What's Next?

SUMMARY: Dr. Bruce Greyson is one of the top experts worldwide on life after death. He is the Chester Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. He has studied and documented more than 1000 Near Death Experiences worldwide for over 50 years.

What happens after we die?

That is one of the most basic questions for humanity. Other essential questions include, "Where do we come from?", "What is the meaning of life?", "Who am I?", “Why am I here”, "What is my purpose?", and "How should we live together as a species?".

These questions explore fundamental aspects of human existence, including our origins, our place in the universe, and our moral responsibility to one another.

These, and similar questions, are so basic and essential that nearly every culture has attempted to answer them in many different, and similar, ways.

For example, how was the earth created? This is such a basic question that every culture has their own beliefs and explanations.

In Greek mythology where Chaos is a primordial deity, Chaos is considered the first being, giving birth to Gaia (Earth) and Eros (love).

Norse mythology is about the cosmic tree Yggdrasil and the first being Ymir. The world is created from the body of Ymir, a primordial giant, with the cosmic tree Yggdrasil connecting different realms.

Egyptian mythology features Atum emerging from the primeval waters. Atum, the self-created god, emerges from the primeval waters and brings forth creation through a process of self-generation.

Hindu creation myths centered around Brahma and the cosmic egg. Brahma, the creator god, emerges from a lotus flower growing from Vishnu's navel and creates the universe.

Christians have the creation story from the Book of Genesis where God creates the world in six days and rested on the seventh.

The “Trust the science” crowd believe in the Big Bang. They never explain where the Big Bang came from or what was before the Big Bang or why that is more credible/easier to believe than a creator. These are the same people who believe in 31 genders and men can get pregnant.

How the universe was created is a central question. If there is a creator then perhaps there is also something after death.

Is there life after death?

Does the spirit/consciousness continue after the cessation of biological life? We know for certain that the body dies. That is an observable fact. But is the spirit a separate entity of itself, separate from the biological body?

That question has been pondered for thousands of years without much success at an answer. Maybe after death there is… nothing.

Tyrion Lannister was a degenerate little fellow who lived a debauched life of depravity. When facing death he said, “Oblivion is the best I could hope for. I strangled my lover. I shot my own father with a crossbow. I betrayed my queen.”

I wonder how many people feel that way. After living a wicked life, oblivion would certainly be preferable to the lake of fire.

But what if oblivion isn't an option? What then?

This is the best that Grok could come up with when asked if there is life after death:

“That's one of the big questions, isn't it? Honestly, there's no definitive answer I can give you. It’s a topic that’s been debated by philosophers, theologians, and scientists for centuries. Some believe in an afterlife based on faith or spiritual experiences—think heaven, reincarnation, or other forms of existence. Others, leaning on science, argue that consciousness ends when the brain shuts down, pointing to the lack of empirical evidence for anything beyond.”

A very interesting science has grown up around the question of life after death. One of the most interesting aspects of this science is the study of the Near Death Experience (NDE).

An NDE is a profound experience that occurs when someone comes close to dying. People who have NDEs often describe a sense of leaving their body and entering a spiritual realm.

Common NDE features include:

Feeling like you're leaving your body

Seeing bright lights

Experiencing a sense of peace or well-being

Feeling like you have access to unlimited knowledge

Seeing a tunnel or darkness

Experiencing an out-of-body experience

Having a "life review"

Meeting deceased friends, family members and even lost pets

Are NDEs real? Grok says, “Near-death experiences (NDEs) are definitely real in the sense that people report them—vivid accounts of things like floating above their bodies, seeing light, or meeting deceased loved ones when they’re clinically close to death.”

So, what causes NDEs? Grok says, “Some say it’s proof of something beyond—maybe consciousness detaching from the body. Others argue it’s just the brain doing weird stuff under stress: oxygen deprivation, endorphin surges, or neural fireworks as systems shut down. For example, ketamine-like chemicals released in the brain could explain the trippy sensations. There’s no hard evidence either way—no one’s come back with a selfie from the other side.” So much for Grok.

Near-death experiences have been reported across time and cultures. An astounding 5 to 10 percent of the general population is estimated to have memories of an NDE, including somewhere between 10 and 23 percent of cardiac arrest survivors. A growing number of scholars now accept NDEs as a unique mental state that can offer novel insights into the nature of consciousness. “Now, clearly, we don’t question anymore the reality of near-death experiences,” says Charlotte Martial, a neuroscientist at the University of Liège in Belgium. “People who report an experience really did experience something.”

There is an International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) and the Journal of Near-Death Studies. These were established by a group of North American researchers. The field has since expanded to include researchers and commentators from around the world.

Near-death experiences are not a new phenomenon. Socrates had one, according to Plato; Pliny the Elder recorded another (in the first century); history is filled with examples of mountaineers falling from cliffs and experiencing bliss rather than terror. But we seem as enthralled now by their meaning as ever, and they continue to be sprinkled liberally across popular culture.

Dr. Bruce Greyson is one of the top experts worldwide on life after death. He is the Chester Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. He was previously on the medical faculty at the University of Michigan and the University of Connecticut, where he was Clinical Chief of Psychiatry.

Dr. Greyson has studied and documented more than 1000 NDEs worldwide.

Dr. Greyson co-founded the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), an organization to support and promote research into these experiences, and for 27 years edited the Journal of Near-Death Studies, the only scholarly journal dedicated to near-death research.

Through his research, he has discovered common and universal themes in near-death experiences that go beyond neurophysiological or cultural interpretations, as well as patterns of consistent after effects on individuals’ attitudes, beliefs, values, and personalities.

Dr. Bruce Greyson started researching NDEs and life after death in the 1970s. When Greyson, age 78, was asked why he decided to publish his book, “After” now, after all these years, he explains that “we had to wait until we had enough knowledge about near-death experiences to be able to understand what was going on.”

To formalise NDE research in the 1980s, he developed a survey, the Greyson Scale, which has been translated into over 20 languages and is still in use. (Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe?) And he has been published widely in respected medical journals.

In “After”, Greyson writes: “I take seriously the possibility that NDEs may be brought on by physical changes in the brain,” though he also accepts that the mind might be able to function “independent” of it. There have been reports of people experiencing near-death episodes while their brains are inactive, he says, and “yet that’s when they say they have the most vivid experience of their lives.” He asks: “Are these the final moments of consciousness? Or the beginning moments of the afterlife?”

“It seems most likely to me that the mind is somehow separate to the brain,” he says, “and, if that’s true, maybe it can function when the brain dies.” Then he adds, “But if the mind is not there in the brain, where is it? And what is it?”

To Greyson, the impact near-death experiences have on people’s lives has been his most surprising discovery. “I make a living by trying to help people change their lives,” he says. “It’s not easy to do. But here I’ve found an experience that, sometimes in a matter of seconds, dramatically transforms people’s attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviours.”

Often, these changes persist over decades. In most instances, experiencers realise they are no longer afraid to die, which “has a profound impact on how they live their lives”, because “you lose your fear of life as well – you’re not afraid of taking chances.” Greyson sometimes asks people to describe their partners before and after an event, “and they’ll say, ‘Yeah, this isn’t the person I married; this is someone different.’” He adds, “They see a purpose in life they didn’t see before. I don’t know of anything else that powerful.”

“I grew up without any kind of a spiritual background,” Greyson says. “And I’m still not sure I understand what spiritual means. I am convinced now, after doing this for 40, 50 years, that there is more to life than just our physical bodies. I recognise that there is a non-physical part of us. Is that spiritual? I’m not sure. Spirituality usually involves a search for something greater than yourself, for meaning and purpose in the universe. Well, I certainly have that.”

Many people who have had NDEs describe a sense of timelessness. Some of them say that time still existed, but that the NDE seemed to be outside of the flow of time. Everything in their NDE seemed to be happening at once, or they seemed to move forward and backward in time. Others say that they realized in the NDE that time no longer existed, that the very concept of time became meaningless.

There seems to be a link between unexpected brushes with death and clearer, faster thinking. In addition to their thoughts being faster and clearer than usual, many experiencers also report that their senses, like vision and hearing, were more vivid than usual.

Many people who experience NDEs reported extraordinarily vivid sensations in their NDEs. This most often involved exceptionally bright vision and unique colors, or exceptionally clear hearing and unique sounds. On rare occasions, experiencers report unusual odors or tastes as well.

These extraordinary thinking and perceptive abilities in NDEs, while the brain is impaired, are difficult to understand in terms of what we know about the brain and how it functions.

Moreover, there are important existential implications, although exactly what those might be continues to be debated in the scientific literature and at conferences, including at a 2023 meeting held by the New York Academy of Sciences. It explored consciousness through the lens of death, psychedelics and mysticism.

“These transcendent experiences are found in the major world religions and traditions,” says Anthony Bossis, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, who helped to organize the conference. “Might they have some greater purpose for helping humanity cultivate understanding and awareness of consciousness?” he asks.

The weightiness of such questions makes careful study of NDEs and their rigorous interpretation all the more critical. “It’s important to disentangle empirical findings versus belief.”

According to Dr. Sam Parnia, his study presents “a coherent, mechanistic explanation” for how and why people have recalled experiences of death. When someone starts dying, Parnia says, the brain becomes dysfunctional. Some actions are immediately lost, such as brain stem reflexes, but others that are normally suppressed to optimize performance for ordinary life suddenly become disinhibited because the brain’s natural braking systems are no longer working.

As a result, “your entire consciousness comes to the fore,” Parnia says. The purpose of this change, he suggests, is to prepare the person “for a new reality”—the transition from life to death, a condition in which, Parnia believes, consciousness endures.

The study of NDE and life after death is an exhaustive subject. There is a massive body of research spanning decades. I've only scratched the surface. If you are interested in this subject there is much information to be had.

One thing that I discovered in my research is the common theme, accepted by many researchers, that the mind, i.e. consciousness, exists separate from the body and the physical brain.

Food for thought.

Learnings from 1,000+ Near-Death Experiences — Dr. Bruce Greyson, University of Virginia

Greyson's book, "After"

Greyson article

Parnia book, "Lucid Dying"