March 5, 2019 /

A matter of life and death April 14, 2018

When I turn my attention to the last minutes of dying, I was impressed by just how many people displayed a depth of life even here, so close to death.  Instead of ‘nothing’ or ‘unconsciousness’ or disturbing and disorientating hallucinations, I often found a significant prevalence of positive self-reports of comforting experiences and visions that displayed remarkable clarity and a surprising but comforting array of social relations with unseen beings.

The description of these experiences – and there are thousands of well-documented cases world-wide – is often accompanied by a set of hurried scientific explanations.  The lack of academic humility in these often dismissive explanations is commonly eclipsed only by their parallel lack of plausibility and precision.  [Professor Allan Kellehear, pp. 86-88]

From the book, “A matter of life and death: 60 voices share their wisdom”. Rosalind Bradley, 2016, Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Michele T Knight Written by:

Dr Michele Knight is a Social Worker, Social Scientist, researcher and independent scholar. Her interest and research in the end-of-life has its origin in the lived experiences of her own bereavements, her near-death and shared-death events, the returning deceased and attitudinal responses to those experiences. Since 2006, she has been extensively involved in community development, support and advocacy in both a professional and community services/voluntary capacity in the areas of bereavement and grief, hospital pastoral care, and academic lecturing/tutoring. Her PhD, Ways of Being: The alchemy of bereavement and communique, explores the lived experience of bereavement, grief, spirituality and unsought encounters with the returning deceased.

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