On Near Death Experiences​
Joseph W. Bergeron, M.D.
Near death experiences (NDE’s) are more common than one might suspect having a prevalence of 4% in the general population by some surveys. People that survive a close brush with death sometimes tell stories that are profound and striking.
NDE’s and out-of-body experiences (OBE’s) have not escaped the attention of the medical community. Theories have emerged suggesting NDE’s are neuropsychological symptoms stemming from brain malfunction. Yet, such theories are unsatisfying and unable to fully explain reports of heightened perception and detailed descriptions reported in the context of clinical death. Medical studies have provided important observations. Still, some aspects of NDE’s are not well understood.
NDE Observations and Theories:
Some researchers propose physiological causes for NDE’s. Physician researcher and theologian Michael Marsh, believes NDE’s and OBE’s can most often be explained as neuropsychological phenomena of a malfunctioning brain. According to Marsh, NDE’s and OBE’s are “essentially hallucinatory phenomena resulting from perturbations of neural function.” Acknowledging that NDE and OBE experiences often produce lasting transformative positive life-changes, Marsh finds this non-specific and feels alternate explanations are plausible. Marsh correctly observes that the majority of cardiac arrest patients do not report NDE or OBE experiences, an observation he finds counterintuitive.
Gary Habermas observes that Marsh’s proposed explanations and criticisms are dismissive of the hundreds of NDE’s that cannot be explained away as readily as Marsh proposes. Concordant with Habermas’s critique, NDE researcher Bruce Greyson notes:
…some NDErs report having encountered deceased relatives and friends, and some child NDErs describe meeting persons whom they did not know at the time of the NDE but later identified as deceased relatives from family portraits they had never seen before. Other experiencers report having encountered recently deceased persons of whose death they had no knowledge, making expectation a highly implausible explanation. These aspects of NDEs present us with data that are difficult to explain by current physiological or psychological models or by cultural or religious expectations.
Many NDE studies are retrospective, meaning the study relies on the memories of experiencers to describe incidents from the past. This raises concern of possible memory distortion with the passage of time. Yet, experiencers often describe their NDE as characterized by heightened reality and demonstrate memories unaltered for years.
Medical Research:
Prospective studies monitor subjects over time. A 2001 Dutch prospective study followed patients that survived cardiac arrest. 82% had no recollection of a NDE. The absence of reported NDE’s in such a large cohort is not fully understood, however prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can induce memory loss. NDE’s were noted to be less common in patients older than age 60.
18% of study subjects did recollect NDE’s of varied acuity. Among those, 30% had a tunnel experience going to a heavenly landscape or meeting deceased relatives. 25% had an out-of-body experience and communication with “the Light”. 13% had a life review, and 8% experienced the presence of a border. A minority described lucidity and the sensation of being outside their body observing medical staff working.
Duration of cardiac arrest, religious and education background were not predictive factors for having a NDE. Medication, physiological, psychological, and demographic factors were not contributory. All patients were clinically dead with cessation of blood flow to the brain.
At two and eight year follow up, NDE experiencers had increased sense of purpose, love, and forgiveness. Cardiologist and lead researcher in the Dutch study, Pim Van Lommel notes of study participants:
We saw in them a greater interest in spirituality and questions about the purpose of life, as well as a greater acceptance of, and love for, oneself and others. The conversations also revealed that people had acquired enhanced intuitive feelings after a NDE, along with a strong sense of connectedness with others and with nature.
Van Lommel poses the question:
how can an extremely lucid consciousness be experienced outside the body at a time when the brain has a transient loss of all functions during a period of clinical death, even with a flat EEG?
An American study by NDE researcher Bruce Greyson had similar findings. 15% of cardiac arrest patients reported NDE’s. Clear sensorium and lucidity was reported during clinical death, similar to findings in the Dutch study. Greyson notes:
no one physiological or psychological model by itself could explain all the common features of an NDE. The paradoxical occurrence of a heightened, lucid awareness, and logical thought processes during a period of impaired cerebral perfusion raises particular perplexing questions for our current understanding of consciousness and its relation to brain function. A clear sensorium and complex perceptual processes during a period of apparent clinical death challenge the concept that consciousness is localized exclusively in the brain.
Concurring with Van Lommel, Greyson concludes:
These features and the occurrence of heightened mental functioning when the brain is severely impaired, such as under general anesthesia and in cardiac arrest, challenge the common assumption in neuroscience that consciousness is solely the product of brain processes, or that mind is merely the subjective concomitant of neurological events.
In a UK study, Parnia and Fenwick found 11% of cardiac arrest patients reported NDE’s. Similar to the Dutch and American studies, lucidity and heightened sensorium were reported among experiencers during clinical death. Parnia stated: “according to mainstream science, it is quite impossible to find a scientific explanation for the NDE as long as we ‘believe’ that consciousness is only a side effect of a functioning brain.”
NDE’s Among the Blind:
NDE’s among the blind are of particular interest. The blind see during NDE’s. NDE’s among the blind are like those among the sighted. Blind experiencers report: seeing lighted areas, colors, and deceased relatives for example. Moreover, they may have heightened sensitivity and acuity that blind experiencers find challenging to describe. NDE Investigators Ring and Cooper note:
as a whole our interviews with both NDErs and OBErs offered abundant testimony that reports of visual perception among the blind are common, that their impressions concern both things of this world and otherworldly domains, and that they are often clear and detailed, even in narratives furnished by those who have been blind from birth.
Study Implications:
NDE literature is replete with positive experiences. However, negative NDE’s do occur and are under-reported by some estimates. Experiencers may be apprehensive to report negative NDE’s. Further investigation of negative NDE’s seems warranted.
Physicians struggle with the spiritual implications of NDE’s. Van Lommel, for example, postulates an eternal consciousness external to the body but stops short of suggesting a religious corollary.
NDE’s by themselves do not provide a theological compass. It is noteworthy that NDE’s have been described in the religious and cultural cosmology of many faith traditions. Hindus and Thai Buddhists report NDE’s concordant with their respective cultures and religions, for example. NDE reports in other cultures may differ from reports in Western culture. Tunnel experiences common in Western reports of NDE’s may be less common in other cultures, for example. It seems clear that NDE’s point to ongoing consciousness and individual self-awareness after the cessation of bodily life. To attach theological importance to NDE’s beyond that seems premature. NDE’s are fleeting interruptions in the death process. As such, it would be an overreach to conclude NDE’s provide a comprehensive understanding of life after death or religious certitude.
Thomas Welch:
Thomas Welch’s story is of particular significance. Welch is an outlier among NDE experiencers because of his prolonged death. He was unequivocally dead and submersed under water for 45 minutes. Over 70 coworkers were eyewitnesses and participated in rescue efforts. Welch’s story is undisputable. What he saw while dead is terrifying. Thomas Welch was an atheist. He found himself in Hell standing next to the Lake of Fire. It was life-changing. Thomas Welch spent the rest of his life as a Christian evangelist and telling others about what he saw while dead. To hear Thomas Welch's story click here.
Conclusion:
Physiological, psychiatric illness, toxicity, anoxia, birth trauma, or a heightened sense of expectancy all fail to offer plausible explanations for NDE’s. NDE’s offer evidence that humans have everlasting life apart from the physical body. Thomas Welch’s story stands out among NDE’s due to his prolonged death. Moreover Welch’s story points to a biblical understanding of the death experience, specifically that Heaven and Hell do exist and that Jesus Christ is the only hope of salvation from eternal damnation.
For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NET)
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. (II Corinthians 5:1, NLT)
References:
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Marsh, Michael N. 2016. "The Near-Death Experience: A Reality Check?" Humanities 5, no. 2: 18. https://doi.org/10.3390/h5020018
van Lommel P. Getting Comfortable With Near-Death Experiences: Dutch Prospective Research on Near-Death Experiences During Cardiac Arrest. Mo Med. 2014 Mar-Apr;111(2):126-131. PMID: 30323518; PMCID: PMC6179502.
van Lommel P, van Wees R, Meyers V, Elfferich I. Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands. Lancet. 2001 Dec 15;358(9298):2039-45. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(01)07100-8. Erratum in: Lancet 2002 Apr 6;359(9313):1254. PMID: 11755611.
Greyson B. Getting comfortable with near death experiences. An overview of near-death experiences. Mo Med. 2013 Nov-Dec;110(6):475-81. PMID: 24563994; PMCID: PMC6179792.
Ring, K., Cooper, S. Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind: A Study of Apparent Eyeless Vision. Journal of Near-Death Studies 16, 101–147 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025010015662
Greyson B, Bush NE. Distressing near-death experiences. Psychiatry. 1992 Feb;55(1):95-110. doi: 10.1080/00332747.1992.11024583. PMID: 1557473.
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