One of the great many mysteries of all time is the mystery of what lies beyond life as we know it. What is really out there after we die and leave this world? This question has been asked and attempted to be answered for thousands of years. Religions try to answer it, even human logic tries to answer this question. Sociologists are possibly one of the most skeptic groups of people when it comes to the Near Death experiences. And they are most likey one of the main groups of professionals exploring near death experiences. Some Sociologists believe that there is not an efficaent way to diagnose NDEs as NDEs. One such sociologist is Bruce Grayson. He believes that there must be a more developed scale in which to test the depth of a NDE.

Though NDEs differ from person to person, as of present research there are many acknowlged similarities that keep the experience consistent. They are:

1. Alertness during the cause of death and into the actual NDE

2. Hearing the news of one's own death while somewhere other than the body

In the results of the patients which have been reported, all but a low, low percentage describes the NDE as a "journey to hell." Although some NDEs do include frightening aspects or moments of confusion "none studied have been characterized by predominantly unpleasant feelings" (Ring, 45).

The evidence which reveals that the brain is completely inert during a NDE reinforces the out-of-body phenomenon. The fact that the brain is totally inactive makes known that these experiences in no way could be unintentionally heard and remembered by the patients' brain during clinical death.

...the feeling I could never - absolutely never forget is that absolute feeling of [pause] peace [pause] joy, or something... I remember the feeling. I just remember the absolute beautiful feeling! (Ring, 43)

These stages of NDE can be in any order or can be completely omitted, but through study the most common occurrence during NDE are the above. Though some sociologists have intensely studied NDEs the patteren of the occurances sometimes still do not convince all researchers. It is the job of sociologists to further explore the behavior of these people and what happens durring the NDE. Though the stages of NDE have been doucumented they are still studied. Some of the more familiar research is explained further on in this paper.

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Approximate Word count = 1758
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)