Coscienza oltre la vita - La scienza delle esperienze di premorte

by Pim van Lommel

La coscienza sopravvive o no alla morte? Un cardiologo di fama internazionale ci illustra le sue strabilianti ricerche. Proseguendo l'eccezionale percorso intrapreso da Raymond Moody, Jeffrey Long e altri, eccoci di fronte al mistero della vita dopo la vita indagato da una mente scientifica, dalla formazione solidissima e dal metodo inattaccabile, ma aperta ai risultati più sconvolgenti. Una lettura che fa pensare, documentatissima e ricca di casistica.
Pim van Lommel, cardiologo olandese, ha iniziato il proprio percorso di ricerca sulle NDE (Near-Death Experiences, o esperienze di premorte) dopo avere notato la quantità di pazienti che, dopo un infarto, dichiaravano di avere avuto visioni dell'aldilà. Nel 2001 ha pubblicato il primo e celeberrimo studio sulle NDE su The Lancet (una delle più prestigiose riviste mediche internazionali), grazie al quale è diventato il faro per chiunque sia interessato a indagare questo tema da una prospettiva scientifica.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Spirituality, Psychology, Death, Philosophy, Paranormal

391 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Pim van Lommel, M.D., was born in 1943, graduated in 1971 from the University of Utrecht, and finished his specialization in cardiology in 1976. He worked from 1977–2003 as a cardiologist in Hospital Rijnstate, an 800-bed Teaching Hospital in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and is now doing full-time research on the mind-brain relation.

He published several articles on cardiology, but since he started his research on near-death experiences (NDE) in survivors of cardiac arrest in 1986, he is the author of more than 20 articles (most of them in Dutch), one book, and several chapters about NDE. He is married, has two children and five grandchildren.

In November 2007, his book Endless Consciousness (Eindeloos Bewustzijn) was published in The Netherlands, which was a bestseller with more than 100.000 copies sold within one year. It was nominated for the Book of the Year in 2008. This book has also been published in Germany by Patmos Verlag as Endloses Bewusstsein. Neue Medizinische Fakten zur Nahtoderfahrung, and in English by HarperCollins as Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience.

Reviews

[Coli Barth · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I have to stress the difficulty of finding a reliable source of non-biased information on a topic such as Near Death Experiences, which is a field full of spiritual gibberish and religious hacks. 'Consciousness Beyond Life' was a refreshing break in the tide of gibberish, and while it did not provide me with the final answer or explanation for NDE's, it provided enough information to base more educated questions of off.
The author delves into every possible explanation for NDE's, even mentioning quantum mechanics as a possibility. The fact that the author was open to even the most unlikely of explanations, as long as it was grounded and supported in and by science, made this a truly captivating read. Normally, books on this topic provide only a kind of superficial interest, because their explanations are irrational and unfounded. But the sheer amount of research and scientific investigation that went into this is fascinating and heartening.
This is definitely a good for anyone who is interested in genuine scientific explanations for the Near Death Experience phenomenon.

[Nell Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author is a cardiologist who structured meticulous research around his patients. I expected the whole book to detail this research and current scientific information re. the brain, but there's a short section dealing with NDEs in history, myth and religion too.

The central section is fairly scientific, with statistical information and the psychological after-effects of NDEs, long chapters detailing what happens in the brain when the heart suddenly stops, what we know about brain function and a primer on quantum physics and consciousness with scientifically based speculation and theory on what could be happening. This was difficult at times but ultimately enlightening, and I'm glad I persevered.

Later pages enlarge the scope from NDEs to encompass other out of body experiences and the implications of NDEs, as well as advice for health care professionals and relatives of dying patients and those who've experienced an NDE and recovered.

There's a sense throughout of the integrity of the author in his quest for the truth, whatever it may be. Nothing is manipulated - statistics gathered in his research are presented and evaluated dispassionately.

Prospective readers should bear in mind that the subtitle of the book is The Science of the Near-Death Experience - quite a few actual first-hand accounts of NDEs were detailed in the book, but personally I'd have liked more of these.

[David Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a scientific study of near-death experiences (first half), followed by proposals about how near-death experiences might "work" and what those proposals mean for our understanding of consciousness (second half). And it's a fascinating read. I'm not sure how much I believe it (particularly when it comes to the more speculative second half). But it is a fascinating read. The author is a cardiologist who spearheaded some of the research he reports upon here.

The first half includes many anecdotes from people who had near-death experiences, as well as carefully obtained survey data about what happened during those experiences, and what happened to the people who had them afterwards. I most enjoyed this half of the book. I had heard the word "near-death experience", had a vague idea what that was supposed to mean, but had never studied or read about the phenomenon in serious detail before.

So these are experiences that occur, in most cases, when someone's heart stops, which is followed almost immediately by the loss of all detectable brain function. You might well say that they occur when people "die", and nearly all of these folks would have died, permanently, until very recent history, when modern technology and methods became available that can resuscitate them. What happens during an NDE? Well it varies from person to person, but there are common features (common apparently regardless of what culture the person is from or what religious beliefs they hold). Those features may include, roughly from more-common to less-common:

Positive emotions and a feeling of peace; An apparently conscious awareness of being dead; Meeting with deceased friends and relatives; Moving through a tunnel; Perception of a celestial landscape; An out-of-body experience (particularly, seeing your own body from a position outside of it); Communicating with "the light", a source of love often perceived to be somehow connected with God; Perception of remarkably vivid colors; A life review, often in which events of a person's life are replayed with emphasis on how their words and actions affected other people; The presence of a border, with understanding that if they cross that border they cannot return to their body.

So that's a remarkable list. One of the big questions of the book is whether these experiences are the result of something happening inside the brain, indeed something very much like a final hallucination as the brain shuts down, or whether they are real and if so, represent a proof that human consciousness can outlive the brain and fundamentally exists outside the brain. Although it seems to be a small minority of cases, perhaps the best empirical evidence that what has happened is "real" is from people who "come back" with knowledge they shouldn't have by normal means - either knowledge of what was happening in the operating room while they were unconscious, or even stories like "I met my brother who died at age one that you never told me about mom". So it's interesting stuff.

Writing this review as a Christian (and I'm sure other Christians will read the review), one question would be "do these NDEs certify the truth of the Christian faith?". Unfortunately the answer seems to be "no", although for the most part they are vague enough that we could say that they don't contradict the Christian faith either. The "light" is often perceived in a monotheistic way, as a sort of emanation from God (in fact, one NDEr says she was told by deceased family members that "the light is what happens when God breathes", which is a rather compelling comment). Monotheism supports the Christian faith. But after that detail, there is not much in these reports that is particularly Christian, and the people who return from them actually become more spiritual, but significantly *less* interested in traditional religions, including Christianity. So that is somewhat discouraging from a Christian perspective.

The author reports the following life changes as particularly common in the years after an NDE, again from more-common to less-common:

Become more interested in the meaning of life; Develop a greater appreciation for ordinary things; Become more accepting of others; Become more involved in family life; Decreased fear of death; Greater interest in spirituality; Greater belief in life after death.

So that's all interesting. Later, the author points out that we can do various things to the human brain (electrical stimulation, drugs, etc.) that seem to reproduce *some* of the aspects of the NDE... but all those other things that we do in a laboratory setting are almost never followed by the life changes that follow an NDE.

Intriguingly he also discusses some of the "weirder" changes people report particularly in the *short-term* after an NDE, with these things fading over time, again from more-common to less-common:

Enhanced intuition; Telepathy (including a sense that you know what other people are thinking); Precognition (particularly the knowledge that something is about to happen); Deja vu; Dream awareness; Clairvoyance; An awareness of spirits; An ability to heal; Additional out-of-body experiences; The perception of auras.

OK - what in the world are we supposed to make of all of this? Well... the author spends a large chunk of the book proposing his answer to that question, so there isn't much that can be said briefly. Basically the author proposes an idea of "non-local consciousness", the most important part of which is the claim that human consciousness is NOT produced by the brain. Rather the biological brain functions as a sort of interface or transceiver that allows ultimate human consciousness to interface with the physical world. And I do think that it would be accurate to say that everything we know about the biology of the brain fits with that proposal... though it also fits with other proposals. The fact is that what your brain is doing when you're thinking happens so fast and on such a small physical scale that our technology is entirely incapable of tracking it in serious granular detail. We can say very well "when you're thinking about this, this part of your brain is especially active", but such observations do not contradict an "interface" proposal.

And this proposal still allows him to believe that human biology has at least some role in the NDE experience. He points out that whether or not a cardiac arrest patient has an NDE is correlated with almost nothing (including prior religious beliefs, drugs given during the arrest, and so on). The one exception is age - younger patients who have a cardiac arrest are significantly more likely to report an NDE (and, we might also say, remember it - if older patients are having them but can't remember them when they regain consciousness, they will report not having had one). Why? The closest the author comes to accepting a biological explanation for NDEs is probably his discussion of DMT (dimethyltryptamine), a psychoactive substance. The discussion is a little hard for me to follow, but apparently it is produced (I assume in very small quantities) by the pineal gland, which also contains substances that can break serotonin down into DMT and substances that can prevent DMT itself from breaking down. He mentions that during major stress, the body releases hormones which activate more DMT, and large quantities of DMT are thought to be released by dying cells in the pineal gland during human death. He mentions that people who consume DMT (as a psychoactive drug) have experiences that are similar to an NDE, and sometimes even report some of the positive life changes. He concludes by pointing out that zinc is important for the synthesis of serotonin and DMT, and older human bodies have less zinc, and maybe that could explain why younger people are more likely to report an NDE.

Now it is worth noting though that even if this is true, this "natural explanation" would not invalidate his proposal that ultimate human consciousness is not something created by the brain. If the brain is "just" a (very important!) interface with the physical world, it would be fine, actually, for a drug to affect that interface in a way that triggers an NDE. And in fact this is exactly what some proponents of mushroom use and such claim they are doing - not having hallucinations, but getting in touch with something real that their brain, as normally functioning, prevents them from interacting with.

Whew. So that's all interesting although, as I said, I'm not sure how much to believe it or what to make of it. I'll just end by saying that, toward the end of the book, he gets into quantum physics and how to integrate what quantum physics teaches us about non-locality into his proposal of non-local consciousness. You might think it's odd for a physicist (me) to talk so little about that part of the book... that would take a very long time indeed. When he is just describing the principles of quantum physics, he actually does a very good job, (especially since he is not a physicist himself he does quite a good job). When he launches from that into far more speculative claims about what quantum physics might mean for ideas of non-local consciousness... well, it's highly, highly speculative stuff, and you'll have to make up your own mind about that.

[Ugo Marsolais · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been quite a long time since a book made me think so much about existence, about life, about death, and the fact that our consciousness may well survive after death, even though this seems hard to accept. If you believe death is the end of the line, this book will seriously challenge you to reconsider.

What I especially liked however, is that this is not a religious or spiritual book. It doesn't pretend to have all the asnwers and doesn't preach to you either. It looks at facts and data in a scientific way. It does speculate on a scientific basis about how to explain NDE and try to reconcile such experiences with our physical world and scientific knowledge.

Be warned though that a few of the chapters that refers to quantum physics are challenging intellectually. You have to commit some effort to go through these. Fortunately the author those point out sections that are facultative, or that may contain too much detail for the layman.

[Ari Damoulakis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, so there are reasons I rated this book a 2, below average, instead of a 3, average and balanced.
The reason is this. The author gives too much anecdotal evidence to promote the theory that still could be false that there is life after death. Not much of his own experiences, and he writes too optimistically.
My review, however, is not just based on my reading of this book.
This review is based on my then own further researches, reading and experiments I then performed on myself.
When I read this book, I would have given it 5 stars and a rave review.
There are not many people who would have really wished for an afterlife, or proof of one more than I did and do.
Never mind that I really miss my guide dog, and will miss my family, but, since I have had no vision since birth, I have three regrets of things I will never experience in this life.
Some blind people say driving, but for me, no.
My 3 regrets are that I’ll never properly play Nintendo Entertainment System games like everyone who grew up around me did, that I will never experience playing basketball, handball or normal football, and that I will never understand stars, the interesting beauty of nature, or the micro universe. Example, I studied physiology and I will never experience the real appearance of things such as cells.
Anyway, because of all this, I tried everything I could to, if not have a near-death experience, at least an out-of-body or paranormal one.
I read loads of NDE and paranormal books. I’m not exaggerating. Most researchers I read, from Atwater, Rupert Sheldrake, Ring, Sartori, Long, just on and on.
I prayed for ages.
I listened to Skeptiko podcast, IANDS conference lectures, things on angel communication, on and on.
I tried reading books on how to have an OBE.
I tried even the 9 level Hemi Sync course from the Monroe Institute.
Absolutely nothing worked.
Finally two things happened.
I discovered that some of these researchers were literally frauds, whilst others relied on stories of unreliable people.
Example, Kenneth Ring’s book on blind people having near-death experiences, he eventually agreed that the research on totally blind subjects was faulty for many reasons.
Then I read Michael Schirmer who suggested that supposed OBE’s were tricks of vission and visual phenomena, and that made me understand that that was why I never could get myself to experience one.
So now I am really skeptical about all this.
Out of interest, for fun, I’d love to know what I’d feel if I try taking a lot of DMT, and also wear the God Helmet. Yes there really is such a device.
Anyway I won’t review any other afterlife books I read since the review would be nearly the same as this.
Unfortunately I really don’t believe we can ever do anything to try work out if an afterlife does or doesn’t exist?

[Marjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a book on near death experience (NDE) by someone who took it extremely seriously (with rigorous research data). There now absolutely no doubt about the phenomena, but the open question remains of how we interpret it. Van Lommel tries with reductionist approaches and finds its limitations. Then, in the middle part of the book, he tries something more fancy: quantum physics. At this point the book looses its value. First of all; even quantum physicists don't understand much about quantum physics. Secondly; there is hardly any theory in the world that would be so often abused for the 'consciousness problem' as quantum physics is. It almost became anecdotal and a cliche in it self. Isn't it a bit too easy to explain something you don't understand with something else which you also don't understand?
But nevertheless, NDE does happen and it leaves us puzzled about it. Even conservative researches who tackle with the problem (either via NDE or perhaps DMT research) admit that consciousness is something that eludes our current understanding of biology or physics. It appears to originate in some sort of hyperspace, outside our bodies, which then merely facilitates it. And at this point van Lommel goes one step further than the rest. He asks: then what? What are the consequences of this realisation, not just for our understanding of life, but also for or society and most importantly our medical practice. This are the questions the reader is left with at the end and they make a valuable starting point for further thinking.

[Johan Bordewijk · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wat een slecht, ontzettend slecht, boek.
Een cardioloog die zich op het gebied van de neuroloog begeeft is al dubieus, maar die dan ook nog uitspraken over kwamtummechanica gaat doen. En dan onthutsende lariekoek produceert.
En dat terwijl bijna-dood ervaringen heel interessant zijn.

[DennisvdLely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mooi wetenschappelijk boek over ons 'bewustzijn' dat (spoileralert) niet gekoppeld is aan de hersenen/ons lichaam. Met antwoorden op het leven na de Dood, het multidimensionale dat wij (99% van de bevolking) niet met ons 'menselijke' bewustzijn kunnen waarnemen en nog veel meer!

[Ronan Mahony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb book that makes you think...if you approach it with an open mind.

This was a truly brilliant book that presents a fascinating approach to answering the question of what happens after we die. I fear the people dismissing it as "pseudoscience" are doing so not from a point of view of actually reading the scientific presentation of nonlocal consciousness in the book, but from sticking too rigidly to the prevailing scientific view that the brain is like a computer and switches off for good after you die. I suspect most people who downvoted the book didn't even understand the physics part of it; the reviews on here are striking evidence of this because nobody explicitly picks apart his scientific approach to consciousness. Instead, they use the lazy pseudoscience put down that has no substance behind it; it's just a word used by people who didn't bother to approach something with an open mind.

Just for the record, I am an agnostic. I don't believe in a God or any organized religions, but I think there could be something after death. Perhaps a returning to the source of consciousness and eternal peace. The incredibly detailed first-hand experiences of NDEs in here were fascinating to read and posed many questions. This is a book that makes you think long and hard about life and death. For that, I give it five stars.

[Philip Benoit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just completed the narration of this book for Audible, which will soon place it on sale in audiobook format. Of the 30-something books I have narrated, Pim van Lommel’s exploration of near death experiences stands out as the single most absorbing, authoritative, and thorough analysis I have read about such a singularly fascinating topic. Steering well clear of the improbable pseudo spiritualist speculations of many of the other books on this subject, the author examines a range of possible explanations for NDEs applying sound scientific principles (including an accessible mini-discussion of quantum physics) and the opinions of researchers and medical experts combined with numerous accounts of the vivid and life changing experiences of people who have undergone an NDE. You may or may not accept his conclusions about the relationship of consciousness and the human brain, but you will most certainly come away with a clear understanding of van Lommel’s perspective on what a near death experience is and what may account for it.

[S.R. Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a profound book, and took some courage for the author, a Dutch cardiologist to write.

It hit home, since I did have a NDE.

He shows us that medical science cannot explain where consciousness is, and that endless conscious does not reside in the brain.

He discusses the concept of nonlocal consciousness and tries to explain the limits of science in explaining the common and strikingly similar accounts of people who had NDEs.

Keep an open mind. Read this book.

[Carmel Attard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t let go of the first portion of this book: its many near-death-experience (NDE) accounts are fascinating and impressive. Quite interesting is how the author parallels near-death-experience reports with the beliefs of the five main world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: tying them in with ancient Greek philosophy as well. He also gives a few ancient NDE reports: a fifth-century-BCE account, an eighth-century-CE account, and three nineteenth-century-CE accounts.
The author deals with the subject of consciousness holistically: that is, scientifically, subjectively, medically, and metaphysically. What I found very satisfying in this book is the fact that the author looks at both sides of the arguments for and against his views, even when his opponents are obnoxious toward him personally: most of the time, he gives satisfactory arguments. However, when the author tries to explain these subjective phenomena through ‘quantum mechanics,’ I found it hard work—somewhat boring and unconvincing—despite my bachelor’s degree in physics. Although the book is extremely well researched, the author graciously admits that “the questions continue to outnumber the answers.” (p. 259)
I also found the book’s glossary extremely helpful for revisiting (while reading) medical and technical terms that I wasn’t too familiar with.
Near Death Experiences:
Surprisingly, the author informs us, “Fairly recent studies in the United States [in 1982] and Germany [in 1999] suggest that approximately 4.2 percent of the population has reported an NDE.” (p. 9) That’s excluding under-reporting because of self-embarrassment; not to mention that frightful NDEs are more often than not (understandably) unreported. In fact, people who had a near-death experience stop telling it to others because the latter usually think they were hallucinating. In other words, NDEs are not that uncommon as one might think.
NDEs, the author explains, “are reported not just by people on the brink of death … they are most frequently reported after a period in which brain function is seriously impaired, such as in a cardiac arrest. Other comparable clinical circumstances include brain damage and coma after a serious traffic accident or brain hemorrhage, unconsciousness through shock (low blood pressure) caused by severe blood loss during or after a delivery, or following complications during surgery. Near-drowning is a well-known trigger in children. Other causes include asphyxiation and serious but not immediately life-threatening illness with high fever. These experiences are also reported during isolation, depression, or without any clear medical indication during walks in the countryside or during meditation.” (p. 8) The author then aptly argues, “The [most] frequently cited argument that an NDE is caused by oxygen deficiency in the brain obviously does not apply to people who experience one during depression or isolation.” (p. 9) Likewise, throughout the book, the author debunks most (if not all) of the scientists’ objections to NDEs—one by one.
The most common elements in an NDE account are : (1) indescribability, (2) peace, no pain, (3) death awareness, (4) out-of-body experience (local & remote), (5) dark space (often frightening), pinpoint of light, fast tunnel travel, (6) beautiful unearthly environment, (7) deceased relatives, speechless communication, (8) being of light, unconditional love, deep knowledge, (9) life review, no time or distance, (10) future preview, (11) limiting border, (12) return to body. (pp. 11–12) Only some of these are experienced in any NDE.
An ‘out-of-body experience’ (OBE) is basically a separation of mind and body. The author concludes, “The experience of a very lucid consciousness at a moment when all brain function has ceased raises important questions about the relationship between consciousness and the brain.” (p. 9)
Somewhat unconvincing, to me, is a few near-death-experiencers’ claim of an ability to foretell the future. According to the author, “People feel like they can see part of the life that is yet to come. … The reports of the verifiable future events inevitably raise questions about free will and the extent to which people can determine their own future.” (p. 38) However, in his book ‘The Universe in a Nutshell,’ (p. 107) theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking writes the following regarding Heisenberg’s ‘uncertainty principle’: “We cannot even suppose that [a] particle has a position and velocity that are known to God but are hidden to us. … Even God is bound by the uncertainty principle and cannot know [both] the position and velocity [simultaneously]; He can only know the wave function [probability].” It is this uncertainty principle which is the basis of our free will: otherwise everything would be predetermined. God so constructed our world that we can exercise free will. So I contend that he does not really know the future, especially where we are concerned—let alone people knowing the future, then.
Moreover, personally, I find it hard to believe that following an NDE some possess healing powers and paranormal qualities. (pp. 60–61) I could be wrong, of course, but I think these portions of the book, unfortunately, undermine its credibility, somewhat.
Consciousness:
The author seems to think that our consciousness is located somewhere in ‘nonlocal space’ remote from us, somewhat like the airwaves from radio and television stations, to which every person possesses the ‘tuning frequency.’ In the book’s introduction, he writes, “Our brain may be compared both to a television set, receiving information from electromagnetic fields and decoding this into sound and vision, and to a television camera, converting or encoding sound and vision into electromagnetic waves. … The function of the brain can be compared to a transceiver [i.e., transmitter-receiver].” (p. xvii) I think this is the most revealing concept of the entire book.
The author never mentions God (who is possibly the ‘transmitting station’), of course, because the subtitle of his book is ‘The Science of Near-Death Experience.’ Most scientists bend over backwards to separate God from science; yet, according to self-declared atheist Richard Dawkins, whether God exists or not is a scientific question. In his book ‘The God Delusion’ (p. 82), Dawkins writes, “The presence or absence of a creative super-intelligence is unequivocally a scientific question, even if it is not in practice—or not yet—a decided one.” And I happen to agree with Dawkins in this concept.
My take is that God has access to our consciousness, instantaneously, through the scientifically proven physical process of ‘entanglement’ (see p. 218). In this respect, I think the book is somewhat disappointing: the author should have been bolder rather than resort to ‘nonlocal space’ and its associated ‘quantum mechanics.’
The author also opines, “The origins of consciousness are and will probably remain a mystery forever.” (p. 290) I think this is somewhat of a defeatist attitude. There were scientists in the past who believed we could never learn anything about the stars because they are too far away from us; yet we learnt quite a bit about them in the last few decades.
Somewhat surprisingly, the author also writes, “Consciousness predates our birth and our body and will survive death independently of our body in a nonlocal space where time and distance play no role. There is no beginning, and there will never be an end to our consciousness.” (p. 307) I can relate to there being no end to our consciousness, but I simply cannot see why it would have no beginning: unless he wants to accommodate those religions that believe in reincarnation. I think it’s logical to assume that consciousness starts at the moment of conception, at best—not earlier. Moreover, apart from the ‘First Cause’ (i.e., God or matter), everything has a beginning, even the universe according to the ‘big bang’ theory.
Much More:
The book deals with many more observed and/or reported phenomena, which I don’t have space to discuss in this short review: “fear-death experiences, identical experiences triggered by despair, depression, isolation, meditation (religious and mystical experiences), and total relaxation (experiences of enlightenment or unity), as well as experiences prompted by regression therapy and the use of mind-expanding substances such as LSD or DMT, deathbed visions, perimortem and postmortem experiences, enhanced intuitive sensitivity or nonlocal information exchange, nonlocal perception, and the influence of mind on matter (nonlocal perturbation [and neuroplasticity]).” (p. 328) I’ll leave all that for the reader to discover and savor.
Medical Ethics:
The author finally raises a current ethical concern; he writes, “With the technical expertise to transplant organs … came the problem of obtaining suitable organs.” (p. 321) So, the medical profession felt it must relax the then-current definition of ‘death.’ The author continues, “Long term irreversible coma [was] called death [‘brain death’], thus creating the possibility to obtain transplant organs from [so called] ‘dead’ patients.” (p. 321) With the introduction of coronary care units and subsequent improvements in resuscitation techniques, the reporting of near-death experiences increasing exponentially became an eye-opener: “what to make of the many reports of consciousness during a period of coma with demonstrable loss of brain function?” (p. 321)
The author states, “Life and death can never overlap …. It is scientifically impossible to determine exactly when all life has left the body. The process of dying lasts between hours and days, takes a different course for everybody, and takes places at organ level down to cellular and subcellular level, with different processes and rates of disintegration for each system. Besides, when brain death is diagnosed, nearly 100 percent [96%, p. 322] of the body is still alive.” (p. 323) Under coma, some patients “can last for years in exceptional cases” (p. 321). The author aptly observes, “The fact that ‘dead’ patients can bear living children also calls for reflection.” (p. 324)
Indeed, Plato’s fifth-century-BCE account of the soldier Er in ‘The Republic’ states he was thought dead for twelve days before ‘returning’ to life. (p. 97)
Conclusion:
In his introduction to the book, the author rightly laments, “Most scientists are still trying to reconcile theory and facts within the routinely accepted (materialist) paradigm … essentially a collection of articles of faith shared by scientists. … Results that cannot be accounted for by the prevailing worldview are labelled ‘anomalies’ because they threaten the existing paradigm. … Such anomalies are initially overlooked, ignored, rejected as aberrations, or even ridiculed. Near-death experiences are such anomalies.” (p. xiv) Notice especially the phrase “articles of faith.” “The history of science,” the author points out, “tells us a similar story.” (p. 312)
Despite what scientists might currently think, in my opinion, this book is a scientific ground-breaking book on our consciousness. In the epilogue, the author opines that it’s “no more than a springboard for further study.” (p. 327) Perhaps! But I compare it to Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ in its originality. The future will tell whether I’m right.

[Loes Lammertink · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 sterren voor de inhoud en de degelijkheid van onderzoek en het interessante topic. Maar uiteindelijk toch 3 sterren omdat het zó uitvoerig geschreven is dat ik hem uiteindelijk schuin uit heb gelezen wat helaas afdoet aan de beleving van het boek.

[Dirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complete eye-opener. Ik gok dat je ervoor open moet staan. Dat stond ik. M’n ogen geopend.

Het eerste deel greep mij direct.
Het middenstuk wat taai.
Fijn eindstuk met mooie bespiegelingen op de manier waarop we als maatschappij en gezondheidszorg (nu nog) tegen BDE en Bewustzijn aankijken.

[Jaap Tilburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooi overzicht van de wetenschappelijke analyses van het onderscheid tussen het bewustzijn en de hersenen nav bijna dood ervaringen.
Ook interessant te lezen hoe hier in de geschiedenis mee is opgegaan en wat de houding van wetenschappers en medici hierop is.
Als christen ben ik me vanuit de bijbelse openbaring van God onze Schepper bewust van het bestaan van een ziel die komt van de Schepper en ook weer teruggaat naar de Schepper.
Daarmee onderken ik een eindeloos bewustzijn.
Ik realiseer me ook dat er een geesteswereld is. Met goed en kwaad. In de bijbel geeft God ons inzichten en richtlijnen voor het leven. Een daarvan is niet actief geesten van doden op te roepen en daarmee bezig te zijn.
Deze grens respecteer ik.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

The major theme in this book was the scientific aspect of NDEs (near death experiences). It is difficult to find a scientifically based NDE book, but I have to say that Consciousness Beyond Life executed the scientific study of the NDE very well. While there aren't any characters, the book talks about many people's experiences, along with the author's personal experiences. One of the most fascinating facts I learned in this book was, "By high school, about a third of these children develop alcohol or drug related problems, to which they may be more sensitive than their peers." (P.73) This is truly a shocking statistic, but very real.

My reaction to this novel was a positive one. It was a fresh read, free from a lot of unscientific theories. I believe the author's aim for this book was to enlighten those who do not have a great scientific background. While the book does bring out a lot of science, it brings it out in a way that the average person can understand. This is very refreshing. The book is very well organized, flows from concept to concept, divided into chapters. The mechanics in this book are great. No "difficult to read" sections.

Overall, 5 stars! Highly recommend it.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author, a cardiologist, is the moving force behind a very rigorous study of near-death experiences at Dutch hospitals published in The Lancet in 2001. Finding materialistic explanations inadequate, he has searched for other explanations, and this book tells about the results of the main studies on near-death experiences, why he finds current explanations wanting, and his own thoughts on why “consciousness, with memories and occasional perception, can be experienced during a period … when the brain shows no measurable activity and all brain functions, such as body reflexes, brain-stem reflexes, and respiration, have ceased.”

[Spencer Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

The questions that he asks and the conclusions that he draws are solid. He does a fantastic job of scientifically showing how science can't really explain these rather common experiences. The problem is really the writing--particularly the redundancies. It isn't necessary to define the same term in every chapter, for example. Not is it necessary to summarize everything from every previous chapter in any new chapter. But overall, well worth reading for anyone interested in the subject. And who isn't interested in what may happen when we die?

[Joantine Berghuijs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing as long as the author sticks to his profession.
Speculative when he starts to extrapolate to metaphysics.

[Vicky chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book. Gets you thinking about your own mind. I think a lot of points are well written and support. However, a lot of the theory and assumptions made is still pretty far fetched and requires more proof. Either way this provides a solid explanation in many areas that the current physical science does not explain. As the book mentioned “there are more questions than we have answers for.”

The research finding of NDE experiences are something we do not often hear about to. This book is friendly enough that explains everything down to details and draws a lot of examples from many many different great scientists .

Quantum mechanics chapter is very hard to read and understand, I had to reread it over a couple of times. It requires effort and focus to get through this chapter. (ONLY THIS CHAPTER, the rest is amazing)
I will definitely revisit this part of the book in the future to fully understand. ( as I still do not fully understand )

I really like the theory proposed in chapter 13 (DNA) as it propose a unique and different idea of the DNA function. One of the coolest theory I have come across and am excited to see what future findings will surface.

This book challenges mainstream scientific theory, so please read with an open mind. I do not fully believe in the ideas proposed in this book. As the book talks about consciousness beyond the body it is inevitable to touch on spirituality and religion. I am not a religious person and do not really believe in afterlife. I find it hard to agree with this part of the idea.

New theories are constantly brought up and old ones can be disputed. In the future, scientists may be able to prove this proposed theory or a completely new point of view will be brought up.

[Ina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a particularly homogenous text. Some parts practically read themselves and are very light and easy to grasp. While others are quite technical and a lot harder to go through. Whoever arranged the chapters did a good job of alternating between one and the other however, so the reader can get a bit of a break in between the heavier chapters.

The author does a rather good job at exploring NDEs and their likely causes, and judiciously so, without making any unsubstantiated claims.

He has a belief in NDEs and a leaning towards a particular explanation for them; but it doesn't show through excessively in the text and I don't get the impression that it hampers his objectivity on the matter. Plus, I'm sure that if I had heard first hand all of the stories he's heard and tried to retell them, then I'd come across as far more biased than he does.

Overall, a very successful effort at tackling a subject that is notoriously difficult to approach with rationality and objectivity. An effort in which many have failed.

[Phil Calandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Consciousness Beyond Life" is scholarly and comprehensive analysis and research into whether consciousness survives death vis a vis the Near-Death Experience. Included are several anecdotes from people who have had NDE"s in addition to extensive scientific and statistical information regarding the aftereffects of NDE's. Although some factors of NDE's encompass depth analysis of Quantum Theory and complex concepts of cardiovascular and neurological physiology, it is clear that science has no clear explanation of this phenomenon. This is a very hopeful albeit it a very challenging read.

[Rinus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indringende wetenschappelijke onderbouwing van het fenomeen bijna-dood-ervaring.
Pim van Lommel zet in een goed doordachte maar enigszins speculatieve theorie het bestaan van eindeloos of niet locaal bewustzijn uiteen.
De menselijke hersenen maar ook het dna in de cellen zijn niet zelf de oorzaak van ons bewustzijn en lichamelijke ontwikkeling, maar meer decoderingsmechanismen van de informatie uit het eindeloos bewustzijn dat zich buiten ons lichaam bevind. Het eindeloos bewustzijn is de informatie drager van alles wat in het verleden ligt en zich nog in de toekomst gaat voltrekken.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A DUTCH CARDIOLOGIST EXAMINES EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENTS

Pim van Lommel is a Dutch cardiologist whose prospective study of near-death experiences [NDE] after cardiac arrest was published in the medical journal, The Lancet. He has since retired from the medical profession, to devote himself full-time to Near-Death studies.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 2010 book, “For me it all started with curiosity… Learning about near-death experience raised a number of fundamental questions for me… How and why does am NDE occur?... I was unable to accept some of the answers to these questions because they seemed incomplete, incorrect, or unsubstantiated. I grew up in an academic environment where I was taught that there is a reductionist and materialist explanation for everything… After immersing myself in the personal, psychological, social, and scientific aspects of near-death experience, I found other frequently asked questions becoming important to me too: Who am I? Why am I here?.... And what does death mean to me?” (Pg. viii)

He continues, “This raises a series of other questions that will be addressed in this book: “Where am I when I sleep?... How is it possible that some patients under general anesthesia can later describe exactly what was being said or even done… Can we speak of consciousness when a person is in a coma?... Can we still speak of consciousness when a person has been pronounced ‘brain-dead’?... Does brain death really equal death, or does it mark the start of a PROCESS of dying that can last anywhere between hours and days?... Does ‘clinical death’ equal loss of consciousness?... Can we still speak of consciousness when a person is ‘confirmed dead’ and the body is cold?” (Pg. ix-x)

He goes on, “I strongly believe that consciousness cannot be located in a particular time and place. This is known as nonlocality. Complete and endless consciousness is everywhere in a dimension that is not tied to time or place… This endless consciousness is always in and around us. We have no theories to prove or measure nonlocal space and nonlocal consciousness in the material world… Our brain may be compared both to a television set, receiving information from electromagnetic fields… and to a television camera, converting or encoding sound and vision into electromagnetic waves… There is also increasing evidence that consciousness has a direct effect on the function and anatomy of the brain and the body, with DNA likely to play an important role. Near-death experience … allows us to understand a wide range of special states of consciousness, such a mystical the religious experiences…. Ultimately, we cannot avoid the conclusions that endless consciousness has always been and always will be, independently of the body.” (Pg. xvii-xviii)

He says of the ‘Perception of a Brilliant Light/Being of Light’ by many NDErs, “A person’s religious background is a significant determining factor in the naming of this being of light. People always report direct communication with this being, as if it reads their mind and responds through the mind. While enveloped by this light, people experience total acceptance and unconditional love and have access to a deep knowledge and wisdom.” (Pg. 33-34)

He observes, “Cultural factors play a role too: in countries such as India, where spirituality, meditation, and reincarnation are widely accepted, the content of the NDE and its resulting changes appear to be more easily integrated than in the West. Within Western culture the experience is completely at odds with conventional wisdom. And it is no surprise that people who were raised with material values find it harder to accept the new insight that money and power are no longer essential to happiness… Western culture and science do not really accommodate this kind of spiritual experience.” (Pg. 50)

He notes, “To recap: after eight years, people with an NDE scored significantly higher in the following areas: showing emotions; less interest in the opinion of others; accepting others… involvement in family… increase in the importance of nature and environment… sense of social justice… decline in church attendance; increased interest in spirituality; less fear of death… and increase in believe in life after death.” (Pg. 67)

He explains, “Many scientists assume that an NDE is caused by oxygen deficiency in the brain. This used to be my own firm belief… It is highly likely that that brain plays some role because certain NDE-like phenomena can be induced by stimulating a particular place in the brain of epileptics. The use of certain hallucinogenic drugs … also produces an altered state of consciousness. However, these… usually consist of fragmented experiences and memories and feature no life review or out-of-body experience. Besides, a drug-induced experience is seldom followed by reports of life changes.” (Pg. 113)

He continues, “the most common explanation for NDE is an extremely severe and life-threatening oxygen deficiency in the brain… This results in the blockage of certain receptors in the brain and the release of endorphins, a kind of morphine produced by the body itself, causing hallucinations and a sense of peace and bliss. This theory seems inapplicable, however, because an NDE is actually accompanied by an enhanced and lucid consciousness with memories … Moreover, a hallucination is an observation that is not rooted in reality, which does not apply to descriptions of out-of-body experiences that are open to verification and corroboration by witnesses.” (Pg. 115)

He acknowledges, “we cannot rule out that in some cases the blockade or malfunction of NMDA receptors may play a role in the experience of an NDE… One of the first attempts at explaining an NDE was based on the fact that stress releases endorphins… Endorphins can indeed get rid of pain and cause a sense of peace and well-being. However, the effects of endorphins usually last several hours whereas the absence of pain and the sense of peace during an NDE vanish immediately after regaining consciousness. Endorphins also fail to explain other elements of an NDE.” (Pg. 118-119)

He asks, “Could the NDE be a kind of dream? Dreams usually occur during the REM phase of sleep, during which the brain displays a great deal of activity. An NDE, by contrast, is sometimes experienced at a moment when all brain activity has ceased. People with an NDE say… they experienced a vivid reality, which was fundamentally different from anything they ever experienced in dreams… in contrast to an NDE, a dream is usually forgotten after a while and is generally not followed by a transformation.” (Pg. 132-133)

He states, “Many argue that the loss of blood flow and a flat EEG do not exclude some activity somewhere in the brain because EEG primarily registers the electrical activity of the cerebral cortex. In my view this misses the point. The issue is not whether there is some immeasurable activity somewhere but whether there is any sign of those specific forms of brain activity that, according to current neuroscience, are considered essential to experiencing consciousness.” (Pg. 165)

He suggests, “According to current knowledge, consciousness cannot be reduced to activities and processes in the brain. It is highly unlikely that thoughts and emotions are produced by brain cells… the brain contains a total of about 10[to the 14th] synapses. If one synapse contained one bit of information, brain function would require … far more information than the human DNA… can handle according to current knowledge. For this reason, consciousness cannot be stored in our DNA, rendering a cell in our body and brain a highly unlikely producer for consciousness.” (Pg. 195-196)

He summarizes, “We reached the conclusion that the scientific approaches outlined so far fail to offer a satisfactory, irrefutable explanation for either the occurrence or the content of an NDE. We still do not know how it is possible for people to experience an enhanced consciousness during a cardiac arrest… we concluded that consciousness cannot be seen as the product of brain function… Our current scientific knowledge cannot account for all aspects of the subjective experiences reported by some cardiac arrest patients with complete loss of all brain function.” (Pg. 205)

He speculates, “Experiments appear to provide scientific proof of the nonlocal entanglement or connectedness of consciousness… All of these carefully executed and replicated empirical studies confirm the nonlocal properties of consciousness and point to a nonlocal entanglement in the biological and macroscopic systems such as the brain. Neither the classical physics model of science nor contemporary biological theories can account for this correlation of biological systems.” (Pg. 251-252) Later, he adds, “DNA appears to be the direct and indirect personal coordinator of all information required for the optimum function of our body. And for this our individual DNA receives the necessary information from nonlocal space.” (Pg. 274)

This book will be of great interest to those studying Near-Death Experiences.

[Kenneth Bachmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, scientific, and thoughtful consideration of the meaning of near death experiences as they relate to continuing, non-local consciousness including consciousness beyond (one's) life. Even in the face of scientific and medical objections to his formulation (which Von Pimmel liberally cites), the author provides serious medical validation for the absence of what many skeptics believe are the pathophysiological causes of NDEs. He also discusses non local consciousness in the context of quantum physics. His thoughts about the role of DNA, albeit intriguing, require a lot more validation and more thoughtful development vis a vis the relationship between DNA and consciousness.

Overall, the book is a very good read for health care practitioners, for physicists, and for anyone who may one day die.

[Florio]

Pim van Lommel's work is not a biblical exegesis on the subject of life after death. Instead, the author -- a medical doctor -- offers empirical arguments for post-mortem existence. He examines the near-death experiences of patients who survived "fatal" heart attacks. (For those not familiar with the term "Near-Death Experiences" I suggest you start with Dr. Raymond Moody's seminal works Life After Life and Light Beyond.) I'm a new member and I've read only the first two chapters of Consciousness Beyond Life and would love to discuss this subject with others who have just begun the book. Perhaps we could all do a chapter a day (a week?).

[Jamie Wilson-hull · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pim van Lommel's book is one of the most well written and documented books on Near Death Experiences thus far and likely one of the few that have medical fact as back-ups for the reasoning behind his points. It shares the experiences of many documented cases from many people who have been declared "clinically dead" and been resuscitated to recount some pretty convincing evidence that Life does not end when our bodies/brains are non-functioning/dead.

For anyone who is truly serious about wanting to know more about NDE's and wants more than a fluff-filled story about whether consciousness goes on beyond the death of our physical bodies, this is a must read book.

[Herman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aardig boek om je eens te verdiepen in het fenomeen bijna-doodervaring. Inderdaad frappant hoe menigeen na te zijn 'teruggehaald' uit de dood met dezelfde ervaringsverhalen komt. Maar Van Lommel loopt wel met heel grote stappen door wetenschappelijke en semi-wetenschappelijke publicaties om zijn gelijk te halen. En dat is dat ons bewustzijn niet in de hersens zit, maar ergens buiten ons zweeft (non-lokaal bewustzijn) en dus ook nooit ophoudt te bestaan. Misschien is dat inderdaad zo, maar op basis van wat we nu weten kun je dat niet zo stellig beweren. En het is maar helemaal de vraag of we ooit wel zover komen.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was astounding. Using scientific evidence, Dr. van Lommel explores the near death experience in a non-biased fashion. Statistical evidence that span multiple cultures and countries support his research. Several chapters are dedicated to the theories of quantum mechanics, which van Lommel theorizes can be used to explain the near death experience. Instead of answering questions about life after death, this book raises more questions that merit further research.

[♏ Gina☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would hazzard a guess that there are very few people, if any, who haven't wondered about life after death. No matter your religious beliefs, it's still something quite human to think about. What will really happen when I die?

In this book, Pim van Lommel discusses his scientific research into whether consciousness continues once a person is clinically deceased.

If it's a subject of interest to you, I highly recommend this book.