People like to wonder, and this is the kernel of science.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
The story of two comrades who went to war and the near death experience of one of them
During the Second World War, the Austrian poet and writer Karl Skala (1924–2006), went to Russia with his troops. He and his comrade, Hannes, caught under artillery fire, took refuge in a fox inn. Hannes got hit and died there. Skala, heavily wounded, experienced that they were both rising up high in the sky, and found themselves looking at the battlefield below. Feeling the weight of his friend’s dead body against his, Skala looked up and saw a bright ray of light; and while he was holding up his friend, they moved towards the light. Suddenly there was a rupture in the scene, Skala felt the pain as he was back in his body.
This artillery fire left Skala deaf for life, and transformed him to a more altruistic person. He wrote five award-winning books, one among them dedicated to his comrade Hannes.
The science of medicine, today, defines Skala’s experience as Near Death Experience (NDE). In his book – Life after Life, Dr. Raymond Moody describes the characteristics of a typical NDE based on the records of 150 cases as follows :
The person feels distressed. He hears the physician declaring him dead. He hears an echo of high frequency, and at the same he feels rapidly going through a tunnel. Suddenly he finds himself outside his body, looking at it from a distance, though still in the same location. He watches the CPR trials. He feels exhilarated. In this strange situation he still feels as if he has a body –though a different one with different powers. Then he notices the others who come to greet him –the deceased relatives, friends and a compassionate being of light whom he cannot identify, appears in before him. This being tells him to evaluate his life. The events of his life pass before his eyes as if on a movie screen. He then comes to a sort of border –seems like the border between this world and the next. He realizes that time is not up yet and that he has to return to earth. He feels resistance at that point – in a state of joy, peace and love, he does not wish to come back.
In spite of that resistance he is obliged to return. Upon his return, he faces difficulties in picking the right words to convey his experience. Upon certain reactions that he receives, he quits talking about it altogether. But this experience continues to affect him profoundly. His thougths about life and death change significantly.
The cardiology and intensive care units of major hospitals in the United Satets and Europe today continue to do research in NDE. Their findings, irrespective of culture and faith, have common characteristics. Cardiologist Pim von Pimmel, neuroscientist Mario Beauregard and Dr. Kübler- Ross are among them. The people who have NDE, become much more kind and altruistic afterwards.
These findings indicate to the existence of something beyond the visible realm, of life at another dimension which continues after the death of the physical body. On one hand, the findings encourage us to keep our hopes of returning to a place where compassion and love are found in abundance, and on the other hand, it drives us to review the way we live and try to find answers to the questions we have, yet to be answered.
Duygu Bruce
