Dissertation:
Profound Love As Revealed by Near-Death Experiences
Ann Frances Ellis,
2007
Abstract
Profound love is a love so deep, all-embracing, and powerful that it is seldom encountered by humanity. But since 1975 reports have been proliferating, giving testimony to profound love encountered while near or beyond death.
Many studies and personal accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) have noted the profound love encountered at or beyond death, but few if any have systematically studied that love. Several studies have focused on the after-effects of NDEs and have identified confusion about love and a new focus on the importance of love as after-effects.
No study has been found that focused on identifying, naming, describing, and characterizing the profound love encountered while outside the body. This study attempts to do just that. It does this through the use of direct quotations from individuals who have had NDEs and have reported experiencing that profound love. In addition, this study shows parallels between the statements about profound love from near-death experiencers (NDErs) and assertions about profound love gleaned from the literature of three mystical traditions associated with the world’s religions.
The mystical traditions compared with the NDE statements of profound love are Kabalah, Esoteric Christianity, and Agni Yoga. An extensive search of their literatures, both primary and secondary, provides a summary of the understandings, practices, and recommendations of those traditions regarding profound love.
The International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) has been collecting first-person accounts of near-death experiences for more than ten years, and 508 records from their research archives were made available for this study. Of those records, 480 contained useable narratives of NDEs. One hundred thirty of the 480 narratives (27 percent) were found to include encounters with profound love or teachings received regarding love while out of the body.
Based on the 130 narratives describing profound love, seven categories and numerous subcategories were identified which assisted with describing and characterizing the reports of profound love. Information extracted from the narratives is presented in three ways in this dissertation. Direct quotations, extracted from 130 records pertaining to profound love, were arranged according to the seven categories and were aligned with related quotations from the mystical traditions’ literatures. In addition, eight of the near-death narratives are provided in full as examples of the 480 accounts used. Finally, a table shows graphically the point at which love is encountered within 80 of the accounts, including the stages of the NDEs and who was present.
The extent of the profound love revealed by near-death experiences is demonstrated, and it is shown that near-death experiences of profound love are consistent in many ways with the profound love reported by various mystical traditions.
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