Bestselling author Colm Keane spoke to 100 people who had near-death experiences for his new book Heading for the Light: The 10 Things that Happen when you Die. He tells us what he found
There was no sense of danger, nothing sinister, no feeling of impending doom on that lovely summer's day in 1967. Two young boys sat on the side of the street, waiting for an ice cream van to arrive. Within seconds, there was carnage.
One of the boys – a seven-year-old – was caught under the van. He was knocked unconscious, his body torn to bits, his leg mangled, his limbs bruised. Not only did he survive, however, but on one of his days in hospital he embarked on an extraordinary journey.
"I was up on top of the ceiling and I could see my body below," Kevin said. "I felt calm and peaceful up above, with not a worry in the world. It was a lovely place, wherever it was. There was no sense of time and no pain.
"The next thing, I was in a long tunnel and heading towards a brilliant, snow-white light. There were people walking about where the light was. I felt the light was drawing me along and guiding me. I was trying to reach it. But just as I got to the end of the tunnel, I shot back. I woke up in my hospital bed."
Kevin is one of 100 people I have spoken to over the past five years whose brains have flat-lined or hearts stopped beating following cardiac arrests, road accidents, near drowning or complications in childbirth, among other factors. Either spontaneously or following artificial resuscitation, they returned to life with remarkably similar accounts of what took place. They described wondrous journeys to a distant light. Everything was calm, tranquil and serene, even "blissful". There was no pain and no fear. Love was everywhere. There were meetings with deceased family and friends, and encounters with a "superior being". Many recalled life reviews, where events from their past lives were assessed.
"My life was being replayed before me," Frank, who experienced his life review while drowning at the age of 14, told me. "It felt like everything was happening in sequence and I could recognise all the different events and seasons as they passed by. The scenes were mostly happening in the house where I was born and raised, but at 14 I had never really been anywhere else, so that's what you would expect. The last image was of me falling in the water."
Contrary to conventional beliefs and expectations, these scenes are assessed or judged not by the "supreme being" but by the person who has died. The emphasis is on self-assessment.
It also seems from many I have spoken to that judgement involves viewing actions and behaviour through the eyes of others and not through our own eyes. Although mostly positive, sometimes the outcome is bad.
"Whatever I was shown, I felt I wasn't as good as I should have been," Ann, who had her experience during a difficult childbirth, recalled. "I felt that I didn't measure up to this and that. I felt panic and thought there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I thought I was going to a bad place, down to hell, and I wasn't coming back.
"Suddenly, this wonderful mercy was shown to me. It was like it was poured over my being and it was beautiful and exhilarating. It washed over me. I felt peace, joy and happiness and I was not condemned. I then came out of it. As I did so, I can remember looking back at my place in heaven. It was the place reserved for me there."
Ultimately, progressing to the light is at the core of the transition following death.
Described as "extremely bright" or "dazzling", the light normally takes the form of a brilliant, incandescent brightness, which is radiant and glowing at the tunnel's end. Its rays light up the journey and its magnificence draws people to it. It is our ultimate goal, our final port of call, our journey's end, the place where we all want to be.
Either in the light, part of the light, behind the light or, more often constituting the light is God. Often referred to as a "superior being", "supreme being" or "being of light", this entity exudes goodness, warmth, love, peace and understanding.
"I felt I was in the presence of God," explained Frances, who journeyed to the light following a childbirth that almost went wrong. "I actually knew it. I presumed God was in the light in some way that I couldn't understand as a human being. I was at a different level and not of this world.
"I knew that God was good and kind, unlike anything I had ever learned in school about a God that punishes you; he doesn't. I knew he was compassionate and full of love. I knew he wasn't judgemental, absolutely not. In his presence, I felt happiness beyond anything I have ever experienced on this earth. I can still feel it."
There is no scientific explanation for the phenomena that have just been described.
After decades of research – investigating factors such as oxygen deprivation, endorphins, chemical changes and medication – no physical or psychological cause has explained what occurs.
Even if explanations are eventually found, it doesn't matter. According to those who return from temporary death, we will all head for the light irrespective of cause.
"Who knows, perhaps God might be the light," Eddie, who attempted suicide, concluded. "One way or the other, I'm certain there will be another place. After what happened, there's no doubt about that in my mind."
Monica, who haemorrhaged following childbirth, agrees: "I know that someday everything I do and say in this life will be reviewed by me again when I leave this world for good and my aim is to get to heaven.
"When I am near a person that is dying now, I almost envy the beautiful experience that is awaiting them.
"I never cry for a person that is dead. It's a new beginning and they wouldn't want to return."
Heading for the Light: The 10 Things that Happen when you Die, by Colm Keane, is published by Capel Island Press, £15
What the stars who nearly died saw...
DALLAS STAR LARRY HAGMAN
Larry Hagman, who is best known for his portrayal of JR Ewing in Dallas, temporarily died following liver-transplant surgery in 1995. He described how he “glimpsed over the edge of this level of existence into the next”. He was welcomed by a figure who he said was neither “a he nor a she.” The figure informed him that it was not yet time to cross over.
ACTRESS ELIZABETH TAYLOR
Movie legend Elizabeth Taylor died for five minutes while undergoing surgery in the late 1950s. “I was pronounced dead,” the star recalled, “and actually saw the light.” She was met by ex husband Mike Todd, who’d died in a plane crash. “I said, ‘Oh, Mike, you’re where I want to be.’ He said, ‘No. You have to turn around and go back.’”
ACTOR PETER SELLERS
Peter Sellers, famous for his Pink Panther films, witnessed the light having briefly died following a heart attack in 1964.
“I just floated out of my physical form and I saw them cart my body away to the hospital,” he said afterwards. “I saw an incredibly beautiful, bright, loving white light above me. I knew there was love, real love, on the other side of the light. I remember thinking, ‘That’s God’.”
Love is all you need
“All you need is love” is the most profound insight brought back by people who have temporarily died.
“Love is behind it all,” said Paula. “It’s not just a case of getting by each day and acquiring as much as we can. What matters is your honesty and kindness, and the way you treat other people.”
Her comments reflect those of other proponents of love down through the ages. The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love expressed a truth spanning time.
Virgil, writing in the century before Christ, said, “Love conquers all.” Saint Paul declared, “Without love I am nothing.”
