What Happens After Death? A Resource Guide for the Grieving

If you are here primarily for support, you may want to skip ahead to the “Resources for the Grieving” section below.

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Introduction

When someone we love dies, the emptiness they leave behind can feel unbearably final. One moment they are here, woven into the ordinary rhythm of our lives, and then suddenly they are gone. What remains is grief, memory, and the question sitting quietly beneath it all: how can they simply be gone?

It is difficult to wrap our minds around, and in some ways, it feels almost impossible to accept. But what if that is because, deep down, we sense that we are only seeing part of the story?

What if death were not the end of someone’s existence, but the moment their story moved beyond what we can see? And what if, when a person took their final breath here, they stepped into a reality greater than the one we remain in, a place marked by God’s love, presence, and fullness?

If we knew that, wouldn’t it change the way we process death?

We would still miss them, of course. Love does not vanish when someone dies. Grief would still come, and the absence would still hurt. But perhaps the weight of our grief could be softened by something else: a quiet joy for them, knowing they are somewhere infinitely better than the world we are still in. Instead of imagining them lost to nothingness, we could trust that what separates us is not absence, but time.

For most of history, that hope has lived largely in the realm of faith. But now, through centuries of testimony and the advances of modern medicine, a pattern has begun to appear: one that quietly suggests death may not be the end of the story after all, but the beginning of something far greater.

What is a Near-Death Experience?

Over the last 50 years, researchers and medical professionals have begun to study these accounts more seriously, documenting thousands of reports from people who had crossed the clinical threshold of death and were later revived.¹

Many returned with vivid memories of what they say they experienced while their bodies showed no clinical signs of life.

These accounts are known as near-death experiences.

They have been reported across cultures, religions, belief systems, and ages, yet many of the patterns remain strikingly similar. People often describe leaving their body, entering a reality marked by overwhelming peace, and returning with the deep conviction that consciousness continues beyond bodily death.

For those who experience them, these are not remembered as vague dreams or fading impressions. They are often described as more real than ordinary waking life, carrying a clarity and intensity that remains with them for the rest of their lives.

In a 2007 longitudinal study, researchers recontacted 72 near-death experiencers who had first completed the Greyson NDE Scale² in the 1980s. The Greyson NDE Scale is a clinical tool used to measure and assess near-death experiences. Participants were asked to complete it again almost two decades later, without reference to their earlier responses.

By the second assessment, the average time since the original NDE was 36.7 years. The study found no significant change in the total NDE Scale score, its four factors, or any of its sixteen individual items, suggesting that these accounts had not been embellished, weakened, or faded with time in the way ordinary memories often do. A later follow-up study also found that the attitude changes associated with NDEs remained statistically unchanged over roughly two decades.³

In this article, we will look at the research surrounding these experiences, the testimonies of those who have lived through them, and the work of investigators who have spent years studying this strange boundary between life and whatever lies beyond it.

I will also share resources for those walking through grief, especially those searching for understanding, comfort, and peace.

How Common Are Near Death Experiences?

Near-death experiences are more common than many people realise. Researchers often estimate that around 10–20% of people⁴ who come close to death report an NDE,⁵ which would mean roughly 5% of the general population have had an experience of this kind. They are also not a modern invention. As neuropsychiatrist Dr Peter Fenwick once noted, they do not only happen to people in Hollywood.

Many who work closely with the dying will have encountered stories like these: patients describing a presence in the room, speaking of loved ones who have already passed away, or returning from the edge of death with memories they cannot easily explain.

It is easy to dismiss such moments as the final misfirings of a dying brain, but the reports are more consistent, and far more widespread, than many people expect.

One of the earliest recorded accounts comes from the Greek philosopher Plato. Writing in the fourth century BC, he recounts the story of a soldier named Er, who was killed in battle and later returned to life with memories of what he had witnessed beyond death. He describes his soul leaving his body, entering another realm, and seeing souls directed toward what came next; an account that closely resembles what we would now describe as a near-death experience.

Plato records this in The Republic (Book 10, 614–621):⁶

He was killed in battle, and on the tenth day, when the dead, by now decomposed, were taken up for burial, his body was found to be perfectly sound. He was taken home, and on the twelfth day, as he was
lying on the funeral pyre, ready for burial, he came to life again. And having come to life, he told people what he had seen in the place where he had been.

‘He said that when his soul left his body, it went on a journey, with many others like it, until they came to a wonderful place… cont’d

Plato’s Republic 10.614 — 375 BC

Even the apostle Paul describes an experience that has often been compared to this. In Acts 14:19–20, Paul is stoned and left for dead outside the city of Lystra.⁷ Years later, in 2 Corinthians 12:2–4, he writes of being caught up to the third heaven, though he admits he does not know whether the experience happened within the body or apart from it:⁸

² I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. ³ Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know ⁴ that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.

2 Corinthians 12:2–4 (NLT) — BibleGateway.com

So if experiences like these are nothing new, why do they seem to be reported more often today?

Part of the answer is modern medicine. Advances in emergency care and resuscitation mean that people can now sometimes be brought back from conditions that would once have been fatal. Cardiac arrest, for example, was once far more likely to be the end of the story. Today, in some cases, it can be reversed.

And because near-death experiences can only be described by those who return, it makes sense that as more people are revived, more accounts are recorded.

What the Research Suggests Happened to Your Loved One After Death

The sequence I am about to share is drawn from some of the most frequently reported patterns in near-death experience research. What gives these accounts their weight is not merely that people report them, but that the same broad structure appears again and again among people whose lives, cultures, ages, and beliefs differ widely.

These reports come from children and the elderly, from atheists and believers, and from people across different religious traditions. Their consistency is difficult to dismiss precisely because they do not seem to belong to one obvious group, background, or expectation. If these experiences were only projections of the dying brain, we might expect them to be far more shaped by personal belief, religious upbringing, or cultural imagination. Yet while each account carries its own details, the overall shape remains remarkably familiar:

• Out of Body Awareness
  One of the most commonly reported elements of a near-death experience is the sudden sense of being outside the physical body, often so quickly that the experiencer does not immediately realise they have died, or even recognise the body below as their own. Experiencers describe looking down on the scene from above, watching medical staff work, hearing conversations, and noticing details they could not have seen from their physical position; in one reported case, even a 12-digit serial number on the top of a six-foot surgical respirator.⁹ In one review of ninety-three reports of out-of-body perception during NDEs, 92% were found to be completely accurate, even though the person’s body showed no ordinary signs of consciousness at the time.¹⁰
• Heightened Senses and Awareness
  From there, awareness itself seems to expand. 45% of the experiencers studied described their thinking during the NDE as clearer than usual, and 37% described it as faster than usual.¹¹ Two-thirds also reported extraordinarily vivid sensations, as though perception itself had become sharper, wider, and no longer limited by the ordinary senses.¹² They are not simply seeing or hearing in the usual way, but becoming aware with a clarity that feels larger than the body. Some describe it as though they could perceive in every direction at once, with a vividness that made the experience feel more real than ordinary earthly life.¹³
• Communication Without Words
  Many also describe communication taking place without spoken language. Thoughts seem to be understood directly, without the usual limitations of spoken words. Meaning is received whole, as though nothing needs to be translated or explained.¹⁴ For those who experience it, this form of communication often feels more complete than anything possible in ordinary conversation.
• Soul Reunions
  Soon after leaving the body, many become aware that they are not alone. In one study of 274 NDE cases, 189 participants—just over two-thirds—reported seeing or sensing the presence of someone, whether recognised or unrecognised. Of those 189 cases, 127 involved someone identified as deceased, meaning that almost half of the wider sample reported encountering someone who had died. In the cases where recognised deceased people were reported, most did not describe a crowd of unfamiliar figures, but one or two people they knew: 53% saw one recognised deceased person, while 30% saw two. A smaller number described seeing several, and some also sensed the presence of other deceased relatives or friends without identifying each one individually.¹⁵ The figures they encounter are often recognised as loved ones who have already passed away, though some describe beings they do not immediately know, yet somehow feel connected to. These encounters are rarely described as frightening. More often, they carry a deep sense of recognition, peace, and being welcomed.
• Encountering God Jesus
  Almost 90% of experiencers report encountering some kind of divine or godlike presence, while three-fourths describe an encounter with a loving being of light.¹⁶ Some identify this presence as God, while others recognise it as Jesus Christ. People often struggle to describe the moment, saying it felt like standing before love itself. In other cases, God is described as a radiant presence of light, beyond anything known in ordinary life.
• Moving Beyond Earth
  At this point, the environment often begins to change. In John Burke’s summary of common NDE elements, 52% of experiencers described heavenly realms, while 31% reported encountering a border or boundary they understood they could not cross if they were to return. Many struggled to find ordinary language for what they had seen afterwards.¹⁷ The experiencer becomes aware of entering a place that feels both unfamiliar and strangely familiar, as though it is more truly home than the world they left behind. Some accounts describe approaching a great city, with a wall made of otherworldly materials and light shining through it from the other side; others describe golden or translucent features unlike anything earthly.¹⁸ The imagery is strikingly close to John’s vision of the New Jerusalem, with its great high wall, foundations decorated with precious stones, gates made of pearl, and city made of pure gold (Revelation 21:10–21). The repeated impression is not simply that the surroundings are brighter or more colourful, but that they are more real than physical reality itself.¹⁹ Earth, by comparison, often seems like the greyscale shadow.
• The Life Review
  25% of experiencers reported going through what researchers call a life review. Among those who did, 72% said it changed their understanding of what matters in life, 51% experienced a sense of judgement, usually self-judgement, and 76% experienced past events not only from their own point of view, but from the perspective of others.²⁰ People describe seeing the events of their life with extraordinary clarity, but not as detached spectators. They feel the impact of what they did, both the good and the harm, as though the hidden weight of each action is finally revealed.²¹ This is not encountered as a harsh courtroom judgement, but as a moment of truth. The person sees how deeply connected every action is, how even the smallest choices mattered more than they realised, and how their life formed part of something larger than themselves. Paul speaks to this same idea in Ephesians 2:10, when he writes that God “created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” In other words, life is not made of random moments, but of choices, relationships, and acts of love that mattered before God more deeply than they ever understood.²²
• An Alternate Dimension of Time
  Time also appears to behave differently in these experiences. 75% of experiencers reported a change in their sense of time, while more than 50% described a sense of timelessness.²³ Events are often perceived together rather than in ordinary sequence, creating the sense that past, present, and future are somehow held at once. What would take years to explain can seem to be understood in a moment, while only a few minutes on earth may feel vast, complete, and outside time altogether. For Christians, this naturally echoes the biblical reminder in 2 Peter 3:8: “With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”
• Heaven or a Spiritual Realm
  Many accounts eventually move toward what experiencers describe as heaven, or a spiritual realm beyond this world. In the research, three-fourths described the afterlife as a blissful state of peace and tranquillity, with no pain or suffering, while over 90% reported feelings of peace.²⁴ The descriptions vary, but the impression is often the same: a world filled with life, beauty, and presence, more vivid and substantial than earthly reality. Some speak of luminous cities, radiant landscapes, or places that feel strangely familiar, as though they have arrived somewhere they were always meant to know. Many also become aware of a boundary, a line or threshold they understand cannot be crossed if they are to return to their body. To go beyond it would mean remaining there.²⁵

It is important to note that differences between accounts do not make one experience more valid than another. Each person may report a different part of the sequence, suggesting less contradiction than progression; as though some are drawn back near the beginning, while others are allowed to move further into the experience.

One person may describe leaving the body, observing the scene below, and then returning almost immediately. Another may pass through that same beginning but continue further, describing a tunnel, an encounter with God, or a life review before being drawn back. The difference is not necessarily in what is true, but in how far the experience is allowed to unfold.

For this reason, these accounts are best understood collectively. Each one offers a partial view, like a single piece of a much wider puzzle, and when placed together, they begin to form a more coherent picture. What may appear inconsistent at first often becomes complementary, as though each account is describing one part of a reality too vast to be seen all at once.

The research also suggests that while core features remain consistent, the details of each experience often carry a deeply personal quality. What is encountered is not random, but recognisable, shaped in a way that brings understanding, comfort, or correction to the individual. This naturally echoes the words of Jesus in John 14:2: “In my Father’s house there are many rooms,” a reminder that what awaits may be both shared and deeply personal at the same time.

Resources for the Grieving

The remaining sections of this article offer a small selection of books, research, interviews, and documentaries for those who want to explore near-death experiences more deeply. This is only a starting point. Thousands of accounts and studies exist across books, academic papers, and online platforms, with new material continuing to emerge.

If you are navigating the loss of someone you love, I would gently encourage you to take the time to explore the evidence for yourself, without trying to force grief to disappear before it is ready.

The deepest wound in grief is often the fear that the person you love has simply gone out of existence. That is what makes death feel so unbearable. We miss their voice, their presence, their place in our lives, but beneath all of that sits the darker thought that they have vanished into nothingness, with no consciousness, no joy, no love, and no future reunion.

But the evidence explored in this article points in another direction.

Again and again, the deeper you look, the more difficult it becomes to reduce these experiences to nothing more than the final activity of a dying brain. Near-death research suggests that consciousness continues, that love survives the body, and that those who pass from this life may be more alive than we can presently comprehend.

If that is true, then grief remains real, but it loses its finality. The separation still hurts, but it becomes temporary. Your loved one has moved beyond your sight, into the presence of God, and what separates you now is time, not extinction.

So if anything in this article gives you even a small thread to hold onto, follow it. Read further. Ask questions. Sit with the evidence. And if anything here raises questions for you, you are welcome to leave a comment at the bottom of the page, and I will reply.

The following resources provide an accessible way into the subject, bringing together the research, testimony, and clinical questions explored above.

Documentaries

These documentaries bring together personal accounts, clinical observation, and ongoing research to examine near-death experiences from multiple angles. By combining lived testimony with scientific study, they offer a clearer picture of what people consistently report when approaching death.

After Death (2023)

Watch the full documentary for free now on Amazon Prime.

After Death centres on the personal accounts of those who have come close to death and returned with detailed memories of what they experienced. Alongside these testimonies, it draws in perspectives from researchers and clinicians who have spent years examining these reports. Rather than focusing on theory alone, the documentary allows the accounts themselves to take the foreground, raising the question of how such consistent experiences can appear across people with very different beliefs, backgrounds, and expectations.

I am also going to include one further clip from the documentary, because it features one of the most medically significant near-death experiences ever recorded.

The account is that of Pamela Reynolds, a woman who, in 1991, underwent surgery for a giant aneurysm at the base of her brain.²⁶ Her case was overseen by world-renowned neurosurgeon Dr Robert F. Spetzler, who used a rare procedure known as deep hypothermic circulatory arrest, sometimes called “standstill” surgery.²⁷

In simple terms, Reynolds’ body was cooled to an extremely low temperature, her heartbeat and breathing were stopped, and the blood was drained from her brain so the aneurysm could be removed. During this stage of the procedure, she had no detectable brain-wave activity, no blood flow in the brain, her eyes were taped shut, and her ears were fitted with clicking devices used to monitor brainstem response. Yet after being revived, she reported what she described as a detailed, multi-stage near-death experience, including observations from the operating room that were later considered remarkably precise.

Rethinking Death (2024)

Rethinking Death approaches near-death experiences from a more clinical angle, focusing on the work of Dr Sam Parnia, MD, PhD, and the medical teams studying cardiac arrest and resuscitation. Rather than beginning with the question of what people believe about death, it begins with what happens when the body reaches the point where life appears to have ended.

The documentary explores the narrow window between cardiac arrest and revival, asking how some patients later report clear memories during a period in which the heart had stopped, circulation had ceased, and the brain was no longer functioning in any ordinary measurable sense.

Interviews

We now arrive at one of the most important parts of this research: hearing from the people who have spent years studying it directly. The individuals below are leading voices in their respective fields, and their work has shaped much of the modern conversation around near-death experiences.

Their interviews are worth exploring because they move the subject beyond isolated stories, placing these accounts within the wider context of medicine, neuroscience, consciousness studies, and clinical research.

Dr. Bruce Greyson (Psychiatrist & Researcher)

Dr Bruce Greyson is a psychiatrist and one of the leading figures in the scientific study of near-death experiences. As professor emeritus at the University of Virginia, he has spent decades researching the psychological and physiological aspects of these events. He is best known for developing the Greyson NDE Scale, and for helping bring academic rigour to a subject often dismissed as purely anecdotal.

Dr. Sam Parnia, MD; PhD (Professor of Medicine and Director of Critical Care and Resuscitation Research), Dr. Peter Fenwick (Neuropsychiatrist), Dr. Mary Neal (Orthopaedic Spinal Surgeon)

Dr Sam Parnia is a physician and researcher specialising in critical care and resuscitation science. His work focuses on cardiac arrest, clinical death, and the question of whether consciousness can continue during periods when the body appears to have stopped functioning in any ordinary measurable sense.

Through large-scale hospital studies, including research involving patients who were revived after cardiac arrest, Parnia has helped bring the study of near-death experiences into a more clinical setting.

Dr Peter Fenwick was a neuropsychiatrist who spent decades researching near-death experiences, deathbed visions, and end-of-life phenomena. His work brought together clinical neuroscience, patient testimony, and reports from those who care for the dying, helping to show that these experiences are not rare, isolated, or easily dismissed.

Fenwick’s research is particularly valuable because he paid attention not only to near-death experiences themselves, but also to the experiences reported around death: visions, encounters, and moments of awareness that seem to occur as a person approaches the end of life.

Dr Mary Neal is an orthopaedic spinal surgeon whose contribution to this subject is shaped by both medicine and personal experience. After a prolonged drowning incident, which is featured in the documentary above, she reported a detailed near-death experience that profoundly changed her understanding of life, death, and faith.

Because Neal speaks as both a doctor and an experiencer, her account occupies a slightly different place in the conversation. Her work is less about clinical research and more about testimony, reflection, and the way a near-death experience can reshape a person’s life afterwards.

Dr. Peter Fenwick (Neuropsychiatrist)

Dr. Jeffrey Long (Medical Doctor & Researcher)

Dr. Jeffrey Long is a radiation oncologist and one of the leading researchers in the study of near-death experiences. He is the founder of the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF),²⁸ which has collected and analysed thousands of firsthand accounts from across the world. His work focuses on identifying recurring patterns within these experiences and examining their implications for understanding consciousness and life beyond death.

John Burke (Researcher)

John Burke is an author, pastor, and researcher whose work explores near-death experiences through a Christian theological lens. In Imagine Heaven and Imagine the God of Heaven, he compares large numbers of firsthand NDE accounts with biblical descriptions of heaven, God, and life after death.

His work is especially useful for readers who want to see how recurring patterns in near-death testimony connect with Scripture. Rather than approaching the subject only as clinical research, Burke brings together personal accounts, theological reflection, and biblical comparison, asking whether these experiences echo what Christianity has long taught about the world to come.

Testimonies

The following accounts come directly from individuals who reached the edge of death and returned with clear memories of what they say happened. After the research, statistics, and clinical discussion, these testimonies allow the human side of the subject to come back into focus, told in the words of those who lived through it.

Books

Listed below are books I personally recommend and have returned to many times. Each offers a deeper examination of near-death experiences, whether through clinical research, collected testimony, or theological reflection, and together they help trace the patterns and questions that continue to emerge from this field of study.

Imagine Heaven (John Burke)

After (Dr. Bruce Greyson)

Imagine the God of Heaven (John Burke)

God and the Afterlife (Jeffrey Long, M.D.)

Proof of Heaven (Eben Alexander, M.D.)

Life After Life (Dr. Raymond Moody)

To Heaven and Back (Mary C. Neal, MD)

Movies

Some experiences are easier to approach through story. The following films are among the most faithful cinematic portrayals of near-death experiences, not only in their visual language, but in the emotional and spiritual reality they attempt to convey. While no film can fully reproduce what experiencers describe, these come closest to the patterns that appear again and again in the research.

Heaven Is For Real (2014) – Full Movie

Heaven Is for Real tells the account of Colton Burpo, a young boy who, after emergency surgery, began describing vivid details of what he says he saw while unconscious. Told through the perspective of his father, Todd Burpo, the story became especially striking because of the specific details Colton gave afterwards, including his descriptions of heaven, deceased family members, and what Jesus looks like.

The Shack (2017) – Full Movie

The Shack follows Mackenzie Phillips, a grieving father whose life is shattered by the murder of his daughter, Missy. After receiving a mysterious invitation, he is drawn into an encounter with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, where his understanding of grief, forgiveness, love, and the life beyond this one begins to change.

While not based on a specific near-death account, the story does include a death-adjacent encounter and offers one of the more thoughtful fictional portrayals of heaven, healing, and the character of God. Its value is less in clinical accuracy and more in the way it gives imaginative form to the questions grief often leaves behind, while presenting a reflective and, in many ways, accurate portrayal of the triune God and heaven.

Miracles From Heaven (2016)

Miracles from Heaven focuses on Annabel Beam’s severe illness and the unexplained recovery that followed her near-death experience. Rather than centring mainly on what she saw, the film gives more attention to the pain leading up to the event, the strain placed on her family, and the question of how God can still be present in seasons that feel unbearable.

Conclusion

A single near-death experience may not prove the whole case on its own. But when millions of people, across centuries and cultures, begin describing strikingly similar patterns, the weight of that testimony becomes difficult to ignore.

When those accounts include details the experiencer could not have known, when individuals return with convictions they did not previously hold, and when their lives, priorities, and faith are changed beyond recognition, the picture begins to shift.

Taken together, these strands point toward a deeply reassuring possibility: that death is not the end of consciousness, but its continuation.

For the one who crosses that threshold, it is the beginning of something infinitely greater than the life left behind: being at home in the presence and love of God. For the one left behind, it becomes the quiet promise that separation is not forever, and that one day we will see them again.

Death, then, is not the dark, final frontier we have always feared it to be, but the return to the place we were always meant to be.

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¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:19-20 — BibleGateway.com

Footnotes

1. Modern NDE Research — For the modern clinical study of near-death experiences, see Bruce Greyson’s work at the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies (med.virginia.edu), including the development of the Near-Death Experience Scale (med.virginia.edu); Pim van Lommel’s prospective study of 344 successfully resuscitated cardiac-arrest patients across ten Dutch hospitals, published in The Lancet (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov); and Sam Parnia’s AWARE studies (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), including the large AWARE project launched through the University of Southampton, which examined 2,060 cardiac-arrest cases across 15 hospitals in the United Kingdom, United States, and Austria (southampton.ac.uk; resuscitationjournal.com). ↩︎
2. Greyson NDE Scale — Bruce Greyson, “The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, Reliability, and Validity,” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 171, no. 6 (1983): 369–375. See also International Association for Near-Death Studies, “Quantifying the Phenomenon: Greyson’s Near-Death Experience Scale,” for the 16-item scale and its note that a score of 7 or higher is considered an NDE for research purposes. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; iands.org ↩︎
3. Longitudinal Study — Bruce Greyson, “Consistency of Near-Death Experience Accounts Over Two Decades: Are Reports Embellished Over Time?,” Resuscitation 73, no. 3 (2007): 407–411, 407–410 (PDF 1–4). See also Bruce Greyson, “Persistence of Attitude Changes After Near-Death Experiences: Do They Fade Over Time?,” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 210, no. 9 (2022): 692–696. med.virginia.edu; pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih ↩︎
4. 10–20% of NDE’s — Bruce Greyson, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond (New York: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2021), chapter 10, “The Brain at Death,” for cardiac-arrest cases, and chapter 20, “Life before Death,” for the wider estimate that 10–20% of people who come close to death report NDEs. ↩︎
5. Reporting of NDEs — Many experiencers hesitate to disclose their near-death experiences through fear of ridicule, being misunderstood, being judged mentally ill, or simply because the experience feels too personal to share. Frightening or hellish NDEs may be even more underreported; one review of twelve studies involving 1,369 subjects found that 23% reported experiences ranging from disturbing to terrifying or despairing. Some experiencers keep quiet out of shame, guilt, emotional trauma, or symptoms similar to PTSD. The true percentage of NDEs may therefore be higher than the commonly reported 10–20%, though no precise corrected figure can be given. ↩︎
6. The Republic — Plato, The Republic, Book 10, 614–621 (The Myth of Er), ed. G.R.F. Ferrari, trans. Tom Griffith, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 336–336 (PDF 380–381). archive.org ↩︎
7. Lystra — An ancient city in Lycaonia, located in what is now modern-day Turkey, near Konya. ↩︎
8. Paul’s Heavenly Vision — Paul’s uncertainty about whether he was “in the body” or “out of the body” does not weaken the comparison to near-death experiences. If anything, it reflects one of the recurring features found in modern accounts: the transition from bodily awareness to spiritual awareness is often described as so sudden that experiencers do not immediately realise they have died, and in some cases do not even recognise the body below as their own. ↩︎
9. 12-Digit Serial Number Case — Robert G. Mays and Suzanne B. Mays, “Near-Death Experiences: A Critique of the Fischer and Mitchell-Yellin Physicalist Interpretation,” Journal of Near-Death Studies 36, no. 2 (Winter 2017), 74 (PDF 6). “A neurological patient was in a coma for several weeks, during which she had a cardiac arrest from which, after several resuscitation attempts, the team succeeded in resuscitating her. When the patient came out of her coma, she claimed to have had an out-of-body experience (OBE). She also had the obsessive habit of trying to memorize every number she came across. The patient claimed that during her OBE she had memorized the 12-digit serial number located on top of the respirator, which was about six feet in height. Nurse Norma Bowe and her colleagues wrote down the number she recited. When the respirator was taken out of the room and needed to be dusted, a custodial staff member climbed up a ladder and read out exactly the same number as the patient had recited.” digital.library.unt.edu ↩︎
10. Out-of-Body Perception — Jeffrey Long, “Near-Death Experiences: Evidence for Their Reality,” Missouri Medicine 111, no. 5 (2014), 372–380. Long writes: “In a recent review of 93 reports of potentially verifiable out-of-body observations during NDEs, 43% were investigated by the NDErs themselves and 38% by an investigator independent of the NDEr. Another 19% were not investigated, but the NDErs shared enough detail that the accuracy of their observations could be assessed. Of the case reports reviewed, 92% were considered to be completely accurate with no inaccuracy whatsoever when the OBE observations were later investigated.” pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↩︎
11. Expanded Perception — Implications of Near-Death Experiences for a Postmaterialist Psychology — Bruce Greyson, “Implications of Near-Death Experiences for a Postmaterialist Psychology,” Psychology of Religion and Spirituality 2, no. 1 (2010), 39 (PDF 4). Greyson writes: “A recent analysis of several hundred NDE cases showed that 80% of experiencers described their thinking during the NDE as ‘clearer than usual’ (45%) or ‘as clear as usual’ (35%). In addition, 74% described their thinking as ‘faster than usual’ (37%) or ‘at the usual speed’ (37%).” med.virginia.edu ↩︎
12. Extraordinarily Vivid Sensations — Bruce Greyson, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond (New York: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2021), for Greyson’s statement that “two-thirds of the experiencers in my research reported extraordinarily vivid sensations in their NDEs,” most often involving “exceptionally bright vision and unique colors, or exceptionally clear hearing and unique sounds.” ↩︎
13. Expanded and Hyperreal Perception — Near-Death Experiences: Evidence for Their Reality — Jeffrey Long, “Near-Death Experiences: Evidence for Their Reality,” Missouri Medicine 111, no. 5 (2014), 372–380, for a reported case of “360 degree vision” during an NDE. See also Bruce Greyson, “Researchers’ and Experiencers’ Descriptions of Near-Death Experiences: In Search of a Conceptual Model,” Journal of Near-Death Studies 41, no. 3 (2023), 181–183 (PDF 12–14), for descriptions of NDE “hyperreality,” “clear and vivid perception,” and “heightened awareness, clarity, and sensory vividness.” pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; med.virginia.edu ↩︎
14. Telepathic Communication — Amirhossein Hashemi, Ali Akbar Oroojan, Maryam Rassouli, and Hadis Ashrafizadeh, “Explanation of Near-Death Experiences: A Systematic Analysis of Case Reports and Qualitative Research,” Frontiers in Psychology 14 (2023), for NDE reports involving communication with “sentient beings,” “telepathy (non-verbal communication) with others,” and a case summary listing “Communication without words.” frontiersin.org ↩︎
15. Meeting Deceased People — Emily Williams Kelly, “Near-Death Experiences with Reports of Meeting Deceased People,” Death Studies 25, no. 3 (2001), 229–249, 238–240 (PDF 10–12), for Kelly’s study of 274 NDE cases, in which 189 participants reported seeing or sensing the presence of someone, whether recognised or unrecognised; 127 cases involved someone identified as deceased; and, among the recognised deceased-person cases, most participants reported seeing only one or two deceased people they knew. med.virginia.edu ↩︎
16. Encounters with God Jesus & Beings of Light — Bruce Greyson, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond (New York: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2021), chapter 13, “God,” for Greyson’s statement that almost 90% of the experiencers he studied reported encountering some kind of divine or godlike being, and that three-fourths described an encounter with a loving being of light. ↩︎
17. Heavenly Realms and Boundaries — John Burke, Imagine the God of Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Revelation, and the Love You’ve Always Wanted (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2023), chapter 2, “Science, Skeptics, and NDEs,” for Burke’s summary of common NDE elements, including “Heavenly realms” at 52% and “Border or boundary” at 31%. ↩︎
18. Heavenly City, Gates, and Gold — John Burke, Imagine the God of Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Revelation, and the Love You’ve Always Wanted (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2023), chapter 5, “The Passionate Compassion of God,” for Santosh Acharjee’s description of a vast walled city with twelve gates, and chapter 12, “How Prayer Works with God,” for an account describing golden streets and translucent gold unlike earthly gold. ↩︎
19. Hyperreal Perception — Bruce Greyson, “Researchers’ and Experiencers’ Descriptions of Near-Death Experiences: In Search of a Conceptual Model,” Journal of Near-Death Studies 41, no. 3 (2023), 181–182 (PDF 13–14), for descriptions of NDE “hyperreality,” including accounts described as “realer than real,” “much more real and certain than this world,” and “more real than life itself.” med.virginia.edu. ↩︎
20. Life Review — Bruce Greyson, “Near-Death Experiences and Claims of Past-Life Memories,” Journal of Near-Death Studies 39, no. 3 (Fall 2021): 212–226, 214–215 (PDF 3–4). Greyson reports that among 698 near-death experiencers in his research, 175, or 25%, reported a life review; among those, 72% said it changed their understanding of what matters in life, 51% experienced a sense of judgement, 76% experienced events from the perspective of others, and 28% reported the life review occurring “all at once.” Greyson also notes that the sense of judgement was most often experienced as self-judgement about the rightness or wrongness of one’s own actions. med.virginia.edu ↩︎
21. Experiencing the Impact of One’s Actions — Bruce Greyson, “Near-Death Experiences and Spirituality,” Zygon 41, no. 2 (2006): 393–414, 407 (PDF 15). Greyson describes how experiencers often report directly feeling the effects of their actions upon others during the life review, receiving back what they had given out “measure for measure.” See also Sam Parnia et al., “Guidelines and Standards for the Study of Death and Recalled Experiences of Death,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1511 (2022): 5–21, 8–9 (PDF 4–6), for recognised themes including “being in others’ shoes,” “the domino effect,” “impact and consequences of actions,” “cause and effect,” and the unexpectedly large impact of seemingly small actions. med.virginia.edu; med.virginia.edu ↩︎
22. Divine Purpose — Sam Parnia et al., “Guidelines and Standards for the Study of Death and Recalled Experiences of Death,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1511 (2022): 5–21, 8 (PDF 4). The paper identifies themes such as “there is a reason underlying it all” and “a higher purpose.” med.virginia.edu ↩︎
23. Altered Sense of Time — Bruce Greyson, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond (New York: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2021), chapter 3, “Time Out of Mind.” Greyson writes that three-fourths of the people who shared their near-death experiences with him reported a change in their sense of time, and more than half described a sense of timelessness. ↩︎
24. Peace and Tranquillity — Bruce Greyson, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond (New York: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2021), 158, for Greyson’s report that three-fourths of the experiencers in his research described the afterlife as “a blissful state of peace and tranquility, with no pain or suffering,” and that over 90% reported feelings of peace. ↩︎
25. Boundary or Threshold — John Burke, Imagine the God of Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Revelation, and the Love You’ve Always Wanted (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2023), chapter 2, “Science, Skeptics, and NDEs,” for Burke’s summary of common NDE elements, including “Border or boundary” at 31%. ↩︎
26. Pamela Reynolds — Emily Williams Kelly, Bruce Greyson, and Ian Stevenson, “Can Experiences Near Death Furnish Evidence of Life After Death?,” OMEGA: Journal of Death and Dying 40, no. 4 (1999–2000): 513–519, 517 (PDF 5), for the Pamela Reynolds case, including the 1991 surgery for a giant basilar artery aneurysm using cardiac arrest, deep hypothermia, and barbiturate cerebral protection. See also Duke University Science & Society, “Near Death, Explained,” for a summary of Reynolds’s aneurysm and the risks of the surgery. med.virginia.edu; scienceandsociety.duke.edu ↩︎
27. Robert F. Spetzler — Robert F. Spetzler, MD, Barrow Neurological Institute. Spetzler is listed as emeritus chair of neurosurgery and a world-renowned neurosurgeon specialising in cerebrovascular disease and skull base tumours. His profile also notes his involvement in pioneering the use of hypothermia and cardiac arrest for difficult brain lesions. barrowneuro.org ↩︎
28. Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF) — An independent organisation founded by Dr Jeffrey Long to collect and study firsthand accounts of near-death experiences from around the world. Its database contains thousands of documented cases and is used to identify recurring patterns in NDE reports, including questions surrounding consciousness, death, and what experiencers report beyond it. nderf.org ↩︎