People Born Blind Can See During a NDE

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Body blow to materialism?People Born Blind Can See During a NDEDr. Kenneth Ring's NDE Research of the BlindVicki Umipeg, a forty-five year old blind woman, was just one of the more thanthirty persons that Dr. Ken Ring and Sharon Cooper interviewed at length duringa two-year study just completed concerning near-death experiences of the blind.The results of their study appear in their newest book Mindsight. Vicki was bornblind, her optic nerve having been completely destroyed at birth because of anexcess of oxygen she received in the incubator. Yet, she appears to have beenable to see during her NDE. Her story is a particularly clear instance of howNDEs of the congenitally blind can unfold in precisely the same way as do thoseof sighted persons. As you will see, apart from the fact that Vicki was not ableto discern color during her experience, the account of her NDE is absolutelyindistinguishable from those with intact visual systems. The following is anexcerpt from Dr. Ring's latest book reprinted by permission.Vicki told Dr. Ring she found herself floating above her body in the emergencyroom of a hospital following an automobile accident. She was aware of being upnear the ceiling watching a male doctor and a female nurse working on her body,which she viewed from her elevated position. Vicki has a clear recollection ofhow she came to the realization that this was her own body below her. Thefollowing is her experience.I knew it was me ... I was pretty thin then. I was quite tall and thin at thatpoint. And I recognized at first that it was a body, but I didn't even know thatit was mine initially.Then I perceived that I was up on the ceiling, and I thought, "Well, that's kindof weird. What am I doing up here?"I thought, "Well, this must be me. Am I dead? ..."I just briefly saw this body, and ... I knew that it was mine because I wasn'tin mine.In addition, she was able to note certain further identifying featuresindicating that the body she was observing was certainly her own.I think I was wearing the plain gold band on my right ring finger and myfather's wedding ring next to it. But my wedding ring I definitely saw ... Thatwas the one I noticed the most because it's most unusual. It has orange blossomson the corners of it.There is something extremely remarkable and provocative about Vicki'srecollection of these visual impressions, as a subsequent comment of hersimplied."This was," she said, "the only time I could ever relate to seeing and to whatlight was, because I experienced it."She then told them that following her out-of-body episode, which was very fastand fleeting, she found herself going up through the ceilings of the hospitaluntil she was above the roof of the building itself, during which time she had abrief panoramic view of her surroundings. She felt very exhilarated during thisascension and enjoyed tremendously the freedom of movement she was experiencing.She also began to hear sublimely beautiful and exquisitely harmonious music akinto the sound of wind chimes.With scarcely a noticeable transition, she then discovered she had been suckedhead first into a tube and felt that she was being pulled up into it. Theenclosure itself was dark, Vicki said, yet she was aware that she was movingtoward light. As she reached the opening of the tube, the music that she hadheard earlier seemed to be transformed into hymns and she then "rolled out" tofind herself lying on grass.She was surrounded by trees and flowers and a vast number of people. She was ina place of tremendous light, and the light, Vicki said, was something you couldfeel as well as see. Even the people she saw were bright.Everybody there was made of light. And I was made of light. What the lightconveyed was love. There was love everywhere. It was like love came from thegrass, love came from the birds, love came from the trees.Vicki then becomes aware of specific persons she knew in life who are welcomingher to this place. There are five of them. Debby and Diane were Vicki's blindschoolmates, who had died years before, at ages 11 and 6, respectively.In life, they had both been profoundly retarded as well as blind, but here theyappeared bright and beautiful, healthy and vitally alive.And no longer children, but, as Vicki phrased it, "in their prime."In addition, Vicki reports seeing two of her childhood caretakers, a couplenamed Mr. and Mrs. Zilk, both of whom had also previously died. Finally, therewas Vicki's grandmother - who had essentially raised Vicki and who had died justtwo years before this incident. In these encounters, no actual words wereexchanged, Vicki says, but only feelings - feelings of love and welcome.In the midst of this rapture, Vicki is suddenly overcome with a sense of totalknowledge.I had a feeling like I knew everything ... and like everything made sense. Ijust knew that this was where ... this place was where I would find the answersto all the questions about life, and about the planets, and about God, and abouteverything ... It's like the place was the knowing.As these revelations are unfolding, Vicki notices that now next to her is afigure whose radiance is far greater than the illumination of any of the personsshe has so far encountered. Immediately, she recognizes this being to be Jesus.[seth has an explanation for that.] He greets her tenderly, while she conveysher excitement to him about her newfound omniscience and her joy at being therewith him.Telepathically, he communicates to her."Isn't it wonderful? Everything is beautiful here, and it fits together. Andyou'll find that. But you can't stay here now. It's not your time to be here yetand you have to go back."Vicki reacts, understandably enough, with extreme disappointment and protestsvehemently."No, I want to stay with you."But the being reassures her that she will come back, but for now, she "has to goback and learn and teach more about loving and forgiving."Still resistant, however, Vicki then learns that she also needs to go back tohave her children. With that, Vicki, who was then childless but who "desperatelywanted" to have children (and who has since given birth to three) becomes almosteager to return and finally consents.However, before Vicki can leave, the being says to her, in these exact words,"But first, watch this."And what Vicki then sees is "everything from my birth" in a complete panoramicreview of her life, and as she watches, the being gently comments to help herunderstand the significance of her actions and their repercussions.The last thing Vicki remembers, once the life review has been completed, are thewords, "You have to leave now."Then she experiences "a sickening thud" like a roller-coaster going backwards,and finds herself back in her body.Such reports, replete with visual imagery, were the rule, not the exception,among Ring and Cooper's blind respondents. Altogether, 80% of their entiresample claimed some visual perception during their near-death or out-of-bodyencounters. Although Vicki's was unusual with respect to the degree of detail,it was hardly unique in their sample.Sometimes the initial onset of visual perception of the physical world isdisorienting and even disturbing to the blind. This was true for Vicki, forexample, who said:I had a hard time relating to it (i.e., seeing). I had a real difficult timerelating to it because I've never experienced it. And it was something veryforeign to me ... Let's see, how can I put it into words? It was like hearingwords and not being able to understand them, but knowing that they were words.And before you'd never heard anything. But it was something new, something you'dnot been able to previously attach any meaning to."Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's adifference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see."-- [socialist] Helen Kellerhttp://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence03.html "Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but learning how to dance in the rain." http://www.segalstudios.com