On the Other Side of Life: Exploring the Phenomenon of the Near-Death Experience

by Evelyn Elsaesser Valarino

With testimonials from people who have lived through Near-Death Experiences as well as research and opinions from a multidisciplinary panel of prestigious scholars, On the Other Side of Life offers a balanced look at these most mysterious experiences and the science and theology behind them.

Evelyn Elsaesser Valarino, born in Bern, Switzerland, is head of the law library at the University of Geneva. In search for existentialist answers, she has spent many years studying scientific as well as philosophical works. The author's discovery of near-death-experience testimonies prompted her to undertake a rigorous five-year program of research to explore and understand these accounts within the contexts of different disciplines, culminating in this fascinating book.

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

AN ANALYSIS OF NDEs, PLUS INTERVIEWS WITH PROMINENT RESEARCHERS

Evelyn Elsaesser Valarino (she now goes by ‘Evelyn Elsaesser’) wrote in the second chapter of this 1995 book (which was originally written in German), “The purpose of this book is to provide an in-depth analysis of the near-death experience (NDE) in the light of the natural and social sciences. However, this chapter will be largely devoted to the accounts of experiencers. I have broken the NDE down into its various components… I would like to stress the fact that, to my knowledge, no experiencer has ever undergone each and every one of these stages, although some have explored a good number of them. It is also conceivable that near-death experiencers have undergone the entire experience, but only part of ti was recorded in their memory.” (Pg. 17-18)

She suggests in the Introduction, “ The study of NDEs opens up new avenues of investigation, precisely because it provides access to a dimension that is no longer a purely theoretical concept, but may henceforth be studied on a more empirical level, given that it has been experienced and described by millions of experiencers. Philosophers have always studied reality from the space-time perspective. Yet, during an NDE, space and time no longer exist, or lese it is an entirely different space-time, perhaps resembling the one advanced by quantum mechanics. I do not think it too bold to suggest that the study of NDEs might lead to major discoveries that would confirm quantum theory and perhaps invalidate classic philosophical notions.” (Pg. 8)

She suggests, “I am also convinced that the negative or disturbing NDEs, which occur in a small percentage of cases, correspond to experiences that were interrupted prematurely. Whatever the case, it is clear that the subjects go through an accelerated and powerful emotional process.” (Pg. 14)

She observes, “Apparently, the ‘last judgment’ does indeed exist, but not as it has been described to us for centuries. According to experiencers, the being of light helped them to understand their actions---both the good, and especially the bad ones---and to realize the impact of their actions on others. The judgment did not come from the being of light, but from the experiencer himself.” (Pg. 41)

During her lengthy and very informative interview with Dr. Kenneth Ring, he stated, “There is now more evidence of frightening or distressing features in NDEs being reported. For many years, such experiences were not much talked about in the literature. But it now seems that there is a tendency for persons to give more emphasis to these aspects of NDEs. But, by and large, I’ve been impressed with how stable the experience has been during the time that I have studied it. It is essentially the same experience, and it is the same in many different countries the world over. So, overall, the similarities and constants in the experience are more obvious than the differences, with the one exception that I previously noted about frightening NDEs.” (Pg. 87)

Dr. Ring clarifies, “I think it’s unfortunate that the term ‘near-death experience’ has become as popular and as widely used as it is, because it implies that there is a unique state of consciousness that is associated with the onset of death. There is a very distinctive state of consciousness that occurs when people come close to death, but it’s not unique to near-death crises. There are many other pathways that lead essentially to the same state of consciousness. Out-of-body states, meditative and spiritual disciplines, yoga, shamanic journeys, psychedelic experiences, lucid dreams, spontaneous mystical and religious experiences---all can lead to an encounter with the light, to a feeling of ineffable joy, of well-being, of total knowledge. So I consider the near-death crises to be only one of the many pathways that lead to these same realizations, these same states of consciousness.” (Pg. 104)

Of the skeptics who argue that such experiences ‘are nothing more than a desire to see their beliefs come true,’ Ring comments, “How would that explain frightening NDEs? How would it explain the experience of a person who attempts suicide, who wants and believes that its’ only going to be an annihilation afterward, and who tries to attain the state of extinction, to be fully and forever conscious? How would it explain the experiences of extremely young children who can certainly have no expectations about what the afterdeath state is like? How would it explain the experiences of people who are reared in a particular tradition, such as the Catholic tradition, for example, and who say that nothing in anything that they were taught, or trained, or led to believe about the nature of the afterlife was at all like what they experienced?” (Pg. 110)

Ring says of Maurice Rawlings [author of ‘Beyond Death’s Door,’ ‘To Hell and Back,’ etc.], “it’s not that just the negative is repressed. It may be that the experiences that don’t fit in with the person’s particular point of view are forgotten. I’m not persuaded that Rawlings is right in terms of a general principle… The problem with Rawlings is that he has particular religious views that certainly influence his position. There has never been an independent replication of this work that has found anything like the percentage of frightening NDEs that he reports… He does have a case that probably frightening NDEs or frightening aspects of NDEs are underreported for a variety of reasons, but I don’t think the reasons are necessarily the ones he supposes… he is not a rigorous researcher; he collects his data from all sorts of sources and doesn’t necessarily investigate them personally … There are statements in his book that are known not to be true. That’s definitely not true on the basis of a number of other reports.” (Pg. 115)

He points out, “One woman who had an NDE was told by her minister: ‘You don’t have to come to church anymore, you have the church within you.’ Experiencers have told me that they may like to continue to go to church, but if they don’t find that the experience they have in church resonates with their own knowledge gained during the NDE, they don’t stay there… The experiencer gains this universal understanding that all religions have their own truth, their own beauty, and their own value.” (Pg. 139)

In her interview with Louis-Marie Vincent, he explained, “I once referred to a statement made by Teilhard de Chardin… He says that love is the most formidable and mysterious form of energy… I decided to perform a little exercise and take it literally… to conceive of love as an actual form of energy, as understood by physicists. I was quite surprised to find that this led to conclusions that were not all that incoherent… One may object that love is a human feeling and has no relation to physics. But that remains to be seen!” (Pg. 176-177)

Neurophysiologist Paul Chauchard notes, “if I say that human spirituality is an electrochemical property of the brain, every philosopher will protest and say that this is impossible, though as a physiologist, I would say that this is entirely correct. This raises the question of how the human brain can have spiritual qualities that the animal brain does not, if… the spiritual does not exist, or is not truly something of another order… I think that the dichotomy between mind and matter no longer exists; we have arrived at a much more unified understanding.” (Pg. 236)

Monsignor Jean Vernette suggests, “our departed brothers and sisters are still present, but not in the same way that a piece of furniture … is present and occupies a particular space… And especially by evoking this communication through thought, and through our feelings of love, which allow us to remain present in the hearts of those who have just left us … our departed ones are now close to God and are present with us. They see, for example, the happy or sad events of our lives… in order to communicate with them, we have no need for mediums, seances, or NDEs. We merely have to become aware of an unceasing presence. In the language of Christians, this type of communication… is called the ‘Communion of Saints.’” (Pg. 272-273)

Michel Lefeuvre says, “This compromise of space that we are by virtue of our body, AND of interiorized, dominated tome that we are by virtue of our mind---one of whose major functions is to remember---is undoubtedly a compromise in which time and space are inseparable. Al that was experienced on earth in the body is preserved and enhanced in a supratemporal memory.” (Pg. 307)

This is an excellent book, that will be of great interest to anyone studying Near-Death Experiences.

[Angela Gonzales · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe in there being another sort dimension or somewhere where there more than this life. This book gives good information on what NDE's are and the experiences from some people. It also gives good background information from different critics ranging from philosophers, physicists, psychologists, priests, etc. Although I am very open-minded to what these people have to say, but it didn't give a very good closing to what this book was all about. It ended with some guy who was a priest, but he didn't seem to give a clear opinion or at least factual opinion about what this could be. He kept going around the issue and contradicted himself. It was frustrating and quoting the Bible didn't help as well.
I gave this book three stars because it was good, except for that fact.