Is there life after death? Is there anything after death? Numerous people have reported having near death experiences. A number of people have been clinically dead, yet come back to life and tell of their remarkable experiences. A number of independent studies have been conducted that shed light on a part of what could possibly happen after we die.
One of these studies comes out of the University of Southampton, where scientists found evidence that awareness can continue for at least several minutes after death. In the scientific world this was thought to be impossible. The study is the world’s largest near death experiences study ever published, and it was published in the journal Resuscitation, and can be viewed here.
“In 2008, a large-scale study involving 2060 patients from 15 hospitals in the United Kingdom, United States and Austria was launched. The AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) study, sponsored by the University of Southampton in the UK, examined the broad range of mental experiences in relation to death. Researchers also tested the validity of conscious experiences using objective markers for the first time in a large study to determine whether claims of awareness compatible with out-of-body experiences correspond with real or hallucinatory events. ” (source)
The study emphasized how terms such as “near-death and “out of body” experiences are scientifically imprecise terms, and might not be sufficient enough to describe the actual experience of death. It also emphasized how more studies need to focus on cardiac arrest because it is biologically synonymous with death (instead of poorly defined medical states like “near death.”)
Scientists determined in some cases of cardiac arrest that patients were still visually aware and during “out of body experiences.” These experiences in some cases would correspond with actual events taking place during the procedure.
They also determined that a higher proportion of people maybe have vivid death experiences, but do not recall them because of the effects of sedative drugs on memory circuits.
Researchers at the University of Southampton spent four years studying more than 2,000 people who suffered cardiac arrest. They gathered data from 15 different hospitals from the UK, US, and Austria.
They found that nearly 40 percent of people who survived described some type of ‘awareness’ during the time they were pronounced clinically dead, before their hearts were restarted.
One remarkable story came from a 57 year old man who, despite being unconsciousness and dead, recalled watching the entire process of his resuscitation. This kind of reminds me of the CIA/NSA experiment at Stanford University, where scientists observed a man fly out of his body to observe the planet Jupiter. He was able to identify specifics about the planet prior to the first flyby of it by NASA’s pioneer 10 spacecraft. You can read more about that here
“The recalled experience surrounding death merits a genuine investigation without prejudice.”(source)
In the medical world, this has been a highly controversial study despite the fact that numerous other studies indicate that something is definitely worth exploring here. Consciousness is also a heavily studied phenomenon in the realm of quantum physics, and it’s been explored time and time again that it can/may have a direct effect on our physical material world. You can read more about that here.
“We know the brain can’t function when the heart has stopped beating, but in this case, conscious awareness appears to have continued for up to three minutes into the period when the heart wasn’t beating, even though the brain typically shuts down within 20-30 seconds after the heart has stopped. The man described everything that had happened in the room, but importantly, he heard two bleeps from a machine that makes a noise at three minute intervals. So we could time how long the experienced lasted for.He seemed very credible and everything that he said had happened to him had actually happened.” Dr Sam Parnia, a former research fellow at Southampton University, now at the State University of New York, who led the study (source)
“This is significant, since it has often been assumed that experiences in relation to death are likely hallucinations or illusions, occurring either before the heart stops or after the heart has been successfully restarted, but not an experience corresponding with ‘real’ events when the heart isn’t beating.” – Dr Sam Parnia (source)
Of approximately 2000 cardiac arrest patients, a staggering 330 survived and 140 experienced some time of awareness during the time they were clinically dead and being resuscitated.
“Estimates have suggested that millions of people have had vivid experiences in relation to death but the scientific evidence has been ambiguous at best. These experiences warrant further investigation.” – Dr Sam Parnia
The evidence of some type of awareness or consciousness existing separate from the body is huge. More evidence is linked within this article in the above paragraphs.
I thought the below video would be appropriate for this article, for those who are interested. It’s a video of Dr. Eben Alexander, a Harvard trained brain neurosurgeon for more than two decades. He is also the author of the best‐selling book “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife.” In the book he looks at the past two and a half years of his life spent in trying to reconcile his rich spiritual experience with contemporary physics and cosmology. He is convinced that his spiritual experience is totally consistent with the leading edges of scientific understanding today. 2014.
Dr. Alexander never believed in the existence of an after life, or the soul. That all changed when he was in a coma for seven days caused by severe bacterial meningitis and claims to have had a memorable journey into the after life.
A couple of quotes from the lecture:
“There are a lot of scientists around the world who realize that when you start getting into the mystery of consciousness, which in essence is the only thing anyone of us truly knows exists, and trying to see exactly what consciousness is, it’s kind of like asking a fish what it’s like in the water. We are so close to it that there’s no way to really separate it out. I assure you that the only thing you’ve ever really known is your own consciousness.”
“We believe that there is this external world out there, the material realm. That’s the realm that materialist science will try to tell you is the thing that exists, but it’s really right at the heart of the deep enigma of quantum mechanics, that our modern society has wrestled with for more than a century now trying to understand. Basically what the results of those experiments have been screaming, is that consciousness is primary and fundamental in this universe, and that is a very important thing to understand.”
Sources:
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/mediacentre/news/2014/oct/14_181.shtml#.VDWk_PldU0R
