Gradually, medical findings about what happens to the mind around the time of death are undermining the assumption that the soul dies with the body
At Viral Chatter, Nancy Maffia discusses some of the major changes we’ve seen recently in our understanding of what happens at the time of death — changes that are not confirming a materialist view of human life:
Traditionally, death has been defined as the irreversible cessation of heart function, known as death by cardiopulmonary criteria. However, advances in intensive care medicine have allowed doctors to artificially maintain a patient’s heartbeat, even when the brain has suffered irreversible damage.
This has led to the concept of brain death, where the brain has died, but the heart continues to beat with medical intervention.
Dr. Parnia’s research reveals that death is not an instantaneous event, but rather a process that unfolds over time. After a person’s heart stops, the cells in their body, including the brain, begin their own gradual death process.
“Beyond the Final Breath: How Consciousness Persists During Death, September 13, 2024
In other words, it takes days for the brain to die and consciousness may continue. ER specialist Sam Parnia, author of Lucid Dying (Hachette 2024), has done a good deal of research in this area. He has found that the mind can be quite active during this period:
One in five people who survive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after cardiac arrest may describe lucid experiences of death that occurred while they were seemingly unconscious and on the brink of death, a new study shows.
Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and elsewhere, the study involved 567 men and women whose hearts stopped beating while hospitalized and who received CPR between May 2017 and March 2020 in the United States and United Kingdom. Despite immediate treatment, fewer than 10 percent recovered sufficiently to be discharged from the hospital.
Survivors reported having unique lucid experiences, including a perception of separation from the body, observing events without pain or distress, and a meaningful evaluation of life, including of their actions, intentions, and thoughts toward others. The researchers found these experiences of death to be different from hallucinations, delusions, illusions, dreams, or CPR-induced consciousness.
“Lucid Dying: Patients Recall Death Experiences During CPR,” NYU Langone Health, November 7, 2022
Parnia: Consciousness does not die
Dr. Parnia does not believe that the human mind is annihilated at death. Rather, he says, of consciousness; rather, he says, “That entity continues. And it continues even when the brain does not seem to be functioning. Which raises the question that consciousness maybe a separate entity from the brain. It’s not magical. It’s just not discovered yet. But it doesn’t die.”
Like psychiatrist Bruce Greyson, author of After (MacMillan 2021) on near-death experiences, Parnia is not religious. He is looking at what recent evidence in his field suggests.