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Does life after death exist? Scientists have examined numerous testimonies and evidence.

A book detailing 128 confirmed cases of "life after death" has been published in the Netherlands.
Существует ли жизнь после смерти? Ученые изучили множество свидетельств и фактов. Узнайте больше о их выводах!

Believers have no doubt that in addition to our material world, there exists a subtle realm – the kingdom of heaven, where souls reside.

Photo: Shutterstock.

“I Do Not Die” (The Self Does Not Die) – that’s the uplifting title of the recently published book by Titus Rivas, Annie Dirven, and Rudolf Smit. Electronic media – both Russian and global – have referred to the Dutch authors as “neuropsychologists.” They announced their “sensational discovery,” which asserts that the afterlife is a reality rather than mere fabrications. They claim to possess irrefutable evidence.

So what? Is there really another realm beyond the material world that we all see? One where souls exist? Let’s try to understand.

To the Other Side and Back

The belief in the “other side” is regularly fueled by individuals who, having experienced clinical death, encountered what is known as a Near-Death Experience (NDE). They, essentially resurrected, have shared remarkably similar accounts, albeit with variations.

After dying for a brief period, people reported traveling through a dark tunnel towards the light, meeting deceased relatives, angels, or other strange beings along the way. At times, flashes of their past lives would appear before their eyes. Their senses heightened, they experienced distorted perceptions of time, and thoughts raced with unprecedented speed. Many reported that they floated outside their bodies, observing themselves from above, most often from a vantage point above.

Medical professionals agree: the NDE phenomenon indeed exists. However, not all link it to the afterlife.

Scientists are studying the phenomenon, but for different purposes. Some methodically attempt to prove that all the accounts of those who “returned from the dead” are nothing more than hallucinations and other quirks arising in the brain due to a lack of oxygen. Mixed with real visual and auditory images, these create illusions of real events. There’s no mysticism here – just physiology.

Others do not dismiss the mysticism. They, conversely, seek signs of an alternative reality that cannot be explained within traditional frameworks.

The authors of “I Do Not Die” can be categorized as supporters of mystically inclined researchers. They themselves are not neuropsychologists – they are not even scientists. However, they are quite experienced in NDE, much like ufologists are with “flying saucers,” particularly those who believe they are sent by aliens.

Titus Rivas is a parapsychologist, meaning a representative of pseudoscience who is exclusively engaged in the search for something supernatural. He is fascinated by ghosts, reincarnation, and, of course, life after death. He is a co-founder of the Athanasia Foundation, which sponsors research in the field of NDE.

The late Annie Dirven was the manager of the Athanasia Foundation for a long time. Together with Rivas, they wrote numerous articles on parapsychology and several books on related topics.

Rudolf Smit is a photographer and IT specialist. He was previously the editor-in-chief of the Correlation magazine of the British Astrological Association and currently heads the Danish quarterly publication “Return” of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS).

It is unlikely that such - let’s be frank - biased “neuropsychologists” would yield entirely objective conclusions.

One could also add Dr. Eben Alexander to the Dutch authors – a neurosurgeon with over 30 years of experience and a professor who taught at Harvard Medical School. In 2012, he wrote the book “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife.”

The professor believed that after falling into a coma for 7 days, he experienced heaven. His recollections are actively utilized by the authors of “I Do Not Die.”

The first edition of the Dutch book with “evidence of the afterlife” was published in 2016. The current edition is the second, supplemented with new cases, “testimonies” from witnesses, and studies by enthusiastic researchers. However, the observations cited by Rivas, Dirven, and Smit leave room for bold speculation but do not provide a definitive answer to the question, “Is there life after death?” And who knows if it can be obtained at all?

The essence of the near-death experience (NDE) phenomenon.

Photo: Dmitry POLUKHIN. Go to the KP Photo Bank

Exited the Body, Then Returned

The most convincing evidence that consciousness – or soul, if you prefer – can exist separately from the body, according to the Dutch authors, comes from reports of the resurrected about seeing themselves from the outside. Confirmations include their subsequent accounts of what was happening around them – for instance, in operating rooms – while they were dead. These accounts include details, down to the actions of doctors, nurses, their conversations, movements, and resuscitation efforts.

The authors were greatly impressed by a case involving one patient – which was once discussed by cardiologist Lloyd Rudy (Dr. Lloyd Rudy).

The patient died on the operating table. They did not attempt to resuscitate him – they deemed the situation hopeless. They informed the family of his death. Yet he suddenly revived – after 25 minutes. The duration and the “details” he revealed upon unexpectedly waking were astonishing.

While the patient was dead, a nurse had placed a note on the computer monitor – slightly aside from a couple of others already there. The patient recounted this to Rudy. He acknowledged that to somehow view the nurse's monitor from the operating table, one would indeed have to exit the body.

The Dutch authors also consider the famous experiments of renowned resuscitator Sam Parnia (Dr. Sam Parnia) to be quite compelling. The study he organized was called “AWAreness during REsuscitation II (AWARE II).”

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During clinical death, some people saw themselves from the outside.

Photo: Shutterstock.

Doctors from 25 hospitals in the USA and the UK monitored patients whose hearts had stopped. They died but were connected to machines for what is known as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). A total of 567 people – both men and women – were included.

About one-fifth of those who returned from the dead reported NDE – specifically about how they exited their bodies, observing both themselves and their surroundings from above, while calmly reflecting on their previous lives. During this time, the deceased exhibited bursts of electrical activity in their brains. Devices recorded gamma, delta, theta, alpha, and beta waves, which are typically characteristic of individuals who are still conscious, thoughtfully pondering or reminiscing. But not of those completely devoid of consciousness, showing no signs of life.

- Conscious experiences cannot be considered hallucinations of a dying brain; rather, they are a unique human experience that arises at the brink of death, - Parnia stated.

The NDE study, which lasted from 2017 to 2020, was the second for the resuscitator. The first - Parnia conducted back in 2008 while working at the University of Southampton. Together with several dozen colleagues, they systematically verified reports of the resurrected about “out-of-body experiences.”

The scientists placed shelves under the ceilings of the wards. They displayed special test images – positioned so that they couldn’t be seen from the beds. Only people who truly floated to the ceiling could see and later describe them.

All 2060 patients examined had their hearts stop and experienced clinical death. 330 survived. 140 reported some form of NDE – just under half. And 26 patients mentioned that they had exited their bodies.

It seems that no one saw the “pictures on the ceiling.” Otherwise, Parnia would have trumpeted this to the whole “this world,” but he remained silent. The scientists documented the testimony of only one 57-year-old social worker from the UK, who was dead for three minutes. He accurately described what was happening around him during that time, including the actions of the medical staff and the sounds of the equipment, which periodically emitted signals.

Is such evidence sufficient to unreservedly acknowledge that the “other side” exists? Certainly not. But Rivas, Dirven, and Smit found it sufficient. Although Parnia himself expressed much more caution: “Intriguing questions arise about the existence of human consciousness after death.”

By the Way

Among the readers of “Komsomolskaya Pravda,” there are many who believe in the afterlife

And we have