Nearing Death Awareness

The term Nearing Death Awareness (NDA) was coined by two hospice nurses, Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley, 10 years ago. It refers to communications made by the dying near the end of their lives, where they seem to develop a special sensitivity and shift from a consciousness of the physical plane to a 'numinous plane of existence previously unknown.' The author's own interest in the topic derives from her experience of her mother's death in 2004. From this she concluded that the act of dying 'it is actually an experience that involves all of the essence of being human: physical, mental and spiritual.' There is a sense of being connected, of being an integral part of the divine. States of consciousness are recognised as 'a multilayered continuum through which the dying pass, progressing from one conscious realm to another. As one might expect, NDA occurs when people are slowly expiring due to progressive illnesses, rather than cases of sudden acute death, which are more likely to result in near death experience than nearing death awareness. One quotation suggests that 'death is both into the realm of spirit.'

An important prerequisite for understanding NDA communications is a knowledge of symbolic language, some of which refers to journeys. The same applies to understanding near death experience. The author gives a number of examples, ending with a touching image from a former athlete and coach who said that he would be 'out of the game by noon on Sunday' – which he was, in a symbolic sense. Subsequent chapters deal with the deathbed visions, predeath dreams, the timing of death and the distinction between nearing death awareness and near death experience. There is then a chapter on responding to nearing death awareness and the ways in which it bridges into the transpersonal dimensional existence. The chapter on the timing of death provides evidence that people not only know at some level when they will die but can also moderate the timing some degree.

An interesting and I think valid observation on the difference between NDE and NDA is that those experiencing NDA are preparing for death, while 'the prevailing theme of NDE seems to be for the individual to learn how to live life better in the future when they return.' Both experiences give insights into the transpersonal and are, I believe, part of a larger cultural shift in our understanding of the meaning of death and consequently of the meaning of life. The author's own conviction, with which I agree, is that 'the essence of humankind is spiritual. Spiritual development is an innate evolutionary capacity of all humanity, the move toward wholeness, an integral part of our existence. Just as our physical bodies naturally grow and develop, the capacity for spiritual growth is as normal and intrinsic as biological human life.' . This book is a sensitive and perceptive introduction to a new model of death as transition suggested by nearing death awareness as well as near death experience.