Ben Breedlove’s Near-Death Experiences Explained

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(Free-Press-Release.com) December 29, 2011 -- On Christmas night Ben Breedlove succumbed to a heart condition at the young age of 18. But before leaving this world behind he left us a powerful story of his near-death experiences after cheating death three times.

The first time Ben cheated death was at the age of 4 where he had a life-treating seizure, which in his words was supposed to be: “Scary right?” Not in Ben’s near-death experience where he saw a “big bright light” and tells us that he “had no worries at all” as he kept smiling throughout the experience.

Polls show that up to 13 million Americans have had a near-death experience and approximately 800 people have one each day in the US alone. By far the majority of these experiences are pleasurable, just as Ben describes for us, and multiple studies have found that over 70 percent of these people see the same bright light that Ben saw.

Ben also tells us that the mind still works a certain time after cardiac arrest, but this time period is only 10–20 seconds. Near-death researcher, Rene Jorgensen, explains that after this short time period there is no longer enough blood flow and oxygen in the brain to produce conscious experience. And as Ben tells us that he was dead for 3 minutes, this is what makes near-death experiences so interesting as anoxia makes the brain shut down very fast.

Jorgensen also says that, “Near-death experiences have been reported by people who have been clinically dead for up to 55 minutes, where they were able to correctly describe events occurring during the time when their brain was completely inactive.” This leaves science with a challenging paradox: how can people have clear conscious experience, like Ben’s, when their brains are no longer functioning?

“The debate is still unsettled but there are thousands of cases of near-death experiences like Ben’s that have been studied scientifically, and the evidence is mounting in support of the possibility that consciousness may be able to exist beyond the brain,” explains Jorgensen.

After cheating death another two times, Ben describes meeting his favorite rapper, Kid Cudi, as the only person in heaven and wondering why? Jorgensen says that this is also a normal feature in near-death experiences as people often meet relatives or figures of admiration that act as guides leading them through their experiences.

Ben also testifies about how he was looking himself in the mirror, which was the “BEST feeling” and in near-death research this is called a “life-review.” Life-reviews happen to about 30 percent of people who have near-death experiences and they can be both pleasurable, as Ben’s was, or distressing in nature bringing to mind the religious concepts of heaven and hell.

Last Ben reveals that: “I didn’t want to leave that place – I wish I never woke up.” This is also a very central aspect of the near-death experience as the peace of the bright light is so pleasurable that most people do not want to come back to this life again.

Here many people like Ben make the link to heaven, and studies show that almost 50 percent of people who have near-death experiences describe having so-called “Heaven-like” experiences. What we can conclude based on Ben’s own words and over 30 years of research on near-death experiences is that, while Ben’s life was short he is now in a better place—a place much like heaven—most likely accompanied by his favorite rapper, Kid Cudi.

Rene Jorgensen is an expert on near-death experiences and member of the International Association for Near-Death Studies: www.ReneJorgensen.com

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