The
term “Near Death” as an experience (Near Death Experience) was coined in 1975
by Dr. Raymond in his book Life After Life to describe experiences of people
who had been clinically dead and thus near to death. However, since then the
term Near Death Experience has taken on a much broader meaning after finding
that similar and identical experiences happen under very different
circumstances such as: illness, intense fear, giving birth, deep prayer,
meditation, vision quest, drug induced states, etc.
While some scientists for the sake of making a more solid materialistic
argument prefer to look at Near Death Experiences that happen close to physical
death, it is clear that there are many paths that lead to the same experience.
For this reason, some people prefer to categorize those NDEs that are not
triggered by being close to physical death as "Near Death Like
Experiences" or "NDLEs."