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MARCH 13: EXPLORING THE MEANING NEAR DEATH AND SHARED DEATH EXPERIENCES
Near Death experiences first began to be studied in the 1970s, after Raymond Moody published his findings in his book Life After Life. Moody, who traveled around the country giving talks about the experience that one of his patients had, discovered that many other people had near death experiences, as well. As a “scientist” he “collected” these experiences, and noted the common characteristics of the experience.
In the last 40 years many people have studied near death experiences, many books and articles have been published, and several organizations now strive to understanding the phenomenon and provide support for people who have these experiences. One of the most well known organizations is IANDS, the International Association for Near Death Studies, which now holds conferences annually, and has a huge repository of research articles and information on near death experiences.
At the IANDS annual conference in Denver in 2017, a researcher explained the latest recent research topic of Shared Death Experiences. This is an experience of a person close to someone who is dying who has a near death experience of some sort. These experiences vary, but they have some of the same characteristics and are usually life changing for the person who experiences them.
Near Death experiences will be discussed at the March Noetic Science Meeting. The characteristics of the experience as delineated and modified by Dr Moody will be discussed, as well as other modifications and comments by other authors. Some historical near death experiences will be discussed, including some in the Bible and other historic books. Some explanations of the experience will be discussed, including biological explanation as well as psychological and theological explanations. Some demographic data about who has these experiences, and how many people and what kind of experiences they have. The research of others will be examined briefly, including the work of Jeffry Long, who looks at the presence – or absence – of God in near death experiences.
The more recently studied phenomenon of Shared Death Experiences will be examined, including the common characteristics, historic parallels and possible explanations.
This is a fascinating area of research and experience, that opens doors to a whole other world. We will explore the meaning of these experiences and what they reveal together.
Presented by Dr. Sara Towe Horsfall
Dr. Sara Towe Horsfall
Spiritual phenomena has always been an interest of Dr. Towe Horsfall’s. In High School, she learned about automatic writing, the Ouija board, and became fascinated with spirituality in India (and the poetry of Khalil Gibran). After college she spent several years as a spiritual novice, eventually finding herself in India, where she began her journalistic career, writing for the Newsworld. She developed great respect for the spiritual heritage of that eastern country, and began developing her own mix of eastern and western spiritual traditions. Curiously, she was first introduced to Raymond Moody’s work at a train stop in India, when an ambitious book vendor convinced her to buy “Life After Life.”
For 15 years she was a Sociology Professor at Texas Wesleyan University in Forth Worth, Texas, retiring in 2013. Her books include: Chaos, Complexity and Sociology, 1996; A Neighborhood Portrait: Polytechnic Heights of Inner City Fort Worth, 2002; Social Problems: An Advocate Group Approach, 2012; Music Sociology: Examining the Role of Music in Social Life, 2013; She currently teaches classes in Sociology for Frederick Community College, and is a member of the Baltimore Classical Guitar Orchestra.