We also have some reports suggesting that animals themselves might have DBVs. Sounds a little strange, but why not? If people have DBVs, why couldn’t animals have them, too? The first point is that signs of cardiac arrest are the same as clinical death. There is no detectable cardiac output, no respiratory effort, and brainstem reflexes are absent. If you are in this state and I put a tube down your throat, you will not cough. You will have dilated pupils. Your blood pressure has fallen to zero. You are, in fact, clinically dead. Even if I start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), I cannot get your blood pressure any higher than 30 millimeters of mercury, and this is not going to produce an adequate blood flow to your brain. Sabom, M. (1998). Light and death: One doctor’s fascinating account of near-death experiences. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. In 1999, the British Psychological Society, the main academic psychological institution in the U.K., started a section on transpersonal (spiritual) psychology. And in the year 2000, a number of us were able to persuade the Royal College of Psychiatrists to bring in a special interest group in spiritual psychiatry. That group has been growing the fastest of any special interest group: 800 psychiatrists in the U.K. have joined the section in less than four years. I was interested to know whether there were any spiders, gnats, snakes – anythingthat bites. We found nothing; none was reported. And what about other animals? Our respondents did reportanimals, but only very seldom, and only dogs. One man saw all the dogs of his life come bounding over the hill towards him. So all in all, it was a very pleasurable experience to be in this land, and if the many NDErs who assert that we allwill have this experience at death are correct, our data indicate that it is not going to be awful. You will be able to stroll around the garden, and you will nothave to worry about what’s going to bite you.

The night before they took Kelly to the vet [to be euthanized], the women were in the house with the three dogs, and for no apparent reason, the old chow [Kelly] started smiling. The blind schnauzer jumped up and started wagging his tail like he was seeing an old friend. And the young chow started barking at a blank wall. Arthur Myers, Communicating with Animals The religious affiliation of our respondents was 54 percent Church of England, 12 percent Roman Catholic, 19 percent other Christian, 1 percent Jewish, 8 percent Agnostic, and 2 percent Atheist, with 41 percent of respondents indicating that religion was not important. This profile of religious affiliation is quite similar to the overall English religious profile, so we were able to say that religious belief at the time of the NDE played no part in it. Indeed, some of the atheist respondents wrote some really cross letters saying that they had not wanted this experience and they found it quite difficult to incorporate into their lives. It is from this database that the statistics quoted in this book have been drawn, and the accounts given to me by these people and by others who have written to me since then form the basis of the book. But their accounts provided much more than mere statistics. Each one was special in its own way, and provided a personal testimony which I found both moving and utterly sincere. It is very seldom that an author can so truthfully say that without others a book could not have been written - in this case, without these people there would, indeed, have been no book. I feel privileged to have been allowed to read their accounts, and I am grateful to everyone who, by being willing to share their experience with me, has helped in this search to find the truth in the light.

Attempts to Understand Cardiac Arrest NDEs

So all three dogs seem to be reacting. Of course, they can’t tell us what they are reacting to, but the women present said they all felt the presence of their original dog, who had died of cancer many years ago. They believed that he was coming to help Kelly transition (which she did the following day). The experiences described in this book are all first-hand accounts from people who wrote to me or to David Lorimer, chairman of the International Association of Near Death Studies (UK), after a television programme, radio broadcast or magazine or newspaper article made them aware of our interest in near-death experiences. Atwater, P. M. H. (2007). The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences. Hampton Roads Publishing. ISBN 978-1-57174-547-7.

Major talk given by one of the world's leading NDE researchers summarizing 30 years of research - a fundamental overview of scientific findings. Science and Spirituality: A Challenge for the 21st Century The Bruce Greyson Lecture from the International Association for Near-Death Studies 2004 Annual Conference A 67 year old woman saw her husband, who had died 4 years previously, with her 22 year old deceased dog. She stated that her husband had taken her hand and, along with the dog, told her he would show her the path to follow to be able to die peacefully.” We also wanted to know how many people had read about NDEs before their experience. This was important, since if the subject already knew about the experience before it occurred, then it would be reasonable to suppose that his or her NDE could to some extent be coloured by this. Greyson’s (2003a) American study was of 1,595 patients admitted to a cardiac care unit with heart trouble. He found an incidence of 10 percent NDEs among cardiac arrest survivors and found that the more severe the illness, the more likely the survivor was to report an NDE. And what he said is this: ‘‘The paradoxical occurrence of heightened, lucid awareness and logical thought processes during a period of impaired cerebral perfusion [absence of blood flow to the brain] raises particularly perplexing questions for our current understanding of consciousness and its relation to brain function’’ (p. 275). So that is now in the literature. And based on that, Sam Parnia and I have a paper being reviewed for Neuroscience Letters in which we propose the experiment which I am going to show you. Whether or not they will publish it, I do not yet know. I moved off in that direction. Gradually I found myself in a warm, dark tunnel, alone apart from a sort of presence – not hostile, not friendly, just there.

Success!

So, now we come to the really important question: what happens when an NDE occurs during a cardiac arrest, and why is this important? Jansen, K. (2001). Ketamine: Dreams and realities. Sarasota, FL: Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.