The Dream Model Of Near-Death Experiences

I've often cited Gregory Shushan's work on some paranormal issues, including near-death experiences (NDEs). I hold a dream model of NDEs that's a variation of what Shushan outlines in a book I'll be quoting below. You can go here to read a post I wrote a few years ago about that book and how my views relate to it. What I want to do in this post is quote some of Shushan's comments on a dream model of NDEs. You can read my post just linked or Shushan's book for more information:

It is unsurprising that complex, multifaceted phenomena would require a complex, multifaceted explanatory model....

The evidence that NDEs combine thematic similarities with cultural/individual differences does much to address such concerns, however.

The model that best addresses the problem remains that of the Welsh philosopher H. H. Price (1953). He posited a world of mental images, a mind-dependent reality that to the disembodied spirit seems to be just as real as life on Earth. As in dreams, the soul would retain the impression of having a “physical” presence and use of the senses. Indeed, it might be so similar that individuals “would have considerable difficulty in realizing they were dead” (ibid. 5)—a theme reflected in some NDE accounts and afterlife journey myths. The afterlife is a state in which “imaging replaces sense-perception . . . by providing us with objects about which we could have thoughts, emotions and wishes” (ibid. 6). Disembodied spirits could interact with each other, communicating telepathically and appearing as “telepathic apparitions” (ibid. 11). Furthermore, like-minded individuals (who share, for example, similar memories, ideas, values, or culture) would collectively create their surroundings, with each soul contributing to the group afterlife while also bringing personal, idiosyncratic features into being. The result would be numerous different shared dream-worlds. As Price (ibid. 16) summarized, “after death everyone does have his own dream, but there is still some overlap between one person’s dream and another’s, because of telepathy.” The way the “worlds” manifest would be determined by the co-creators’ “memories and desires.” A person’s cultural background and individual psychology would thus manifest within the experience. The barriers between the conscious and unconscious minds might dissolve after death, leading to experiences created by states of mind both positive (e.g., love, harmony, unity, wish-fulfillment) and negative (e.g., guilt, fear, anger, resentment) (ibid. 22). Because “the world you experience after death would depend upon the kind of person you are,” some individuals would have unpleasant realties (ibid. 21) and experience an “image-purgatory” as the “automatic consequence of his own desires.” This corresponds to the NDE theme of evaluation of one’s earthly life, and could account for reports of distressing NDEs. The individual’s character—with all its internal conflicts and contradictions—remains stable in the disembodied state, and influences what he or she experiences. To some extent, then, altering and improving one’s afterlife would involve altering and improving one’s character—just as in the present life....

He [Carl Becker] found this notion to be the most reasonable, summarizing, “Since it is the mind or consciousness whose survival we are considering, it need not surprise us that the realms of which it is conscious after the decease of the physical body are also mind dependent” (ibid. 115)....

Another alternative is that the other world is as objective as this one, but that things are only perceived differently according to the individual. Perceptions would simply be personal mental interpretations of the structural, thematic “dream” environment—in other words, impressions of objective concepts made manifest by the individual mind. Thus, all may travel to the same spirit village, but the houses will be perceived variously as Fijian bures, Sudano-Sahelian adobes, Lakota tipis, and so on....

Because individuals remain conscious with the ability to understand and evaluate the NDE in progress, the analogy of lucid dreaming is apt. During such experiences, individuals become aware that they are dreaming, though this does not immediately or necessarily alter other elements of the dream—the landscape, situation, or other individuals involved. Lucid dreamers may, however, achieve a state in which it is possible to change or create dreamscapes with conscious intent and full awareness that they are dreaming. While such control is rare and often achieved only through practice (e.g., “dream yoga” in Tibetan Buddhism), without the confines of the physical brain and the five senses, it is conceivable that the “home state” of disembodied consciousness is something like the creatively interactive state of the advanced lucid dreamer (cf. Badham 1982: 120; Shushan 2009: 186–7)....

The psychologist J. Timothy Green (1995: 53–4) compared the lucid dream state to NDEs, citing common elements such as OBE, darkness, light, feelings of intense clarity, euphoria, and transcendence....

Furthermore, just as NDEs are culturally shaped, Kellehear (2007: 148) points out that “supernatural factors may further shape, prompt, or moderate the social and psychological factors” of NDEs, contributing to the symbiotic whole.

(Near-Death Experience In Indigenous Religions [New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2018], approximate Kindle locations 5285, 5293, 5325, 5333, 5350, 5368, 5401)