Foreword

In the 1950s, when I began researching and writing about the world of the unexplained, those remarkable cases in which people apepared for a time to die and then return to life with inspirational accounts of visitations to the Other Side were called "pseudo-death experiences." For the serious psychical researcher, the most important aspect of these "false deaths" was that they appeared to demonstrate that we had a spirit or soul that could exist apart from the physical body, and that when we died we might reasonably expect our soul to enter a spiritual realm and continue to exist. If you are at all curious--and perhaps a bit confused--about the many claims made for the phenomenon commonly known today as the near-death experience (NDE), you could find no better guide to a more complete understanding of the most knowledgeable researchers in the field of near-death studies, and she has the added advantage of being an "experiencer," having survived three NDEs. After suffering a miscarriage that led to severe complications, she "died" three times from January to March 1977. On each occassion her NDE was different, although one did seem to lead into another as if they were progressive facets of one larger experience. After she had recovered, she was left with the deep conviction that her mission in life was to investigate the near-death experience and to evaluate the enigma for as large an audience as possible. In addition to drawing upon her own vivid memories of a visit to a spiritual realm, she was aided in her research of her police officer father. Combining these mental and spiritual attributes, Dr. Atwater has now investigated accounts of more than 3,000 adult and 277 child experiencers and written such landmark books in the field as Coming Back to Life, Beyond the Light, Future Memory, and Children of the New Millenium (republished as The New Children and Near-Death Experiences).

In this book, Dr. Atwater has assembled the most complex look at the mystery of the near-death experience and its aftereffects to ever be published. In twenty-six compelling chapters, she examines the entire gamut of reactions to the near-death experience--the positive and the negative, the joys and the fears, the illuminations and the confusions, the epiphanies and the exaggerations. Many never-before published research findings and stories provide the reader of otherwordly spiritual encounters by experiencers of all ages. Unafraid of the doubters, Dr. Atwater answers the various debunkers of the phenomenon, deals with those orthodox believers who have religious objections to certain experiencer claims, and examines carefully the eternal question of what we might expect when we make our final transition to the other side. The research of other experts in the field is also included to make this book the most complete reference and resource book ever compiled on the subject of near-death experiences. I highly recommended this magnificent magnum opus by Dr. PMH Atwater, one of the world's most highly regarded researchers in the field of near-death studies.

-- Brad Steiger

Mr. Steiger is the author of more than 100 books, including One with the Light and Returning from the Light.