Talking About Near Death Experiences and Shared Death Experiences

You may have heard about Near Death Experiences (NDEs), when someone’s body is clinically dead for a period of time. The person’s consciousness leaves the body and travels to mystical realms before returning to life in the body. A Shared Death Experience (SDE) is when a person who is not dying shares the experience of someone who is dying.

In this video, William Peters, author of At Heaven’s Door, talks with @Gail Rubin in her Books to Die For interview series. The book’s subtitle is “What Shared Journeys to the Afterlife Teach About Dying Well and Living Better.”

Topics of Discussion

In this interview, Gail Rubin and William Peters discuss:

1. The differences between Near Death Experiences and Shared Death Experiences.
2. What drew the author to this field of study.
3. How are people who experience SDEs affected afterwards?
4. Why don’t people want to talk about SDEs with others?
5. The most prevalent features of a SDE.
6. Study results of SDEs conducted by the Shared Crossing Research Initiative.

In spite of the loss of loved ones, those who experience a Shared Death Experience are comforted. They are relieved to know their loved ones are happy on the other side. They heal from loss faster, and realize they have less to fear about death themselves. During this long pandemic, this is a redemptive and healing message to receive.

William Peters has experienced both NDEs and a SDE, and founded the Shared Crossings Project to scientifically research and document the Shared Death Experience phenomenon. Recognized as a global leader in the field of shared-death studies, he has spent decades studying end-of-life experiences. A practicing psychotherapist, his work on the end of life is informed by his therapeutic work with individuals facing grief and bereavement, personal experiences with death and dying across cultures, and his family’s own end-of-life journeys. Peters wrote At Heaven’s Door with Michael Kinsella, Ph.D., chief researcher at the Shared Crossing Research Initiative. Learn more at www.SharedCrossing.com.

Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death, helps start end-of-life planning conversations with a light touch on the topics of death, dying and funeral planning. She is an award-winning speaker, author, Certified Funeral Celebrant and coordinator of the Before I Die New Mexico Festival. Learn more at www.AGoodGoodbye.com.