From Publishers Weekly
Even if you never have a near-death experience (NDE) on the surgeon's table, in a car accident or during a heart attack, you can reap the spiritual benefits claimed by NDErs. Through meditation, study and mental exercises, you can tap into the healing energy of the loving, nonjudgmental Being of Light glimpsed by many at death's door. You can simulate a panoramic life-review of your entire existence, catapulting your values away from competitive materialism and toward love, service, cooperation; and you can integrate the insights commonly reported by NDErs into daily practical living. That's the message of this manual that, notwithstanding its aim of reaching out beyond the lucky privileged NDErs to the masses, mostly preaches to the converted. Veteran NDE researcher Ring (The Omega Project), here writing with Swiss NDE investigator Valarino, includes many previously unpublished NDE cases and distills techniques he has taught at workshops and university courses. In a book that reads like a New Age seminar, Ring presents intriguing evidence to support his belief that NDEs represent an authentic, objective experience, not a self-protective hallucination or a neurological artifact of a dying brain. This material includes reports of out-of-body experiences, children's NDEs, blind people gaining sight during NDE episodes, and NDErs whose brush with death apparently unleashed paranormal or healing abilities. Skeptics will relish punching holes in each of these phenomena, and a more rigorous approach would have been welcome for the already overcrowded NDE shelf. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Caroline Myss, Ph.D. author of Anatomy of the Spirit
A beautiful melding of research and compassionate, intuitive analysis. An inspirational book filled with both spiritual insight and practical information to help us realize our own personal power.


Raymond A. Moody, Ph.D., author of Life After Life and Reunions
A major contribution that offers a wealth of fresh case materials together with balanced and insightful commentary.


Ian Wilson, author of The After Death Experience
This is unquestionably the most important book on the subject of near-death experience since Moody's Life After Life.


Seymour Boorstein, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and author of Clinical Studies in Transpersonal Psychotherapy
Lessons from the Light is the best and most complete book on the near-death experience I've ever read, and I believe it will help you overcome your fears of dying.


Charles T. Tart, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of California, Davis; author of Altered States of Consciousness and Living the Mindful Life
A magnificent achievement! Ring's new book is the best book on NDEs! For while he is indeed one of the leading scholars in the field, he now brings in his heart and shows those of us who haven't had an NDE how to use the inspiration of NDEs to change our lives.


Michael Grosso, Ph.D., author of The Millenium Myth and Soulmaking: Uncommon Paths to Self-Understanding
Arguably, the best book yet on the near-death experience.


Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D., National Book Award-winning author of Taking the Quantum Leap and The Spiritual Universe
Lessons from the Light opens the last door each of us will face in our lifetime. With clarity, wit, and crisp prose, it brings us to the cutting edge of what promises to be the most important discovery ever made in psychobiology-what truly happens after death.


Sukie Miller, Ph.D., author of After Death: Mapping the Journey and director of The Institute for the Study of the Afterdeath
Lessons from the Light is the culmination of Kenneth Ring's rich and extensive career as the foremost researcher of the NDE. One of the very best books on the subject to date, it is a must read for anyone interested in life's possibilities.


Jenny Wade, Ph.D., author of Changes of Mind: A Holononic Theory of the Evolution of Consciousness
The capstone of Kenneth Ring's career, this book is the distillation of all that death can teach the living. Ring's loving voice turns harrowing and resplendent near-death stories never published before into a practical guide that motivates through its sheer heart-gripping beauty. No reader will ever be able to think of life in the same way again after reading this book.


Book Description
While providing many accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) from men, women, and children of all ages and backgrounds, Lessons from the Light is more than just an inspiring collection of NDEs. In what many consider his strongest book, Kenneth Ring extracts the pure gold of the NDE and with a beautiful balance of science and human insight reveals the practical wisdom held within these experiences. Lessons from the Light will help you to live your life with greater self-awareness, self-compassion, and concern for others. It will also extinguishes your fears of death and dying. Reading Lessons from the Light is an altogether transforming experience.


About the Author
Kenneth Ring, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Connecticut and co-founder and past president of the International Association for Near-Death Studies. Regarded as the "Dean of NDE Researchers," he is the founding editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies and the author of several previous books on NDEs, including Life At Death, Heading Toward Omega, and The Omega Project, as well as the monograph, Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind. Dr. Ring has appeared on hundreds of TV and radio programs, including The Larry King Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and many others. Professor Ring currently resides in Kentfield, California, near his natal city, San Francisco.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The near-death experience (NDE) is not only a revelation of the most profound and soul-shattering beauty, but, as research shows, it is something that has the power to drastically transform and improve the lives of those who survive this kind of encounter with death. Lessons from the Light: What We Can Learn from the Near-Death Experience is unlike other books on the NDE in that it is written not so much about these life-changing encounters as such but for persons who have never had an NDE themselves yet wish to learn from those who have. Lessons from the Light recounts not only many inspiring NDEs from persons of all ages (including very young children) and classes, but for the first time also discloses Dr. Ring's collection of cases where persons journey beyond the Light as well as the NDEs of blind persons. Such remarkable testimony is then used as a basis to provide helpful guidance and practical exercises in order for readers to live a life of greater self-insight, self-compassion, and concern for others, as well as to be better prepared for death, dying, and bereavement.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Even if you never have a near-death experience (NDE) on the surgeon's table, in a car accident or during a heart attack, you can reap the spiritual benefits claimed by NDErs. Through meditation, study and mental exercises, you can tap into the healing energy of the loving, nonjudgmental Being of Light glimpsed by many at death's door. You can simulate a panoramic life-review of your entire existence, catapulting your values away from competitive materialism and toward love, service, cooperation; and you can integrate the insights commonly reported by NDErs into daily practical living. That's the message of this manual that, notwithstanding its aim of reaching out beyond the lucky privileged NDErs to the masses, mostly preaches to the converted. Veteran NDE researcher Ring (The Omega Project), here writing with Swiss NDE investigator Valarino, includes many previously unpublished NDE cases and distills techniques he has taught at workshops and university courses. In a book that reads like a New Age seminar, Ring presents intriguing evidence to support his belief that NDEs represent an authentic, objective experience, not a self-protective hallucination or a neurological artifact of a dying brain. This material includes reports of out-of-body experiences, children's NDEs, blind people gaining sight during NDE episodes, and NDErs whose brush with death apparently unleashed paranormal or healing abilities. Skeptics will relish punching holes in each of these phenomena, and a more rigorous approach would have been welcome for the already overcrowded NDE shelf. (Nov.)

Booknews

Discusses the impact of near-death experiences (NDEs) on the lives of those who have had them, and attempts to apply these effects as life lessons to those who have not undergone such an experience. Recounts the NDEs of many individuals of varying ages, including children, and also specifically examines the NDEs of blind people, identifying the commonalities among all these experiences. Ring (psychology, U. of Connecticut) claims that NDEs teach us the value of compassion for self and others, and can better prepare us for death, dying, and bereavement. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Shows those of us who haven't had an NDE how to use the inspiration of NDEs to change our lives. — Charles T. Tart

A major contribution that offers a wealth of fresh case materials together with balanced and insightful commentary. — Raymond Moody