Can science explain what people see and feel during a near-death experience?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
For hundreds of years, people of all ages, from all over the world, have told similar stories about moments their lives were in real peril: an intense white light, a sense of tranquility and feeling as if they were somehow floating above their body.
For neurologists, these so-called near-death experiences have a neural basis, one that may, according to new research, be similar to what goes on in the brain during certain sleep disturbances.
"I have a theory that near-death experiences may occur when the brain is still functionally and structurally intact," said Dr. Daniel Kondziella, a neurologist at the University of Copenhagen.
Kondziella is the lead author of new research on near-death experiences that is being presented Saturday at a meeting of the European Academy of Neurology Congress. His findings, which have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, suggest that the typical hallmarks of such episodes, such as bright white light and a sense of tranquility, are most likely the result of neural activity in the brain, similar to what goes on during a phenomenon called sleep paralysis.
"I do think these experiences can be triggered in situations with imminent death," Kondziella told NBC News. "But while perceiving these experiences, brain networks are working to be able to store those experiences, to be able to be resuscitated, to retrieve those memories, and to tell us about them."
"I think that before passing out, they have the near-death experience. When they are then resuscitated, the last thing that they remember is that experience," he said.
Near-death experience and sleep paralysis
Kondziella's study was based on questionnaires given anonymously to 1,034 people online. The questionnaires began with a single query: Have you ever had a near-death experience?
The definition of such an experience was broad: "Any conscious perceptual experience, including emotional, self-related, spiritual and/or mystical experiences, occurring in a person close to death or in situations of intense physical or emotional danger." And because the responses came from anonymous individuals, it was impossible for the researchers to confirm any of the responses.
Those caveats aside, the researchers found that 106 people, or about 10 percent of the respondents, reported what was considered to be a "true" near-death experience.
What's more, participants who reported near-death episodes were also more likely to have a history of extreme and vivid sleep disturbances, referred to as REM sleep intrusion (REM is rapid eye movement).
That finding, the researchers said, boosted the theory that these experiences have a neurological basis.
"REM sleep is the kind of sleep where we do most of our vivid dreaming," said Dr. Kevin Nelson, a neuromuscular neurologist affiliated with the University of Kentucky. He was not involved in the study, but published similar research more than a decade ago.
Nelson explained that there are only three states of consciousness in which the brain can exist: awake, non-REM sleep and REM sleep.
Sometimes I wake at night, and I can't move.
During REM sleep, when a person is dreaming, most of the muscles in the body are paralyzed so dreams aren't acted out physically.
Usually, a switch in the brain allows people to move seamlessly from one state of consciousness to another. But sometimes, that switch doesn't work properly, allowing REM sleep and waking to blend.
"So you’ll have elements of the REM system occurring while a person is essentially awake," Nelson said. "People may wake up and they’ll be paralyzed and unable to move. They may have visual or auditory hallucinations. Usually they’re terrified."
This phenomenon is called sleep paralysis, and it was described by some of the respondents in the study. "Sometimes I wake at night, and I can't move," one participant wrote. "I see strange things, like spirits or demons at my door, and after a while I see them coming beside me. I can't move or talk, and they sit on my chest. It scares the hell out of me!"
A 2011 review estimated nearly 8 percent of the world's population has experienced at least one episode of sleep paralysis in their lifetime, and not all experiences are as vivid or scary.
Both Kondziella and Nelson suggest the brain mechanisms responsible for these sleep disturbances also allow people to visualize experiences when their lives are truly in danger, a hypothesis that is bolstered by the study's finding that there is overlap between those who report experiencing both phenomena.
"People whose brains are more likely to blend REM and waking consciousness — under the right circumstances — are much more likely to have a near-death experience," Nelson said.
Nelson also said the part of the brain that allows people to be aware of where they are physically — standing up, lying down, sitting on a chair — is turned off during REM sleep. This may explain in part why some people have out-of-body experiences.
Are near-death experiences real?
Some outside experts were skeptical of the study, and in particular, the finding that one in 10 people have had a near-death experience.
"If anything, I think it’s more likely that people are reporting sleep events erroneously as near-death experiences based on this study," said Dr. Donn Dexter, a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and a neurologist with the Mayo Clinic Health System.
Kondziella was quick to defend what people experience as near-death episodes, which are often reported to be life-changing and spiritually meaningful.
"As a scientist, I think there is a biological explanation," he said. "But if there is a deeper meaning for them, that is a question for philosophers and religious leaders."
All of the neurologists agreed that there is room for both science and faith in the same conversation about near-death experiences.
"You can be a scientist and still have strong faith," Dexter said. "With science, you have to have a theory, a hypothesis that you can prove false. You can’t prove somebody’s faith false."
"There will always be mysteries that can’t be solved," Nelson added. "But it does no harm to the mystery to know a little bit more about it."
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This is a topic I am deeply interested in. I find it interesting the different views on it. I personally know someone who had a near-death experience and I think that there are things that happen that can't be explained by science alone, and I am hardly a spiritual person.
So what do you think? Is the brain going through some sort of chemical changes at death or is it something more complex? Is death like REM sleep or just an imitator?
I lean more towards chemical changes, with qualities of REM as a side effect. If the body is shutting down as it approaches death, biochemical changes as a result can also affect neurological functioning, resulting in what some might view as a "near death experience." The brain might also be trying to mitigate the trauma (for lack of a better term) associated with dying, kind of like how it releases endorphins in response to painful stimuli. That, coupled with subconscious thought and memory might give us the "experience" of seeing loved ones or happier times. This is a simplistic explanation that belies the actual complexity of that process. I doubt there is anything metaphysical or supernatural about it.
Gordy,
The science teacher in me agrees with you, but it still doesn't explain why there have been so many reported cases of knowing exactly what has been going on in other rooms of the hospital.
Also recently, they found out that they can revive dead brains. That is something new to the mix.
Do you doubt that in these cases (NDE's) only-- or do you doubt that anything metaphysical or supernatural actually ever exists at all?
I doubt any claims for which there is no evidence, especially the more outrageous ones like supernatural claims.
Same here.
The human mind has demonstrated amazing abilities to believe (and to imagine things in which to believe). Unless the belief is grounded in verifiable facts and sound reasoning, the most prudent approach is to be skeptical. And, indeed, the grander the claim the stronger the evidence needed to corroborate.
I doubt any claims for which there is no evidence, especially the more outrageous ones like supernatural claims.
That is a good attitude to have. It is really pretty amazing the stuff people believe, just because it reinforces a previously strongly held belief system. (We see this every day online in political discussions, but its the same thing with discussions about non-political beliefs as well-- for example, discussions about religion).
I am appraoching this differently that most people here as I've always been extremely curious-- even as a child.
In High School I was a real science nerd. ...
My first interest was in High School where I came across the work of J.B. Rhine- - he was doing experiments at Duke University trying to Scientifically prove-- or disprove-- the existence of Psychic ability.
(Unfortunately there are many vested interest in having it proven or disproven-- so a lot of what you can find on the Internet is biased.
I lost interest in parapsychology but in the 1980s I was introduced to the tarot, and have had many years of experience doingTtarot (Psychic) readings. I have also studied Astrology continuously for over 35 years. I have also witnessed first hand some amazing acts of telekinesis ("mind over matter"). So I have many experiences which, while I find to be quite fascinating, can't really be discussed and understood by anyone who hasn't experienced them...
This insomniac has seen death up close and personal way too many times.
IMO the reports of near death experiences lend support for the idea that there is a spiritual self that is separate from the physical self.
The US Air Force and NASA have conducted extensive research on hypoxia and diminished blood flow to the brain. Both are biological conditions observed near death. If near death experiences were the result of biochemical or biological changes in the brain then the USAF and NASA research should have observed these types of near death responses. To my knowledge the USAF and NASA research only shows that the brain shuts down.
The suggestion that near death experiences are some sort of neurological response ignores the research that has been conducted. IMO that explanation is unsatisfactory.
When I was 4 y/o I went fishing with my Grandparents at a lake near their house. My Grandfather had prepared me a small fishing pole and I sat on the end of the short pier with him and my Grandmother anxiously waiting for my bobber to tell me there was a fish on my hook. When I suddenly saw the bobber going up and down I jumped up and started to try and bring the fish in, but, lost my balance and fell into the lake. I could not swim and slowly began to sink down under the water. As I was looking up at the water I suddenly saw the face of a little girl who looked just like me. At first I was scared, but, all of a sudden I felt comfortable with what I saw. She seemed to reach out to me and smiled. As my Grandfather was pulling me up out of the water I wondered who she was, and why she looked so much like me.
Later I told my Mother about it and she laughed saying that it was just my imagination. But, I know what I saw and it was too real to be my imagination. For the longest time I dreamed about that face smiling at me.
As I grew older there were some physical oddities found, such as my intestines being reversed and two ankles on my left foot. As time went on I kept thinking about that encounter with my look alike in the lake many years ago. About 10 years ago I met a Spiritualist who suddenly asked me if I had a twin sister. I told her no, just an older Brother. She looked at me and shook her head, then asked me if I ever felt like I was someone else and I said yes. That is when I told her about the incident at the lake. She smiled and said, "You were supposed to be a twin. And that was your twin sister that you met that day."
At first I though she was kidding, but, the more I thought about it, and the mirror image of me that I saw smiling back at me under the water that day, the more it seemed it could make sense. All I know is that the appearance of that young girl who looked like me was not my imagination. And I have often wondered if some of the strange things that have happened to me during my life are not related to that event.
The really weird ones are the people who come back with information they shouldn't have like things people were saying and doing while they were unconscious - and not necessarily something they could have heard.
That is exactly what I am talking about. When my sister's brother in law died ( he was dead for 5 min), he knew about events going on elsewhere in the hospital and he was 100% right. When this happens the medical community does take notes. Cardio-thoracic surgeons in particular since it happens most often to them.
there is only one way to be dead, and that is forever.
Dead means the permanent abscense of life.
OK Criswell , tell us how someone who has actually died can come back to life?
Most people don't even think Jesus did it.
Clarification: Near death although I thought that was pretty much a given.
BF is near me smacking him upside the head. (joke people). Please keep this article non political.
Except when fishing.
All Christians believe he did. Our religion could not exist sans that fact. Your majority statement is true regarding the whole earth population for now.
Which in no way lends any credibility to the claim of Jesus bring anyone back from the dead, including himself.
Sounds like there are still some rational people in the world.
As I seeded elsewhere, reason without faith is dead. No one really cares what secularists think of the fact that Jesus brought people back to life and was in fact resurrected Himself. Interesting that you think everyone except Christians to be rational today.
Reason without faith (accepting as true that which is merely told to you) is what enables a free, thriving society. Faith causes people in 2019 to actually believe the Earth is less than 10,000 years old (among other demonstrable nonsense).
Near death experiences should not be evaluated (or exaggerated) based on faith, but rather based on good evidence and solid reasoning.
Rational. Reason allows rational and critical/logical thinking. Faith tends to stifle that.
How is that a fact when you have zero evidence to support it? All you have is belief and hearsay. That's hardly factually based or sound evidence.
I didn't say everyone was rational. Religious belief itself is generally irrational (and intellectually dishonest) at its core. We very clearly see this with beliefs (among others) that god/s are real, despite no evidence for them as well as belief in flat/young earth despite contradictory evidence.
But what kind of evicence would you accept?
If someone told you that they had such an experience-- how would you know if they were lying?
Or if they really didn't experience what they thought they did-- even if they were trying to be honest.
I wonder if we can ever know what another person has experienced (unless we've had a similar experience-- and even then how can we know our experience of, frop example "white light" was the same as their experience?)
Actually my question is how would we know they were telling the truth and that what they perceived was real (versus hallucination). Generally I think they are being honest in what they perceived.
Depends on the claim. I accept that NDE typically involve people feeling calm, seeing bright white and often involve out-of-body sensations. I think we can accumulate evidence like that. But what now is the claim based on that evidence?
Physiological processes, especially within the brain, can produce such feelings.
A Jedi once taught me, the initiation of violence is always wrong.
A Jedi once nearly taught me that as well!
I have see instances of that sort of knowing by numerous people-- while they were fully alive! While it may happen spontaneously to some pwoplwe experiencing NDAs,-- that situation is not bnecessary to experience psychic phenomena!
"All"?
Are you sure about that?
I have known Christians who feel that there is a lot of wisdom in The Bible. And especially, of course in Jesus' preachings. However, these particular people feel that the Bible, etc is not meant to be taken literally. Rather, its allegorical-- symbolic.
[Deleted]
In both of my personal experiences all I saw was white. Total whiteness, more so than even a blizzard. Just whiteness.
Although I was in a room with people and in the middle of conversation, I couldn't hear anything and was not interested in speaking. I focused on keeping my hands in the position I last saw them.
There was no panic or sense of dread. Then, eventually, I came back.
Dave,
You died twice! Yikes!
Maybe you were put on hold?
LOL, maybe I was.
I know one person who reported a near-death experience, after a severe heart attack. He said everything was very bright, and he felt very calm. He said he's no longer afraid to go when his time comes, because he knows he will be fine.
Whether it has a deeper meaning than biochemical, I have no idea. For his sake, I'm glad he found he experience comforting. Having a heart attack is bad enough without having a traumatic experience afterward, be it a dream, hallucination, or honest trip to the hereafter, if such a thing exists.
My understanding is, this happens when there is an oxygen shortage to the brain.
In all near death experiences, there is no oxygen to the brain.
Yeah, which means you are about gone.
I failed to mention, I wasn't ready to lose my loved ones. Unfortunately, that was in second place behind the position of my hands. For some reason that seemed more immediate.
You had unfinished business with your hands?
LOL. I don't know. All I know as I went out I was in the middle of making gestures then things went white. My last connection to the world were my hands in mid motion and I held on to those gestures until it all came came back.
LOL, careful there.
I think your hands were a way of focusing on coming back. Maybe when life is held in the balance our brains help us to get through it, if possible.
Larry (who I was talking about) saw the light and said "Oh no, I'm not ready to leave yet". He said the light was omnipresent, even while he could experience other things among the living. So it sounds like you had similar experiences.
Maybe you are right. I wanted to see Julia and Irina again and I held on to what I could.
Irina was still in Ukraine at the time and Julia had to live through it. Scared the shit out of her. She is a fighter too.
Spent many years as a paramedic where oxygen to the brain was paramount.
Seems too much oxygen to the brain is as bad as not enough.
Life, though often perceived as strong, really is in such a delicate balance. Isn't it?
Now that I find to be amazing! (That every person who has had a near death experience had had the forsight to make sure the proper instrumentation was hooked up to their brain just before having the NDE-- so that it could be measured for oxygen!).
People who are dying or near death in an ICU or other higher level of care settings are typically hooked up to monitors measuring vital signs, including oxygen saturation. Oxygen levels can be measured and observed decreasing as the respiratory and circulatory systems are compromised or failing. Cerebral oximetry can measure oxygen levels within the brain itself. While some oxygen can get to the brain (unless there is total respiratory/circulatory failure), it may not be enough for adequate neurological functioning. The brain does require a lot of oxygen (and glucose) for proper functioning.
Larry has a rare gift. He had mentioned that he often saw Auras. (Interestingly, he didn't know what they were).
My last connection to the world were my hands in mid motion and I held on to those gestures until it all came came back.
Hands?
For in and out, above, about, below,
'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show,
Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun,
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.
[...]
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
There have been reports of really bad experiences. They are pretty much all the same. Dark room, facing things they have done.
That must be a rude awakening, pun intended.
They may be a preview of what is to come. The dark foreboding and questioning a view of a price yet to be paid and light and other experiences a view of the reward yet to come.
I have almost died more times than I can count on my fingers and toes. the only thing that ever sticks in my mind is the feeling of relief and curiosity. and then my eyes open, maybe days later, and I'm back for another round
even my family is starting to wonder why I wont die... LOL I reckon maybe is a punishment. I'm not getting out of here so easy as that.. LOL
hint for future explorers: death only hurts while ya hang on to life. accept your fate and it becomes painless.
It’s simply human to want to continue to live and be with loved ones, even with the knowledge that for believers their next waking moment is seeing Jesus and ascending up to Heaven with him at the 2nd coming.
true, but if you have ever drowned you would know there is a point when we realize what we want is no longer in our control.
drowning is by far the most pain I have ever felt. there is no fair comparison here. but, once I accepted my fate, all pain went away.
one would think being on fire would top that chart but the truth is, I found fire feels a lot like ice.
and on the flip side... recovery after drowning is faster and more fun than recovering from being on fire. I paddled back out the day after I drowned. while I stayed in bed for near 6months after I burned. infections... yadda yadda.
cheers
Sure. But rational people also understand the reality of things too, without a need to reject reality and facts in favor or emotional appeals.
That's not actual knowledge. That's just more belief and an emotional comforting mechanism too.
I temporarily flatlined due to a horrendous head wound many years ago, suffered in a bad motorcycle wreck, which required 311 stitches to patch my noggin back together again. I know. It explains a lot. The distinct memory I have of that experience is of peace and the overwhelming realization that many, if not all, of the random things I had found worrisome in my life were in fact immaterial and mostly unimportant in the eternal timeless cosmic schemes of all things. That, everything was as it should be and everything was going to be okay. That, as it was before my individual consciousness, it would be again and that was just fine. I remembered what is was like sans self awareness and I liked it. In fact, it was comforting to be absorbed into all things freely releasing whatever I had been before. That the oblivion was comforting, peaceful and embracing. I have never feared death since...
Do not get me wrong. I do not want to die. I am just not worried about it anymore.
No. Not right now. They can come up with plausible ideas, but one thing we should note about those ideas is that they pretty much exclude any consideration of any theory beyond autonomic activity resulting in the mind "placing tricks" on itself. So, even "scientific" attempts at explanation are not very useful - nor are they very scientific.
I almost died last year. I was barely alive when the EMTs got me to the hospital. I spent four days in the ICU followed by two weeks of hospitalization.
When I was dying my whole sex life passed before my eyes. I enjoyed the porn show for approximately 24 hours while laying face down on the floor unable to move. It was frustrating because I couldn't even get my hand on my genitals.
Many of you probably think I'm lying, but this is a true story. Maybe dream "science" can explain my experience.
Research Digest
SLEEP AND DREAMING September 19, 2012
Does sleeping face-down induce more sexual dreams?
See, it is always goo to look for the silver lining.
Well, maybe goo is okay too...
I thought it was an intentional slip up. hahahahahaha
LOL.
Those Freudian things, you never know...?
Well, it wasn't a wet dream in the traditional sense, but I was lying in a huge puddle of sweat (on a tile floor). I was fucking freezing so I don't know why I was sweating. Maybe I was sweaty because of the free porn.
The show was excellent. I had completely forgotten about some of the women I had slept with (especially some of the one night stands) but the "vision" was amazingly complete. I wish I didn't have to relive some of the smells, but that was part of the "show". I was even confronted by a nipple hair from the past. What was weird was the feeling that I still loved them all.
Sorry, that was probably TMI.
Wow, speaking of Freudian ; your comment was #69 on this thread.
Totally understandable. Nothing to be ashamed about when your body is doing everything it can to keep alive.
Cheers mate, have a few beers or whatever works.
Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
I am thinking 2 women saved my life. They prefer being called girls, so do their moms and grandmoms.
See avatar.
Now I know what NewStalkers means.
Please stop hitting on me.
You should focus your attention on someone who gives a fuck about you because I don't.
La petite mort?
Fuzzy math?
Yes you've replied to me two times on this thread.
You also "confronted" me on my article, Trump's Latest Photo Op With Kim Jong Un (6 comments).
And you posted 7 comments on my article, BREAKING NEWS! Trump Defects To Russia.
You can post comments and replies anywhere you want, but why deny it?
Those Freudian things, you never know...?
Perhaps it was a Freudian Slip?
Holy shit! Dave's comments went all white!
I hope he's not having a near-death experience!
I am able to see auras of other people and have been able to do so since I was a very young child.
I have been to houses that I could never have been before in a town I could never have been to before, and yet before I even entered the house I knew where every thing in the house was, the color of every room, and even the color and style of the dress on a bed doll in one of the bedrooms. This has happened many times in my life.
Also, I have met people whom I could never have met before, yet, I knew what they were going to say before they said it, and even correctly replied before they barely got the words out of their mouth.
In the beginning these experiences were very unnerving, but, their frequency has now become almost a normal experience.
However.....there were two experiences that left me totally confused and shaken. One was when I was sitting alone in my room and suddenly out of the blue I heard a child screaming in horrific pain. It seemed to be coming from our bathroom. I walked into the bathroom and the screaming got louder. I looked all around and saw nothing. I went outside and saw nothing, and then the screaming suddenly stopped. I walked back in the house and the screaming started again, but, was getting fainter and fainter. I walked back into the bathroom and then the screaming suddenly stopped.
I walked out into the living room and asked my Mother and Father if they heard the screaming and they both looked at me strangely and shook their heads no. The next day on the news I heard that a 4 y/o child in San Diego was scalded to death. She had been murdered by her Aunt who scalded her to death in their bathtub at approximately the same time I heard the child screams.
The story of the case is here:
Several years later I was sleeping in my room when I suddenly heard screaming that sounded like a woman outside my bedroom window. I got up and looked outside and saw nothing. As the screaming continued I went outside and looked around. Our back yard abutted the field in the back of the grade school just two doors up from us. The screams continued and I tried to determine where they were coming from. But, a thicket of sugar cane lined our side of the fence between our back yard and the school grounds and I could not see anything. It was about 4:00 am and I went back in the house and woke up my Daughter and asked her if she heard a woman screaming for help. She listened for a bit then shook her head no. My Mother did not hear anything either, so I went back to bed, but, the screaming continued for a bit longer, then suddenly stopped.
The next morning there were police and emergency vehicles were at the school. We were told that a young woman, possibly a runaway, was found dead in the school grounds in back of our house. That time my nerves were truly shaken. It seems that I was the only one who heard the screaming coming from that area of the school grounds. Why I heard it when no one else did still haunts me yet today.
I don't know why these events happened to me, and wish I had some kind of explanation. Maybe someday I will find the answer.
Dear Friend Raven Wing: You are more attuned than others to things not directly, yet still experienced.
That ins't always a pleasant quality to have.
It is still there.
Over time, there may be a way to harness it for the good of others in distress.
In this life or afterwards all may well be made clear.
For now, "go with the flow".
You are not alone in having this highly developed receptivity.
Peace and Abundant Blessings.
Enoch.
Dear Friend and Mentor Enoch,
Thank you so much for your words of wisdom and understanding. I guess the troubling part is not knowing why I have the ability. While I am sure that I am not alone in this kind of ability, if I knew how to use it in a helpful way it would at least give some meaning to it.
However, there is nothing at this point to do but 'go with the flow" as you say. Perhaps it is an unknown part of my Spirituality that will make itself known at some point in the future, or as you say, in the next life.
Many Blessings to you and Mrs E. (smile)
While I am sure that I am not alone in this kind of ability, if I knew how to use it in a helpful way it would at least give some meaning to it.
My experience has been that the first step for people to take in having something like that to happen is-- to "set you intention". Be clear you want to manifest know how to use these abilities in a helpful way.
A useful next step might be to ask for guidance from a "higher power" in knowing how to use it. (Which "higher Power" you ask for guidance is, of course, your choice...based on whatever spiritual path you yourself choose to follow).
Thank you for your words of wisdom and encouragement, Krishna. They mean a lot.
Thank you for your words of wisdom and encouragement, Krishna. They mean a lot.
You're welcome :^)
Good to hear that that was helpful.
I am not one of those folks that was blessed (or cursed, as the case may be) with having been born with these abilities. However, I have occasionally come across people who have them (precognition-- occasionally having dreams or some other communication telling them of events that haven't happened yet. And/or receiving "messages" from deceased people. Etc). Often these experiences begin early in childhood, and in some (but not all) cases the child doesn't understand them so they're frightened.
Sometimes the child who has these abilities worries that there's something wrong with them, not realizing that what they have is an ability that is a rare gift...
Usually when the child tells their parents they are told that these experiences aren't real-- that they're "just imagining" things when in fact these experiences are real.
Sometimes these experiences are described by people as "ESP"-- Extra Sensory Perception-- or a "6th Sense". That that psychic ability is just an additional sense beyond the ordinary 5 senses of seeing m hearing, etc. (Beverly Jaegers, who is very knowledgable on the subject, prefers the term "Extended Sensory Perception"-- she feels these individuals don't actually have an additional 6th sense but rather they've developed the ordinary 5 senses to an extraordinary degree).
.
Sometimes these experiences are described by people as "ESP"-- Extra Sensory Perception-- or a "6th Sense". That that psychic ability is just an additional sense beyond the ordinary 5 senses...
Of course some people are afraid of what they don't understand...some even get very angry about it. (Now you know why at certain times in history, entire societies was able to perpetrate cruel mass atrocities such as burning women who were "witches" at the stake...from everything I've read, these poor womenn-- who were accused of being witches and tortured to death because of it-- were merely the rare people who had psychic powers and who unfortunately let others know about it)
It makes some people very angry when you challenge their belief systems-- whether it be a religious belief system, an Atheist's belief system (which is, after all, a belief system about religion), a scientific belief system, a political belief system, etc. (Other types people are still totally sure their beliefs are always right and while not as cruel merely try to debunk any data that conflicts with their rigid belief systems-- for example saying that what you experienced isn't real, it was just merely, say, "a lack of oxygen to your brain", etc, etc).
Yes, they are very frightening. As a child I thought that I was some kind of freak, or possessed by something that made me different from everyone else.
But, the older I got I came to accept them as just what seemed normal for me. And I hesitated to talk about it to others as I was afraid they would make fun of me or call me crazy.
RW:
If you ever see Larry Hampton online, you might want to have a chat with him, as you two have a rare trait in common-- you both see the human aura.
I have studied these phenomena for years (decades actually). I have heard many people's telling of experiences they've had similar to what you describe. What's going on? Simply stated-- you have strong psychic abilities.I have discovered that everyone has the potential to develop psychic abilities (of course many won't, because since early childhood we've had it drummed into us that these abilities are not real, etc, etc).
But while everyone can develop these abilities through training (and lots of practice) some people are naturally gifted-- they are born with these abilities already strongly developped.
In addition, these abilities manifest in different ways. Some people find they are very gifted with certain types of psychic powers but not others. For example, there are different "modes" of psychic knowing-- the "claires":
-Clairvoyant:gaining psychic information via seeing things. (Latin "videre" = to see)
-Clairsentient: gaining Psi knowledge via sensations in the body
-Clairaudient (not common): gaining Psi knowledge visa hearing sounds-- even speech, music etc
-Claircognizant: Not identifiable with any particular sense, but the psychic just "knows" (cognition).
There are others.
You mentioned:
yet before I even entered the house I knew where every thing in the house was,
That is a special type of psychic knowing called "precognition" (psychically knowing about something before it happens or before you actually experience it.)
Another term: "mediumship". This is a different type of psychic ability from regular psychic abilities. It is the ability to summon the spirits of deceased individuals and converse with them. For many people this takes longer to master than just doing regular psychic readings.
(SAnd perhaps the most difficult of all to master is called "telekinesis").
So for all these phenomena, knowing by seeing, by hearing, knowing in advance, contacting spirits-- there are words to describe them.
(And probably it won't be long before we'll be able to say "There an app for that!" :^)
It does help to have some insight into what these various abilities are and that they are not just the work of the imagination. When I tried to tell my Mother about how I felt and my experiences she would simply pass them off as just that, my imagination. I often felt that it was just that she didn't know what it was or how to explain it, so she simply passed it off as imagination.
Your explanation of what I experienced, and am still experiencing, does help a lot to broaden my understanding of what is happening.
My Mother did not hear anything either, so I went back to bed, but, the screaming continued for a bit longer, then suddenly stopped.
The next morning there were police and emergency vehicles were at the school. We were told that a young woman, possibly a runaway, was found dead in the school grounds in back of our house. That time my nerves were truly shaken. It seems that I was the only one who heard the screaming coming from that area of the school grounds. Why I heard it when no one else did still haunts me yet today.
I don't know why these events happened to me, and wish I had some kind of explanation. Maybe someday I will find the answer.
Well-- today's the day!
Why does these things happen to you?
The short answer is-- because you are psychic. You are naturally gifted with very developped psychic abilities. Yes, the explanation is really just that simple...
Which raises another Q-- why are some people born with strong psychic abilities while most others aren't? Well, why are some people born with incredible musical abilities while most other people aren't? (Mozart composed his first symphony at age 8!).
That also puzzles me. To my knowledge no one else in my family has ever had the kind of experiences I have had. If they did, they must not have ever mentioned it to anyone in our family, as no one ever heard of anything like that happening in our family. So maybe that is why if was so hard for anyone in my family to understand what I was experiencing.
Others in your family more than likely are having the same experiences, but are just putting them off as just dreams or just don't remember the dream.
I have been avoiding commenting on this topic, because I don't have time for a long drawn out discussion. But that being said "Welcome to my world". My experiences are in the form of dreams of events that later actually came to be.
I am glad to know of someone who also has these kinds of experiences. Thank you for adding your own experiences as well.
Others in your family more than likely are having the same experiences, but are just putting them off as just dreams or just don't remember the dream.
I don't know the extent to which these abilities run in families-- or not. (I don't know if Psychic ability is a recessive or dominant trait-- or if a tendency toward this is inherited at all). That being said, Of the people I know that have these abilities, when the topic came up, some did have other family members who are psychic.
Of course given the general skepticism about this in our societies, I imagine that in many cases "discretion is the better part of valour"-- and people have learned itts better not to mention that they have these abilities because it would threaten some peoples' belief systems-- and they've learned that some people get extremely angry-- or at the very least very defensive-- when their belief sytems are confronted with contradictory evidence...)
I have been avoiding commenting on this topic, because I don't have time for a long drawn out discussion. But that being said "Welcome to my world". My experiences are in the form of dreams of events that later actually came to be.
I have a feeling precognitive dreams may be more common than we realize. (The world is changing, but there's still so much skepticism in "straight" socieity that my guess is that many people who have precognitive experiences have learned its best not to mention them...).
I know others are experiencing what I am without knowing it.
Some of the work I do is with a group of drivers that move a business from one location to another. While driving to the job it was noted that one of drivers, who was usually quite talkative, was quiet, so he was asked what was bothering him. Well, he had a fight with his wife before he came to work with us, he had stated previously that he talks in his sleep, he was awakened by his wife slamming the kitchen cupboard doors. He asked what's the problem, she came back with "Who is Mary", he didn't know anyone named Mary, "If that's so, why were you talking about her in your sleep?", okay if that is so what did I say, "No Mary, let it go", he couldn't remember the dream and therefore left it be and got ready for work. As he headed for the door to go to work his wife said "I suppose you're going to see Mary now", he became exasperated and yelled back "For the last time, there's 'No Mary, let it go'". His dream was about a fight he was going to have with his wife. That's when I realized others were having precognition dreams but not realizing that because they weren't remembering their dreams like I have the ability to do.
RW-- I could say a lot more-- but I've already said a lot for one evening!
If you remember the series of articles about MBTI (personality typology), you tested as an ISFJ. Here's a brief description of the ISFJ type:
ISFJs at a Glance
That's an oversimplification, but please notice the last point:
Draw on an inner world of rich nonverbal impressions, frequently "just knowing"
I would describe "drawing on an inner world" resulting in "just knowing" ...a fairly good description of the experiences you described. In fact, I would label it psychic abilities-- a specific types of psychic abilities. (There is a breif discussion about this starting mainly HERE)
(In the MBTI deeper level which was not covered in that series of articles on NT, its a specific type of "Sensing" you were born with-- called "Si" ("Introverted Sensing"). More on that later....
I think I tested that too. Very interesting.
Yes, I do remember that, and my testing as ISFJ.
Thank you so much for taking the time to educate me by explaining what my experiences mean, and helping me better understand these special abilities I was born with.
Being Cherokee I am very Spiritual, and seem to have a special connection with nature and animals. Perhaps that is due to my having these psychic abilities as you describe them.
Thank you for the link and I will definitely look into it.
There was actually a 5 part (or maybe 6 part?) series about the MBTI posted here a while back. In part II there is a list I compiled listing the types of various people here (those that mentioned it. There might be a few mistakes).
Anyway, the list is in Part II which is HERE (scroll down)
I think I tested that too. Very interesting.
Here's more about the ISFJ type:
1. On BestFit.com
2. On the 16 Personalities site (this is probably the most popular, and definitely one of the best. sites about the MBTI.
IIRC, your type is INFJ.
FWIW, supposedly INFJs tend to be the most psychic of the 16 MBTI types. (Of course other types can have these abilities well).