Can a Near Death Experience Give You Superpowers? | Unveiled

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Can a Near Death Experience Give You Superpowers?</h4>

According to studies, up to fifteen percent of people have had a near death experience in their lifetimes. A significant portion of humankind has been taken to the brink of dying, only to be brought back to the land of the living. But, in some cases, they return fundamentally changed forever.

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; can a near death experience give you superpowers?

A near death experience (or NDE) is an increasingly common phenomena, felt and seen by anyone who has come exceptionally close to dying. Perhaps their heart has briefly stopped beating, or they’ve been knocked out cold in an accident… but what happens next is difficult to explain. There are certain, often shared characteristics, though. A white light, a long tunnel, life flashing before your eyes and a sense of euphoria. Upon being resuscitated, NDE sufferers also often report some kind of out-of-body event. Perhaps they’ve seen themselves on the operating table, or they’ve stood at the foot of what was very nearly their own death bed. In some cases, they’ve even heard doctors deliver their own time of death, before coming back from the dead to remember it. 

After an NDE, many people claim to have a vastly different perspective. Life takes on new meaning, and they feel more appreciative of the world around them. But, on the other hand, your mood can go in the opposite direction, as well, with some reports of post traumatic stress disorder taking hold. Having come so close to death, some people feel haunted by it from that point forward. Ultimately, there is no standard or expected reaction to an NDE. But, every so often, an especially unexpected effect comes to light.

Near Death Empowerment is a story trope in some science fiction. It’s when a character's powers are enhanced, or they’re able to unlock all-new abilities, as a direct result of them very nearly dying. In the world of comics and superhero movies, it’s basically “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” to an extreme degree. And yet, if reports are to be believed, then Near Death Empowerment is much more than just a fictional device. Instead, it’s a mystery of the real world, and one that a select few people have been able to tap into.

In 1983, Bruce Greyson headed a study titled; “Increase in Psychic Phenomena Following Near-Death Experiences”. At the time, Greyson was Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Chief of the Psychiatric Emergency Service at the University of Michigan. Later in his career, he became the Director of the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia - a role later filled by a leading voice in past-life memory research, Jim Tucker. In his 1983 work, Greyson sought to investigate; “the reported incidence of psychic and psi-related experiences occurring both before and after subjects' NDEs”. His research was conducted on members of the International Association for Near-Death Studies who had had NDEs in the past. Eighty volunteered to be surveyed, of which the results for sixty-nine of them were returned in analyzable form. The survey probed participants on the occurrence of various phenomena before and after their NDE. The results showed a clear increase in many of them after the near death experience.

Greyson writes that “ESP experiences while awake were reported to have occurred significantly more frequently after the NDE than before”. The same for “out-of-body experiences, encounters with apparitions, and perceptions of an aura about someone else”. And also for “profound spiritual, mystical, or transcendental experiences, lucid dreams, and recall of dreams at least once a week”. All of these things were found to have increased, on average, in subjects after they had had an NDE. Greyson tempers the findings with a reminder that correlation isn’t causation; that there could be a number of other reasons why this pattern emerges. For instance, an NDE might merely increase delusion rather than ESP powers. Or having had an NDE, a subject may be more prone to a pro-NDE bias rather than more prone to something like genuine telepathy. But, nevertheless, of the 19 individual items on the original survey, it was found that 9 of them did become more common after near-death. So, could we say that a near death experience gives you superpowers?

Based on Greyson’s study alone, it would appear that it is possible. Although exactly what those superpowers are is a little ambiguous. Extrasensory perception could mean mind-reading, time viewing, or speaking with dead people. A transcendental experience could be walking with God, revisiting the past, or talking with animals. In general, though, there is a suggestion of an increased something-ness. Of greater spirituality; of a connection to a higher plane. But, again it’s perhaps easy to see why not everyone would feel great about that. And, rather than honing their experience into a superpower, many NDErs have instead been led to question their sanity. Or to question whether they actually did survive, at all.

A 1989 paper by Cherie Sutherland of the University of New South Wales in Australia reveals more. Sutherland extensively interviewed 40 subjects regarding their NDE, for upwards of ninety minutes at a time. She questioned them on psychic phenomena, and determined with greater specificity the differences before and after the event. She also compared her findings to data from the general public, i.e. from those who hadn’t had an NDE. Sutherland looked at, for example, clairvoyance, and found that thirty-eight percent of the general population reported it; forty-three percent of her subjects reported it before their NDE; but seventy-three percent of her subjects reported it after their NDE. So one conclusion to draw is that NDErs are subsequently more clairvoyant; they’re better at seeing the future. For telepathy, Sutherland’s numbers are fifty-eight percent in the general population; forty-six percent in subjects before NDE; but eighty-seven percent in subjects after NDE. It might be said, then, that NDErs are subsequently more telepathic; they’re better at reading minds. For intuition, Sutherland doesn’t include a percentage for the general population, but for subjects before NDE it’s sixty percent; after NDE it’s ninety-five percent. Can we say, then, that NDErs simply know more? 

Sutherland summarizes that “every person interviewed was aware of the increase in psychic phenomena in their lives, although the degree of this increase varied”. What’s perhaps also telling, however, is the data put forward in the same study regarding beliefs. For example, regarding the belief in reincarnation, Sutherland lists the general population at thirty-two percent; subjects before NDE at thirty-nine percent; subjects after NDE at seventy-nine percent. For life after death it’s general, fifty-nine percent; before NDE, forty-seven percent; and after NDE one hundred percent. And finally, for fear of death there’s no number for the general population, but for subjects before NDE it’s seventy-eight percent… and after NDE it’s zero percent. The data seemingly shows that all NDErs inherit a belief in life after death and that none of them are frightened of death - even if they were before. Maybe that could be considered a superpower, in itself.

What’s your verdict on this issue? Have you ever had an NDE that changed your life forever? Or do you think that any supposed link between them and enhanced abilities can actually be explained by something else? Let us know in the comments!

For now, near death experiences are still quite an unknown quantity. There are things that NDErs report that science simply can’t account for. Although, equally, there are some elements that seemingly can be accounted for. The sensation of life flashing before your eyes, for example, has been linked to a noted spike in brain activity at the time of death within regions dedicated to the preservation of memory. As more and more cases are made public, there are suspicions that confirmation bias could be skewing some reports, as well, with people seeing what they now expect to see as a result of increased NDE awareness. Meanwhile, some claim that the apparent inexplicability of an NDE is purely the result of the brain reacting to its ultimate trauma; the death of the body. Neurons are firing off in all directions, and a euphoric chaos unfolds.

For those who do live to tell the tale, however, there is apparent evidence that certain aspects of their lives from thereon out will be different. Perhaps profoundly different. And, to some degree, that’s why it might be said that a near death experience really can give you superpowers.