"Think of stepping on the shore and finding it heaven,
of touching a hand and finding it God's,
of breathing new air and finding it celestial,
of waking up in glory and finding it home." - Don Wyrtzen

============================================
Near-Death Newsletter.................................... July 1, 2005
www.near-death.com ..................... Vol. 04, No. 07, Ed. 01
============================================

This is a free semi-monthly newsletter from www.near-death.com
which is emailed to subscribers every 1st of the month and
on every 15th of the month. The mission of this newsletter is
to provide the latest news on the subject of near-death
experiences and related phenomena and to promote IANDS
(International Association for Near-Death Studies), near-death
researchers, experiencers, events, and multimedia resources.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is not affiliated with IANDS; but the
author of this newsletter, Kevin Williams, is a member of IANDS
and is dedicated to the IANDS mission. IANDS is the premier
organization for near-death research. Membership gives you
access to their prestigious Journal of Near-Death Studies and
Vital Signs newsletter. You can join IANDS at their website. Get
connected with IANDS because they will probably be the organization
who will someday provide the scientific evidence proving that human
consciousness survives death.

SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter by emailing a blank message to:
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UNSUBSCRIBE to this newsletter by emailing a blank message to:
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============================================
Downloads & Links of Interest
============================================

*** The Near-Death Newsletter (website):
http://www.near-death.com/newsletters/2005/0701.html

*** The Near-Death Newsletter (PDF ebook download):
http://www.near-death.com/ebooks/newsletters/near-death_newsletter_july_1_2005.p\
df

*** P.M.H. Atwater's Column for July (website):
http://www.near-death.com/atwater/column/index.html

*** P.M.H. Atwater's Column for July (PDF ebook download):
http://www.near-death.com/ebooks/atwater/column/pmh_atwaters_column_july_2005.pd\
f

*** Near-Death.com's Online NDE Store:
http://tinyurl.com/bk3td

============================================
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)
September is almost here. Look for my newest book, "Beyond the
Indigo Children: The New Children and the Coming of the Fifth World"
(Inner Traditions). You can order the book now from the publisher
or Amazon (see the links provided below). What would really help,
though, is if you went to your favorite local bookstore and ordered it
there. If enough people do that, it builds demand. This is what is
needed for bookstores to carry the book. The book is a powerful
treatise on the new children, their characteristics - positive/negative,
generational markers; but more importantly it puts their appearance
on the earthplane in perspective to the advance of root races (our
gene pool as humans), the great shifting, and the great ages. Should
your group want me as a speaker on this subject, refer to my website
for details then contact me directly via atwater@.... I am
thrilled to say that Tim Razzaq of "Learn 365" is sponsoring my
appearance October 9th in the inner city of Trenton New Jersey at the
Latino Community Land Trust (details on my website). I hope there
will be many more such invitations. Thank you, PMH

--- Books for ordering "Beyond the Indigo Children: The New Children
and the Coming of the Fifth World":

(1) Publisher's website: http://www.innertraditions.com/isbn/1-59143-051-8
(2) P.M.H.'s Indigo page: http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/c5pe.html
(3) Amazon book listing: http://tinyurl.com/dhjed
(4) Find a Barnes & Noble in your area:
http://storelocator.barnesandnoble.com/
(5) Order by phoning your local Barnes & Noble: http://tinyurl.com/7otsk

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scientists Kill Dog, Resurrect Hours Later
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 27, 2005) ----------------------------------- (Free Internet Press)
Scientists have created eerie zombie dogs, reanimating the
canines after several hours of clinical death in attempts to
develop suspended animation for humans. US scientists have
succeeded in reviving the dogs after three hours of clinical
death, paving the way for trials on humans within years.
Pittsburgh's Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research has
developed a technique in which subject's veins are drained
of blood and filled with an ice-cold salt solution. The animals
are considered scientifically dead, as they stop breathing and
have no heartbeat or brain activity. But three hours later, their
blood is replaced and the zombie dogs are brought back to life
with an electric shock.
http://freeinternetpress.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3901

--- Related article: "Pitt Scientists Resurrect Hope of Cheating Death":
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_348517.html

--- Related article: "Blood Swapping Reanimates Dead Dogs":
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,160903,00.html

--- Related website: Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research:
http://www.safar.pitt.edu/content/programs/safar/index_safar.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Near-Death Experiences Are Attracting the Attention of
Distinguished Researchers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 13, 2005) -------------------------------------------- (Red Nova)
When Deb Foster died in a San Diego hospital, she found herself
on a stairway surrounded by cats and dogs and mesmerized
by a celestial blue sky, the likes of which she had never seen
on Earth. When it was Mary Clare Schlesinger's turn, she hovered
above her bed in the intensive-care unit, watching her husband
and daughter react in shock and fathomless grief at the thought
of her passing. Beverly Brodsky said she went on a spectacular
journey through a tunnel of intense light, a magic ride with angels
and a shapeless God to a place of perfect knowledge, wisdom,
truth and justice. All three said the journeys on which they embarked
while "clinically dead," a period of a few moments when their hearts
stopped, transformed their lives and left them with no fear of death.
http://tinyurl.com/7s3lh

--- Related article: Beverly Brodsky's NDE on near-death.com
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/judaism02.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Extreme States
[Note: The full version of this article can be read online by registered
Discover Magazine subscribers or purchased by Discover.com members]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 1, 2005) ------------------------------------ (Discover Magazine)
After emerging from a coma caused by bacterial meningitis, young
Jamie Untinen sketched her resuscitation by pediatrician Melvin Morse’s
partner David Christopher. The figure with the red shirt is Jamie
floating out of her body. She said the rainbow represented “who I
am and where I am to go" ... Eight-year-old Crystal Merzlock nearly
drowned and was without a heartbeat for 19 minutes. She later
drew this sketch of her near-death experience, depicting herself in
heaven. She told pediatrician Melvin Morse that she recalled hearing
someone say that she must return to help with her baby brother
(pictured below the blue line), who was born months after the incident ...
As Newberg and D’Aquili point out in their book "Why God Won’t Go Away",
“the brain would have no choice but to perceive that the self is endless
and intimately interwoven with everyone and everything the mind senses.
And this perception would feel utterly and unquestionably real.” They
use the brain-scan findings to explain the interconnected cosmic unity
that the Buddhists experienced, but the results could also explain what
Morse calls the “universal, unifying thread of love” that people with
near-death experience consistently reported ... None of this work is
without controversy, but an increasing number of scientists now think
that our brains are wired for mystical experiences. The studies confirm
that these experiences are as real as any others, because our involvement
with the rest of the universe is mediated by our brains. Whether these
experiences are simply right temporal lobe activity, as many suspect,
or, as Britton’s work hints and Morse believes, a whole brain effect,
remains an open question. But Persinger thinks there is a simple
explanation for why people with near-death experience have memories
of things that occurred while they were apparently dead. The memory-forming
structures lie deep within the brain, he says, and they probably remain
active for a few minutes after brain activity in the outer cortex has stopped.
Still, Crystal Merzlock remembered events that occurred more than 19
minutes after her heart stopped. Nobody has a full explanation for this
phenomenon, and we are left in that very familiar mystical state: the one
where we still don’t have all the answers.
http://www.discover.com/issues/jul-05/features/extreme-states/

--- Special thanks to Ken Vincent for letting me know about this article:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/origen021.html

--- Related book: "Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology
of Belief" by Andrew Md Newberg, Eugene G. D'Aquili, Vince Rause
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/034544034X/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NDE Researcher Presents Evidence of the Efficacy of Prayer
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 26, 2005) -------------------------------------------- (PressBox)
Dr. Peter Fenwick, a Neuropsychiatrist from the Institute of Psychiatry,
is an expert on workings of the brain that appear to fall outside
conventional understanding. He presented his latest findings to
the Festival of Science, taking place this week at the University of
Salford. Current knowledge about the human mind cannot explain
how prayer works -suggesting that the mind has unknown powers
that can reach out and affect other people. Dr Fenwick said, "These
are very good studies, properly done. Subjects who are unaware
they are being prayed for can be significantly helped.
http://tinyurl.com/d3bop

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Artist Paints a Picture of Recovery
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 22, 2005) -------------------------------------- (Scotsman.com)
[Note: The following NDE is interesting because the experiencer
acknowledges having a NDE but is unaware that he was outside
of his body.]
Bellany, 63, described an eerie "near-death" experience. He
passed out, and friends described how he went blue, he said.
"They thought I was away, I had actually gone." But when he
woke in hospital, he was convinced he had simply got up from
the street and walked to the exhibition. "I [thought I] just walked
up to the Mitchell, because it was only about 200 yards away. I
saw all the people were there, and I said, 'Look, he won't be long'.
"I remember speaking to two or three people there, and the
organisers, the people who run the gallery. I said I had better go
back and tell them to hurry up. "I just went up and told them we
would be on our way. I must have been dead when this actually
happened. I was absolutely positive I had done this and was telling
everybody. It was about four days later that my wife, Helen said,
'You didn't go anywhere'."
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=684632005

--- Related article: "People Who Don't Know They're Dead":
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art32933.asp

--- Related website: The Official Site of John Bellany:
http://www.bellany.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suspensions & Tensions (Part I)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 2005) ------------------------------------ (Fakir Rants & Raves)
[CAUTION: This article deals with people who perform the Native
American ritual of body suspension called O-Kee-Pa to experience
NDEs. The photos are in this article are very graphic.]
"And there it was at the end of a short dark tunnel, a great
shimmering ball of white light!! It radiated intense waves of love
like I’d never felt before. This incredible love was directed at me --
personal and totally non-judgmental, unconditional, accepting. I
passionately wanted to be swallowed up by that Light. In rapid
telepathic communication, the Light spoke. It said: “Hello. I’m you
and you are Me. And I’m as close to God as you’ll ever be. I am the
One who made you and I am the One who will take you back. I
brought you here. Remember the book? I am always here to guide
you regardless of the form in which you see me”. I asked the Light,
“Do you always appear like this?” “No,” it replied, “I appear in any
form you think I can appear”. Again I asked a question, “Is there only
one of you”? The Light shimmered again and answered. “Of course not.
Everyone has a White Light, but all of us are One. And One of us is
powerful enough to create or destroy a world or universe. Let me show
you”. I cannot describe what happened then. I was led on a fantastic
tour of things made and not made and music that accompanies it all
into a Divine Order. I pleaded with the Light to embrace me. It said no,
do not come closer. If I was embraced, I could not go back. The Light
told me I had to return to my body and work through it until my task was
finished. What task? The next thing I knew, I was back in the darkened
garage laying on the floor with Davy Jones and Joe by my side. They
said I had hung deathlike for twenty minutes."
http://ww1.bmezine.com/news/fakir/20040115.html

--- Related article: "Suspensions & Tensions" (Part II)
http://ww1.bmezine.com/news/fakir/20040508.html

--- Related article: "It's Time for Volunteer "Flatliner" Experiments!"
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/editorial01.html

--- Related articles: More OBE and NDEs from O-Kee-Pa suspension:
http://ww1.bmezine.com/ritual/bme-ritu-exp-s7-001.html

--- Related website: Fakir Musafar's Body Play site:
http://www.bodyplay.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Women Fall Into Trance During Orgasm
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 2, 2005) -------------------------------------------- (Scotsman.com)
What goes on in a woman's brain during orgasm has been
scientifically revealed for the first time - almost total blackout
and sheer pleasure. The findings partially explain the mystery
of what is referred to as "la petite morte" or "the small death"
in classical works. Researchers using brain scans found they
could identify women who were "faking it" because during a
true orgasm the cortex, which controls the conscious part of the
brain, shuts down completely ... "Do you say to a women, 'here
is a near-death experience we'd like to help you achieve in order
to get an orgasm'; or do you say 'this is so wonderful, it takes you
out of yourself and we'll help you get there?'"
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=680192005

--- Related article: Margaret Birkin's NDE triggered by orgasms:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/triggers21.html

--- Related website: Dr. Jenny Wade's site on Transcendent Sex:
http://www.transcendentsex.org/pages/1/index.htm

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TV Medics Raise False Hopes of Coming Back From Dead
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 30, 2005) -------------------------------------- (Scotsman.com)
Television medical dramas which suggest patients are regularly
brought back from the dead are portraying "a terrible distortion
of reality", doctors warned yesterday. Shows such as ER, Casualty
and Holby City often depict characters being revived by cardiac
pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), through manual first aid or electronic
pads in hospital. But doctors at the British Medical Association
annual conference yesterday said fewer than half of patients whose
heart stops in hospital survive, of which only a third live to be discharged.
If they suffer an attack in the street, the situation is worse, with
only 2 per cent surviving.
http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=717542005

--- Related article: "Sudden Death Risks Highest First Month After
Heart Attack":
http://www.suntimes.com/output/health/cst-nws-heart23.html

--- Related article: "Community Rallies to Put Defibrillators in All
School Buildings":
http://www.sedaliademocrat.com/News/295893601826405.htm

--- Related product: Phillip's HeartStart Home Defibrillator:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00064CED6/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How Dreams Are a Gateway to the Spiritual Realm
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 27, 2005) --------------------------------------- (SFGate.com)
When we look at our dreams, there's a tendency to see them in
psychological terms. How do you make a connection between
dreams and spirituality? All of the world's major religions speak
in one voice on this question. They tell us that human beings are
in more direct communion with the divine in our dreams than
during any other state of consciousness. There is, in other words,
an ancient, archetypal connection between dreaming and
communion with whatever language a tradition uses to describe
the divine, whether it's God, the goddess, the ancestors, the
spirits or what have you. In addition to that, there's a sense
[in religious traditions] of the dream world as being a means of
access to the nonmaterial plane.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/archive/2005/06/27/findrelig.DTL

--- Related article: "Dreams and the NDE" on Near-Death.com:
http://www.near-death.com/dreams.html

--- Related book: "The Living Labyrinth: Universal Themes in Myths,
Dreams and the Symbolism of Waking Life" by Jeremy Taylor
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0809137666/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Book Review: "The Afterlife Experiments" by Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 2005) ----------------------------------------- (Venture Inward)
[Note: The following is a sneak preview of an article appearing
in the September/October edition of Venture Inward Magazine]
Reviewed by Henry Reed. The Afterlife Experiments Reveal Love.
What if you could have a scientific reason to believe what you
already in your heart know is true? The Afterlife Experiments:
Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life after Death (Pocket Books)
by Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D. offers such a gift for those who know
that life is eternal, that the soul survives death of the physical body.
A professor at the University of Arizona, Dr. Schwartz’s groundbreaking,
double-blind experiments have attracted a lot of attention. His
methodology removes all the skeptics’ objections to survival research
except one – that he does such research in the first place. As a
scientist, Dr. Schwartz likes to develop hypotheses and test them.
He believes that his work offers evidence that supports the hypothesis
that living info-energy systems, once created, continue indefinitely – i.e.,
that there are eternal souls. He doesn’t say he has “proof” of life after
death. How can you prove to someone else, he asks, that you love
a particular person? Not by what you say, nor by what you do,
because those words and actions could be motivated by something
other than love. You just “know” inside that you love that particular
person, but how do you “prove” it to someone else? That’s one problem.
Another problem is this: How do you know that you are correctly
interpreting what you experience as “love”? ...
http://arebookstore.com/product.asp?pn=5982&SID=I07065&EID=E070605&eicioi=58504

--- Related website: Dr. Gary Schwartz's Afterlife Experiments:
http://www.openmindsciences.com/

--- Related book: "The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific
Evidence of Life after Death" by Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743436598/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reincarnation: Best Evidence
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 17, 2005) -------------------------------------------- (Book of Thoth)
Is there good evidence for reincarnation? Researchers say yes...
[The evidence includes:] The concept of reincarnation - that our
souls may experience many lifetimes over centuries, maybe even
thousands of years - has been present in virtually every culture
since ancient times ... Past Life Regression Hypnosis ... Illnesses
and Physical Ailments ... Phobias and Nightmares ... Physical
Appearance ... Children's Spontaneous Recall and Special Knowledge ...
Handwriting ... and Birthmarks and Birth Defects.
http://tinyurl.com/awlzj

--- Related articles: Reincarnation Evidence on Near-Death.com:
http://www.near-death.com/reincarnation.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parents Think Boy Is Reincarnated Pilot
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 30, 2005) -------------------------------------------- (ABC News)
Over time, James' parents say he revealed extraordinary details
about the life of a former fighter pilot -- mostly at bedtime, when
he was drowsy. They say James told them his plane had been
hit by the Japanese and crashed. Andrea says James told his
father he flew a Corsair, and then told her, "They used to get flat
tires all the time" ... Andrea says James also told his father the
name of the boat he took off from -- Natoma -- and the name of
someone he flew with -- Jack Larson. After some research, Bruce
discovered both the Natoma and Jack Larson were real. The
Natoma Bay was a small aircraft carrier in the Pacific. And Larson
is living in Arkansas .. He said James told him he had been shot
down at Iwo Jima. James had also begun signing his crayon drawings
"James 3." Bruce soon learned that the only pilot from the squadron
killed at Iwo Jima was James M. Huston Jr. Bruce says James
also told him his plane had sustained a direct hit on the engine.
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Technology/story?id=894217&page=1

--- Related website: Carol Bowman's Children's Past Lives Research Center:
http://www.childpastlives.org/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jewish Past Lives of Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 9, 2005) ----------------------------------- (NewsReleaseWire)
Jewish past lives of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI
are presented on the web site of respected reincarnation researcher,
Walter Semkiw, MD, to commemorate the birthday of Anne Frank,
which is June 12. The reincarnation case of Barbro Karlen/Anne
Frank is also presented ... Recent reincarnation research, including
two cases studied by Dr. Stevenson at the University of Virginia,
demonstrates that from one incarnation to another, facial features,
personality traits and linguistic writing style remain the same.
Multiple independently researched cases that demonstrate these
phenomena are compiled in Dr. Semkiw’s book, “Return of the
Revolutionaries: The Case for Reincarnation and Soul Groups Reunited.”
http://tinyurl.com/d7x3l

--- Related website: Dr. Walter Semkiw's Return of the Revolutionaries:
http://www.johnadams.net/

--- Related book: Dr. Semkiw's groundbreaking book "Return of the
Revolutionaries":
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1571743421/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--- Related article: "Dorothy Dandridge - Halle Berry Reincarnation":
http://www.johnadams.net/cases/samples/Berry-Dandridge/index.html

--- Related article: "The Reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln into John F.
Kennedy":
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/reincarnation08.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Science Magazine Pops 125 Questions Scientists Have Failed to Answer
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 1, 2005) --------------------------------------- (Science Magazine)
In a special collection of articles published beginning 1 July 2005,
Science Magazine and its online companion sites celebrate
the journal's 125th anniversary with a look forward -- at the most
compelling puzzles and questions facing scientists today. A
special, free news feature in Science explores 125 big questions
that face scientific inquiry over the next quarter-century; accompanying
the feature are several online extras including a reader's forum on
the big questions. These questions include: What is the Biological
Basis of Consciousness and How Are Memories Stored and Retrieved?
When science can define consciousness it will be easier to prove
scientifically whether or not consciousness survives bodily death.
http://www.sciencemag.org/sciext/125th/

--- Related ebook: Download the free PDF ebook version of this article:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/309/5731/78b.pdf

--- Related article: A shortened summary version of this article:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/sci;309/5731/75

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brain Scans Show Hypnosis Helps to Focus the Mind
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 27, 2005) ------------------------------------------ (Nature.com)
Therapists who swear that hypnosis can help their patients now
have more evidence to back their claim. A study of brain-scan
images shows that hypnosis can indeed alter cognitive activity
after subjects have come out of the trance state, and that this
can help them concentrate on certain tasks. In a study published
this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science,
hypnotized subjects outperformed their peers at a classic test
of mental focus. And scans pinpointed the area of the brain
responsible for this lasting effect.
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050627/full/050627-2.html

--- Related article: "Hypnotic Suggestion Reduces Conflict in the
Human Brain"
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0503064102v1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Machine Reads Your Mind
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 2005) -------------------------------------------- (Netscape News)
Your private thoughts may not be so private. Scientists from
Japan and the United States have figured out how to read a
person's mind by remotely measuring brain activity, extracting
information of which the subject is not even aware. Science
fiction? No. It's real. So far it's pretty rudimentary stuff in that the
mind-reading machine can only identify visual patterns a volunteer
can see or has chosen to look at. But the researchers are hopeful
that the approach will eventually probe into a person's awareness,
focus of attention, memory, and movement intention, report
New Scientist and Scientific American.
http://tinyurl.com/cdzgh

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scientists to Create Digital Copy of Brain
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 8, 2005) -------------------------------------- (Computing.co.uk)
Swiss scientists and IBM have announced plans to create a detailed
digital model of a neocortical column, a tiny but crucial area of the
human brain. Professor Henry Markram ... says the simulation will
"phenomenally" accelerate the pace of neuroscience research.
"Some experiments, just to study one pathway, may take us three
years to complete. With this model, we could do them in a day or
even a couple of hours," he said. Under the Blue Brain project, IBM
is building a custom version of its Blue Gene supercomputer with
8,000 processors, each of which will simulate the behaviour of one
to two neurons ... "This whole machine will be converted into one tiny
little column, simulating about 10,000 neurons," said Markram.
By comparison, the human neocortical column, which measures about
half a millimetre wide and two millimetres long, contains between
50,000 and 70,000 neurons, with five to 10 kilometres of "cables"
connecting them. The entire human brain contains about a million
of these columns.
http://tinyurl.com/7apv3

--- Related article: "Scientists Utilize Molecule as Basic Transistor --
Breakthrough Could Be Important for Future Computers":
http://tinyurl.com/a84zg

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scientist Creates 3-D Holographic Video
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 15, 2005) ---------------------------------------- (Sci-Tech Today)
A University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center scientist has
developed the world's first three-dimensional holographic movies.
Harold Garner, professor of biochemistry and internal medicine,
was cited by Popular Science magazine's list of the top five "great
ideas for the future," featured in the June 2005 issue, for his invention,
a table-top black box that plays three-dimensional holographic video
footage ... "An important next step is to take our proof of principle
technology that we have now and move it into a commercial entity,"
he said. "We think the two initial markets will be in medical visualization
and military applications, such as heads-up displays for helmets and
military aircraft and coordinating battlefield information." Garner said
long-term entertainment applications of the technology could include
3-D multiplayer games, theme park, advertising displays, and "Holo TV."
http://tinyurl.com/774j7

--- Related article: "30 GigaByte Affordable Holographic Storage Next Year":
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2005Jun/gee20050614030928.htm

--- Related articles: The Holographic nature of the NDE Life Review:
http://tinyurl.com/b6ehs
http://tinyurl.com/dkmf6
http://tinyurl.com/7jtrq

--- Related article: Heavenly Computers seen in Heavenly Temples
during NDEs:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/research08.html#computers

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Teleporting Over the Internet
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 17, 2005) ------------------------------------------ (BBC News)
Computer scientists in the US are developing a system which
would allow people to "teleport" a solid 3D recreation of themselves
over the internet. Professors Todd Mowry and Seth Goldstein
of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania think that, within
a human generation, we might be able to replicate three-dimensional
objects out of a mass of material made up of small synthetic "atoms".
Cameras would capture the movement of an object or person and
then this data would be fed to the atoms, which would then assemble
themselves to make up an exact likeness of the object.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4102018.stm

--- Related article: Teleportation Breakthrough Made (June 16, 2004)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3811785.stm

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Model Permits Time Travel
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 17, 2005) -------------------------------------------- (BBC News)
If you went back in time and met your teenage parents, you could
not split them up and prevent your birth - even if you wanted to, a
new quantum model has stated. Researchers speculate that time
travel can occur within a kind of feedback loop where backwards
movement is possible, but only in a way that is "complementary"
to the present. In other words, you can pop back in time and have
a look around, but you cannot do anything that will alter the present
you left behind. The new model, which uses the laws of quantum
mechanics, gets rid of the famous paradox surrounding time travel.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4097258.stm

--- Related article: "Remembrance of Things Future: The Mystery of Time":
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/science/28time.html

--- Related article: Time travel and the NDE:
http://tinyurl.com/aual5

--- Related book: "Future Memory: How Those Who "See The Future"
Shed New Light on the Workings of the Human Mind" by P.M.H. Atwater
http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/future.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inter-Dimensional Journey to the Outer Limits of Science
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 3, 2005) -------------------------------------------- (Scotsman.com)
"Warped Passages" by Lisa Randall. This is an intelligent book
about a very complicated subject. Randall, a leading American
theoretical physicist, believes that the three dimensions of space
we see around us are not the whole story. There are other, higher
dimensions, which may explain why gravity is so much weaker
than magnetism - making it possible, for example, for us to stick
things on fridge doors. She refers to these higher dimensions as
"passages", and her explanation of them takes us through chapters
such as 'Entryway Passages', 'Restricted Passages', 'Voluminous
Passages' and even a 'Profound Passage' - all of which is apt to
raise a snigger from any Julian Clary fans ... Randall takes us through
"grand unified theories", which attempt to connect particles in a
single model, but which have the snag of predicting that every atom
in the universe will ultimately evaporate. She leads us on to superstring
theory and "brane worlds", which picture particles as tiny vibrating
filaments and the universe itself as a giant wobbly sheet.
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/review.cfm?id=729972005

--- Related book: "Warped Passages" by Lisa Randall (due for
release Sept. 2005):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060531088/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why Make a Matrix? And Why You Might Be In One
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 2005) ----------------------------- (Simulation-Argument.com)
Why the Matrix? Why did the machines do it? (Human brains
may be many things, but efficient batteries they are not.) How
could they justify a world whose inhabitants are systematically
deceived about their fundamental reality, ignorant about the
reason why they exist, and subject to all the cruelty and suffering
that we witness in the world around us? ... The existence of
unnecessary evil is one of the most powerful arguments against
the belief that the world was created by an all-powerful, all-knowing,
and perfectly good God. Theologians have spent centuries trying to
answer it, and with very questionable success. But the problem
of evil is only a problem if one assumes that the world was created
by an omnipotent and perfectly good being. If one assumes
instead that the creator was not perfectly good, and perhaps not
even omnipotent, then it would be much easier to reconcile the
view that our world was created with its seemingly obvious ethical
shortcomings. What about you? You’re not all-powerful, all-knowing,
and perfectly good. But what if you had the ability to create this
kind of Matrix, would you do it? Even if you would not have chosen
to create a world like this, there are many other people who do not
share your scruples. If these people had the ability to create Matrices,
some of their works might well look like the world in which we find ourselves.
http://www.simulation-argument.com/matrix2.html

--- Related article: The Matrix seen in NDEs:
http://tinyurl.com/88qx2

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Academic Society Looks at Death
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 5, 2005) -------------------------------------- (The Korea Times)
According to Choi, the study of thanatology, which up to now has
been almost non-existent in Korea, lies in achieving "right dying."
"Thanatology is the scientific study of death which emphasizes
the idea that death is not an extinction of life but the transition of life.
Many see this transition as a rite of passage that should be undergone
consciously and with dignity,’’ Choi said ... At the seminar, Choi
announced his paper on the theme of near-death experiences,
claiming it is not a groundless notion. "In Western countries, it has
already been considered as a subject for positive research, an
only way to approach the real substance of death and newly establish
attitude of Koreans toward death, who often excessively adhere
to death,’’ he said.
http://tinyurl.com/7nu4c

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Distant Voices
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 2005) -------------------------------------------- (Fortean Times)
Breakthrough. Seven years later, in 1959, the real breakthrough
came. Friedrich Jurgenson, a Latvian-born artist and documentary
film producer, was recording birdsong at night in the woods near
his home in Mölnbo, Sweden, for a documentary film he was
making. On playback, he noticed a man’s voice speaking Norwegian
and discussing the nocturnal habits of birds. Despite the striking
coincidence of subject, Jurgenson thought that somehow his recorder
had picked up a normal radio transmission. But he was shaken when,
recording again some weeks later, he captured another, female voice.
The voice enquired: “Friedel, my little Friedel, can you hear me?”
Friedel was Jurgenson’s pet name, and he immediately recognised
his mother’s voice. She had died four years previously. Now convinced
that he had established a link with the beyond, Jurgenson carried on
recording, capturing hundreds of discarnate voices, speaking in
numerous languages, many of which appeared to respond to him
personally and which he identified as deceased family members
and friends. Jurgenson published his findings in the 1964 book
"Voices from the Universe," attracting attention from other researchers,
including Dr. Hans Bender, head of the parapsychological research
unit of the University of Freiburg. Bender put his own team of scientists
to work on the voice phenomenon, and their results – recordings of
voices speaking recognisable words obtained by using blank tapes
and normal tape recorders in a silent environment – seemed to vindicate
the reality of Jurgenson’s experiments.
http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/194_evp1.shtml

--- Related book: "Voices From Paradise: How the Dead Speak to Us"
by Judith Chisholm:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1897766599/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctors Are Trying to Get "Complicated Grief' Recognized
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 1, 2005) ---------------------------------------- (Foster's Online)
In the months after David Golebiewski's 19-year-old daughter was
killed in a car crash, grief consumed his life. He couldn't go to
the restaurant where his daughter had worked, and he spent
five hours a day in Internet chat rooms with other parents who
lost children. Doctors say Golebiewski was suffering from
"complicated grief" -- a condition some hope will soon be
recognized by the American Psychiatric Association.
http://tinyurl.com/9hsz4

--- Related article: "New Treatment For Complicated Grief":
http://newsbureau.upmc.com/TX/ShearGriefStudy.htm

--- Related articles: JAMA's articles on Complicated Grief:
http://tinyurl.com/df6uc

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help Save Seven Lives - Be an Organ Donor
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(July 1, 2005) -------------------------------------- (Star-Exponent)
LifeNet, a non-profit agency that coordinates organ and tissue
donation started a Web site in 2003 coordinated with the
Department of Motor Vehicles. It provides information and an
opportunity for people to register as donors online. Every person
has the potential to save seven lives when they die by donating
their heart, liver, pancreas, two kidneys and both lungs, LifeNet
spokeswoman Dena Reynolds said. One person can also
enhance the lives of 50 people in need of tissue donations, such
as cornea replacements or skin for burn victims. The shortage
of organ donors exists because many people don’t document
their wish to be a donor or believe in widely-held myths, Reynolds said.
http://tinyurl.com/bxwxy

--- Related website: LifeNet
http://www.lifenet.org/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember Flim-Flam: How to Be a Modern Skeptic
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 22, 2005) -------------------------------------------- (Slate)
[Note: This is an excellent article about the sad state of affairs
of today's believers in the skeptic movement.]
"[James] Randi had for decades used his insider's knowledge of
the flim-flam trade to humiliate a generation of occultists. Chief
among his trophies was Uri Geller, an Israeli-born, disco-era mentalist
who claimed, among other things, that he had the ability to soften
metal and move a compass needle with his mind ... Since that glorious
display of public humiliation, the Amazing Randi has taken on
levitators, psychic surgeons, dowsers, and astrologers ... To us,
Uri Geller seemed small-time: The enemies we had in mind were
fundamentalist ideologues, like the ones on the Kansas school board
who have tried to demote evolution in the science curriculum. That's
the conundrum of the modern skeptics movement: Intelligent Design
theorists and deniers of global warming may very well be phonies and
scoundrels, but no one is going to debunk them in the classic sense.
You can't reveal their hidden microphones or mimic their tricks with
sleight of hand. Intelligent Design, after all, is an attempt to recast
(even to "rebunk") Creationism in scientific terms. The best weapon
against it isn't dramatic exposé, but scientific argument. So a change
in tactics makes sense for the movement."
http://slate.msn.com/id/2121239/

--- Related article: "Debunking the Pseudo-Skeptics and Debunkers
of NDEs" by Kevin Williams:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/skeptic09.html

--- Related articles: "Debunking Common Skeptical Arguments Against
Paranormal and Psychic Phenomena" by Winston Wu
http://www.victorzammit.com/skeptics/winston.html

--- Related website: James Randi Educational Foundation's articles on NDEs:
http://tinyurl.com/b5rwy

--- Related articles: Google search results - "James Randi" "near-death
experiences":
http://tinyurl.com/8aun5

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autopsy Shows Terry Schiavo was in Persistent Vegetative State
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(June 16, 2005) ------------------------------------- (The News-Herald)
The autopsy released Wednesday on Terri Schiavo backed her
husband's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative
state, finding she was severely and irreversibly brain-damaged
and blind as well. It also found no evidence that she was strangled
or otherwise abused before she collapsed. Yet medical examiners
could not say for certain what caused her sudden 1990 collapse,
long thought to have been brought on by an eating disorder.
http://tinyurl.com/7urue

--- Related articles: SourceWatch.com's archive of Terry Schiavo
Circus atrocities:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Terri_Schiavo#.22

--- Related article: A photo history of the Terry Schiavo Circus:
http://tinyurl.com/a5q6t

-----------------------------------------------------------
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

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============================================
(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, P.M.H. 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.'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

QUESTION: "I recently got a hold of one of your IANDS cassette
tapes from your talk about "Revelations" at the 2004 IANDS conference
in Illinois. I have been experiencing a lot of synchronicity lately about
the coming earth changes, the next evolutionary step for humanity,
and the year 2012. Hopefully, I will have enough free time to examine
these things further. Someone asked me a question about 2012,
which I thought would be a good question to ask you. With the
elections over and the current danger of our Republican government
turning our society into a Taliban society where women's and gays'
rights are suppressed and valuable stem-cell research possibly
becoming a 'tool of Satan' by the far-right wingnuts, I am beginning to
wonder if America is in fact losing its way. I voted for Bush because
I am a fiscal conservative and military hawk, but now I am afraid that
the radicals might try to take control of the Republican Party and
impose their own interpretation of morality on people. I am glad the
divisive election is over. I am not certain whether the bitter resentments
from both sides are a healthy thing for our democracy." -- Kendall.

Read P.M.H.'s answers
here: http://www.near-death.com/atwater/column/index.html

Buy P.M.H. Atwater's audio cassette "Revelations" online ($9):
http://tinyurl.com/axam2

Blessings, P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D.

--- P.M.H. Atwater's website: http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/
--- Atwater's research on near-death.com:
http://www.near-death.com/atwater.html
--- Atwater's Marketplace (a public service):
http://www.cinemind.com/atwater/goddessrunes.html

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

*** More NDE books available at the Online NDE Store:
http://tinyurl.com/bk3td

Newly Released NDE and NDE-Related Books on Amazon:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Grief and Grieving : Finding the Meaning of Grief Through
the Five Stages of Loss
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, David Kessler ..... (Availability: Now)
Shortly before her death in 2004, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David
Kessler, her collaborator, completed the manuscript for this, her
final book. On Grief and Grieving is a fitting completion to her
work. Thirty-six years and sixteen books ago, Kübler-Ross's
groundbreaking On Death and Dying changed the way we talk
about the end of life. Now On Grief and Grieving will profoundly
influence the way we experience the process of grief. On Death
and Dying began as a theoretical book, an interdisciplinary study
of our fear of death and our inevitable acceptance of it. It introduced
the world to the now-famous five stages: denial, anger, bargaining,
depression, and acceptance. On Grief and Grieving applies these
stages to the process of grieving and weaves together theory,
inspiration, and practical advice, all based on Kübler-Ross's and
Kessler's professional and personal experiences, and is filled with
brief, topic-driven stories. It includes sections on sadness, hauntings,
dreams, coping, children, healing, isolation, and even the subject
of sex during grief. "I know death is close," Kübler-Ross says
at the end of the book, "but not quite yet. I lie here like so many
people over the years, in a bed surrounded by flowers and
looking out a big window ... I now know that the purpose of my
life is more than these stages ... It is not just about the life lost
but also the life lived." In one of their final writing sessions, Kübler-Ross
told Kessler, "The last nine years have taught me patience, and
the weaker and more bed-bound I become, the more I'm learning
about receiving love." On Grief and Grieving is Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's
final legacy, one that brings her life's work profoundly full circle.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743266285/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dreaming beyond Death: A Guide to Pre-Death Dreams and Visions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Kelly Bulkeley, Rev. Patricia Bulkley .... (Availability: Now)
Documented throughout time and across cultures, dreams
experienced by those on the verge of death can offer profound
insight into the process of dying and provide deep spiritual solace
for the individual passing away. In Dreaming Beyond Death,
Kelly Bulkeley and Patricia Bulkley bring together their diverse
areas of expertise to create a guide to pre-death dreams that
offers practical advice and provides a broader understanding
of this phenomenon. Drawing from a rich understanding of dreaming
in culture, history, psychology, and through modern dream study,
this book explicitly addresses three common aspects of pre-death
dreams and offers interpretations that will aid both the dying person
and the caregiver. Rev. Patricia Bulkley's experience with the
transformative possibilities of pre-death dreams as a hospice spiritual
counselor lend this book a deeply personal and human touch, while
Kelly Bulkeley's insightful analysis and intellectual framework make it
easy to understand the deeper meanings behind this type of dreaming.
A final chapter provides resources and concrete methods for a caregiver
to respectfully guide a dying person through the dreaming process and,
ultimately, to a sense of peace.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0807077208/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--- Related website: The International Association for the Study of Dreams
http://www.asdreams.org/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Window to God: A Physician's Spiritual Pilgrimage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by T. Lee Baumann ................................ (Availability: Now)
Author T. Lee Baumann was introduced to the Edgar Cayce
material through the publication of his first book, "God at the
Speed of Light." Upon that discovery, Dr. Baumann began to
research Cayce's special gifts and the credibility of his readings,
medical and spiritual. In this book Baumann takes many of the
medical and spiritual readings and analyzes them through the
use of scientific and experimental data, medical references,
quantum physics texts, the world's major religions, and more.
Baumann was continually amazed at the knowledge Edgar Cayce,
a man with only an eighth-grade education, possessed. In this
book you will read the words of a medical doctor and former skeptic
as he explores the world of America's most documented psychic
and his amazing contribution to the medical and esoteric worlds,
as T.L. Baumann opens the Window to God.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0876045069/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--- Related article: T. Lee Baumann's "God at the Speed of Light" page:
http://www.near-death.com/physics.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soul Signs: An Elemental Guide to Your Spiritual Destiny
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Rosemary Altea ...................................... (Availability: Now)
In Soul Signs, internationally renowned spiritual medium Rosemary
Altea (The Eagle and the Rose) introduces us to a system of soul
typing that encompasses all living beings and explores the true
nature of the soul. Moving beyond the well known astrological
and sun signs, Rosemary Altea has created an entirely new
system for understanding our signs. She describes a constellation
of qualities derived from the soul that explain our personality, our
drive, and enable us to understand our most fundamental selves.
Are you a strong-willed, emotionally driven, perfectionist Retrospective
soul? A thrill-seeking, nonconformist, romantic but fickle Traveler soul?
What about your mate? There are 13 soul signs in all. Once readers
learn the science behind soul typing, they will enjoy "typing" their
friends, family, and even celebrities to better understand why some
people seem so happy, others at war with themselves, and-the
most fun - who belongs together.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159486229X/ref=nosim/neardeathexpe-20

--- Related website: Rosemary Altea's"Voice of the Spirit World" website:
http://www.rosemaryaltea.com/index1.cfm

============================================
(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 when you join IANDS. P.M.H. Atwater's 480-page
book has been called the "Encyclopedia of the NDE." This
offer is good while supplies last. Go to IANDS's join page for
more information about becoming a member:
https://www.iands.org/joincard.html

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

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============================================
Copyright (c) 2005 Near-Death Experiences & the Afterlife
============================================

Peace and Light,

Kevin R. Williams
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Webmaster of "Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife"
http://www.near-death.com
Author of the NDE book "Nothing Better Than Death"
http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=15695
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us.
Rather, our concern must be to live while we're alive -- to release
our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living
behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions
of who and what we are." - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross