Near-death experiences may come without any notice, and may leave this lasting change which will last longer than the medical crisis itself. Those who recount them tend to say that the experience happened as strangely vivid, beyond the ability to name in an ordinary language, and related to a permanent re-arrangement of that which is important.
Other studies that compare individuals who underwent near-death experiences with those who did not undergo such events on life-threatening situations indicate that closeness to death is in itself inadequate to explain the change. The post-effects are reflected in values, relationships, and daily decision-making, either in a mild sense, or as a shock.
1. A values inversion which lasts longer than the hospital
A huge research involving 834 near-death experience participants reported changes that transcended beyond recovery or gratitude, involving profound change in attitudes and values regarding the spiritual nature relative to those who endured life-threatening situations without having an NDE. Changes that were reported were less fear of death, greater compassion, and more significant awareness that life has a purpose. Several also spoke of rearranged priorities, whereby, spiritual or religious life was more important than ever.
2. Reduction in fear that modifies the feeling of living
Clinicians who interview experientialists can hear over and over that fear subsides, not merely the fear of dying, but fear of living. Psychiatrist Bruce Greyson found that a similar pattern was widespread among patients: “Others said that when you lose the fear of dying, you lose the fear of living, too. This change can manifest itself in the form of being more willing to be more honest, trying something one has always wanted to change, or not regarding life as a thing to survive until further notice.
3. Memories more real than real that do not go away
Near-death experiences are often vividly recollected with a powerful clarity and emotive power. Greyson reported that he is frequently told by people, I cannot tell you what happened. It is indescribable, and I intend an expression of the impossibility of fitting a vivid experience of inner activity into ordinary prose. Such intensity may make the experience seem like a standard by which later memories are rearranged, not so much like a past narrative, but as a process that continues to happen in the present.
4. An epidemic of empathy associated with ego dissolution
Certain scholars associate post-NDE social changes with the change in the experience of the self. On the out-of-body experiences, a UVA group that reviewed out-of-body experiences indicated that the loss of body can be accompanied by the merging of the ego, which can result in more connectivity and compassion toward other people; they write, The detachment of the physical body typically gives rise to a sense of interrelatedness with all life and emotional attachment to others on a deeper level. It is not that empathy is a moral choice to make later in this framing, but a long-term perceptual change regarding what is and is not me.
5. Unless it is meaningful, work becomes unbearable
Going back to normal life may provide a bizarre dissonance: same work, same conferences, but same yardstick. During post-NDE interviews with working adults, participants reported that they lost patience with any work that seemed empty. One of the participants expressed the new disrespectfulness in a plain manner: I was not in the mood of doing nonsense I simply was not going to spend time on nonsense and some others talked about career change, a lack of interest in status, and internal consistency in motivation as opposed to extrinsic rewards.
6. Connections become stronger-and even disintegrate
The returning person may face difficulties in being seen by the families and friends. A clinical observation indicates that the incongruence between new attitudes and old expectations, which may interfere with roles and lifestyle, and that the incongruencies between values are associated with strains in relationships such as the relatively high divorce rate among NDEr. It does not necessarily include dramatic conflict, but can be more subtle, the loss of a certain degree of tolerance to a superficial level of connection, the exigence of honesty and a new perception of what support is supposed to resemble.
7. An emerging form of spirituality that is not necessarily in line with previous beliefs
Near-death experiences are commonly referred to as validating existing faith but research summaries indicate a more complex trend. According to the cross-cultural comparisons, beliefs that come before the interpretation cause influence, and a significant number of individuals continue to report interpretation aspects that are contradictory to expectation. The consequence in the long run may be an individual spirituality, awkwardly enclosed by an ancient tradition-or a broadened interest which is bigger than a single body of dogma.
8. No one answered, being afraid of being mocked
Even to clinicians, many people do not mention their experience right after, and even after a short time. Greyson has stated that 10%-20 percent of patients who have suffered a cardiac arrest may report an NDE, provided they are interviewed, yet are very concerned about the possibility of being discontinued. Medical summaries also explain how the negative responses may deter admission, with some of the experiential cases saying that they doubt their sanity and postponing the process of reintegration, which will enable them to resume normal lives.
9. The necessity to support is an aspect of restoration
To some part of the experience takers, the post-discharge struggle starts when trying to find where the experience fits in the life that had not accommodated it. Researchers of UVA who studied post-NDE found that 64 percent of them sought help and that 78 percent of them found that help helpful which indicates that integration is an ordinary activity which is practical rather than some complication. The best aid may not be arguing of what actually occurred, but a guide through transformed values, increased sensitivity, and relationship changes that may be the result.
The recurring pattern across the studies and interviews is not any given belief or vision, but a reworking of priorities towards meaning, connection and a new relation to mortality. Such transformations may be received as either a gift or a disruption or a combination of both.
What comes out is a portrait of post-NDE waking life as a continued adaptation: the need to learn how to live with the memories that have become strangely palpable, the values that no longer belong to old habits, the new demand that the daily decisions be significant.
