What Near-Death Experiences May Tell Us About Consciousness

Our ideas about death define how we live our life.

Dag Hammerskjöld (1905-1961)

Source: Creazilla/pixel2013

Psychiatrist Raymond Moody coined the term near-death experiences in his 1975 book, Life After Life, in which he detailed the experiences of more than 100 people who survived “clinical” death but were subsequently revived. Moody defined NDEs as “any conscious perceptual experience occurring in individuals pronounced clinically dead or who came very close to physical death” [1].

Moody also outlined common elements frequently reported by people who survived near-fatal situations, which included: the sensation of being outside one’s body; the perspective of one who hovers above a scene, looking down; intense feelings of peace and well-being; moving through a dark, tunnel-like space; seeing a bright light; encountering an idyllic other world; interacting with spirits or deceased relatives; or experiencing a “life review.”

NDEs have been characterized as intense psychological events with transcendental and mystical qualities, usually triggered by life-threatening situations like a heart attack, asphyxiation, or shock. Upon recovery, these individuals describe their experiences of hovering between life and death. Many recount remarkably similar stories, often involving a compelling choice: to stay in this surreal, otherworldly state—essentially remaining dead—or to return to life. Experiences like near-death encounters are also reported during severe illnesses that aren’t directly life-threatening, as well as during periods of isolation, depression, meditation, or even without any clear cause.

While NDEs often share common themes worldwide, no two NDEs are identical. Like all experiences, they are shaped by our culture, language, and personal history.

The majority of individuals who have near-death experiences (NDEs) firmly believe in the reality of the experience, both during the event and following it. This enduring belief seems to be supported by the extraordinarily vivid and stable memory of the experience. Frequently, NDE survivors undergo a profound personal transformation. They often become more compassionate, less self-centered, more dedicated to helping others, and less fearful of death.

While a sense of well-being is one of the most frequently reported aspects of classical NDEs, it is important to acknowledge that distressing or even hellish experiences have been reported to occur in 1.4 percent of cases [2, 3].

When exploring the subject of NDEs, the question arises whether they are the product of a hallucinating brain or evidence of the survival of consciousness. Many scholars do not trust theories and findings that are not grounded in what they studied in academia. Confronted with novel, unfamiliar, and hard-to-explain phenomena like NDAs, they discount them or endeavor to find explanations based on their traditional belief system. The old saying, “trying to pour new wine into old bottles” seems to apply.

A central tenet of neuroscience holds that all human experience arises from the brain [4]. It is therefore not surprising that the prevalent scientific explanations focus on brain neurochemistry. During cardiac arrest, which is the most frequent trigger of NDEs, the brain is deprived of oxygen, resulting in loss of all body and brainstem reflexes, respiration, and consciousness [5]. Most scientists explain the sense of well-being by the release of endorphins by the pituitary gland and hypothalamus, hallucinations and a sense of peace and bliss by the blockage of glutamate receptors in the brain (glutamate is the human brain's primary excitatory neurotransmitter), and the experience of being in a tunnel and seeing a distant light by anoxia of the retina [6].

According to psychologist Ronald Siegel, "The descriptions given by dying persons are virtually identical to descriptions given by persons experiencing hallucinations, drug-induced or otherwise" [7]. Carl Sagan states that some of the near-death experiences can be associated with "a wiring defect in the human neuroanatomy that under certain conditions always leads to the same illusion of astral projection/out-of-body experience" [8].

Kevin Nelson, professor of neurology at the University of Kentucky is convinced that the narratives of NDE fit securely within the framework of conventional neuroscience [9].

However, a growing number of scientists would disagree with that conclusion. They believe that consciousness extends beyond death, driven by the belief that the brain is incapable of producing "highly vivid and lucid conscious experiences" peri-mortis, that is, around the time of death [10,11]

These scholars have investigated out-of-body experiences and other aspects of NDEs as possible indicators that consciousness may exist independently of the body and continue after death. Most of us are taught that the mind is a product of the brain—that all our thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and memories are created by the brain. However, that's not the whole story.

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In 2014, Sam Parnia, a critical care and resuscitation expert at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, conducted the world’s largest study on human consciousness around the time of death. Parnia’s findings suggest that the conscious mind may continue to function for a period after the heart stops and the brain ceases to work [12].

Research on NDEs is challenging the belief that consciousness simply fades when the body dies. The phenomenon of NDEs seems to defy simple, materialistic explanations like lack of oxygen, drugs given to the patient, etc. On the contrary, there is growing evidence suggesting that consciousness may not be entirely dependent on brain function and that enhanced or nonlocal consciousness may sometimes be experienced independently of the physical body. Scientific research on NDEs supports the idea that consciousness may not be confined to the brain but instead may operate beyond it, with the brain acting as a facilitator rather than the source of consciousness.

These findings have profound implications for our understanding of life and death, pointing to the possibility that consciousness may persist beyond physical death. In this view, death marks the end of physical existence, but consciousness may continue to exist in another realm, allowing us to remain conscious beings even without a physical body.

Regardless of whether their origins are biological, psychological, or metaphysical, NDEs are undeniably part of the human experience. They have the power to affect beliefs about life after death and ultimately the belief that death may not be the end. Death, like birth, may be a mere passing from one state of consciousness into another.

An expanded version of this post appears in The Globe and Mail.