How do other people describe their near-death experiences, and how do those descriptions compare with the blissful awakenings which occur in meditation, other spiritual practices, and sometimes spontaneously? Here’s a chart that compares the two. It was developed by P.M.H. Atwater through decades of study which began in Boise, Idaho, in 1966, when she founded a metaphysical research and education organization, Inner Forum. P.M.H. developed these descriptors out of her interviews with other people about their experiences and her own cosmic illuminations in churches and during her meditations, prayer states, visions, and three NDEs. This chart is excerpted, with Atwater’s permission, from her book Beyond the Light, pgs. 152-156.

1. 1. Onset
Spiritual Transformations
Floating or being flipped out of one’s body. Many
times a presence of warmth or heat. There can be
odors, like perfume or a flat ozone-tinge-of-
ammonia smell; and sounds, like popping or
snapping or crackling. All faculties are present but
heightened. A feeling of being suspended follows,
which can be disorienting or confusing at first.
The Near-Death Phenomenon
Floating or being propelled out of one’s body.
Warmth, smells, sounds, sights can be experienced
as all faculties are present and heightened. A
disorienting sense of suspension is generally
followed by a short-lived desire to contact those
who are still embodied and/or to explore familiar
earthly environments.

2. 2. Acceleration
Spiritual Transformations
Motion is physically felt as vibrations increase. This
movement is generally of two types: ascending
force (more commonly described by the duo-
traditions of Kundalini/Ku, where energy resident
within the body rises up the spine, then bursts out
through the top of the head; descending force
(held traditional as the Christos effect), where
energy outside a person’s body enters into the
head or heart area, then passes down through the
body. With either directional current of force, the
individual can sway, jerk, spin, swing or whirl
around, or rock back and forth. Colored lights may
flash.
The Near-Death Phenomenon
Motion is physically felt as vibrations increase.
Usually one enters a tunnel or dark space, which is
sometimes spinning or spiralling. There is a sense
of speed, of rushing along. Snapping or popping
sounds are present in some cases, but the sound
of a wind whizzing or whooshing by is the more
common. Directional currents of force can be
down (descending) or up (ascending), yet in a
strange way both directions often seem to occur
simultaneously. Lights can flash, voices can be
heard, shadowy beings can be glimpsed, or
passage can be silent. (Passage can be
instantaneous if there’s no tunnel.)

3. 3. Breakthrough
Spiritual Transformations
Popping sounds are often heard, even the
reverberations of an implosion, or a wind rushing
by, or singing, or music of some kind. An
overwhelmingly powerful light, usually
yellow/gold/white, draws one to it (sometimes
through a passageway or vortex). Positive
sensations include: total freedom, the ability to fly,
ecstasy, euphoria, loss of body weight, floating,
screaming for joy, dancing, laughter spasms, a
feeling of being engulfed by love, warm, peace,
happiness. Negative sensations include: pain,
nausea, fainting, headache or coma, temporary
blindness or deafness, sobbing, temporary
paralysis, sweating, high fever, the inability to eat
or drink or remember.
The Near-Death Phenomenon
One is drawn to a powerful and brilliant light,
usually yellow/gold/white. Sound effects increase
once the light is reached. In positive cases, a music
not heard on earth is present along with great
warmth and a feeling of ecstasy, euphoria, and
total joy. Unconditional love floods one’s being and
all knowledge is suddenly possessed. Everything is
bright, even translucent, with shimmering
luminous colors and pleasant smells. There is a
feeling of freedom and happiness. In negative
cases, sounds are often either dull, deafening or
absent. Chilly, cold, or cool temperatures are
reported the most, along with a pale, dull, or gray
cast to the light. There is a sense of anxiety or
confusion or foreboding. Pain and fear can be felt,
or a need to scream, or a strange paralysis where
all one can do is observe and listen.

4. 4. Result
Spiritual Transformations
Actual illumination is as symbolic in content as it is
literal in message. It can be accompanied by
geometric, color, and light abstractions and
luminosity, as well as by great swells of music.
Angels may be present and/or light-beings, loved
ones, religious figure, and animals. Scenarios
range from gorgeous landscapes and instructional
gatherings to revelations of creation’s story and
how life is to be lived.
The Near-Death Phenomenon
Actual illumination is as symbolic in content as it is
literal in message. Revelations of a heaven or a hell
are made known and life is explained. In many
cases all of creation is viewed. There are usually
people present, sometimes even animals.
Depending on whether positive or negative, beings
can be angelic, of The Light, deceased family
members, religious figures, or they can be
demonic, gruesome or twisted, zombies, or those
who ae nude and lifeless. Scenarios also vary:
Breathtaking beauty and involved instructional
sessions are common with heavenly versions;
threatening whirlpools, storms, or denuded
landscapes are the most reported with hell-like
cases.

5. 5. Aftermath
Spiritual Transformations
The degree of aftereffects depends on the impact of the
breakthrough. Most common changes are: simple/direct
mannerisms that appear child-like; a glow to the skin and a
twinkle to the eyes, a charm that attracts; a sense of
confidence and control; detached yet loving behavior; the
presence of “knowing,” and/or gnosis; increased psychic
abilities (sometimes called Gifts of the Spirit); loss of
relevance for time or space; heightened and expanded
senses, lessening of needs and wants, increase in a joyful
attitude; service to others; increased morality and energy.
(For more detail about this, refer to Bucke’s material on
Cosmic Consciousness.) There is usually much doubt about
what happened and a reluctance to discuss it. Long bouts of
depression often follow before understanding and
acceptance come. People who go through this process
(called “initiation” in spiritual or esoteric traditions) are
usually labeled insane by culturally advanced societies, and
revered in underdeveloped ones.
The Near-Death Phenomenon
The degree of aftereffects depends on the impact of
breakthrough. Most common changes are: a sense of
unconditional love for all people; a childlike naivete and
openly curious spontaneity; a sense of timelessness and
the loss of any identification with “place”; a disregard for
former rules and limitations; the emergence of psychic
abilities including the gift of healing and joy-giving; a
noticeable reduction in fears and worries; the ability to
“see through” problems; a lessening of needs or wants; a
certain detachment from the physical body while becoming
more energized and enthusiastic about the ways to serve
and help others—including the community; a charmed way
of communicating, more inspired, happier, more moral and
responsible. Although near-death survivors are accepted
and tolerated in today’s society, more so than even just five
years ago, they are still subject to involuntary commitment
to mental hospitals by the medical establishment (as
sufferers of “psychosis”), and they can still go through long
bouts of depression and confusion as they deal with
readjustment complexities and the possible specter of
insanity.