Existence of Psi in the Living Reveals Nothing About Death

by Sylvia Engdahl

All aspects of the paranormal that researchers investigate are lumped together under the heading parapsychology, even those that don't concern human psi capabilities. This leads to confusion on the part of the public and can cause evidence for psi to be discounted.

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The term "parapsychology" covers a wide range of diverse topics simply because they share the distinction of being inexplicable under the premises of materialism. In my opinion this mixture is damaging to its field--or more properly, fields--of investigation, and unnecessarily distorts the public's idea of what parapsychologists do.

Before the nineteenth century knowledge was not split into specific named fields; it was all considered philosophy, and those who investigated natural phenomena were called natural philosophers. The word "scientist" was not coined until 1833. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the various fields of knowledge were organized into academic disciplines one by one, depending on how much was known about them. Topics about which little data existed remained branches of philosophy; thus phenomena viewed as supernatural but not religious fell in the branch called metaphysics--which means "beyond the physical"--where it's still placed in contexts apart from science, such as the "metaphysics" sections of bookstores.

Late in the nineteenth century some scholars began to study paranormal phenomena from a scientific rather than philosophic standpoint. This practical side of metaphysics was not recognized by academia but became unofficially known as "psychical research." Then in 1930, when actual experiments with ESP began at Duke University, the designation "parapsychology" replaced that term in reference to all types of such research--and this, I think, was a mistake. Parapsychology should have been restricted to the study of paranormal human (or animal) capabilities, with topics not fitting that definition, such as ghosts and survival after death, given some other name. There would be far less confusion among the public, and less resistance by skeptics, if that had been done.

Some parapsychologists restrict their area of research to ESP and PK, while others don't. And of course, there is nothing wrong with a scientist choosing to study two or more topics. It's the terminology that causes the problem; for example, many people have the idea that parapsychology is about ghost hunting. It has sometimes been assumed that my interest in it means I believe in ghosts.

A person may appear to be dead, but if she comes back to life, she wasn't. The one thing we do know about death is that in the physical sense it is permanent.

More significantly, the question of whether there is an afterlife is a separate issue from what the mind can do while a person is alive--one that we have no way of answering. I think it's a mistake to tie them together because neither is dependent on the other, and doing so interferes with progress in the understanding of what abilities living humans possess.

Furthermore, the issue of an afterlife is closely tied to religion. Although parapsychologists don't approach it from a religious standpoint, that connotation subtly affects the views of scientists who are antagonistic to religion, making them feel all of parapsychology has something to do with what they view as "superstition." People who are religious, on the other hand, often have strong views of their own about the afterlife and may object to any research that conflicts with them. Then too, some religions embrace the concept of paranormal capabilities, while others consider them the work of the devil and don't want them to become associated with heaven.

For all these reasons, I think the two areas of investigation should be clearly separated in the public mind. But there is there is an even more important reason: when the issue of possible survival after death isn't set apart from the study of paranormal capabilities, significant data about the latter may be misinterpreted. The human desire to know what happens after death may cause people to overlook strong evidence for psi powers among the living.

In particular, some of the best examples of psi functioning occur during near-death experiences (NDEs). Although detailed accounts of these experiences are necessarily anecdotal, anecdotal reports are not valueless when there are enough of them concerning similar circumstances to be analyzed systematically, and they provide invaluable data about the nonmaterial aspect of the human mind. There is a growing amount of such data from formal studies of NDEs during which people obtain information to which they have had no possible access--in my opinion, through ESP--even when their brains are technically "dead."

These experiences shed no light on the question of survival after death--they are irrelevant to it. An NDE is exactly what the initials stand for: "near death," not "dead." Although some people say that lack of brain activity or a stopped heart constitutes death, that is just a semantic or legal issue; death, by any reasonable definition, is the condition from which there is no coming back. Whether there is, or is not, any form of afterlife cannot be determined from a living person's experiences.

Though some medium are frauds, many honestly believe they are in contact with spirits. The information they receive may actually come through unconscious ESP.

Nevertheless, because many people desperately want assurance of survival they commonly interpret psi phenomena as providing evidence of it. For centuries séances with mediums have been believed to involve contact with departed spirits. I have not seen any evidence for alleged communication with the dead that cannot be explained by ESP. One highly-regarded book on this subject claims that the information communicated could not have been obtained via telepathy because the only person alive who had that information wasn't thinking about it, which completely ignores the fact that most telepathy occurs on an unconscious level. Actually, I suspect nearly all information revealed to mediums who honestly believe it to be provided by "spirits" comes via unconscious telepathy from the client's mind.

To be sure, there are séances where information is obtained that is not known to anyone living. In some cases this may be due to remote viewing. In others, what is now known about the flexibility of time suggests that communication with people who are now dead may actually be communication with their past selves. Precognition is not the only psi phenomenon related to time; there is also such a thing as retrocognition--the extrasensory knowledge or observation of past events. This is also sometimes suggested as an explanation for memories of the past that have otherwise been thought to be evidence of reincarnation.

When psi, which is known to exist, can explain a paranormal occurrence, it is unreasonable to suppose that it has a different cause. Of course, this doesn't mean that there is not any form of afterlife. Personally, I believe there is, on grounds having nothing to do with spirit communication or NDEs (or with religion). And since I also believe that direct knowledge of reality--of things more abstract than are known through remote viewing--is a form of psi, I suspect that it may be the source of my conviction and that of many others. But this is mere speculation, whereas data about NDE content is based on analysis of widely reported experiences.

It's important to realize that NDEs sometimes happen when people are not dying, but are facing some other form of crisis. Professor Janice Holden, former chair of the International Association of Near-Death Studies (IANDS), defines an NDE as "the reported memories of extreme psychological experiences with frequent ‘paranormal,' transcendental, and mystical elements, which occur during a special state of consciousness arising during a period of real or imminent physical, psychological, emotional, or spiritual death." Under this definition, "death" can mean not literal death of the body, but the kind of mystical experience after which a person feels reborn, and during which, especially in cultures other than our materialistic one, does often does encounter the paranormal.

Cardiologist Pim Van Lommel conducted a detailed scientific study of NDE experiences and found that they are real, which is invaluable evidence for the existence of psi though not for an afterlife.

NDEs have been extensively studied by many researchers, most of whom, unfortunately, do believe some if not all who report them were temporarily dead. Such experiences are known to follow a consistent pattern, though not everyone goes through all phases of it. The main ones include:

* An out-of-body experience (OBE)--seeing one's body as if from outside it, and often viewing locations or objects that would be impossible to see from its physical position, the existence of which is sometimes independently verified. OBEs have been commonly experienced apart from NDEs for centuries; some people enter them voluntarily. When not taken literally they are generally classed as psi.

* The sensation of moving through a dark tunnel toward a brilliant light. This could have a physical basis, but if even if it does, that doesn't mean other aspects of the NDE are physical.

* Perception of a dazzlingly beautiful environment with preternaturally vivid colors. Since colors are also enhanced after taking psychedelic drugs, this too could be the result of the brain's physical state, and again, that would not invalidate the paranormal elements of the experience.

* A meeting with deceased family or friends. Whether this is a literal meeting of minds outside of time or the personification of inner awareness cannot be determined at our present stage of knowledge. The brain cannot always distinguish between input from the eyes and input from the subconscious mind, which may or may not have been received via ESP.

* Perception of a brilliant light or being of light, from which the person feels unconditional love and gains access to deep knowledge. This almost certainly involves some kind of communication via psi, though not necessarily with a "spirit" as traditionally imagined. The light or being is probably a metaphor representing something we cannot conceive, which takes a form depending on the experiencer's background.

* A panoramic life review, in which the person's whole life is shown without any feeling of time or distance. "My life flashed before my eyes" is commonly said by people who have been in danger apart from NDEs. It may be a natural phenomenon involving activation of buried memories, but on the other hand, it could conceivably involve the indeterminate nature of time.

* Visions of the future, often of catastrophic world events. Most don't come to pass, but a few do, such as the 9/11 terrorist attack. People are often warned that they, or society, must change; and this may simply rise from guilt that is already felt. Sometimes, however, it is actual precognition, which is a known psi capability and if reported before the event, is verifiable.

* Perception of a border or limit, knowing that to cross it will mean never returning to life. People either choose to return or are told they must. This could be a real decision by the unconscious mind, which is often a key factor in whether a person lives or dies, referred to by observers as "will to live."

The sense of movng through a tunnel toward brilliant light is very common during NDEs and has been reported throughout history.

Since some of these things are existing psi phenomena that are known to occur separately with people who aren't anywhere near death, the question arises as to why they so often happen together, in a particular sequence, during an NDE. It's likely that some are natural reactions to the extreme separation from body that a dying person subconsciously feels. Moreover, in my opinion being near death--or "brain dead," or in some other state where normal perception is weakened or lacking--greatly enhances a person's psi receptivity. This is an extreme case of what we know about psi: it is strongest in the absence of logical, rational thought, which involves different parts of the brain. The fact that psi isn't caused by the brain doesn't mean that the brain isn't involved in processing a person's perception of input from it.

Further, I speculate that the specific details of an NDE come from the collective unconscious, as do many other psi-based experiences such as UFO encounters. NDEs have been described in literature since ancient times, and it has been estimated that in the past 50 years more than 25 million people worldwide have had one. If ideas and metaphors spread through mass unconscious telepathy, as I believe they do, that incidence is surely enough to have an influence.

The most significant thing about NDEs is not their specific content but their aftereffects, which with few exceptions are ultimately positive. Although survivors are confused and troubled by their experiences at first and find them difficult to talk about, what they have gone through has a profound impact on their lives. Almost all lose their fear of death (although they were not actually dead during the experience, they usually believe they were). They focus more on the meaning of their lives and care less about material things such as money and possessions. They are more spiritual yet often turn away from organized religion. Unsurprisingly in view of their contact with psi phenomena, a large percentage of them have subsequent experiences with ESP.

Most notably, people who have had NDEs become more altruistic, showing increased sensitivity to other people's feelings and a strong desire to help others. This suggests that widespread use of ESP may, as I have said in my novels, lead to more harmony within human society. And it is in accord with other speculators' views of the evolutionary importance of psi.

The fact that these aftereffects are verifiable and enduring is often cited as showing that the NDEs were real rather than imaginary. And whether they are interpreted as indicating real survival after death or real psi powers during life makes a difference, I think, to parapsychology and the public's perception of it. This is even more true in the case of séances and other communication with alleged spirit entities. The data obtained on these subjects is too valuable to be excluded from mainstream psi research because of a supposed connection with evidence of an afterlife.

Furthermore, the status of parapsychology in the eyes of skeptics isn't helped by the impression that it may jump to unwarranted conclusions about a subject generally confined to the realm of religion. Therefore, I feel the scope of the field needs to be more clearly defined.