It is possible to have a glimpse of life after death. Man has always believed in an afterlife but only today do we have scientific reports of people who seem to have experienced the sensation of dying but lived to tell about it. On-going research is documenting hundreds of cases each year of the near-death experience (NDE), and scientists think they are finding a clearly identifiable pattern: usually a man is dying and as he reaches the point of greatest physical distress, he hears himself pronounced dead by his doctor. He begins to hear an uncomfortable noise, a loud ringing or buzzing and at the same time feels himself moving very rapidly through a long dark tunnel. After this, he suddenly finds himself outside of his own physical body, but still in the immediate physical environment and he sees his own body from a distance, as though he is a spectator. He watches the resuscitation attempt from this unusual vantage point and is in a state of emotional upheaval.
After a while, he collects himself and becomes more accustomed to his odd condition. He notices that he still has a ‘body’, but one of a very different nature and with very different powers from the physical body he has left behind. Soon after, things begin to happen. Others come to meet and to help him. He glimpses the spirits of relatives and friends who have already died, and a loving, warming spirit of a kind he has never encountered before – a being of light – appears before him. This being asks him a question, non-verbally – to make him evaluate his life – and helps him along by showing him a panoramic instantaneous playback of the major events of his life. Then he finds that he must go back to earth that the time for his death has not yet come. At this point he resists, for by now he is taken up with his experiences in the afterlife and does not want to return. He is overwhelmed by intense feelings of joy, love and peace. Despite his attitude, though, he somehow reunites with his physical body and lives.
According to the passage, scientific evidence has made it possible
- for the dead to return and tell their experience
-
to make conjectures about what happens after death
- to know a little about what happens in the world of the dead
- for one to experience the sensation of dying and living again
The correct answer is: B
Explanation
The passage discusses scientific research into near-death experiences (NDEs) and describes the pattern that researchers are beginning to identify based on individuals who report experiencing sensations of dying. However, the passage does not claim that the scientific evidence conclusively explains what happens after death, but rather that scientific studies are revealing patterns that help researchers understand the experiences of those who have had NDEs.