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"ANOTHER LOOK..." is an ongoing column I write for Vital Signs Newsletter, a quarterly publication of the International Association For Near-Death Studies. Each segment will appear here from now on, as well as in the Newsletter. This new feature gives me a format with which to explore varied issues about near-death states. Should you wish to make a comment or want to suggest future topics, please feel free to contact me. I may be able to use your suggestions directly. Thank you. P.M.H. Atwater, L.H.D., Ph.D. (Hon.)
P.M.H.Atwater, L.H.D., Ph.D. (Hon.) P. O. Box 7691 Charlottesville, VA 22906-7691
A Surprise:
There now exists the beginnings of an ESP Comic Book. Yes, I'm serious, and the creation is well worth viewing if you have access to a computer and the Internet. There is no charge for this. Consisting of 60 frames at present (which amounts to one chapter), it is slated to run a full 15 chapters before completion. The brainchild of Henry Reed, Ph.D., the author of The Intuitive Heart and a leader in the field of dream interpretation and psychic/intuitive development, the comic book is actually a joint project with a Japanese illustrator. Wonderful wisdoms, especially appropriate for near-death experiencers of any age and those like them, access http://www.creativespirit.net/manga/e/0.htm. There is more about Reed in the Marketplace of my website at http://www.pmhatwater.com.
IANDS in Scandinavia: Thanks to the incredible generosity and vision of Aud Marit Esbensen and her husband Carl, I was able to spend sixteen days last September in Norway. At the time it looked like another trip would follow in 2003, that would take in Sweden and Finland as well. Whether or not that second trip actually occurs, let me tell you about the first one. I went as a researcher of near-death states, to represent my work, the field of near-death studies, and the organization of IANDS. But I also went as one who was raised by a Norwegian couple with roots from the Sognefjord. It had been my vow since a child to visit the Sognefjord, I thought to honor the Sogn family, but I discovered much to my amazement that I was there for my heart, too.
Aud Marit and her friend, Anne-Maija Jaaskelainen (a Finn), arranged for me speak at several large bookstores in Oslo. Both events were combined with book signings and were well attended. At neither place did I need an interpreter to be understood. English is practically a second language to Norwegians - many even understand American slang.
I checked before I left, and found no Friends of IANDS groups operating in Norway, so I was determined to plant enough "seeds" that at least one would grow.
Guess I didn't do enough checking. What I discovered is that there once had been a very active and thriving IANDS community with their own newsletter and regular meetings. The membership was in fact dedicated enough that they sponsored two large conferences on the subject of near-death experiences and had Kenneth Ring, Ph.D. as a keynoter for each. To find out why no one was backing such activity at present, I spoke with several former members who attended one of my talks.
Liv S. M. Evensen had once been the President of IANDS--Norway. She said her life had taken many turns since those heydays of activity and she was now dedicated to obtaining the training and degree necessary to be a part of or to launch new and more effective ways of educating children and teens. She was still interested in restarting what had existed before, but said the time factor of making certain she could first accomplish her education goals was primary. Jon Mannsaker had been conference director, a slot similar to what Debbie James now does for IANDS headquarters. He was proud of what they had accomplished in the past and of being able to bring Ken to Oslo. Yet he was quite clear about not wanting to do anything like that again or of being active in an IANDS group. "I've moved past that," he confided. "Investigations into the paranormal fascinate me, things like the electronic voice phenomenon and out-of-body experiences." He explained that, although he had gained a great deal of satisfaction from involvement with IANDS and the topic of near-death states, he was now drawn to those "otherworldly" areas where he could personally participate and not feel like an outsider looking in.
At the other bookstore, however, the people were more excited. They seemed to hang on my every word, and there was an enthusiastic response to the idea of an IANDS group forming in Oslo to explore the topic further. This enthusiasm may fade, however, without leadership and followup. A fortunate contact led us to Erna Beck in Bergen. Because of her, I stopped in Bergen after cruising the Sognefjord. Everywhere I went, Anne-Maija was by my side to make certain I didn't get lost or get myself into trouble. She became my "right-arm" and good buddy. Not as conversant in English, we still had no difficulty understanding each other. Aud Marit and Carl were quite busy, he with their business and she with requirements for the Ph.D. she was working on. This meant they could not always be with me. Anne-Maija was.
There really wasn't enough advance time for Erna to set up a talk for me in Bergen, but she tried anyway. What resulted was an all-day workshop in the upstairs rooms of a practicing shaman who taught his own brand of classes. He was truly a character, a delightful one. By the way, Bergen is the sister-city of Seattle and its climate matches that of Seattle (hear that you Seattle IANDS folks?).
Erna has since turned out to be an invaluable contact with all kinds of ideas and the willingness to follow through on them. She also knows a lot of people, including Grethe and Rune Amundsen. My fellow researchers will perk up with mention of Rune, for he wrote a book about the findings he made while researching near-death cases in Norway and has continued with his research, delving more deeply into healings possible through past-life regressions. He delved so deep and was so successful with his counseling practice because of this, that he aroused the ire of the psychological establishment. It only took a few complaints against him (not well founded), for established forces to pounce. He was threatened with losing his license. Thanks to Erna, I was able to meet with Rune and his wife Grethe while in Bergen and share a cozy lunch while discussing his situation. Currently, actions taken against him have yet to be completed.
Attending with Rune & Company was Ellinor Helen Markaskard, a name you may want to remember. A book about her near-death experience is soon to be published, and when it is, it will be well worth reading. Her episode occurred in 1979. She was poisoned during surgery by a drunken doctor (in the state he was in, he had administered lethal amounts of a drug that should not have been harmful). The surgery itself was simple enough; Ellinor just wanted her tubes tied to ensure no more pregnancies. What began as a simple procedure became a nightmare that took her years to recover from, along with having to deal with a transcendent near-death experience that engendered the full spectrum of physiological and psychological aftereffects. As is true in so many cases, the phenomenon of near-death proved to be a greater challenge than the physical trauma of what she endured from the botched surgery. She regularly to this day visits with the "bright ones" she met in death. She often shares the stage with Rune when he lectures at schools and before large professional groups.
A second round of activity in Oslo centered around an intensive, weekend workshop that I gave on the "Evolutionary Aspects of Near-Death and Other Transformative States of Consciousness." Aud Marit, assisted by Anne-Maija, hosted the affair in her lovely home. Attendees were very responsive and through them connections were made to people in Sweden, and especially to Lisa Meyler, who operates a website on near-death material. Actually, there are several versions. They are: http://clix.to/realitycenter and http://home.swipnet.se/NDU. While you're serfing, check out this larger website that includes all of Europe at http://www.nde-europe.org/. (This larger one carries news from IANDS in Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, San Marino, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. I do not know all of the people involved with this but I salute their efforts nonetheless for a job well done!)
It is my hope that interest in establishing an IANDS--Scandinavia will be rekindled and that groups in that part of our world will once again thrive. Although previous memberships have dwindled, there is still a bedrock of interest that could be revived.
One thing my travels abroad have shown me: the importance of asking open-ended questions and then listening, studying, watching, waiting. That behavior mode stead me very well during 25 years of fieldwork researching near-death states in the U.S.A., but it is absolutely crucial in countries outside our borders. We cannot go into another country with the arrogance of thinking what we have learned here will necessarily apply there. The phenomenon is the phenomenon: it's pattern holds true anywhere with any population group. But how near-death states are interpreted and what they mean to any given individual does not.
While behaving in this manner during my trip, I became keenly aware of how still, to this very day, there survives a deeply emotional prejudice against anyone who was a Nazi sympathizer during World War II, more specifically against Norwegian women who became pregnant via German soldiers, and, to a degree I found difficult to bear, against the children born of those unions. It's been nearly sixty years and these children (some now senior citizens) struggle yet with a silent disgust that they were ever allowed to exist.
On the trip to Vik and Balestrand, on the Sogneford, we drove past a large building, high up, halfway to the top of mountains near Flam, Norway. I was told this was once a "baby factory" (now a hotel). It housed many of the impregnated women who were "patriotically" helping Hitler create "the master race." After the war ended, it was abandoned, leaving the helpless babes and little ones to fend for themselves. The first physician to go there to check on the children was greated with a sight so gruesome it is beyond description. What children could be saved were sent to Sweden and other countries, where they could grow up without the stain of their birth.
Trauma like this can either overshadow the storyline of a near-death experi- ence or at least explain how the experiencer might interpret the various images and feelings they undergo during an episode. As researchers, we must be open to this and humbled by it, lest in our hurry to compare one country with another to see how the pattern holds, we ignore the very crux of the phenomenon itself. . . its power to illuminate and heal the human experience while unveiling the reality of spirit.
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P.M.H.Atwater, L.H.D., Ph.D. (Hon.) Is the author of many books concerning near-death states,
the latest being FUTURE MEMORY, CHILDREN OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM, and THE COMPLETE
IDIOT'S GUIDE TO THE NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE. Check out her website at www.pmhatwater.com
for more information about her other books, the Subtext, and her "Brain
Shift/ Spirit Shift" model for exploring transformations of consciousness.
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