Near‐death experiences: the experience of the self as real and not as an illusion

Near-death experiences (NDEs) in survivors of cardiac arrest are authentic phenomena that cannot be dismissed as imagination, fear of death, hallucination, psychosis, drug effects, or oxygen deficiency. Patients often undergo lasting changes after an NDE lasting only minutes during cardiac arrest. The experience includes clear and enhanced consciousness with memories, self-identity, cognition, and emotions during apparent coma. The prevailing materialistic view of consciousness as solely dependent on brain function is too limited to explain NDEs. Evidence suggests consciousness and a continuous sense of self can occur independently of a functioning brain, possibly as enhanced or nonlocal consciousness experienced apart from the lifeless body. People report that the self they encountered during an NDE feels real, not illusory.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Because the publication of several prospective studies on near-death experience (NDE) in survivors of cardiac arrest have shown strikingly similar results and conclusions, the phenomenon of the NDE can no longer be scientifically ignored. The NDE is an authentic experience that cannot be simply reduced to imagination, fear of death, hallucination, psychosis, the use of drugs, or oxygen deficiency. Patients appear to be permanently changed by an NDE during a cardiac arrest of only some minutes' duration. It is a scientific challenge to discuss new hypotheses that could explain the possibility of a clear and enhanced consciousness--with memories, self-identity, cognition, and emotions--during a period of apparent coma. The current materialistic view of the relationship between consciousness and the brain, as held by most physicians, philosophers, and psychologists, seems to be too restricted for a proper understanding of this phenomenon. There are good reasons to assume that our consciousness, with the continuous experience of self, does not always coincide with the functioning of our brain: enhanced or nonlocal consciousness, with unaltered self-identity, apparently can be experienced independently from the lifeless body. People are convinced that the self they experienced during their NDE is a reality and not an illusion.