Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience (47 page)

The Dutch and other international organ transplantation guidelines claim that brain death equals death. The predominant image of death holds that life and death can never overlap; a person is either dead or alive but never both at once. However, 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 of the body is still alive. The criteria and diagnostic methods for brain death vary from country to country, and the more experts learn about diagnostic problems, the more uncertain they become. Most people are unaware that the removal of organs from “dead” patients usually requires general anesthesia because of the so-called Lazarus syndrome: violent reflexes by the certified dead organ donor. Would a corpse need general anesthesia? Patients who have been certified brain-dead also exhibit significant changes in blood pressure, vascular resistance, and heartbeat during the operative removal of organs, which is possible only if parts of the brain and the spinal cord reflexes remain intact.
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The fact that “dead” patients can bear living children also calls for reflection. Dozens of pregnant women in a deep coma, who were diagnosed as brain-dead, have been kept on a ventilator with intravenous medication and food for weeks or even months until their child was born, after which the machinery was switched off. Can a corpse give birth to a living child? The matter is further complicated by the assertion that a “clinically brain-dead pregnant woman is personally, but not biologically, dead”! There are medical guidelines and even a book on the subject of sustaining pregnancies in brain-dead women, called
Management of Post-mortem Pregnancy: Legal and Philosophical Aspects
.
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A Drop in the Number of Brain-Dead Donors

The number of potential brain-dead patients whose organs can be harvested drops every year thanks to advances in the treatment of serious brain trauma or cerebral hemorrhage. Doctors in the Netherlands are highly skilled in “donor prevention,” that is, the prevention of brain death. In fact, the Netherlands’ donor potential is the lowest in Europe, partly thanks to improved treatment techniques for brain injury, but above all because of strict legislation on compulsory safety belts in cars, compulsory helmets for moped and motorbike riders, the introduction and enforcement of speed limits, and the ban on the use of alcohol while driving. In other countries the number of (young) road traffic victims is much higher. If legislation were less strict, the Netherlands would have far more organ donors.

In 2002 there were in the Netherlands 1,131 potential donors, but due to contraindications for donation, such as age and chronic illness, permission for organ donation not always requested, refusal by family (in approximately 35 to 45 percent of all cases), and other circumstances, only 232 donors were registered, resulting in 202 actual donors. Over the past five years the number of actual donors has remained stable at around 200 a year. However, the number of patients waiting for organs, especially for kidneys, increases every year because of broader indications for hemodialysis.
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Also in the United States the number of people needing a transplant continues to rise faster than the number of donors. About 3,700 transplant candidates are added to the national waiting list each month, and each day about 77 people receive organ transplants. However, 18 people die each day waiting for transplants that can’t take place because of the shortage of donated organs.
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In a recent review article in the
New York Times
by pediatric cardiologist Darshak Sanghavi, titled “When Does Death Start?” some causes of the lack of organs for donation in the United States are explained by the less frequent occurrence of the diagnosis brain death, and he also describes the theoretical possibility of letting “dying” patients in coma, but not brain-dead, die in the operation room to be able to use their organs for donation from about five minutes after the heart has stopped beating (nonbeating heart donation). In the United Kingdom 3,513 organ transplants were carried out in 2008 thanks to the generosity of 1,854 donors, but despite the fact that more people than before were living donors, there are still many patients waiting for a transplant.
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Only new practices, such as nonbeating heart donation (the removal of organs when the heart has stopped beating), encouraging donors to donate a kidney or a (small part of the) liver during life, and perhaps also ongoing research into the possibility of xenotransplantation (genetic manipulation of pigs for the purpose of creating organs, especially the heart, fit for human transplantation) could theoretically reduce waiting lists for organs. But the problem of long waiting lists could also be eased by paying more attention to the nonphysical aspects of organ donation and by addressing questions about the meaning of illness and fear of death. Questions of meaning ought to be part and parcel of the debate on organ transplantation.
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Not everything that is medically possible is automatically meaningful or necessary.

In conclusion, as a cardiologist I am frequently asked questions about ethical and medical aspects of the Dutch health care system, especially about the extent to which more knowledge about NDE can contribute to a more humane treatment of patients and their families. And this happens also in the United States and the United Kingdom. Fear of death and of the process of dying often informs decisions on ethical and medical issues on the part of doctors, patients, and families. Knowledge of near-death experience can be of great practical significance to health care practitioners and to dying patients and their families. In the appendix I will look into more detail at what it would mean for patients and doctors if more people were aware of the extraordinary experiences that may occur during a period of clinical death or coma, on a deathbed, or after death.

I sincerely hope that I have succeeded in explaining the concept of nonlocal consciousness and its consequences for science, health care, and our image of humankind. I am aware that this book has not always been easy and can be no more than a springboard for further study and debate because we still lack definitive answers to many important questions about consciousness and its relationship with the body.

Near-Eeath Experience and Science

The roles of DMT, junk DNA, and nuclear spin resonance, in particular, require further analysis. Given the various forms of nonlocal consciousness that cannot be explained by current Western science, this book had to challenge a purely materialist scientific paradigm. This paradigm is to blame for the scientific and social taboo on near-death and other inexplicable experiences. I hope that by making a reasonable case for a nonlocal and therefore ubiquitous consciousness, this book can help engender new views on consciousness. The acceptance of new scientific ideas in general and ideas about endless consciousness in particular requires an open mind unhindered by dogma. Sometimes it only takes a single anomalous finding that defies explanation with commonly accepted concepts and ideas to transform science.

Research into near-death experience has helped me to develop the concept of nonlocal and endless consciousness, which can explain many and perhaps all aspects of the extraordinary experiences of consciousness discussed in this book. These include near-death experiences, 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) can also be seen as manifestations of nonlocal consciousness.

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that our endless consciousness preceded birth and will survive death independently of the body and in a nonlocal space where time and place play no role. According to the theory of nonlocal consciousness, there is no beginning and no end to our consciousness.

Near-Death Experience and Health Care

NDEs are much more common than previously assumed, and the personal consequences of such an experience are far more profound than doctors, nurses, and relatives ever imagined. All health care practitioners, dying patients, and their families ought to be aware of the extraordinary experiences that may occur during a period of clinical death or coma, on a deathbed, or after death. These experiences often result in significant life changes, including the loss of the fear of death. By accommodating rather than judging these experiences, patients and their families are given a chance to integrate them into the rest of their lives. Because I realize that knowledge of near-death experience can be of great practical significance to health care practitioners and to dying patients and their families, I will write in the appendix in more detail about some ethical and medical consequences of NDE for the health care sector in the West.

Near-Death Experience and Our Image of Humankind

An NDE is both an existential crisis and an intense learning experience. People are transformed by the glimpse of a dimension where time and space play no role, where past and future can be viewed, where they feel complete and healed, and where infinite wisdom and unconditional love can be experienced. These transformations are primarily fueled by the insight that love and compassion for oneself, others, and nature are essential. After an NDE, people realize that everything and everybody are connected, that every thought has an impact on oneself and others, and that our consciousness survives physical death. The realization that everything is nonlocally connected changes both scientific theories and our image of mankind and the world.

In his book
Markings
Dag Hammarskjöld wrote, “Our ideas about death define how we live our life.” When people think that death is the end of everything, they choose to invest in the ephemeral, the material, and the outward and are less inclined to respect the environment, the future world of our children and grandchildren. Our mind shapes our perception of the world. When we are in love, the world is beautiful; when we are depressed, the world is terrible; and when we are anxious (when we allow ourselves to be frightened by the press and politicians), our world becomes a fearful place. “The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell,” John Milton wrote in
Paradise Lost.
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We have to change our mind to change our way of life and our world, as Ervin Laszlo explains in his book
You Can Change the World
.
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All change in the world starts with ourselves. As an American woman with an NDE wrote to me in an e-mail: “When the power of love becomes stronger than our love for power, our world will change.”

This calls for another consciousness. This is the insight acquired by being open to the meaning of an NDE and by really listening to people who want to share their NDE with us. These insights are age-old and timeless, but near-death experiences have brought them back within our reach, giving us the chance to learn to listen with our heart.

It often takes an NDE to get people to think about the possibility of experiencing consciousness independently of the body and to realize that consciousness has probably always been and always will be, that everything and everybody are connected, that all of our thoughts will exist forever and have an impact on both ourselves and our surroundings, and that death as such does not exist. An NDE provides an opportunity to reconsider our relationship with ourselves, others, and nature, but only if we continue to ask open questions and abandon preconceptions. I hope that this book has contributed to this process.

Knowledge of near-death experience can be of great practical significance to health care practitioners and to dying patients and their families. All parties ought to be aware of the extraordinary conscious experiences that may occur during a period of clinical death or coma, around the deathbed and the dying, or even after death. These experiences often result in major life changes, including the loss of the fear of death. By accommodating rather than judging these experiences, patients and their families are given a chance to integrate them into the rest of their lives.

In this appendix we look at the role health workers can play in the process of coming to terms with NDEs. Igor Corbeau’s survey measured the psychopathology of 84 NDErs on the basis of an existing and widely used list of symptoms, the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL–90).
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These symptoms in people with an NDE include the interpersonal problems by the negative interaction with others and the intrapersonal problems like depression due to the difficult acceptance of the forced return to life. Compared to the general population (score: 118), the average NDEr scores higher (138), but still noticeably lower than the average client who is referred to a psychologist (178), and much lower than the average psychiatric patient (205). The survey found no significant differences between the types of problems suffered by people who had gone through an NDE as a child and those who had experienced one as an adult. Their only-slightly raised score on the Symptom Checklist 90 might suggest that NDErs have relatively few mental problems. The opposite is true. It emerges that 19 percent of NDErs have a higher psychopathological score (more severe psychological problems) than the average psychiatric patient.

More than half of the NDErs questioned as part of Corbeau’s survey indicated that they felt or continued to feel the need for support. The services of a family doctor were most frequently called upon, followed by a psychologist, a paranormal therapist, a pastor, a psychiatrist, or a psychotherapist. The consultations with psychologists, psychiatrists, family doctors, and social workers were generally rated as bad to very bad. Approximately half of the NDErs who had received treatment from a family doctor or psychologist said that the intervention had had an adverse rather than a beneficial effect. Many felt that regular health care providers did not take them seriously and that the therapist’s level of knowledge about the various aspects of NDE was highly inadequate. Spiritual therapies and transpersonal psychotherapists appeared to yield the best results, but people also appreciated peer support from fellow NDErs, for instance through Merkawah, the Dutch chapter of IANDS, the International Association of Near-Death Studies.
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The survey identified no link between successful treatment and the passage of time since the NDE.

NDE in the Hospital

To provide NDErs with better help and support than they currently receive, all health workers ought to consider the possibility of an NDE after a patient suffers a life-threatening crisis. In the event of an NDE, the doctor or therapist should not reject the experience as a pathological or anomalous incident but should regard it as an existential crisis with all the disorientation and psychological problems such a crisis entails. They must try to help NDErs distinguish between the experience and its consequences and, where possible, involve the partner in this process. NDErs and their families should also be made aware of information in books and on the Internet and of the activities of Merkawah and/or IANDS.

The best support comes from health workers who not only are open to such an extraordinary experience but who are also familiar with the scientific literature on the subject. Unfortunately, not all of them are. Doctors and nurses at cardiac care units ought to be aware that patients who are recovering from a cardiac arrest and who express their disappointment at successful resuscitation may have had an NDE. In fact, all cardiac arrest survivors should be routinely asked whether they have any recollection of the period of their cardiac arrest, that is, their spell of unconsciousness. It is vital for patients to be given the opportunity to talk about their experience without being told it was a hallucination or merely a side effect of medication or lack of oxygen in the brain. A negative response from friends and family can also increase confusion and doubt. Tell patients that such an experience is known as a near-death experience, and reassure them by saying that they are quite common after a cardiac arrest.

Patients in a coma after a serious traffic accident or after a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke, and who are in an ambulance, emergency department, or intensive care unit, can be aware of themselves and their surroundings. People ought to listen carefully to patients regaining consciousness and ask whether they have any recollection of their period of coma. At the same time doctors and nurses should be careful when talking about a comatose patient and realize that patients may be able to see and hear everything during their coma. Their condition prevents them from signaling that they are aware of what is happening around them (“locked in” or perhaps even better, “locked out”), but after regaining consciousness some of these patients indicate that they experienced a lucid consciousness. Sometimes a coma involves observation from a position outside and above the body, from where patients can see relatives, nurses, and doctors and hear what is being said. Communicating with the comatose patient, playing their favorite music, explaining what is happening, and a positive approach can speed up their recovery. Even before it became widely known that the experience of consciousness (an NDE) was possible during a coma, articles in medical journals suggested that communication with comatose patients by doctors, nurses, and relatives could have a positive effect on the clinical outcome and that memories of the period of coma after a traffic accident were reported by more than 50 percent of recovered patients, especially if they were comatose for ten days or more.
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Staff at surgery, neurology, and internal medicine wards ought to consider the possibility of an NDE in patients recovering from a coma caused by a traffic accident, a stroke, diabetes, or severe blood loss during major complex surgery (for instance when an aorta ruptures). Obstetricians should bear in mind that NDEs can occur after complicated deliveries, given that severe blood loss during or after the birth of a baby is a frequent NDE trigger in young women. At pediatric wards, meanwhile, young patients sometimes report NDEs after a near-drowning, asphyxiation, or a coma caused by acute encephalitis or a traffic accident.

Failed Suicide Attempts and Suicidal Patients

Research has shown that at least 20 percent of failed suicides report an NDE, which can have a profound and sometimes positive impact on the future lives of these often seriously depressed patients. The NDE teaches them that taking their own life does not solve any of the problems they tried to flee; they simply take these problems with them, and once they are without a body, a solution proves much harder to find. Besides facing up to the fact that suicide offers no solution to their problems, most people experience their NDE precipitated by a failed suicide attempt as largely positive, given that it is accompanied by a sense of acceptance, love, and understanding.
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Staff at psychiatric wards and health visitors should routinely ask all failed suicides whether they experienced an NDE.

Thanks to these newly obtained insights, renewed suicide attempts after an NDE are extremely rare. Some studies have suggested that if suicidal and severely depressed patients in psychiatric clinics are given information about NDE and its consequences, it actually reduces the risk of suicide.
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The confrontation with an NDE can have a positive therapeutic effect on suicidal patients.

Terminal and Palliative Care Units

Talking about post-NDE views on death and dying and about the experience of the continuity of consciousness (“dead turned out to be not dead”) can be extremely reassuring for patients and nursing staff in hospices and at hospital wards where patients receive terminal and palliative care. Several researchers have shown that talking about the content and consequences of an NDE helps reduce fear of death among terminal patients. Videos and books about NDE can offer support during the process of dying and reduce the fear of death felt by both patients and next of kin. When young children are dying, parents, grandparents, and other relatives can derive a lot of comfort from books about deathbed visions or childhood NDEs.
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After an NDE, many people volunteer for terminal care at home or in a hospice, where their newly acquired insight can be of great comfort to dying patients and their families.

Nurses, doctors, and the families of terminal patients ought to be open to deathbed visions or end-of-life experiences, which sometimes are comprised only of vague, intuitive images and an inner sense that the moment of transition is near. This is true for adults as well as for children. Shortly before the moment of death, a look of intense peace and calm will suddenly appear on the dying person’s face, sometimes coupled with a far-off gaze, a blissful smile, or words such as “the light.” And people who have been suffering from dementia for years can suddenly become extremely lucid in the final moments before death, recognize family members, and say good-bye to them. This is called “terminal lucidity.”
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Terminal heart or lung patients, who are extremely short of breath during the final stages of their cardiac or respiratory disease, can also experience deathbed visions in which they talk about encountering a dead partner or seeing beautiful landscapes.
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These dying patients ought to be encouraged to talk about their experiences without nurses or family expressing their doubts. Open questions from nurses are of great comfort to both patient and family because a deathbed vision can ease their fear of imminent death.

If all the family does is cry and complain that they cannot do without their dying relative, the moment of death is postponed and the suffering prolonged. The process of letting go becomes easier if one is prepared and able to thank the dying person for all the good times together, thus allowing him or her to depart in love and confidence. The process of dying also benefits from friends and family helping the dying person to let go of sorrow or guilt. There is still time to reestablish lost contact or address unresolved issues with children. In the words of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: “One should diminish the emotional burden of harboring unfinished business.”
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Experiences After Death

The death of a parent, partner, or child is followed by a dark period of sorrow and mourning. During the first few days, weeks, and months, there is a great chance of contact with (the consciousness of) the dead person, often in a lucid dream. As mentioned, after-death communication is quite common but is rarely reported for fear of disbelief and rejection. Talking about these experiences is taboo in our society, even though about 125 million Europeans, 100 million Americans, and nearly 2 million Dutch people have had a sense or an actual experience of contact with a dead relative. The chances of some form of contact with a dead partner or child can be as high as 50 to 75 percent.

Health workers and family members should not dismiss this experience of contact with a dead person as wishful thinking or a hallucination triggered by the overwhelming loss but should instead listen to the story and explain that these kinds of experiences are common. Encounters with dead relatives and loved ones are usually very comforting, and they have a positive impact on the mourning process. Health workers can also refer people to books about perimortem and postmortem experiences.
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Views on Death in the Health Care Sector

It goes without saying that more knowledge about NDE research and the possibility of a personal afterlife could have a significant impact on the practice of medicine. This knowledge informs ideas about the treatment of patients in a coma or in the final stages of a terminal illness, as well as views on subjects such as euthanasia, assisted suicide, and abortion. Our approach to these medical and ethical problems is shaped in part by our belief in a possible continuity of consciousness after physical death or, in contrast, by our conviction that death is the end of everything. These views are usually based on religious beliefs or the lack thereof.

As already mentioned, research in the United States has shown that doctors’ religious beliefs play a significant role in their practical approach to these kinds of issues. A recent survey among nearly 1,150 US doctors revealed that 76 percent of them believe in God and 59 percent believe in a personal afterlife. Twenty percent describe themselves as spiritual rather than religious. Of the doctors surveyed, 55 percent admitted that their faith had an influence on their medical practice. The percentage of family doctors (70 percent) who tried to live and work according to their religious beliefs was higher than the percentage of specialists (48 to 60 percent). This obviously results in differences in medical practice regarding procedures such as euthanasia, assisted suicide, the issue of “do not resuscitate” forms, initiating or ending life-prolonging treatment, birth control, and abortion.
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Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Needless to say, a doctor’s principles are not the sole determining factor in ethical and medical questions, such as the issue of a “do not resuscitate” form or a request for euthanasia. Patients’ views on death play an important role in their desire for a voluntary and early death. A request for euthanasia or assisted suicide is probably based not just on a desire for an end to suffering and for a more humane and dignified death, but also on the perception of death as the end. The patient believes that after physical death nothing personal will be left. As someone wrote to me, “When I’m dead, all thoughts, feelings and memories are gone, and my suffering is over. I’ll be free.”