F8 The Varieties of Ecstatic Experience & What They Have...

The Varieties of Ecstatic Experience & What They Have to Contribute to the Field of Near-Death Studies
J. Timothy Green, Ph.D.

In this presentation, I describe the NDE as one of a variety of ecstatic experiences. I then describe other types of ecstatic experiences, discuss what these experiences have in common with NDEs and how they can help broaden and deepen the field of near-death studies. I describe lucid dreams as one of the most easily accessed of ecstatic experiences and also the only experience of ecstasy that has been scientifically proven to be a discrete state of consciousness. I also describe shamanism, and the shamanic journey, as a classic form of ecstasy and how through incorporating shamanism into our understanding of NDEs we can develop a clinical methodology based, not on biological or psychological principles, but on spiritual principles.