the mind comes away
from the body which
would explain the term
“don’t head towards
the light” used in many
media productions. This
theory eliminates the
idea that Near Death
Experiences are merely
imagined events, and
the physicality of this
theory suggest there
is no other way for the
mind to exit the body
whilst being declared
physically dead.
The idea of the neurological
explanation for Near Death
Experiences and the
five phrase theory was
further explored by Jan
Holden as she answers
the question of ‘how
far do you personally
believe
near
death
experiences
are merely neurological and follow the five
phase theory rather
than due to religious,
super natural or stress
reasons?’ to which
she replied “Although
I try to maintain a distinction between my
personal beliefs and
my scientific beliefs,
my personal beliefs
are influenced by my
scientific ones, so
here are my scientific conclusions. First,
12
regarding explanatory theories of NDEs, I
concur with Greyson,
Kelly, & Kelly’s conclusion in their Handbook
chapter that, so far,
no physiological model
accounts for all features of NDEs. For now,
that leaves only the
transcendental model
as accounting for all
features. For me, most
notable among those
features is veridical perception during NDEs-the subject of my soleauthored chapter in
The Handbook 8 .
Although
occasional cases of veridical
perception might be
explained alternatively through physiological processes, not all
can be, which, again,
leaves the transcendental model.
So, regarding my personal beliefs, I have
come to believe that
NDEs represent transcendental phenom-