As a 6 yr old child, I asked my teachers what was beyond the edge of the Universe. I asked the same question of a top cosmologist at Durham University, many years later. That isn't defined" he said. I was pretty horrified at the time. There had been a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to that point - and that was my answer?!?!?! It wasn't enough.

Many years later, I have found the answers to my questions - or at least some of them. I think that others that study the NDE phenomenon will find answers to their deepest and biggest questions too. When a child one day asks you "What's at the edge of the Universe?", you will be able to tell them a little.

So how can a scientist respond to NDE evidence? Leading NDE researcher and pioneer, Professor Peter Fenwick oftens desribes a need for a new paradigm and this has inspired my conclusions.

It seems to me that the scientific method most usually gets applied from a start point that excludes the supernatural (just like Higher Criticism in theology). Having done a lot of mathematical modelling in the course of my own research, I see that approach as effectively picking a starting point in multidimensional space - a start point of where supernatural parameters are zeroed.

Near Death Experience research started when doctors were being told surprisingly consistent and fascinating accounts of Near Death Experiences by people they had personally attended and certified the death of. Doctors are men and women of science and are not inclined to flights of fantasy or wild goose chases. They began the research because the NDE accounts they were being told by their patients were convincing.