Dancing Past the Dark

Dancing Past the Dark: Distressing Near-Death Experiences, the first comprehensive exploration of disturbing NDEs and how people interpret them, is packed with solid information and first-person narratives that, although marked by dismaying and even terrifying features, turn out to have something vital to say about life itself. Sweeping from research findings to a review of the cultural evolution of hell through a thoughtful analysis of how individuals interpret and ascribe meaning to their near-death experiences, the author, a longtime researcher of these NDEs, brings study data and years of personal insights to the questions that swirl around the topic, providing a wealth of viewpoints and ways of thinking about the subject that will be new to many readers. “Engagingly written,” as one reviewer says, the book’s breadth makes this a landmark in the near-death literature, must reading for anyone curious about NDEs, especially readers wondering how to make sense of such an experience and caregivers in critical care, pastoral, therapeutic, and end-of-life settings.

The tinge of centuries colors the way we hear today’s near-death experiences and what we make of them. Why should some individuals tell of blissful heights of spiritual experience while others believe themselves at the depths, lost in the stars or consigned to hell? (Behind the scenes, every listener wonders: “And could that happen to me?”) Dancing Past the Dark: Distressing Near-Death Experiences, the first comprehensive exploration of disturbing NDEs and how people interpret them, is packed with solid information and first-person narratives that, although marked by dismaying and even terrifying features, turn out to have something vital to say about life itself. Sweeping from research findings to a review of the cultural evolution of hell through a thoughtful analysis of how individuals interpret and ascribe meaning to their near-death experiences, the author, a longtime researcher of these NDEs, brings study data and years of personal insights to the questions that swirl around the topic, providing a wealth of viewpoints and ways of thinking about the subject that will be new to many readers. “Engagingly written,” as one reviewer says, the book’s breadth makes this a landmark in the near-death literature, must reading for anyone curious about NDEs, especially readers wondering how to make sense of such an experience and caregivers in critical care, pastoral, therapeutic, and end-of-life settings. PMH Atwater says, “Dancing Past the Dark is what we have all been waiting for. …This book is masterful—a must for any experiencer of a near-death state (no matter what kind), or a spiritual transformation, religious conversion, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, mystical and shamanic breakthroughs, or any type of encounter with the numinous. Narratives are one thing, the story experiencers tell, but understanding that story, finding meaning, is all important!"

President Emerita of IANDS, the International Association for Near-Death Studies, Nancy Evans Bush has been a leading researcher of distressing NDEs for three decades. She holds a BA in English from the University at Albany–SUNY and a master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry from St. Joseph College in Connecticut. The mother of three grown children and grandmother of seven, she lives in coastal North Carolina.