for them when they return home to the other side. Popular
questions such as "Does my pet miss me?" "Did he know I loved him?"
"Can he hear me when I talk to him?" "Can he come back to visit me?"
and "How will I be able to find my pet when I go home?" are answered.
The story begins when the spirit of Sylvia Browne's dog, Jolie, leaves
her body and goes home to live on the other side. Jolie runs, jumps,
and plays with her eternal friends all around the world, devoid of the
pain and suffering she was experiencing on earth. This is a comforting
account of a pet's journey through one life and on to the next that
explains how animals enjoy eternal happiness right alongside the
people who love them.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0971784345/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

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(4)....IANDS in the Spotlight
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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

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(5)....Odds and Ends
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Copyright (c) 2004 Near-Death Experiences & the Afterlife
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