When Does Human
Life Begin? (Combined &
expanded) This
is the combined and expanded version
of our earlier presentations:
Topics: The etheric body, evidence
from organ transplants, the factors
involved in embodiment in a physical
body, evidence from reincarnation
that an "etheric extract" is carried
from one incarnation to the next.
Embodiment can occur only when brain
development begins at 24 weeks, so
the soul cannot be considered an
incarnated human being until then.
Communication with the soul during
pregnancy is critical to prevent or
lessen trauma to the soul,
especially in cases of in vitro
fertilization (IVF). (MysTech
Presentation, November 2024; video
86 min, Q&A 29 min)
Earlier version 2: Video link,
Slides.
2024 IANDS
Conference, Sept 2024; video 56
min, Q&A 5 min.
Earlier version
1: Video link,
Slides. 2023 IANDS
Conference, Sept 2023; video 52
min, Q&A 5 min.
NDE Evidence and
Mind-Brain Research: The
concept of an autonomous mind entity
can serve as a new conceptual
framework for explaining
consciousness. What is needed now is
a research program to validate this
model of mind-brain interaction
(2022 IANDS Conference, Sept 2022;
video 50 min, Q&A 10 min).
Afterlife
Evidence Panel: Future Research
Directions: Results of
Bigelow essay contest and future
directionsin afterlife
research. Featuring BICS essay
winners Jeffrey Mishlove and Robert
& Suzanne Mays; Jan Holden is
moderator (2022 IANDS
Conference, Sept 2022; summaries,
discussion 72 min, Q&A 10 min)
NDE Evidence of
the Localized, Individuated Mind
Entity: We argue that
the mind entity is individuated
and localized, rather than
"non-local", and that the notion of
the universal, collective One Mind
refers to the all-pervasive
transcendent realm (2022 IANDS
Symposium, February 2022; video 35
min, Q&A 10 min).
Debate on
mind-brain interaction with
Kenneth Arnette, PhD:
A friendly debate with our friend
Kenny Arnette on the mechanism of
mind-brain interaction, moderated by
Darren McEnaney of Seeking-I.com.
(April
20, 2022, video:
initial statements to 25:00;
discussion to 1:25:00; Q&A
to 2:10:00).
How NDEs
Deepen Our Understanding of
Anthroposophy: NDErs
frequently report meeting a
Being of Light in their NDE and
many NDErs, notably George
Ritchie, identify this Being as
Christ. In 1910, Rudolf Steiner
predicted that -- beginning in
the 1930s -- more and more
people would encounter Christ in
a spiritual or "etheric" form in
a kind of Damascus event. NDEs
appear to be the fulfillment of
Steiner's prediction. (January
21, 2022, presentation 30
minutes, Q&A 30 minutes).
Tribute to Tibor
Putnoki: 2021 ISGO
presentation to honor the memory of
Hungarian NDEr Tibor Putnoki's life
and the Light of Love Foundation he
founded (video, 63 min; Q&A 60
min).
NDE
Evidence that there is No Death:
the
main evidence from NDEs, shared
death experiences (SDEs), and
after-death communications (ADCs)
that There is No Death. 2021 IANDS
Conference presentation, September
2021 (video, 50 min).
NDEs,
Consciousness and Reality:
the main results of the past
15 years of our research -- the
mind-entity hypothesis and the
transcendent realm hypothesis, Sept.
2020 (video, 80 min).
When Does Human
Life Begin? (Combined) We
present the evidence from NDEs and
children's prebirth memories to
address the question of when human
life begins. MysTech Presentation,
November 2024.
NDE Evidence and
Mind-Brain Research: The
concept of an autonomous mind entity can
serve as a new conceptual framework for
explaining
consciousness. 2022 IANDS Conference.
Tribute
to Tibor Putnoki: 2021 ISGO presentation
to honor the memory of Hungarian NDEr
Tibor Putnoki's life and the Light of
Love Foundation he founded.
NDE
Evidence that there is No Death: the main
evidence from NDEs, shared death
experiences (SDEs), and after-death
communications (ADCs) that There is No
Death. 2021 IANDS Conference.
Insights about the
pandemic--There is No
Death: An
interview
with Rabbi Stephen Robbins. Those who
are grieving lost loved ones, those who
have survived the pandemic all need to
know that There is No Death
NDEs,
Consciousness and Reality: the main
results of the past 15 years of our
research -- the mind-entity hypothesis
and the transcendent realm hypothesis.
September
2020.
The
Mission & Message of NDErs: interviews
of
NDErs who have received visions of
future world events -- their insights
into the meaning of current challenges.
This
book presents 128 reliable, often firsthand
accounts of perceptions during NDEs
that were later verified as accurate by
independent sources. These near-death
experiencers were everyday people from
all over the world—many of whom were
clinically dead, unable to see or hear,
and yet able to perceive new vistas of a
world beyond the senses and even beyond
death.
This English edition was translated from
Dutch. Robert and Suzanne suggested a
number of the new cases, helped with the
editing of the book and wrote the
foreword to this edition.
Now available
on Amazon in paperback
and Kindle versions.
Interview
on P.E.E.P. Podcast with Nicolle Morock
about our research: our mind-entity theory,
shared-death experiences, life reviews and
previews, prophetic visions, Tom Sawyer's
vision of L-1011 crash, the purpose of life
on earth. Episode 26, 29 Sep 2021 (audio, 84
min).
The
mind-entity hypothesis: IANDS NDE
Radio interview (Lee Witting) on the
mind-entity hypothesis and the neural
correlates of consciousness, 10/23/17 (30
min).
Presentation at the 2016 Academy for
Spiritual and Consciousness Studies
Conference: NDEs and the Mystery of Memory,
June 2016 (slides and audio, 61 min).
IANDS
NDE Radio interview
on veridical perceptions in NDEs
and the translation project of The
Self Does Not Die, 5/11/15 (30
min).
Welcome! This web site is
dedicated to explaining and discussing our ideas
on the self-conscious
mind. Briefly, we propose
that:
The human being consists of (1) an energetic,
spatially extended, non-material “mind”
that is united
with (2) a material brain
and body.
The mind is a “field of
consciousness”, that is, a
structured, energetic region of space.
The mind is non-material
(does not consist of material atoms or
particles) but has extension and location in
space..
The field of the mind can interact
with physical processes.
The mind is united and co-extensive
with the brain and body and
interacts directly with brain neurons.
The basic
evidence
for this proposal derives from near-death
experience (NDE) phenomena and
various neurological phenomena especially phantom limbs.
NDE
phenomena
The human being is the integration or union of
a self-conscious
mind with a physical body
Phantom
limb phenomena
Forearm amputation without sensations of the
missing limb
Phantom "mind limb" extending beyond the body,
with sensations
Phantom limbs are exposed “mind limbs”
extending beyond the physical body which exhibit
subtle interactions
with objects and other persons
For more information, please
read our Introduction. We
invite you to read through our
ideas and would be pleased to hear any
comments you may have about them.
Robert and Suzanne Mays
Web site
contents
The Introduction
consists of a short introduction to the ideas
we have developed about the self-conscious
mind through our research
The Research Papers
page lists the abstracts of our research papers
and includes links to the full text of the
papers
The Other
Writings page lists our additional
writings with links to the full
text
Our different
research
projects include:
Verification
of
George Ritchie's report
of the out-of-body experience (OBE)
portion of his near-death experience
(NDE), including locating the all-night
cafe in Vicksburg and the hospital ward
building at Camp Barkeley near Abilene
Research on phantom
limbs which explores the idea that
a phantom limb could have the same
properties as the self-conscious mind:
an objective spatial reality, that has a
subtle interaction with physical objects
and a subtle interaction with another
person's body
Collecting
cases
of apparent physical interaction
during NDE OBE: reports of
interactions with physical processes and
objects, including interactions with
another person's body and "merging" with
another person
Verification
of other reports of veridical
perceptions during NDE OBE
Research requests:
we are seeking two types of cases that
will assist our research. If you have had
any of these sorts of experiences or
sensations, please contact us!
NDE
cases
that involve physical interactions
during the OBE phase of the NDE.
Interactions might include
(1) light (like seeing a light
bulb or readout from a medical monitor),
(2) sound (like hearing lights
humming, monitors beeping),
(3) smells or tastes,
(4) touch (like sensations
when passing through a physical object),
(5) the body of another person (like
sensations in touching or passing
through a person), (6) the body of
another person where your touch appeared
to be "felt" (when touching the person,
the person “felt” it in some way), (7)
"merging" with another
person (where you could see and
hear with their eyes and ears), or (8)
anything resembling these kinds of
interactions
Phantom
limb cases involving (1)
sensing the touch of another person,
including massage over your phantom
limb, (2) being able to feel an object
when you touch it with your phantom, (3)
touching another person with your
phantom which they can feel, (4) relief
of phantom limb pain due to Therapeutic
Touch or other type of energetic work on
your phantom, or (5) seeing your phantom
limb as a faint glow.
The Self Does
Not Die: Verified paranormal
phenomena from NDEs (second
edition)
