Dr. Donna Thomas, a social scientist specializing in children's consciousness, shares her profound journey after a near-death experience at 15. She reveals how children can access altered states naturally, contrasting it with adults who use tools like meditation. The discussion highlights common elements of children's near-death experiences, including feelings of 'coming home,' and explores the startling evidence of past-life memories linking birthmarks to previous wounds. Dr. Thomas advocates for normalizing these experiences, urging adults to listen and support rather than pathologize.
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Teenage Near-Death Transformation
At 15, Dr. Donna Thomas survived a car crash and felt herself expand beyond the body into a timeless, peaceful state of unconditional love.
She returned to her body and struggled to integrate the experience amid peers who labeled her weird and clinicians who suggested PTSD or dissociation.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Listen And Normalize Children's Experiences
Provide children information and listening spaces so they can name and integrate transcendental experiences without shame.
Normalize that these experiences happen to many people and do not necessarily mean a child is broken.
insights INSIGHT
Medicalizing Children's Transcendent Reports
Parents often listen but lack guidance, while professionals default to brain-based diagnoses for unusual child experiences.
This medicalization can mislabel normal transcendental reports as psychosis or pathology.
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Dr. Donna Thomas is a social scientist and researcher specializing in children's consciousness studies. With over 28 years of experience researching with children, she has pioneered investigations into children's transcendental experiences and altered states of consciousness, challenging conventional materialist paradigms.
In this conversation, we explore:
— How a near-death experience at age 15 transformed Dr. Thomas's understanding of identity and consciousness
— Why children may naturally access altered states of consciousness that adults often need "gateway tools" like meditation or psychedelics to reach
— The fascinating research on children's near-death experiences, including common patterns like spirals, tunnels, and feelings of "coming home"
— How our materialist paradigm often pathologizes children's transcendental experiences rather than recognizing their potential validity
— The compelling evidence for past life memories in children, including the surprising correlation between birthmarks and wounds from previous lives
And more.
You can learn more about Dr. Thomas's work through her book: "Children's Unexplained Experiences in a Post-Materialist World".
Get access to the 7 Insights Monthly Newsletter: http://bit.ly/seven-insights
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Dr. Donna Thomas is a researcher, author, and lecturer whose pioneering work explores children’s unexplained experiences and what they reveal about consciousness and the nature of being human. She is the author of Children’s Unexplained Experiences in a Post-Materialist World, a groundbreaking book that challenges materialist views of reality and gives voice to children’s lived experiences of the extraordinary.
A Research Fellow and Co-Director at the University of Central Lancashire’s ICreateS International Research Unit, Dr. Thomas has spent over two decades studying how children describe experiences such as telepathy, near-death events, and intuitive knowing — and what these stories can teach us about the deeper dimensions of self and awareness.
Inspired by her own transformative experience at age fifteen, Dr. Thomas believes that listening to children with openness and respect can expand our understanding of consciousness and point toward a more compassionate, post-materialist worldview.
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Interview Links:
— Dr Thomas’ book: https://amzn.to/3XofnW6
— Dr Thomas’ X: https://x.com/donnamthomas / @donnamthomas
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