On the encounter with a divine presence during a near-death experience
pp. 387-405
in: Ronald Valle (ed), Phenomenological inquiry in psychology, Berlin, Springer, 1998Abstract
This chapter presents a phenomenological study of the experience of "encountering a divine presence during a near-death experience." As a result of my own near-death experience (NDE), I was inspired to investigate what I intuitively felt was the essence and defining element of the phenomenon: the meeting with an omnipotent, all-knowing entity or what many people commonly conceive of as "God." Although there exists a relatively large body of both empirical and speculative literature concerning near-death experiences, rigorous existential-phenomenological investigations, such as the study presented in this chapter, are rare. Since the nature of near-death experience defies "objective" measurement, qualitative or phenomenological methods seem best suited to describe the essence of this remarkable event.