Sam Parnia - Is Life After Death Possible? 

I think, as many people have pointed out already, that "We don't have consciousness before our birth" is an absurd notion simply because consciousness and memory are not identical. Linked, but not identical. Just look at dreams, you are what you can call conscious or semi-conscious for most of your dreaming periods, yet you do not remember most of them - if any - shortly after you wake up. Being conscious or not before birth might very well be speculated to be akin to this.

Dr. Parnia was far more impressive in this clip than I was expecting, given his prominent role in conducting The Aware Study (published in the peer reviewed journal Resuscitation). He gave perfectly reasonable and acceptable answers to pointed questions by Dr. Kuhn regarding his current views on 'Life After Death'. In these views Parnia held strictly to scientific standards, yet with a nod to relevance of both philosophy and theology, while fully leaving open the possibility of a state of consciousness after death, and while admitting scientifc proof was presently (maybe forever) impossible to obtain. This suggests that, even in our 21st century, when it comes to the issue of life after death, if you're not already a believer "The Answer is Blowin' in the Wind".

Before being born was you scared, then after death you will not be scared, its pretty sad in the present to think of it, our brief look into this reality that we exist, we exist because the atoms have ensemble themselves into entities that can ponder its existence

I had 2 NDEs from sleep apnea. I went down the tunnel, heard the noises and woke up..But I could not move. I was like outer of body. With great strubggle I woke up and found I was gasping for breath..I think the NDE is the brain's way of waking you up by a differnet mechanism when you stop breathing. Drowning people also "heat the angles singing" as they lose braeath..

So in summary: He's still describing a NDE, which as Christopher Hitchens famously pointed out tells us nothing about actual death. The reason consciousness remains for a period of time after death was also explained in this video - the cells remain alive for a period of time after lack of blood supply. The term clinical death should be instead used to describe the state when the cells are dead and therefore can't be resuscitated, then it would be synonymous with the dictionary definition of death.

So if consciousness can indeed continue when the brain is no longer functioning, there are two possibilites. 1- There is an as of yet undiscovered situation in which there is some sort of reserve brain energy that still functions even after the rest of the brain is dead, let us say, like cells that still have not died and are still functioning for a few hours, or 2.- This is an experience of the actual afterlife and you keep living on even after you have died and what we have glimpsed is the soul. As a scientific reader I can say that, per William of Occam and his Occam's razor, it is more likely that we are talking about a process that still has not been discovered yet in terms of biology rather than a supernatural experience. The only reason we can believe this to be supernatural is because we don't yet have the full answer to it and we are going back to the so-called "God of the gaps", whereas God only appears in moments when we do not have a scientific explanation. We have seen this happen time and time again and science coming in an explaining all of this information with facts and evidence. It is certainly much more plausible that we are talking about cells not having died off yet and taking time to die rather than an actual supernatural phenomenon, although I cannot discard this either due to the lack of evidence.

How he said “ I’m not interested in my personal opinion, it does not matter....what I’m able to comment own is on what we have evidence for, for which there is DATA, there have been research studies carried out....” is the energy we need in 2021 to survive.

It's a big mistake to say that we have no consciousness before birth. You have no idea about that, because you can't remember. We know for sure that we are conscious when we are born, but we can't remember that either. Do you remember your birth? Just because you don't doesn't mean it didn't happen and that you weren't conscious when it did.

Great interview. I love Sam Parnia he has such a calm open manner. Long time fan of his research. Looking at the biggest question of all!

I really wish we do have life after death with the same family cause I love my family.

2020 and they still don't know! :( i will check again in 2030 ;)

Well, we’re all going to find out what happens so just go with the flow....

15 years ago, my mother-in-law died at home. A couple of hours before, she sat up in bed and looked forward smiling. My partner asked, "what do you see Mom?" She clearly said that her husband (she called him by name), was there (he had died 3 years before) and "he says he's going to take me for a long drive." She laid back down and passed a couple hours later. My own beautiful Mother passed this past Easter weekend. She was barely conscious. As I stood bedside, holding her right hand, she tried to raise up on her elbows. Her eyes had already lost their color, and she appeared to be squinting and she began to smile. I asked "what do you see Mom," and my Mother who was so very non-religious and rarely ever spoke of any afterlife, clearly said "It's so bright." She laid back down and died 7 hours later. I don't know what's there. I would never be so stupid to claim that I know, but I know there's something there. And whatever it is, it's big. Very, very big.

The takeaway point is not just that people are conscious after their heart and brain cease to function, but their claim that they are infinitely *more* conscious. Perhaps the brain is not a producer of consciousness, but a filter of it to stop us being overwhelmed by reality?

"We don't have consciousness before our birth" Who knows? Another thing we haven't discovered yet.

I just finished reading a book called "The Science of Near-Death Experiences" published by Missouri University Press in 2017. It consists of several peer-reviewed articles dealing with this phenomenon. Interestingly, 11 of the 12 contributors believe that the evidence from near-death experiences suggests that our consciousness does, in fact, continue to exist after death. To quote the editor of the book, John C. Hagan (also the director of the medical journal, Missouri Medicine): "Most of our ... physician-scientist authors believe we may be nearing the point where science proves that [near-death experiences] are real events occurring in a different, possibly spiritual rather than material, dimension and will ultimately be scientifically validated but are far beyond the powers of evidence-based science to understand and interpret." Wow. I hope we can have an open mind about these things, because the evidence, whether we like it or not, is impressive. I highly recommend the book mentioned above.

I used to be an atheist til I realized no one knows 💩and anything is possible

This is arguably one of the most logical discussions on life after death. Parnia was transparent when he said that consciousness does exist after death (based upon his evidence.) But for how long is unknown. If it is tied back to the material state of the human being than it is perhaps finite in its existence. But I was intrigued by his comment when he said that if consciousness can exist after physical death with the brain not functioning, than why does it need to stop at all? Interesting.

I have no beliefs either way here, but I like the panpsychist idea of consciousness as a spectrum: complex brains having higher levels of awareness, from humans to apes to mice to insects to bacteria ... Anecdotal evidence also suggests we can raise consciousness further through meditation, psychedelics, NDEs (early baptism? ), even intense prayer and fasting. Many people who achieve these states return with a life-changing belief in some kind of ineffable, infinite oneness, albeit interpreted via cultural references. Whether this is delusional, we may never know, but it shouldn't be ignored.

If consciousness is non-local, as Dr Pim Van Lommel suggests based on his NDE research, then it follows that it must be eternal since by definition it is outside of time and space. No time, no end (since an end is a moment in time).

Parnia probably gave us the best answer you can possibly ask for. Even though he even explained it himself that consciousness after death is a mystery, Sam wasn’t biased at all.

I personally think of it like this; who cares if there's an actual life after death? If there is, fantastic! If there isn't, also fantastic. You will not be worried about it after dying. However, the best way to live is to hope and even believe that there is one. There have been plenty people who act all tough and "cool" in saying that they don't believe and they aren't afraid of dying. However that is ONLY because they are way off from actually dying. At least not going to die from old age or illness anytime soon. However on the deathbed, at nights, that fear creeps in like a hunter on prey. *You are dying. You are going into oblivion. You are terrified* . This is no way to go through the last final days of life.. or even years if it's a slow burner. Allow yourself to believe. What harm can be done? If the conciousness survives for a few minutes or hours after death, maybe that's an opportunity to experience a sort of "Fade to white" moment with a smile. Maybe your mind conjures up images of joy and bliss rather than fear and darkness that it might have from a pessimistics side of view. Maybe you can have an opportunity of fading into oblivion with a smile. Meeting a loved parent, child, grandparent or whatever. It might be your mind playing tricks on you, but still.. I think that's a peaceful way to go and you would not know the difference nor be aware afterwards to be disappointed. Personally I believe. I'm not a person that goes to church because I do not imagine a God as one that truly wants praising and worshipping. I imagine him as someone that just wants to see us grow and prosper. I leave the praising to others. I would not think myself an equal to God, but I think he would enjoy some casual chats with his children.

the out of body experience convinces me we have a separation of consciousness after death. there have been countless people - probably more than we realise - who had cardiac arrest and witnessed their resuscitation whilst suspended from the roof looking down on their physical self. i've heard so many of these stories. why, if you are unconscious and flatlined, would you perceive things from above and then be able to verify what you saw thereafter. doesn't make sense. there is definitely a separation of consciousness/mind after death.

I believe that the physical limitations of the human mind prevent us from knowing things that are presently beyond our ability to perceive. Maybe we will reach an understanding of it some day- until then, ‘keep the faith’.

In the 80s my father laying in the bed with my mother watching tv It was around 8 pm, next to the bed they had a pile of cassette tapes under the table. And suddenly there was that sound you hear when cassettes tower fall over and my mother says the cassettes just fell, but when my father looked at them they were in place and a few minutes later the same sound but it turned out that the cassettes are fine. They couldn't understand why they hear this sound but cassettes are in place. After about 2 hours a doorbell rings, and when my father opened the door, it turned out that a postman came with a telegram in which it was written that his brother died 2 hours ago.

Quantum Physics has shown that Reality is based on Probabilities. A statistical impossibility is defined as “a probability that is so low as to not be worthy of mentioning. Sometimes it is quoted as 1/10^50 although the cutoff is inherently arbitrary. Although not truly impossible the probability is low enough so as to not bear mention in a Rational, Reasonable argument." The probability of finding one particular atom out of all of the atoms in the universe has been estimated to be 1/10^80. The probability of a functional 150 amino acid protein chain forming by chance is 1/10^164. It has been calculated that the probability of DNA forming by chance is 1/10^119,000. The probability of random chance protein-protein linkages in a cell is 1/10^79,000,000,000. Based on just these three cellular components, it would be far more Rational and Reasonable to conclude that the cell was not formed by undirected random natural processes. Note: Abiogenesis Hypothesis posits that un-directed random natural processes, i.e. random chance formation, of molecules led to living organisms. Natural selection has no effect on individual atoms and molecules on the micro scale in a prebiotic environment. (*For reference, peptides/proteins can vary in size from 3 amino acid chains to 34,000 amino acid chains. Some scientists consider 300-400 amino acid protein chains to be the average size. There are 42,000,000 protein molecules in just one (1) simple cell, each protein requiring precise assembly. There are approx. 30,000,000,000,000 cells in the human body.) Furthermore, of all the physical laws and constants, just the Cosmological Constant alone is tuned to a level of 1/10^120; not to mention the fine-tuning of the Mass-Energy distribution of early universe which is 1/ 10^10^123. Therefore, in the fine-tuning argument, it would be more Rational and Reasonable to conclude that the multi-verse is not the correct answer while trying to determine the origin of the universe. A "Miracle" is considered to be an event with a probability of occurrence of 1/10^6. Abiogenesis, RNA World Hypothesis, and Multiverse would all far, far, far exceed any "Miracle". Yet, these extremely Irrational and Unreasonable hypotheses are what many of the world’s top scientists ‘must’ believe in and promote because of a prior commitment to a strictly arbitrary, subjective, biased, narrow, limiting, materialistic ideology / worldview. Every idea, number, concept, thought, theory, mathematical equation, abstraction, qualia, Information, etc. existing within and expressed by anyone is "Immaterial" or "Non-material". The very idea or concept of "Materialism" is an immaterial entity and by it's own definition does not exist. Modern science seems to be stuck in archaic, subjective, biased ideologies that have inadequately attempted to define the "nature of reality" or the "reality of nature" for millenia. A Paradigm Shift in ‘Science’ is needed for humanity to advance. A major part of this Science Paradigm Shift would be the formal acknowledgment by the scientific community of the existence of "Immaterial" or "Non-material" entities as verified and confirmed by discoveries in Quantum Physics.

I’m crippled everyday by the thought of not been here anymore i love life and want to live it as long as possible I’m only young but I think the mind struggles to compute negative thoughts but just wish I could get over my death anxiety and the fear of the unknown

When I listen to humanity describing why this or that doesn't exist... I just look back at ALL the past retractions and additions to it's past claims and am thankful that these folks don't have a clue at the possibilities of what Was and what Is...

As a hospice RN for the past 3 years I’ve witnessed many many things that strongly implicate the existence of consciousness post physical death. As a student of Vedanta and meditator for the past 10+plus years I’ve read texts thousands of years old that state consciousness is the fundamental substratum of the cosmos. I’ve had many experiences during meditation that support these claims.

The assumption of knowing can be more dangerous then ignorance itself. We still have many many things to learn, we are still very ignorant despite all what we know today.

Robert, I have an answer for you. I speak from empirical experience having endured an NDE. Here is the truth. The soul, which can be understood as the disembodied mobile will, is quite literally the self. Our physical bodies are shells for the soul, like avatars. This life on earth is a simulation of choice and spiritual dignity. How you live here determines the state of the soul hereafter. When you die or have an NDE, there is a very short transition phase out of the body. You essentially burst out over the course of seconds, or not much longer. It feels like your consciousness explodes as you break free from the body. Imagine the feeling of being under water until you can't take it anymore, then suddenly jump up to get air. Kind of like that only you're whacked in the head once you get out of the water. From that point, you have hyper self-awareness, but little to no recollection of your recently evacuated physical earth existence. You then glide through deep space far past the stars and planets and enter a light realm where you are met by giant light beings (approx 10-15 feet tall and very stoic). You will be confronted by the leader/liaison who will communicate with you telepathically by motioning his arms at you and shooting golden beams which themselves are particles of perception which you instantly download. He will deliver the message you need to receive before proceeding into this realm. I know how crazy this sounds, but I am essentially a Deist (the most stoic and rational of all belief systems) and this happened to me during sleep 100% sober. I was given the option to die in my sleep or go back. I've always been discontent with the trajectory of my life, so it was interesting that I was given this choice and more interesting that I instantly chose in fear not to proceed to the light realm. I realized life is a gift literally. We are all on borrowed time to do good and evolve each other before we go. The problem with asking scientists these questions is they are only scientists. They are only supposed to talk about what they can measure and define in the physical sense. The spirit is other-worldly. You cannot find your soul through science or through religion. You must seek within and discover your true being. Having an NDE is very scary but infinitely enlightening. Now I can know there is an afterlife and don't have to believe by faith. In case you haven't gathered this yet, I try to avoid faith with as much as possible, because faith implies lack of certainty. Well now I have certainty. The spirit carries on. I know because I did. I experienced, however briefly, the other side. So remember, you can't unlock truths of the spirit using science so it's very futile asking these people. They don't know. It's their job not to know this. You can't ask 99% of religious people either. They sell dogma, fear, greed, and second-hand values. It's best to find God by studying natural law and seeking within to know and evolve yourself. I hope this helped. Interesting answers though, but these scientists are all blind by profession. They measure the body, and material existence. Not the essence which is spirit.

it always been the unanswered question of what happens we die we never have been able to find out what happens and we never will beable to i would just hope there is something good after this

#Sam Parnia = My Favorite! I could listen to him all day ~

The evidence is pretty clear that consciousness not only transcends the brain/body, it transcends the entirety of this material "dimension." We live in a nested reality, where the physical universe is a subset of a larger reality. We are therefore "spiritual beings" having serial material experiences in order to raise the level of our consciousness quality through a process of consciousness evolution. So not only does our consciousness continue after death, it existed before our birth (all of our births and deaths). Consciousness is immortal.

My own research, based on NDE accounts, shows that people have a choice to remain in the spiritual world or return to the body, and in the latter case, it happens very quickly for them to return. It indicates the spiritual world exists and that what they are experiencing is real. Of course, we know nothing about those who stay.

I will never die. It is impossible. Even Jesus said if you believe you shall never die.

Believe or don't believe, that's up to the individual. But whether you believe or not, it's certain that death is universal and inevitable, and we must all face it. Personally, I believe in continuation of the soul/spirit. What have I got to lose? 🤗🤗

After watching 30 hours of videos about near life experiences and after life theories I must say that this interview is the most convincing one. Sam’s eloquence is outstanding.

Our bodies are our personal vehicles but when they shut down we are still energy without the vehicle ❤️

I have been aware of spirit most of my life and have no doubt we survive in spirit, once you have spiritual experiences it stays with you all your life. Ask and you will be shown but if you are sincere, but not a thing to be messed with.

Its amazing how consciousness can continue after death I think if you want my Opinion that If Consciousness can continue for hours without brain function why would it disappear afterwards I believe it will last forever and this is when people can have Near death Experience's...

Don’t mind me ….I’m just here to watch atheist heads explode .

I think belief in an afterlife is rational as long as we maintain that we could be wrong. Evidence can point toward a conclusion without necessarily proving it. In fact, I would argue that the vast vast majority of what most of us believe is just assumption. Concluding that there is an afterlife is reasonable as long as the level of certainty you attach to it does not go beyond the evidence. But it is unreasonable to demand that people withhold belief until they are in possession of absolute proof.

After mu daughter died, I laid down to sleep one night soon afterwards and heard her clear as day, right in my left ear say, "Mom...open the box with a key." I was not yet asleep nor fully awake. I knew immediately she was talking about her coffin. I know her voice. I am completely sane, and I HEARD my daughter say this. If it had been my OWN thought, or mind, I would have "thought" casket, or coffin, not box. She thought she was in a box. Study that.

I put this video on Reddit, within an hour it was removed by moderators saying that there's no support for this claim. I googled it and found that indeed there's none, only a few papers from Sam.

Only one person have the authority to speak about it and he is Jesus as he rose again after death on the cross. He told there is life after death. So whether science agree or not its the fact.

Please remember that "we have limited minds"... so it's beyond our abilities to prove that there's life after death or not. But logically there's life after death. I believe in that. All People who came back after death told us that there's something after death. And there's no specific area or cells in our brains that control consciousness... it's not intangible. Consciousness =soul

I believe consciousness is eternal, the only reason we have bodies is so our consciousness can interact with reality of matter. Brain is part of the body, that allows for the control of the rest of the physical body but is not consciousness.

Eastern philosophy such as Hinduism always tell 1. What you call as me is not my body even not my mind 2. There is nothing called your consciousness and my consciousness. there is a universal consciousness and we all are part of same consciousness. 3. There is nothing called as my life and your life, we all share same life captured in small bubble giving us a sense of individuality. Whereas as a matter of fact we can’t live individually but in constant interaction with the cosmos. “What we inhale trees exhale in other worlds half of our lung is hanging out there open in wild”.

If there is one thing I have found about life is the arrogance of man ! Usually the more successful and intelligent the more this is true !

Just because you cannot remember having consciousness before birth doesn't mean you didn't have it.

In short: Consciousness does last for several hours after death but it’s uncertain if it continues beyond that..

More than 1400 years ago, it was mentioned in Quran that there is the universe, there are stars, how the plants grow, how an embryo is formed in the human body and so many descriptions of everything relating to human life and the whole universe some of which were proven as correct hundreds of years later when science progressed. So one day science would be able to get evidence of long life after death and many other secrets already revealed by the CREATOR.

This guy is very very very honest. He did not add in anything except telling the truth. At least we know consciousness still exists after the brain shut down. So mind and brain is 2 different thing.

My grandfather died in the hospital in the 1930's... He was 13 years old at the time. He was dead for over 30 minutes... so is the brain dead by then? How long does someone have to be dead before being considered dead? He was dead so long they were filling out his obituary for the news paper. Is this long enough? and why did my grandfather experience what he did on this day at this precise hour? He lived 94 years.... Why on that day was the out of body experience? These people fail to take into account allllll them stories of people floating into other rooms and out the hospital and seeing relatives in their homes... They also sit and try to decide what is truly a miracle with stories like " Miracle on highway 6" and of course they must all be liars... It used to really frustrate me being a Christian and believing in Jesus Christ... and I just had to understand they simply hate God and any thought of life being divine takes them into debate mode.... and it is what it is..... My grandfather was floating in total heavenly bliss up in the ceiling looking down at himself as they were operating on him. and then he said... "BAM!!!!, I was back in my COLD body!" Why cold? So again the non believer says well it must be this and oh it could be that as he walks outside breathing the air the trees are making and the ants are cleaning the ground at his or her feet... That is so silly its hard to even talk about atheism...

What I am interested in is the relationship of consciousness to the rest of the body. If consciousness is fully embodied in the entire human body, and not just the brain, could it be possible that once the rest of the cells die off (they have not yet, as the good Doctor explains) that consciousness ultimately vanishes? I don’t believe this to be the case, but there is still so much we don’t know. My own personal opinion is that consciousness is fundamental and the material is emergent. This makes more sense to me, seeing as how any reductionist view of consciousness ends in abject failure to explain consciousness. With that being said, it’s much more comforting to take this view and I sometimes fear my own inherent biases corrupt my view. Everyone wants this to be true and that can be problematic when trying to be objective.

Hello Sir, to make it very simple for you, your conscience is your soul. Just believe in God. When it comes to science Is just a puzzle for you. Just believed in God and pray. Thank you!

My belief is that your soul, electrical impulses, whatever, leaves your body and travels through space and time until it is reborn not necessarily human but another being.

"We don't know everything yet" There is so much in that statement alone where unknown possibilities exist. Energy, vibration, there are many existences that thrive outside of materialism and for that reason, our faith "that there is more" can still logically exist as well.

I've had so many experiences in our house (turns out there was a mass killing within a few hundred feet of here in the 1800's) and I wasnt dead. I was wide awake so maybe there is something.

Gods thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Gods Word says we live on. That’s all I need to know. It’s true. The soul never dies. Make sure the real self goes to eternal heaven. It is real. So is Hell. No, it’s not impossible for conscience to continue, because God said so.

like what in the hell does he have all those expensive crystals ??

When my grandmother was aged 90, sleeping and near death ten years ago, my dad had been in the cafeteria near her room for hours, talking to a guy who lived there. He walked back into her room and ten seconds after he came back in, she died. All she needed to know was that her son was there, and she could leave. Nursing home workers are a hardened bunch, but they report these kinds of phenomena all the time. They told me stories like people would visit their sleeping relatives and sit in the room for hours without them waking, then leave, and that evening their relatives would say, "Did you know my son/daughter/grandson etc. visited today?" Yet they hadn't been awake at any point during the visit.

Two things. - First: Calling something "dead" is a label and or definition only. We have to draw the line somewhere and as of now, it appears as arbitrary. Evidenced by the fact that we continue to be able to push that boundary with tech. ie; bring some one back after more and more 'dead'-time. .. Second: This idea of a 'consciousness" or 'soul" that survives after we LABEL someone 'dead', is based on a false and still unprovable notion of the existence of these things. It could very well be just like restarting your computer after turning it off. As long as it is not too damaged. .. Who's to say how long some one can be "shut off"?

I hope I’ll come back but this time I’ll stay in school . Chose the career that I actually like and finally marry the right person and feel love for a change I know I’ll get it right if given the chance

I wonder what happens to our perception of time when we die since time is relative.

What is that evidence for conciousness to continue after death?

Parniamakes great points in this video. You can see Kuhn's frustration but Parnia has data on his side not personal opinion. I was just watching an interview with an ex atheist Dr. who didn't believe in anything. She drowned in a boating accident and was under water for close to 30 minutes until people pulled her body out of the water The thing is, she was still conscious. She was watching them work on her body and she encountered a being of light. So, Parnia is correct. It has been shown scientifically through his research and others that consciousness exist after death. How long does it exist after death or does it reincarnate are questions science can't answer but again, it can say consciousness survives death.

If conciseness survives death, how could it simply disappear shortly after? That doesn't make sense.

Our conscience was there before we were birthed, we just don’t remember because our brain is what gives us the ability to remember things

The answer is easy. Once the brain ceases to function, that will be the end of the activity it produces (consciousness). You must also consider because of the enormity of the entire universe. Time is moving extremely slowly for us. But on a scale that is of the same as the entire universe. The whole birth and death of the universe is happening in an instant. So therefore, everything happens naturally (no god), and it will conclude leaving behind absolutely nothing, just like how it will be when you die. I know this is a rather bitter pill to swallow. But just remember how truly amazing it is to be alive and be able to comprehend this. Enjoy a life born into the 20th century as the physical embodiment of a Human, not a dog, or a cat, a goat or a fish. Considering how truly remarkable and slim those odds are of being born into the life of a human, it is also a true gift to enjoy the time we have while suspended in the travelling explosion of the universe.

what about a person who is so called "brain dead" and then comes back years later- if the consciousness continues even when brain is "dead" and it repairs itself & comes back ten years later then that also shows it surviving right?

We have 2 eyes 1 nose 2 ears 1 mouth .even eyebrows on top of eyes ..10 fingers 10 feet..we are just made perfectly designed perfectly..we couldn't draw , or design a better human body ..imagine we have 1 eye ,1ear ,2 mouths , 2 noses ,and all wrong places ..there is a grand designer , we are created by higher power

Why does Robert assume "we don't have consciousness before our birth"? We certainly don't remember anything before our birth, but I don't remember anything from when I was two years old either. Does that mean I didn't exist, or I didn't experiece or feel anything when I was two, or one, or six months old? Some of Robert's opinions are quite unscientific, frankly.

Fantastic interview , great job on sharing such experience. This kind of video helps to expand our understanding of life after death and how other smart people understand it.

"I can only comment on the evidence" How true, and how difficult it is to get good evidence. I will personally vouch for consciousness beyond the physical body because of a limited number of (remembered) out-of-body experiences. It is plausible that consciousness carries on even as the host is dying. Not too much unlike rats leaving a sinking ship. We are not the body. There is no doubt (and it is a blessing I have been given these experiences) that individual awareness leaves the body and that this process has been going on a very, very, long time. These events are trans-religious, although you can get some insight from religion if you turn the gain way down and try to find common perspectives.

My intuition tells me when we die consciousness continues as seamlessly as it seems to when we wake from sleep and we may be born again as an intergalactic equivalent to Julius Caesar (think Xenu) or we may be the equivalent of the wildebeest calf that sticks his head out the womb to be greeted and eaten alive by a pack of wild dogs.

Why should consciousness have a materiality to it?

The reality of all this is that we truly don’t know anything about human concussions or how it truly works. So, when people ask, “what happens after we die?”, really, the only true correct answer is “I don’t know”, because no one truly knows, it is what it is.

We dont have consciousness before our birth???

Throughout the history of theoretical physics there have been great minds on both sides of the materialists vs non materialists debate. Brain Green, Einstein, and Hawking on the materialists side vs Max Plank, David Bohm, and Heisenberg on the non materialists side.

Well, there're 2 distinctly different possibilities as per what I've understood (so far ...). The first is that the consciousness gets formed by/inside the physical brain with the interpretation of the sensorial input coming all the way from your physical senses to your (physical) brain, so it continues as a stream only as long as your brain remains active/functioning (at least a part of it irrespective of how measurable it is with the technology ...). Before you were born, your stream of conscious didn't exist. After you're dead, it would no longer exist either. It simply exists as long as your brain remains active, and ceases to exist upon your death (the exact time may vary based on for how long your brain cells remain active after your heart stops its circulation for good ...). In its true sense, the 'self' is only an illusion you tend to perceive on top of your stream of consciousness, so there's no such 'self' in reality to begin with. While this is the idea which I firmly held since my childhood, and which had seemed to me the most logical and rationally believable too for decades (I'm currently 41 years of age.), I have to mention the fact that I'm now becoming somewhat more open/tolerant towards the second possibility too, at least more than what had been the case in the past. With it, the stream of consciousness continues to exist as a separate entity irrespective/independent of the function of the brain, the consciousness simply takes only certain inputs from the brain once it's attached/coupled to your brain so that your brain remains your "window" to the outside world as long as it remains attached/coupled. But, strictly speaking, it remains a separate entity, so it continues beyond your brain death too at which point it gets detached/decoupled .... Well, sounds quite crazy and scary too .... I'm not exactly in a position to rationalize this second possibility, but certain seemingly credible (yes, only the seemingly credible ones I mean) reincarnation/rebirth cases/types across the world among different cultures, and especially the out-of-body experiences (OBE) mentioned to have been experienced by some during their near-death situations including certain seemingly accurate/credible explanations of visions accumulated being outside of their physical bodies too amidst such encounters have started to baffle me and really complicated my understanding on the topic. I don't say that there exists this heaven and hell thing being taught by most of the religious doctrines out there, no, but sometimes there might be another dimension/plane which is beyond the scope of our current understanding on what the consciousness and life truly is making any completely objective explanation infeasible, at least at this stage ....

Nde’s are strange. But that is the only sort of evidence we have of an afterlife. We need solid proof.

Simply Fascinating. Chills down my spine knowing that consciousness survives after death.

Human and all kind of animals are so complex machines having feedback regulations in each level of it's constructions, DNA and all stuff around to produce 3D body are telling us with 100% guaranty we are result of someone manipulation with matter and energy. Someone build us and we are machines. The fact we have councessness reflecting itself in matter and energy in many different forms and even in quantum level by creating quantum computing is pure argument that body is instrument to manifest kind of non-human mind through realm of biological forms. We have to admit two possibilities: 1. Basic and fundamental level of matter/energy/information whatever it is has property to generate councessness spontaneously via multiple levels and forms of self-organisation. Or 2. Something intelligent outside of our dimension and field of our perception is pushing a councessness flow trying to get position in the universe and dominate and extend itself in the reality as it is. Second point means that it could be we are not human at all. Defining ourself as human is a temporary and nececary illusion we have to leave because we bigger then humans. We getting in power after billions of tries to born and die and replicate us in this world. And if you check technology trends what we are building a technology to make gate for our parent intelligent root object reach and gain the reality. I want to say that the phenomenon of life and councessness is result of intelligent activity running through dimensions. And that means the individual mind is a complex signal that does (for a while) undetectable work to reorganize matter for superintelligent expancy.

Second only to birth, death is life's most unique and profound event, and we spend a lifetime knowing it is coming. It is not surprising that the brain/mind goes into a dramatic state when it senses, even if only on an unconscious level, that it is now happening. All folks who have reported transcendent experiences had viable brains, even if flat lining on EEG, because, after all, they do come back to tell the tale. The EEG does not pick up all forms of brain function. As Dr. Parnia implies, the hypothesis that NDEs depend on a living brain is the only hypothesis supported by current evidence. Brain imaging technology becomes more sophisticated and granular with every passing year. It may not be long before additional highly informative evidence is acquired.

Is this heaven talk just to make us not feel bad about dying? I’m being for real and not trolling I really want to know what happens when I die because I obviously know my body is no longer alive and what happens after that because what what what what if what happens what if???

Scientists have a limited understanding of the brain and no understanding at all of consciousness, so a scientist’s opinion that it’s impossible to have life after death doesn’t move the needle for me

Pick up a bible and read it. Your questions will be answered 100%

I will only say this: Spirituality and Science will join together at the end. Again, if the scientist pay attention on the report of patients coming back from death; than they will understand.

Yes. Thank you for risking your reputation in a rigid orthodox scientific community to admit the possibility of the things.

Maybe the "beyond" or whatever we call it is not bound by the same restrictions that we have here, namely restrictions like "time". This would make it plausible that consciousness is here and not here simultaneously which could help explain how consciousness arrive when we are "born" and leaves when we "die", but then also can comeback when we resuscitate someone since it never left but also never was here. This creates a paradox, pretty much like a hurdle that does not allow us to see and/or even imagine what actually happens after death, and maybe there is a reason for that.

Life After Death Is INDEED Possible, In Fact, It Would Be IMPOSSIBLE For There To Be NO Life After Death.

I’m 38 and even if you pay me millions I’d never go back one day. Why, I want to know what is after all this life and death is the only way to get me there

Yes it is I've had people I never met tell me things it was impossible for me to know otherwise.

Life after is not only possible, it's pretty much a guarantee according to the Bible. When Jesus resurrected Lazarus and a few other people, it served as a guarantee that he could, and would duplicate this feat in the future. First consider the implication: is Jesus' personality such that he would tease us with this amazing ability and yet not plan to provide that hope for us in the future. That would be tantamount to cooking a delicious meal in front of a starving man and then telling him " this is not for you. I just wanted to show you that I can cook". Besides that there are two pertinent scriptures found in the Bible that serve as our guarantee for a future mass resurrection. John 5:28,29 and Acts 24:15. Take out your personal cooy of the Bible and read them for yourself. The ultimate benefit of Christ's reign can be found at Revelation 21:3,4.

maybe we are still conscious but it’s like a dream and whatever we believe in becomes true - in that dream. because when you think about something so much before you sleep you dream about it most of the time, maybe not a certain thing the whole dream but it’s like changing the tv stations. but it’s all something like on this world. so maybe it’s like you believe in heaven it’ll be mostly about in heaven but who knows maybe you want to spectate the earth or something lmao. or it’s like the kid who died and said he believed he was in heaven after, he was religious and did believe in it. or people who may die and come back alive maybe they could be atheists and see nothing. idk i’m tripping rn but i’m starting to convince myself this but i probably sound dumb and i just thought of this randomly.

Read book Quran majeed..you will find all your answers

The reason blinking out of consciousness and not existing on any level is so terrifying for people is because we can't fathom it. It's impossible to get your mind around what non-existence would be like, because somewhere deep down we know this isn't real. Just like the universe; we weren't, then we were, and will never not-be.

What makes this conversation significant is that conventional science does not allow for ANY EXPERIENCE AT ALL during the moments that these experiences are being reported. People have all sorts of compelling experiences and memories, but these experiences are potentially DISPROVING ASSERTIONS IN THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.