IANDS’s articles of incorporation indicate that our organization’s focus is “near-death and similar experiences.” Throughout our website, we also refer to “near-death and related experiences.” Although IANDS’s primary focus has been and continues to be near-death experiences (NDEs), the questions arise: What are these similar and related experiences, under what circumstances do they occur, and how do they relate to the term “spiritually transformative experiences” (STEs)? We begin with a list of three categories of “related and similar” experiences that is inclusive, though not exhaustive.
One category is experiences that can occur during NDEs and also outside the context of a close brush with death (Atwater, 2021; Holden et al., 2009). These include, but are not limited to:
- Out-of-body experience (OBE) – in which a person experiences their consciousness located and functioning outside their physical body (Tart, 2009),
- Telepathy – in which a person encounters and communicates “mind-to-mind” with another living or trans-material being (Tart, 2009; Watt & Tierney, 2014),
- After-death communication (ADC) – in which a living person experiences the presence of a physically deceased person or animal (Holden, 2017),
- Past-life memory – in which a person recalls a previous lifetime as a different person or other entity (Mills & Tucker, 2014),
- Precognition – in which a person perceives a future event in the absence of any normal way of predicting it (Tart, 2009; Watt & Tierney, 2014),
- Remote viewing – in which a person visualizes physical events outside the normal range of perception in the absence of any normal way of perceiving them (Tart, 2009),
- Mystical experience – which “diverges in fundamental ways from ordinary conscious awareness and leaves a strong impression of having encountered a reality radically different from the sensory-based world of everyday experience . . . often stand[ing] out as joyous, defining moments in [experiencers’] lives” (Wulff, 2014, p. 370), and
- Anomalous healing of self – in which a person is healed in ways that transcend normal healing processes (Tart, 2009).
A second category is experiences that can occur after NDEs—as well as in other circumstances apart from NDEs (Atwater, 2021; Holden et al., 2009). These can include the above-listed experiences as well as:
- Anomalous healing of others – in which a person perceives the ability to promote healing in others through other-than-normal means (Krippner & Achterberg, 2014; Tart, 2009),
- Aura viewing – Perceiving white or colored light emanating from people and/or objects,
- Encounter with non-material entities – in which a person perceives the presence of and communication with one or more entities not of the material world, perhaps originally encountered during an NDE, such as light beings and orbs,
- Encounter with extraterrestrial beings – in which a person encounters beings from other worlds or dimensions (Appelle et al., 2014; Ring, 1993),
It is noteworthy that the above experiences can occur under a variety of circumstances. They can occur spontaneously in various contexts, including a close brush with death due to illness or to accidental or self-inflicted injury, but also during other extreme circumstances such as intense emotional arousal or extreme physical exertion – or for no apparent reason. They occur in all states of health, from completely healthy to being on one’s deathbed. They occur during all states of consciousness, including awake, falling asleep, asleep, awakening from sleep, while daydreaming, in meditation, and while physically unconscious; when these experiences occur during sleep, they usually differ from typical dreams in several ways, such as feeling real both during and afterwards and being remembered vividly even years later. The above experiences also can be facilitated by practices such as meditation, by the ingestion of entheogens such as psilocybin or ayahuasca, and by clinical psychotherapeutic procedures such as hypnosis, past life therapy, or Induced After-Death Communication (Foster & Holden, 2017).
How do these experiences relate to the term spiritually transformative experience (STE)? That term was coined by psychiatrist Yvonne Kason (1994; 2008; 2019). Although she did not offer a definition of the term, she specified that STEs include mystical experiences, NDEs, psychic experiences, spontaneous inspired creativity, and spiritual energy/kundalini episodes. Thus, as regards the above list of experiences similar and related to NDEs, the term STE is problematic in at least three ways. First, Kason’s list of STEs is incomplete, representing only some, but not all, experiences similar and related to NDEs. Second, even Kason (2019, p. 26) acknowledged correctly that STEs “may” cause a spiritual awakening; that is, some people who have such experiences do not then transform spiritually—thus contradicting the term “spiritually transformative experience.” In addition, some people do not consider their experiences of these types to be “spiritual,” per se—and may react negatively to that term being imposed on their experience in contradiction to their own subjective view.
A more accurate, objective, and inclusive term might be helpful. One possibility is transpersonal experiences, because in NDEs and each of the related and similar experiences listed above, the experiencer in some way(s) transcends the usual personal limits of space, time, identity, and/or influence. For example, in precognition and past life memories, the person has transcended the usual personal limits of time—knowing future or past events not usually known to them. In out-of-body experiences and remote viewing, the person has transcended the usual personal limits of space—perceiving the world from perspectives and locations not usually available to them. In mystical experience, a person transcends their usual sense of identity by feeling one with humanity, nature, or the entire cosmos. And in psychokinesis, a person can affect a physical object or process with their mind alone, transcending their usual limits of physical influence. This term is backed by an established field of study known as transpersonal psychology (Friedman & Hartelius, 2013).
Transpersonal experiencers are free to label their experiences “spiritual”—or not, as they wish. And such experiences may or may not result in transformation that might be considered spiritual, that is, movement in the direction of greater love, peace, and sense of connectedness to self, others, the world, and/or a domain and entities beyond the physical world.
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- Janice Miner Holden, EdD, LPC-S, ACMHP with the IANDS Academic & Research Committee and IANDS Board of Directors