Other
writings
(updated
07/28/24)
There is no death: NDE evidence for
survival after permanent bodily death,
Honorable Mention paper in the Bigelow Institute
for Consciousness Studies contest, November 2021
Robert G.
Mays, BSc, and Suzanne B. Mays, AAS, CMP
Abstract:
Evidence from near-death
experiences (NDEs) demonstrates that the
essential, nonmaterial aspect of a human being
(the person’s mind entity) separates from the
physical body in an NDE and operates independent
of the brain and physical body. Evidence from
shared death experiences (SDEs) demonstrates
that in the process of physical death, as
witnessed by SDErs, the dying person’s mind
entity separates from the physical body and
transitions to a different realm. Evidence of
meeting deceased persons in NDEs, SDEs, and in
after-death communications (ADCs) demonstrates
that the deceased persons are objectively real
because they are observed at times
simultaneously by multiple witnesses and at
times provide veridical information previously
unknown to the witness. Credible veridical
communication with someone who has already died
is evidence implicitly for personal survival of
physical death.
Based on the evidence from these phenomena,
taken as a whole, a person’s essential Self or
mind at death separates from the physical body,
transitions to a different realm, and survives
the death of the physical body. The insights
derived from NDEs, SDEs, and related phenomena
lead to a theory of mind that has greater
explanatory power with respect to consciousness,
memory, and agency. These insights provide a new
conceptual framework that can lead to paradigm
shifts in neuroscience, physics, and other
fields, thereby extending the current naturalism
to include nonmaterial entities, forces, and
interactions.
( PDF,
757 KB, 49 pages; Spanish translation PDF,
709 KB, 53 pages)
Foreword to the English second edition
of The Self Does Not Die,
revised July 2023
Robert G.
Mays, BSc, and Suzanne B. Mays, AAS, CMP
Excerpt:
In compiling and organizing
these veridical paranormal cases, the authors of
this book have made possible analyses such as
those described in the preceding section of this
foreword. The juxtaposition of similar cases
permits a detailed analysis that is often
necessary to find the common elements among them
and to make valid generalizations....
The power of a large number of cases of one
type, assembled together, makes it exponentially
more difficult for pseudoskeptics to dismiss
this evidence as mere anecdotes, to write them
off as fraud or confabulation, or to make ad hoc
arguments that are specific to only one or a few
cases. At the same time, the power of a large
number of cases with similar characteristics
makes the validity of a hypothesis that explains
all aspects of all the cases exponentially
stronger.
It is our hope that this book will now foster
this higher level of analysis and a higher level
of discourse in the field of near-death studies.
( PDF, 88 KB, 9 pages) Available on
Amazon in paperback and Kindle
versions.
News article and
commentary: AWARE study initial results
published!
AWARE study
initial results published!
Robert
G.
Mays, BSc, and Suzanne B. Mays, AAS, CMP
The long-awaited initial results
of the AWARE (AWAreness during
REsuscitation) study have been published.
After four years of analyzing 2,060 cases of
cardiac arrest in 15 hospitals in the UK,
the US and Austria, nine NDEs were
identified, with two of these having
detailed memories with awareness of the
physical environment. Of these two, one
NDEr's experience was verified as accurate;
the other NDEr was too ill for an in-depth
interview. These two NDEs occurred in
non-acute areas where no visual target was
present, so further verification of visual
awareness was not possible. Further study
and, perhaps, a reassessment of the
methodology and goals of the study are
warranted. In our commentary, we point out
three basic problems in the study's design.
The fundamental issue is that it considers
only those cases that have occurred
during cardiac arrest and only in an
experimental model of hidden visual
targets placed on shelves. We propose an
alternative design involving a prospective
phenomenological analysis of all cases in a
single hospital where there was a planned or
unplanned loss of consciousness. A follow-up
protocol would be used to ask the patient if
anything unusual had occurred and
then employ follow-up interviews to
determine if an NDE had occurred, whether
there was any auditory/visual awareness of
the physical world, and to check the
accuracy of those perceptions. Hidden
targets would also be used as in the AWARE
study, with the more modest objective to
increase the possibility that a purely
visual, idiosyncratic object might be
perceived. The theoretical value of such a
protocol is comparable without
the problems inherent in the AWARE
study's design.
(PDF, 152 KB, 6 pages)
Blog post at New York Open
Center, What near-death experiences
tell us
What near-death
experiences tell us
Robert
G.
Mays, BSc
The similarities among all NDEs, regardless of
the conditions that triggered them, imply
there is a commonality
among all of the cases that is not tied to
specific physical or physiological conditions.
Moreover, the common element appears to be the
state of the NDEr’s consciousness:. All of
this strongly suggests that the NDEr’s
consciousness in fact separates from the
physical body and operates independent of it
during the NDE. And that implies that a
person’s consciousness is an objective,
autonomous entity in the world. The
conventional scientific theory is that
consciousness is produced by the brain’s
electrical activity, but an equally valid
interpretation—one which also explains NDE
phenomena more fully—is that the person’s
“mind” or “soul” or “spirit” interfaces with
the brain to produce consciousness. This
interpretation opens up a completely new way
of viewing the nature of reality—that we are
indeed, as Teilhard de Chardin put it,
“spiritual beings having a human experience”.
(PDF, 94 KB,
2 pages)
Commentary on article, The
Prophet, in Esquire
by Luke Dittrich, July 2013
Esquire article on Eben
Alexander distorts the facts
Robert G. Mays, BSc.
Luke Dittrich, contributing editor at Esquire,
wrote an article critical of Dr. Eben
Alexander's book Proof of Heaven. Dittrich
cited several malpractice lawsuits against Dr.
Alexander, in some of which the allegation was
that Alexander had altered medical records to
cover his errors. Dittrich makes this his theme
for critiquing the story of Alexander's NDE,
that Alexander altered the facts of his story to
make them more dramatic. In particular, Dittrich
questioned the central premise of the book, that
Alexander's experience was the result of a brain
all but destroyed by meningitis. Alexander's
hyper-real experience of the heavenly Gateway
Realm with the beautiful girl on the butterfly
wing and the knowledge he gained from The Core,
were all hallucinations resulting from a
medically induced coma. Alexander thereby stood
to gain financially. But how careful was Luke
Dittrich with the facts he presented?
( PDF, 297 K, 15 pages)
Letter to the Editor
submitted to the Journal of Near-Death Studies
Near-death
experiences and EEG surges at end of life
Robert G. Mays, BSc, and Suzanne B. Mays,
AAS, CMP
Lakhmir Chawla and colleagues (2009) reported
that patients who were at end of life and had
life support withdrawn – that is, no
medications, IV infusions, or machine
ventilation – exhibited a surge of
electroencephalographic (EEG) activity just
prior to complete arrest of blood flow and
death. The researchers speculated that a similar
surge of electrical brain activity may account
for the near-death experiences (NDEs) of
patients who suffer cardiac arrest but are
revived. The observed EEG surges appear of
sufficient duration and strength as to account
for the vivid experiences reported in NDE. Of
course, the immediate response to this
conjecture is that many NDEs occur under
conditions without these clinical circumstances
(see Greyson, Kelly & Kelly, 2009), and,
thus, the proposed connection does not provide a
complete explanation of NDEs. Indeed, it is
impossible to tell just what the deceased
patient experienced in the final minutes.
Nevertheless, Chawla and colleagues reported
that the presence of an objectively measured
electrical signal at the time of death has been
a source of comfort to many of the families of
these patients, indicating that “something”
happens at the time of death. We propose an
alternative explanation of this phenomenon.
( PDF,
134K, 6 pages)
Near-death experience
research: History and perspectives
A Powerpoint
presentation of the history of NDE
research, presented as a lecture on May
18, 2011. (PDF, 2.0 MB, 29
slides)
What do NDEs tell
us about consciousness?
A slide
presentation summarizing our current theory of
the self-conscious mind, presented at
the local IANDS NDE support group and revised on
April 18, 2009. ( PDF,
17.4 MB, 44 slides)
- Slides 1-11: what are NDEs, continuity of
consciousness in cardiac arrest, veridical
perceptions in NDE-OBE, phenomenology of
NDE-OBE, physical interaction in NDE-OBE,
what is consciousness
- Slides 12-16: what do NDEs tell us about
consciousness, evidence from NDEs, mind and
body, mind versus body, union of mind and
body
- Slides 17-28: seven principles of
mind-brain operation:
- Brain electrical activity gives rise to
consciousness
- There is a process of “coming to
awareness”
- The mind follows the neural structures
of the body
- The “mind structure” maps to brain
structures and functions
- Cognitive function depends on brain
structure
- The mind plays an active role in brain
development
- Memory resides in the mind, not the
brain
- Slide 29: a new paradigm with
explanatory and predictive power
- Slides 30-32: explanation: Libet's paradox
of delayed awareness of willed action
- Slides 33-42: prediction: new phantom limb
phenomena (3 short video clips accompany
this section).
- Slide 37: "Structure of the phantom
fingers" (streaming video, 3
MB, 1'43)
- Slide 39: "Phantom limb interaction 1" (streaming
video, 2.2 MB, 1'46)
- Slide 40: "Phantom limb interaction 2" (streaming
video, 3.8 MB, 1'49)
PLEASE NOTE:
These videos are copyrighted and are presented
here to assist other researchers to analyze
our research and provide comments. The
videos and photographs are not to be copied,
saved or republished without express written
permission of the authors.
- Slide 43: summary: the
self-conscious mind
The following letter to the
Editor was published in the Journal of
Near-Death Studies, 27(3), 195-201,
Spring 2009.
On the scope of
analysis for the AWARE study
Robert G.
Mays, BSc, and Suzanne B. Mays, AAS
Regarding the AWARE study (AWAreness during
REsuscitation) which will examine
prospectively 1,500 survivors of cardiac
arrest across 25 participating hospitals in
Europe and North America for 36 to 60
months. The study organizers expect as many
as 300 of the cardiac arrest survivors to
report a near-death experience (NDE), of
whom perhaps 30 to 60 patients will also
report an out-of-body experience (OBE) with
perceptions of the physical surroundings. We
recommend that:
- the
study include collection and detailed
verification of all NDE OBE perceptions,
using a prescribed investigative
protocol (1) to establish where the
patient was “located” in the room, how
long the patient was “present” and where
the patient’s “attention” was focused
during the resuscitation, (2) to record
and verify all aspects of the
patient’s perceptions during the OBE
portion in detail, especially purely
visual, idiosyncratic perceptions,
including the hidden images, (3) to
collect independent detailed accounts
from other relevant witnesses, and (4)
to collect ancillary evidence from NDErs
and witnesses.
- the study focus verification on any
idiosyncratic, purely visual perceptions
that were out of the patient’s physical line
of sight, but include all perceptions during
the NDE OBE, since verified details of the
perceived events of the resuscitation will
help to establish when the perceptions
occurred, which cannot be done from isolated
reports of perceptions. This information can
then be correlated with other information
about the patient’s physiological condition.
( PDF,
49K, 4 pages)
A
PowerPoint presentation of our Current
Research Status as of April 2008.
These slides were presented to the staff
of the Division of Perceptual
Studies of the University of
Virginia, Bruce Greyson, Division
Director, on April 22, 2008. (PDF, 2.4 MB, 28
pages).
Research
Request to NDErs who may have experienced
interactions with physical objects or
persons during their NDE:
The following article was printed in Vital Signs,
the quarterly newsletter of IANDS, first
quarter 2008:
Research
Request: Details of Physical
Interactions during NDE OBE
Robert G.
Mays, BSc, and Suzanne B. Mays, AAS
We are
looking for reports from NDErs of
physical interactions while out of the
physical body during the NDE. If during
an NDE you experienced any interactions
with:
- physical light
(e.g., seeing a source of light like
a light bulb or readout from a medical
monitor)
- physical sound
(e.g., lights humming or monitors
beeping)
- physical smells
or tastes
- physical touch
(e.g., sensing the texture of a
surface or sensations when passing
through a physical object such as a
wall)
- the body of
another person (that is, sensations
in touching or passing through a
person)
- the body of
another person where their
touch appeared to be felt (that
is, in touching the person, the
person felt the interaction in
some way), or
- another person
where the NDEr was able to “merge”
with that person (that is, they
could see and hear with their eyes
and ears)
please
contact us with details.
Similarly if you have read or heard an
account of an NDE with one of these
unusual physical interactions, please
contact us. (A more detailed
article, PDF
29K, 2 pages).
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