Norman Van Rooy (left), the producer of the NDE documentary Shadows: Perceptions of Near-Death Experiencers, sums it up this way: "It all begins for us at birth. We are thrust from the womb onto the carousel of life, carried away in a blur of activities from childhood to adulthood and then to old age. Each of us have our dreams, our relationships and we go to school; we work and play, day after day, week after week, year after year. Life is certainly busy. And yet we tend not to think about the fact of our inevitable death. It doesn't seem to make any sense that we will no longer exist as we know it. The fact is we will die and there is no way to avoid it. Like the child being born, we have no choice but to yield ourselves to the unknown. Like the seventy billion who have already passed this way through life, we will join their ranks at the rate of 130,000 a day. And in that same day, 400,000 new lives will be born. The cycle of life and death continues at an ever-increasing pace. The fear of death has given rise to a host of speculations about an afterlife. Religions, philosophies and cults have multiplied over the millennia, all trying to answer our need for comfort about this seemingly absurd fate that awaits each of us. And now science has turned its gaze toward the matter of death."
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the Swiss-born psychiatrist and author who gained international fame for her landmark work on death and dying, died in her suburban Phoenix home on August 24, 2004. She was 78. Read the news articles about her passing and the Tribute to her by PMH Atwater.
In 1999, Time magazine named Elisabeth Kϋbler-Ross as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the past century. I might add that she is also the "First Pioneer of the Final Frontier Called Death."
Elisabeth Kϋbler-Ross was recognized as one of the leading authorities in the field of death, dying and transition. It can be said that she was the one responsible for creating this field of study. She was the author of several books including: On Death and Dying and Life Lessons. Another book of hers, On Life After Death, collected for the first time information drawn from her years of working with the dying and learning from them what life is all about, in-depth research on life after death, and her own feelings and opinions about this fascinating and controversial subject. The following is an excerpt from her book in which she described one of the most interesting near-death experiences she has encountered.
Barbara Harris Whitfield is the author of many published articles and five books, The Power of Humility (HCI), Full Circle: The Near-Death Experience and Beyond (Pocket Books), Spiritual Awakenings: Insights of the Near Death experience and Other Doorways to Our Soul (Health Communications, Inc.), and Final Passage: Sharing the Journey As This Life Ends (Health Communications, Inc.).
She is a thanatologist (thanatology is the study of death and dying), popular speaker, workshop presenter, near-death experiencer, and therapist in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been on the board of Directors for the Kundalini Research Network and was on the faculty of Rutgers University's Institute on Alcohol and Drug Studies for 12 years.
Barbara spent six years researching the aftereffects of the near-death experience (NDE) at the University of Connecticut Medical School. She was a member of the executive board of the Kundalini Research Network and has sat on the executive board of the International Association for Near-Death Studies. She is a consulting editor and contributor for the Journal of Near-Death Studies.
Barbara has been a guest on several major television talk shows including Larry King Live, The Today Show, Unsolved Mysteries, Good Morning America, Oprah, and CNN.
Barbara's site, www.barbarawhitfield.com, which she shares with her husband, best-selling author Dr. Charles L. Whitfield, provides timely and helpful information on recovery from abuse, trauma, and addiction. Her site is a member of the communities of several webrings dealing with recovery issues, abuse, trauma, PTSD, depressive illness and moving forward into a whole life.
You can contact Barbara directly via email at: [email protected]. Please mention where you saw this article. The following article is the first chapter from her book Final Passage where she gives her testimony of the NDEs she experienced and the profound aftereffects that followed.
