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Heading Toward Omega: In Search of the Meaning of the Near-Death Experience
Analyzes the near-death experiences of hundreds of subjects, looks at how their visions changed their lives, and argues that humanity is evolving toward a higher form of consciousness
348 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 10, 2013
As someone interested in the science and meaning of Near Death Experiences (NDEs), I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it did not live up to them. The stories shared and conclusions drawn by the author were solid, and *could* have made for a truly great book. However, the writer's style was so dull and annoying that I quit reading after dragging myself through the first half of the book. The author's style in this book is to tell you, repeatedly and often, what he is going to write and why it's such a good idea to write it that way, rather than simply writing the book in the best way possible. It would be like me writing a review that said, "I'm going to write a review of this book. I'm going to write the positive things first. Later, I'll write the negatives. I'm writing the positives first. This is a good idea because you'll get a broader view of the book if I write pros and cons separately. I didn't like this book, and you'll see why later. But it's best to write the positives first..."
Clearly this style of writing is annoying, yet there are literally hundreds of paragraphs in this book containing only that and the frequent repetition of the main point for that section. Over and over and over. There are many great books on this topic out there, and if you don't mind skimming over paragraphs to find the stories and brief (and oft repeated) conclusions regarding the NDE, this might be the book for you. Otherwise, look elsewhere.
Clearly this style of writing is annoying, yet there are literally hundreds of paragraphs in this book containing only that and the frequent repetition of the main point for that section. Over and over and over. There are many great books on this topic out there, and if you don't mind skimming over paragraphs to find the stories and brief (and oft repeated) conclusions regarding the NDE, this might be the book for you. Otherwise, look elsewhere.
February 19, 2014
Superb. A sympathetic but rational review of the near-death experience. The book reports the near-death experiences that various people have had, but does so with the intent of distilling meaning and finding common threads. What I especially liked were three things: (1)I liked the focus on finding meaning in the experiences; (2) It is not Christian. Ring includes several people who had "Christian experiences or who interpreted their experience through Christian eyes; but Ring includes many others as well, and his attempts to distill, generalize, and summarize, while "religious" in some sense, are not Christian; and (3) he looked at many experiences, and didn't just focus on one or a few people's experiences. I've read several other books on the subject - Moody's books were good, Morse was okay but perhaps too clinical, and several others were personal stories and this was the best I've come across.
May 7, 2017
Started off good, with experiences and how NDEs have changed people. But then started delving into strange ideas of what the NDE means and why it is happening. In the end the author illustrates that NDEs change people for the better but he has no idea why people have NDEs. He tries to use the scientific method but since it is impossible to quantify or measure an NDE he fails in this regard. The first half is worth the read the second part not so much.
February 16, 2024
ANALYSES OF NDEs, OR SIMILAR EXPERIENCES, AND THEIR AFTEREFFECTS
Psychologist Kenneth Ring wrote in the Preface to this 1984 book, “This book… is about awakening… I am alluding here … to those human beings … I have made it my professional business to study and ruminate about over the past six years---namely, individuals who have survived a near- or clinical-death incident and who claim to recall what it was like to die… in my book ‘Life at Death,’ I was mainly concerned to describe the specific features of this experience… [This book] follows the trail… but takes it much further by drawing on an entirely new set of findings related to NDEs: aftereffects. We are now in a position to describe in depth and in detail what happens to people who have survived an NDE.” (Pg. 7-8)
He observes in the first chapter, “Near-death experiences and their implications obviously do not banish the pain of death, nor do they appreciably soften the sense of loss we feel when someone we deeply love dies. The interior view of death supplements---it does not supplant---the external perspective. The advantage of having both perspectives to draw on is that one does not have to get caught up solely in the traditional view with all its negatives. The grim reaper is always accompanied by the being of light, as it were, and near-death research has simply enabled us to see the latter.” (Pg. 21)
He acknowledges about his sample, “Among the 111 persons whose data furnish the principal basis for the study of aftereffects… there is a preponderance of women… nearly 72 percent of my entire sample. The reason for this disproportion is simply that women write more often to describe their NDEs than do men, and women are often more amenable to interviews… Other methodological matters cannot be so blithely dismissed… First, my sample of cases is obviously not randomly selected, nor it is likely to be representative in all particulars of near-death experiencers in general… Second, it was not always possible to arrange to have the appropriate control or comparison groups to show that certain effects were limited to or found more often among NDErs. Finally, some of my interviews were conducted more informally than those done for ‘Life at Death.’ It is hard to interview a friend as strictly as one might a stranger…” (Pg. 29)
He recounts, “In ‘Life at Death’ I found that of my entire sample of 102 cases, 48 percent related NDEs similar to those that had already been described by [Raymond] Moody and [Elizabeth] Kübler-Ross… [I] cautioned that that figure was probably … inflated and … a more representative sample might be closer to 40 percent… Michael Sabom[‘s] … best estimate of the percentage of NDEs---42 percent---obviously is very close to mine... Most of the uncertainty about the incidence … of NDEs has recently been dissipated by … the prestigious Gallup Poll… it appears that approximately 35 percent of those persons who have come close to death undergo an NDE… allowing for the possibility that Gallup’s own figure may reflect a minimum, value for the population, I would propose that somewhere between 35 and 40 percent… could report NDEs.” (Pg. 34-35)
He explains, “Gallup’s findings … show little or no relationship between NDEs and a person’s age, sex, race, educational level, income, occupation, religious affiliation... or region of residence… Altogether there is no support in the literature for the view that such demographic factors significantly influence the incidence or content of NDEs… When we come to the area of personal beliefs, however, we might expect to find some definite correlations with NDEs… Despite the reasonableness of this supposition, the findings of several … studies demonstrate that it is simply not so… we may wonder whether having read or heard about NDEs before one’s own near-death incident might make one more likely to relate it… once more the available data show it to be wrong.” (Pg. 45-47)
He comments, “of the objection that the core experiencers I’ve selected were chosen because of their prior partiality toward religion… this was decidedly not the case. Several, in fact, were either atheists or agnostics before their NDEs, still others were indifferent to religion or only nominally religious… Plainly, whatever adherence to a notion of God we may find in such people following their NDE cannot be attributed to their prior orientation.” (Pg. 85)
He asserts, “The findings here must naturally be regarded as highly provisional, and a more rigorously controlled study with a larger sample is plainly necessary before we can have full confidence in them, but at least we can tentatively conclude that that is no indication whatever that the self-reports of NDErs are biased or in any way invalid.” (Pg. 141)
He clarifies, “it would appear that NDErs who find themselves strongly disposed toward a universally spiritual orientation following their NDE were either unaffiliated with mainline Christian religions… or … could no longer feel at home there… the lack of those ties seems to free the NDEr… to gravitate toward a religious world view that may incorporate and yet transcend the traditional Christian perspective… it is chiefly the nonmainline Christian NDEr who is characterized by the strongest universalistically spiritual leanings.” (Pg. 147)
He suggests, “there is no reason why an NDEr’s openness toward reincarnation must stem directly from his NDE. In fact, I am quite convinced that … it is more likely to be a response to an NDEr’s reading and other life experiences FOLLOWING an NDE.” (Pg. 160)
He reports that he received a letter from a woman named Nancy Clark, which “reflects virtually every major aftereffect of NDEs… Except for one thing. Nancy Clark did NOT have an NDE… [Her letter] so well exemplifies the typical life transformations do not depend on having NDEs.” (Pg. 223)
He continues, “What happens to an individual during an NDE is NOT unique to the moment of apparent of imminent death. It is just that coming close to death is one of the very reliable triggers that sets off this kind of experience… In our collective fascination with the drama of death, we have come nearly to equate what we have called the NDE with the moment of death itself and have failed to recognize that dying is only one, albeit a common one, of the circumstances that tends to be conducive to this kind of experience.” (Pg. 226)
He concludes, “From the study of the NDE, we have learned to see death in a new way, not as something to be dreaded but… as an encounter with the Beloved. Those who can come to understand death in this way… become free to experience life as the gift it is and to live naturally, as a child does, with delight… None of these persons brings SCIENTIFIC proof of life after death, of course. They bring something personally more important: subjective proof… Each of us must make of this collective testimony what we will, but it is hard… to believe that this is a meaningless consolation given to so many for so many more. And beyond all this, there is still the profound EVOLUTIONARY meaning of NDEs---that NDErs and others who have had similar awakenings may in some way prefigure our own planetary destiny, the next stage of human evolution, the dazzling ascent toward Omega and the conscious reunion with the Divine.” (Pg. 268-269)
This book will be of keen interest to people studying NDEs.
Psychologist Kenneth Ring wrote in the Preface to this 1984 book, “This book… is about awakening… I am alluding here … to those human beings … I have made it my professional business to study and ruminate about over the past six years---namely, individuals who have survived a near- or clinical-death incident and who claim to recall what it was like to die… in my book ‘Life at Death,’ I was mainly concerned to describe the specific features of this experience… [This book] follows the trail… but takes it much further by drawing on an entirely new set of findings related to NDEs: aftereffects. We are now in a position to describe in depth and in detail what happens to people who have survived an NDE.” (Pg. 7-8)
He observes in the first chapter, “Near-death experiences and their implications obviously do not banish the pain of death, nor do they appreciably soften the sense of loss we feel when someone we deeply love dies. The interior view of death supplements---it does not supplant---the external perspective. The advantage of having both perspectives to draw on is that one does not have to get caught up solely in the traditional view with all its negatives. The grim reaper is always accompanied by the being of light, as it were, and near-death research has simply enabled us to see the latter.” (Pg. 21)
He acknowledges about his sample, “Among the 111 persons whose data furnish the principal basis for the study of aftereffects… there is a preponderance of women… nearly 72 percent of my entire sample. The reason for this disproportion is simply that women write more often to describe their NDEs than do men, and women are often more amenable to interviews… Other methodological matters cannot be so blithely dismissed… First, my sample of cases is obviously not randomly selected, nor it is likely to be representative in all particulars of near-death experiencers in general… Second, it was not always possible to arrange to have the appropriate control or comparison groups to show that certain effects were limited to or found more often among NDErs. Finally, some of my interviews were conducted more informally than those done for ‘Life at Death.’ It is hard to interview a friend as strictly as one might a stranger…” (Pg. 29)
He recounts, “In ‘Life at Death’ I found that of my entire sample of 102 cases, 48 percent related NDEs similar to those that had already been described by [Raymond] Moody and [Elizabeth] Kübler-Ross… [I] cautioned that that figure was probably … inflated and … a more representative sample might be closer to 40 percent… Michael Sabom[‘s] … best estimate of the percentage of NDEs---42 percent---obviously is very close to mine... Most of the uncertainty about the incidence … of NDEs has recently been dissipated by … the prestigious Gallup Poll… it appears that approximately 35 percent of those persons who have come close to death undergo an NDE… allowing for the possibility that Gallup’s own figure may reflect a minimum, value for the population, I would propose that somewhere between 35 and 40 percent… could report NDEs.” (Pg. 34-35)
He explains, “Gallup’s findings … show little or no relationship between NDEs and a person’s age, sex, race, educational level, income, occupation, religious affiliation... or region of residence… Altogether there is no support in the literature for the view that such demographic factors significantly influence the incidence or content of NDEs… When we come to the area of personal beliefs, however, we might expect to find some definite correlations with NDEs… Despite the reasonableness of this supposition, the findings of several … studies demonstrate that it is simply not so… we may wonder whether having read or heard about NDEs before one’s own near-death incident might make one more likely to relate it… once more the available data show it to be wrong.” (Pg. 45-47)
He comments, “of the objection that the core experiencers I’ve selected were chosen because of their prior partiality toward religion… this was decidedly not the case. Several, in fact, were either atheists or agnostics before their NDEs, still others were indifferent to religion or only nominally religious… Plainly, whatever adherence to a notion of God we may find in such people following their NDE cannot be attributed to their prior orientation.” (Pg. 85)
He asserts, “The findings here must naturally be regarded as highly provisional, and a more rigorously controlled study with a larger sample is plainly necessary before we can have full confidence in them, but at least we can tentatively conclude that that is no indication whatever that the self-reports of NDErs are biased or in any way invalid.” (Pg. 141)
He clarifies, “it would appear that NDErs who find themselves strongly disposed toward a universally spiritual orientation following their NDE were either unaffiliated with mainline Christian religions… or … could no longer feel at home there… the lack of those ties seems to free the NDEr… to gravitate toward a religious world view that may incorporate and yet transcend the traditional Christian perspective… it is chiefly the nonmainline Christian NDEr who is characterized by the strongest universalistically spiritual leanings.” (Pg. 147)
He suggests, “there is no reason why an NDEr’s openness toward reincarnation must stem directly from his NDE. In fact, I am quite convinced that … it is more likely to be a response to an NDEr’s reading and other life experiences FOLLOWING an NDE.” (Pg. 160)
He reports that he received a letter from a woman named Nancy Clark, which “reflects virtually every major aftereffect of NDEs… Except for one thing. Nancy Clark did NOT have an NDE… [Her letter] so well exemplifies the typical life transformations do not depend on having NDEs.” (Pg. 223)
He continues, “What happens to an individual during an NDE is NOT unique to the moment of apparent of imminent death. It is just that coming close to death is one of the very reliable triggers that sets off this kind of experience… In our collective fascination with the drama of death, we have come nearly to equate what we have called the NDE with the moment of death itself and have failed to recognize that dying is only one, albeit a common one, of the circumstances that tends to be conducive to this kind of experience.” (Pg. 226)
He concludes, “From the study of the NDE, we have learned to see death in a new way, not as something to be dreaded but… as an encounter with the Beloved. Those who can come to understand death in this way… become free to experience life as the gift it is and to live naturally, as a child does, with delight… None of these persons brings SCIENTIFIC proof of life after death, of course. They bring something personally more important: subjective proof… Each of us must make of this collective testimony what we will, but it is hard… to believe that this is a meaningless consolation given to so many for so many more. And beyond all this, there is still the profound EVOLUTIONARY meaning of NDEs---that NDErs and others who have had similar awakenings may in some way prefigure our own planetary destiny, the next stage of human evolution, the dazzling ascent toward Omega and the conscious reunion with the Divine.” (Pg. 268-269)
This book will be of keen interest to people studying NDEs.
September 10, 2012
Wonderful, well researched book that I would recommend to anyone with a desire to explore the near death experience(NDE). Ken Ring writes clearly & concisely. Anyone who has had any type of spiritually transcendent experience would benefit from reading any of Ken Ring's writings.
October 22, 2007
Interesting book that explores the possibility of near death experiences-
February 21, 2013
Read this years ago and interviewed Professor Ring. He was on faculty at University of Connecituct for years.
October 6, 2018
Enlightening
A wonderful book . I too have had such an experience in my life and this book just affirms what I know and feel.
A wonderful book . I too have had such an experience in my life and this book just affirms what I know and feel.
September 1, 2024
This book is well written, easy to digest, and thought provoking. Some aspects of Ring's writing style get a bit dull, but I attribute this to the book's being an early example of popular science writing. I appreciate his grounding the book in accepted research methodology while keeping a very open mind to new age ideas.
This was a fascinating read, although the chapter on the apocalyptic predictions of NDEers is laughable from the perspective of 2024. We are not living in a new age of peace and love that I'm aware of...
I'm curious to find out what Kenneth has written about in the intervening years.
This was a fascinating read, although the chapter on the apocalyptic predictions of NDEers is laughable from the perspective of 2024. We are not living in a new age of peace and love that I'm aware of...
I'm curious to find out what Kenneth has written about in the intervening years.
March 7, 2018
Another NDE/OBE Near Death Experience/Out of Body Experience book by University of Connecticut psychology professor Kenneth Ring. This study focusses less on anecdotal evidence but more on gathering data on specific issues related to the experience of the NDEer, ie., heightened cognitive power, paranormal experience, deeper sense of spirituality and a greater desire to be of service to others.
July 8, 2022
Would buy it should buy it. Fascinating.
August 7, 2024
The descriptions of the encounters of his omega core experiencers were the most amazing of any I’ve read!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews