Dale survived meningitis and sepsis, then saw deceased relatives and a white light that told him to return. David Kessler explores whether near-death visions come from the brain shutting down or something else, drawing on deathbed interviews and accounts from healthcare workers.
You shouldn't be sitting here either. What did you see? What happened?
My journey started when I had lost the battle with the meningitis and the sepsis. And in that singular moment when I had to give up everything here, my wife, my children and all, something took its place. You know, I saw my mother. I saw my grandmother. I saw my uncle, saw my grandfather. All peaceful, calm, tranquil, hard to explain. And that period of time seemed like 10 minutes to me. It first started with, you know, the light coming and loved ones and all. But it felt like it was wrapped in this warm, loving, embracing blanket. So loving and so kind.
So, David, as an expert in this area, why is it that so many of the folks we've interviewed see their loved ones when they're close to death?
One of the theories is that as our body winds down, the brain misfunctions, malfires, impulses, and possibly produces hallucinations. But I wonder if we can really know everything there is to know about death. I believe there's so much more. And after sitting with hundreds of people at their deathbeds, interviewing doctors, nurses, clergy, most of who report these same significant findings in ICUs emergency rooms across the.
World, that's the loved ones. So the next thing people seem to see when death is near is this. Take a look.
A light of just incredible brightness was all around me and a feeling of almost euphoria. And then I saw this light, and it said, this is not your time. You must return.
There's a light on the horizon. And what I wanted to do the most was go into that light. It was a place of unconditional love. It was a place that I would never want to leave.
They're talking about a white light that looks like this. It sort of fills the screen. But, Dale, describe the white light as you saw it because you had feelings with the visual.
I did. Mine actually started that when I knew I was dying. And it's surreal. You feel your death. You feel it coming on at that very instant, that very moment. I started to see white auras off of bodies in my ICU unit. I didn't know who they were. It could have been a tech, could have been my wife, for all that matter. I didn't know. But that white light that emanated from their bodies spread around and enveloped me overhead. And as soon as that occurred, that was within a moment. It was when I felt this loving embrace. And it was so moving and so powerful, it's almost inexplainable. In the end, it was why I wrote the book that I wrote Detour to Heaven because I felt I was in heaven, David.
Why again, as an expert, I'm curious how you can make sense of what so many folks who have crossed over and come back are telling us.
Well, I do believe in the brain we have these electrical surges as the oxygen drops. And those electrical surges picture might be like white fireworks. That might be the white light. But I really wonder, can science know this for sure? Could this be really the place, the pathway to where we go next after life?
Maybe it's all of our path as we exit.
