Are All NDE's Recalled?

QUESTION 

“My name is Conway and I am a medical student, passionate reader of your books, and NDE experiencer. While no doubt your time is very important, I was hoping to ask you a question regarding one experience that I have found particularly thought provoking.

“In this story the experiencer appears to have crossed “The Point of No Return” that is part of so many experiences like my own. However, what struck me as interesting was how similar (although with much more pessimistic dialogue) this account is to that of Tom Sawyer’s - in which he also chose to merge with the light and subsequently his consciousness (or memory) thereby fades. If I may ask, what is your take on this idea of people seemingly crossing, merging, and not remembering what happens afterwards? Have you perhaps read (or written about) experiences similar to this whereby the barrier seems to be crossed and consciousness does or does not continue to be recalled?

“Since my NDE happened, I have become increasingly inspired by the works of researchers like yourself and hope to contribute to the field of NDE studies one day myself. Any and all thoughts you might have would be greatly appreciated.”  ....Conway

ANSWER 

Conway, this happens to many. They will have full recall of the event, of leaving their body, maybe looking back to see it, then leaving. But they tend to remember nothing else after that. Some remember the point of shift without seeing their body, and then everything goes blank. This happens to children, too. Some have no memory at all, except, they know something happened and they feel odd or different afterward. They display the pattern of physiological and psychological aftereffects - but no episode recall. There seems to be no particular way this happens.

We cannot assume that everyone who does die or nearly dies can remember a near-death episode, if indeed they had one. What is the deciding factor here, at least according to what I have observed, is the aftereffects. It’s the aftereffects that validate a near-death experience, not the other way around. I say this in most of my books. I have a chapter on it in The New Children and Near-Death Experiences, of children who display the full pattern of aftereffects yet have no recall of the episode itself. I look for that moment when they could have died, the circumstances were ripe for that. . . if they do not recall any kind of shift, then examine their lives and see for yourself if there were aftereffects and what were they. Also, you have near-death-like experiences, where there is absolutely no point of being near to death, yet they have a near-death experience and display the same pattern of aftereffects later on.

You can’t call it. You just can’t. There is no one way or even several ways. We cannot hold to “how it happens” because there are always exceptions. Again, look for aftereffects. These will tell you more than any criteria/protocol ever will (which drive M.D.’s nuts).   Blessings, PMH