Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Travel and Religion
On “the recalled experience of death”

On “the recalled experience of death”

Last updated on: May 31, 2025 at 9:50 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

On “the recalled experience of death” 2025-05-31T21:50:04-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Yes, you read it correctly. This year’s iteration of the annual FAIR conference has been relegated to a BARN.

Very recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued three new sets of official resources to help Church members understand and answer their own questions and those of others on their respective topics. These three are focused on:

There is much in these materials to learn and to ponder, and I think that members of the Church and the Church itself will be benefited if Latter-day Saints familiarize themselves with these new resources — as well as with the resources (by now, a substantial library of them) that have been released previously. Questions, challenges, and criticisms rooted in these issues come up every single day.

In the meantime, we remain a perennial focus of cable television writer, directors, and producers. Here’s the latest entry in the field. While it doesn’t directly involve the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it’s certainly “Mormon-adjacent,” and the distinction between the mainstream Church and some of its more colorful (not to say scandalous and even lethal) spin-offs will undoubtedly elude at least some in the audience: “‘The Thirteenth Wife Escaping Polygamy’: Eric Johnson on Playing ‘Mormon Manson’ in Felicity Huffman Lifetime Movie.”

“I know a lot about your church,” an Australian government official once told me at a reception in (I think) Melbourne. “My wife and I watch Big Love.”

The Langone Medical Center building of New York University (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

I’ve lately been reading Sam Parnia, Lucid Dying: The New Science Revolutionizing How We Understand Life and Death (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2024), and finding it very enjoyable and quite stimulating. Dr. Parnia, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, where he is also director of research into cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In the United Kingdom — born in London, he is a British subject — he is director of the Human Consciousness Project at the University of Southampton. He received his medical degree in 1995 from Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Medical School (that is, from the Medical School of King’s College London and then earned a doctorate in cell biology from the University of Southhampton in 2007, followed by fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of London and the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Dr. Parnia has described himself, by the way, as not at all religious.

For several years, this blog was graced with the presence of a resident atheist commentator who called himself “gemli.” His principal objection to the concept of “near-death experiences” — he never really got beyond it — was that, by definition, a “near-death” experience was not, could not be, an experience of death. Nearly dead, he told us over and over again, is not the same thing as dead. I think that it’s partly (but not solely) for that reason that Dr. Parnia rejects the term near-death experience, substituting in its place recalled experience of death. (I’ll probably have more to say about his proposed new term, which he insists is more precise and more accurate, in a future post. It does have a couple of definite advantages, although it’s probably too late to dislodge near-death experience from widespread usage.)

In this post today, I think that I’ll share a couple of paragraphs that resonate very much not only with very many of the accounts that I’ve read but with several accounts that I’ve been given in person by those who had the experience:

One of the most intriguing observations about the recalled experience of death is how different the experience is for the person dying and the people desperately trying to save him or her from death. People undergoing a life-threatening illness or accident may naturally experience a tremendous sense of panic, feat, and distress as their condition deteriorates and they fight for their life. Then suddenly everything goes blank, as they lose consciousness from the outsiders’ perspective. This person who had been teetering around death appears unconscious and seemingly dead, yet from the perspective of the person who is going through death, there is an inexplicable sense of continuation of consciousness, neither interrupted nor halted. Their consciousness now feels more lucid, with visual and auditory awareness regarding events. At the same time, the people on the “outside,” the doctors and nurses, are fighting to revive the individual. There is blood, shouting, calls for more equipment. Perhaps weeping loved ones in a corner.

This inner perception is experienced as a separation of consciousness and selfhood combined with a vast expansion of consciousness, which is very much felt as a release and liberation from the body. This is all experienced without pain or distress, even if the person is undergoing seemingly painful lifesaving medical procedures. This individual — wading deeper and deeper in the grey zone [a favorite expression of Parnia’s for the period (and the proecess) between the onset of dying and final irreversible death] — may look at this frenetic activity with equanimity. What happens to this body on the gurney seems unimportant. (133)

The distinction that Dr. Parnia sketches here between the subjective experience of a dying person and the objective observations of those around him or her (e.g., medical personnel, family members, witnesses) is, of course, the same that yields “the hard problem of consciousness.” Scientists can describe what transpires in the brain of an angry person or a person eating sugar, but such descriptions are of an entirely different nature than feeling anger or tasting something sweet.

I also share a list that Dr. Parnia provides of “fifteen distinct components, or sub-themes,” that are characteristic of the “out of body” portion of a “recalled experience of death”:

Vast expansion of consciousness.
Separation from the body with external visual awareness.
Liberation and weightlessness.
Hovering or floating in the space around the body.
Observing the body or events from above.
Becoming detached from events and the body.
Realization of having died.
Lucidity with reasoning and clarity of thought.
Initial confusion. This is often transient and often goes away after the person becomes accustomed to their [sic] new situation.
Taking on the appearance of a transparent humanlike form or a light.
Bird’s-eye view — in all directions — as if through 360 degrees.
Consciousness pervades everything.
Shedding the body.
Connection by a metaphorical cord.
Selfhood and consciousness not the same as the body. (133-134, italics removed)

Travel and Religion

History and Religion

Uncategorized

death

NDE

near-death experience

OBE

out-of-body experiences

Sam Parnia

Previous Post

May 30, 2025

Beware the chains of hell! And mark the dates!

Next Post

June 1, 2025 Historical ironies

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"DP: “But Mr. Sutherland worries about the fact that our time, when we can communicate ..."

Theodore Brandley

Learning more about a region of ..."

"Sutherland's lecture sounds interesting. He seems to restate the Washington consensus that trade brings peace ..."

B. Wilson

Learning more about a region of ..."

"In a meeting today, I learned another important reason why accurate (or at least as ..."

the PROBLEM

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"I've been watching a lot of video interviews of NDErs and researchers. I think in ..."

brotheroflogan

Accounts of Premortality?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which city was destroyed by fire and brimstone along with Gomorrah?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sodom Jericho Babylon Nineveh