Is There Life After Afterlife? Science Begs the Question

“In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! We are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory.”  – J.R.R. Tolkien

Belief in an afterlife has been part of the human condition since the beginning of recorded history. From Ancient Egyptians to Native Americans, cultures believed in and prepared their dead for life in the hereafter. Even in modern times, near death experiences occur and fuel belief, such as the experience of four-year-old Colton Burpo, retold by his father in the book-made-movie “Heaven is for Real. A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of his trip to Heaven and Back.” Even my own grandfather described a near-death, out-of-body experience while experiencing cardiac arrest during open-heart surgery, which I recounted in a poem entitled “Journey’s End.”

In this Scientific Age, religious faith is not enough for many to subscribe to the idea that life may go on in another form after our bodies return to dust. Scientific studies have tried to explain (or disprove) near death experiences for several years, most often contributing only to increased skepticism. Life after death eludes description in a time when concepts are only valid if they can be measured and explained in numerical expressions. Yet, while there is no hope of an objective, quantitative view of life beyond the grave, this has not stopped some from seeking answers.

Scientific quests to understand near-death experiences and their relationship to life after death have not abated in recent years. Fake stories and hoaxes, such as the one recently debunked in “German Scientists Prove Life After Death: Real or Hoax?” only add to the confusion and ambiguity surrounding the scope and validity of these studies. While questionable research makes up the majority of online material on the subject, the following describes a recent legitimate scientific study of near-death experiences conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton.

The Southampton Study

A scientific study has recently gained attention for demonstrating that a person can experience awareness for several minutes after death. Scientists at the University of Southampton studied more than 2000 cardiac arrest patients from 15 hospitals located in Austria, the UK, and the US. Around 40% of those patients were able to describe some type of awareness as much as three minutes after their heart had stopped beating. This awareness usually did not translate into vivid recollections of time during the cardiac arrest, as is popularly associated with a near-death experience.

The implications of this study are unclear, leaving the most supportive of fellow scientists only to say the study suggests near-death experiences and what they might imply merit “further genuine investigation without prejudice.” And while a few scientists may find the results of this study an interesting anomaly, scientists will never accept the existence of an afterlife as it is commonly understood. The results of the University of Southampton research have been published in an article entitled, “AWARE—AWAreness during Resuscitation—A prospective study.” The article appears in the journal, Resuscitation, which is the official journal of the European Resuscitation Council.

Bottom Line

A recent study at the University of Southampton brings renewed interest and legitimate science into the quest for understanding of near-death experiences and life after death. The interesting results of the study have led at least one scientist to suggest that near-death experiences should be further studied with an open mind. Have you or someone you know had a near-death experience? Feel free to tell us your story in the comments.