Near-Death Experiences - Death is not the End

Near-Death Experiences - Janice Miner Holden, EdD, LPC-S(TX), ACMHP

What is a near-death experience?

About 10–20% of people who survive a close brush with death—due to illness or to accidental or self-inflicted injury—report that during the medical crisis, often involving physical unconsciousness or even cardiac arrest, their consciousness was functioning lucidly outside of their physical body, perceiving the material world and/or perceiving and interacting with environments and beings that are transmaterial—not of the material world. These perceptions constitute a near-death experience (NDE). Although NDEs have been reported across cultures for millennia, they were labeled “NDEs” by psychiatrist and philosopher Raymond Moody in his 1975 book Life After Life, which is credited with opening the contemporary field of near-death studies.

An NDE can be understood to have five aspects: perceiving one’s consciousness leaving the body, perceiving the material world from a position outside the body, perceiving a transition between the material and transmaterial domains, perceiving and interacting with beings and environments not of the material world, and perceiving one’s consciousness reentering the body. At one extreme, an NDE may include all five aspects, and at the other, it may include only a material or a transmaterial aspect. Additionally, these aspects tend to occur in the order stated above, but especially the middle three aspects can occur in any order, and they can even overlap, as in the case of a near-death experiencer (NDEr) who, during surgery on her physical body, found herself outside her body, watching the doctors conduct the surgery (material) while accompanied by two beings she later called “angels” (transmaterial).

The experience might begin with the perception of one’s consciousness leaving one’s body—or the experiencer might simply find themself outside of their body. If they do perceive their consciousness leaving their body, it might take any of several forms: from the head, from the chest, from the toes, or “lifting whole” out of the body.

In the material aspect of the experience, the experiencer often perceives the physical scene around their body, and they may zoom “at the speed of thought” to other physical locations. Perception during this aspect of the experience is “physical plus,” meaning that the physical world appears the same as it does when perceived from the physical body—blue looks like blue, a buzzer still sounds like a buzzer—and the experiencer has additional perceptual abilities: to both see and see through solid objects, to visually “zoom in” and “zoom out” of a subject of interest, to be equally present in two or more locations at the same time, to hear the unspoken thoughts of people in their vicinity, and to move through material objects such as walls and ceilings. NDErs only very rarely report actually interacting with the material world during this aspect of the experience; rather, they often report frustration at not being able to communicate with or to touch living people in their vicinity.

The material aspect might end with the onset of the transitional aspect. NDErs have reported that they moved rapidly through space or through a structure, such as a tunnel—usually made of light or ending in an entrance into light. The movement ends with arrival in a transmaterial domain.

The transmaterial domain may be a place of peaceful darkness or of preternatural, earthlike beauty in which colors appear unlike any on Earth and in an intensity not perceived on Earth; in which they hear beautiful, unearthly music; and in which everything emanates consciousness, including each blade of grass. In this domain, the NDEr might encounter deceased loved ones and other spiritual entities—sometimes identifiable, other times not. Many NDErs report having encountered a Being of Light: an all-knowing, all-loving light emanation that has consciousness. Communication with this Being and with other transmaterial objects and entities is telepathic—mind-to-mind.

It is most often during the transmaterial aspect that the NDEr has a life review in which they may reexperience all or selected moments of their life and, simultaneously, experience actually being every other person with whom they interacted; thus, they know how it was to be on the receiving end of their actions.

Experiencers usually say they were not judged for hurtful actions but, often, judged themselves as having behaved unlovingly. Among the many amazing experiences of an NDE, the life review is often cited as the most impactful part of the experience—for the approximately 30% of NDErs who had it—because they learned an even deeper golden rule: not merely to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but to do unto others knowing that you are doing it to yourself.

In the transmaterial aspect, NDErs also sometimes visit exceptional locations, such as vast libraries of knowledge or cities of light. The transmaterial aspect sometimes approaches its end as the NDEr encounters some kind of boundary that, they are told or simply sense, if they cross it, they would be unable to return to earthly life.

The transmaterial aspect may end with the NDEr being told by a deceased loved one or other entity that they must return to physical life, usually because they still have “work to do” on Earth. In other cases, the NDEr is given the choice of whether to return, and virtually every NDEr who reported this choice returned because of love for one or more living persons who needed the NDEr.

As with the leaving-the-body aspect, in the returning-to-the-body aspect, some NDErs feel their consciousness reenter their bodies, and others simply regain normal consciousness without a memory of having reentered.

NDEs are usually dominated by pleasurable feelings, such as peace, joy, and love, but more rarely are dominated by distressing feelings, such as torment, isolation, or guilt.

Some general characteristics of NDEs include timelessness, hyperreality, elements of both agency and passivity, and ineffability—meaning that after returning to earthly life, the experience cannot be fully described by human language.

NDEs are an “equal opportunity experience,” having been reported by people of every demographic. Of all people who survive a close brush with death, an estimated 10–20% report an NDE.

What are the aftereffects of NDEs?

Following an NDE, an experiencer is likely to manifest certain characteristic aftereffects, which can arbitrarily be categorized as psychological, spiritual, physical, and social. Among the psychological aftereffects are a loss of the fear of death, a shift in values from self-centered to invested in the wellbeing of other people and planet Earth, a new manifestation of skills or talents—such as piano playing or ability to understand quantum physics, and a deep longing to reexperience the unconditional love that characterized the NDE—as many NDErs characterize the transmaterial domain as their actual home and the earthly life as a separation from home.

Among the spiritual aftereffects are a greater interest in the subject of spirituality, a sense of ongoing connectedness to the transmaterial domain, and the manifestation of “spiritual gifts” such as precognition—knowing future events, telepathy—knowing what others are experiencing, clairvoyance—knowing about remote events, and psychokinesis—affecting the physical environment with the mind alone. A fascinating form of psychokinesis among many NDErs is electromagnetic effects, whereby—especially when the NDEr is emotionally aroused—electronic devices in their vicinity malfunction.

Among the physical aftereffects are changes in need for sleep and enhanced sensitivity to medication and environmental features such as sound, light, and electrical fields. Among the social aftereffects are changes that reflect experiencers’ value shifts: in organizational affiliation, in career, and in personal relationships. If an NDEr was married at the time of their NDE, they are more likely than average to divorce if their new values diverge from those of their spouse; conversely, if their new values more closely converge with those of their spouse, they are likely to continue in the marriage, happier than ever.

In general, the deeper an NDE—that is, the more features it includes and the more intense those features are—the more extensive and intense the aftereffects. Because an NDE is a sudden immersion into an alternate reality for which most cultures have not prepared people, NDErs’ worlds are usually “rocked” by the experience, and they feel challenged to integrate their transformations into their lives. In one small study, NDErs estimated that, on average, it took them seven years to feel fully adjusted.

One important factor in that adjustment is how people respond to experiencers when they disclose their NDE; in one study, one-fifth of experiencers felt harmed when their confidant failed to recognize the experience as an NDE, dismissed it as meaningless, diagnosed the experiencer with a mental disorder based on the NDE alone, and/or demonized the experience.

None of those responses is justified by research findings about NDEs. It is incumbent upon healthcare professionals, family members, and friends to set an NDEr on a healthy integration trajectory by responding helpfully rather than harmfully to NDE disclosure: name the experience as a possible NDE; note that such experiences are often psychospiritually impactful and that they not only feel real but, in some cases, have been veridical, that is, proven real; normalize the experience as happening fairly often and having nothing to do with mental disorder; and numinize the experience as being, for many experiencers, spiritual and a vehicle for spiritual development.

What theories have been put forth to explain NDEs?

Some authors have “explained away” NDEs as the mere hallucinations of a dying brain. Indeed, hallucinations—which typically occur during high fever, psychedelic use, or certain mental disorders—are private, subjective events involving vivid imagery that other people do not perceive—as are most NDEs. Beyond those similarities, however, NDEs and hallucinations are quite different. Hallucinations are usually quite distressing, whereas NDEs—although sometimes distressing—are usually profoundly pleasurable.

Hallucinations do not have a deep structure that is common between them, whereas NDEs do have a deep structure—the aspects of leaving and reentering the body and, in the interim, perceiving the material world and transmaterial entities and environments.

After hallucinations, experiencers consider them unreal, meaningless, and forgettable, and, in fact, they forget them; whereas after NDEs, experiencers usually consider their NDEs to have been real—often more real than physical reality—and deeply meaningful, and they tend to remember them vividly even after decades have passed.

After hallucinations, experiencers do not cherish or want to dwell on them, whereas after NDEs, experiencers tend to cherish and reflect frequently on them. Finally, hallucinations are not veridical, whereas NDEs often are—that is, NDEs involve perceptions during the experience that were unavailable to the physical body but were verified after the NDE as having been accurate.

For example, during the material aspect, an NDEr saw, from a position above the physical body during a surgical cardiac arrest, what was happening in the adjacent operating room—which even the NDEr’s surgeon did not know but later consulted hospital records and verified that the perceptions were accurate.

Another NDEr, during the transmaterial aspect, saw their deceased sister who, at the time, was believed by everyone to be alive, but within hours they were notified that the sister had died—just before the time of the NDE.

Various authors have hypothesized materialist explanations for NDEs, reducing NDEs to a by-product of physical bodily mechanisms. These hypotheses include lack of oxygen in the brain, excessive carbon dioxide in the brain, spikes in electrical activity of the brain just before death, and transient electrical activity in the brain well after cardiac arrest.

In his 2021 book, After, psychiatrist and premier near-death researcher Bruce Greyson explained how each of these and other materialist hypotheses fails, in some way, to account for the data known about NDEs. And none of those hypotheses can explain veridical perception, of which over 125 documented cases have been collected in the 2024 book, The Self Does Not Die.

Do NDEs provide proof that “We do not die”?

Among reports of NDEs, cases of veridical perception point most strongly to the conclusion that consciousness can function—even more lucidly than in physical life—even when the brain is severely disabled or inactive. However, no NDEr was permanently dead. Indeed, many NDErs encountered a point beyond which, they were told, or they sensed, they would be unable to return to physical life. The question remains: What happens to consciousness beyond that point-of-no-return? Does it continue as in the NDE, alter in some way(s), or perhaps even end? On the one hand, NDErs are eyewitnesses to the first moments of death, but on the other, they cannot reveal what happens beyond those first moments.

To address this limitation, authors have recently put forth the concept of a “convergence of evidence” from a variety of transpersonal phenomena. That is, the invaluable—yet limited—evidence that NDEs provide of the survival of consciousness after death needs to be considered along with the extensive evidence from such well-researched phenomena after-death communication—in which a living person perceives the presence of a physically deceased person or animal, sometimes learning information they could not have acquired through physical means; mediumship—in which some mediums can produce specific, accurate information about a physically deceased person, information that they could not possibly have known through normal physical means; and past life memories, in which a living person—usually a child—recalls having been a previously-alive person, and especially those cases considered “solved” in which the details of the identified previous person closely match what the child reports—details that the child could not have known through normal learning processes. The cumulative evidence from these several phenomena points strongly to the survival of consciousness after death.

What do NDEs reveal about meaning and purpose in earthly life?

Beyond the question of what NDEs reveal about the survival of consciousness after death is the question of what they reveal about meaning and purpose in earthly life. After an NDE, most experiencers not only lose their fear of death but also more deeply value and appreciate life. They tend to perceive that they—and every human—is loved and valued, that each person’s life is meaningful and purposeful, and that each person is alive on Earth for primarily two reasons: to advance in the capacity to love—oneself, each other, all of life, and Earth itself; and to learn—to acquire knowledge.

It is interesting, in this regard, that although someone who attempts suicide is more likely than the average person to attempt again, someone who had an NDE associated with a suicide attempt is much less likely to attempt again. This outcome is not because the NDEr felt punished or threatened for having attempted suicide but because they learned in their NDE that they are cherished and that their life on Earth is a gift, a unique opportunity for spiritual growth. They learn that challenges in life are not to be avoided or escaped but, rather, are to be worked through as opportunities to more deeply develop spiritual qualities such as empathy, patience, and faith. NDErs are consoled that when their earthly work is done, they will reunite with deceased loved ones and cherished spiritual entities; they will return home. Meanwhile, they undertake their earthly work with a sense of their unique worth and with the intention to enact every day, to the best of their ability, the lessons from their NDE, especially to manifest the fundamental motive of love.

Recommended Resources

Books:

Greyson, B. (2021a). After: A doctor explores what near-death experiences reveal about life and beyond. St. Martin’s Essentials.

Rivas, T., Dirven, A., & Smit, R. H. (2023). The self does not die: Verified paranormal phenomena from near-death experiences (2^nd ed.; J. M. Holden, Ed.; W. J. Boeke, Trans.). International Association for Near-Death Studies.

van Lommel, P. (2010). Consciousness beyond life: The science of the near-death experience (English ed.; L. Vroomen, Trans.). HarperCollins Books.

Ring, K., & Valarino, E. E. (1998). Lessons from the light: What we can learn from the near-death experience. Plenum.

Shushan, G. (2025). Near-death experience in ancient civilizations: The origins of the world’s afterlife beliefs. Inner Traditions.

Van Lommel, P., Van Wees, R., Meyers, V., Elfferich, I. (2001). Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands. In: The Lancet 358, pag. 2039-2045 (1339 citations)

Videos:

Winfrey, O. (n.d.). Oprah and a doctor explore what near-death experiences reveal about life and beyond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLw5Y0tA4xg

Chene, A. (n.d.). [Any near-death experience interview.]. https://anthonychene.com/

Mays, R. G., & Mays, S. B. (2019). The self does not die: Verified paranormal phenomena from near-death experiences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42-lK4wAgu0

Websites:

International Association for Near-Death Studies: www.iands.org

Near-Death Experience Research Foundation: www.nderg.org