Individual Human Experience with Death and the Afterlife

views updated

Individual Human Experience with Death and the Afterlife

For the past three hundred years, Western science has been fixated upon the concept that everything in the universe is subject to physical laws and exists only in terms of mass and energy—matter being transformed by energy into a variety of conditions and shapes that come into existence only to pass away eventually in time and space. Death, therefore, is the end of existence for all who succumb to its ultimate withdrawal of the life force.

From time to time, however, highly regarded scientists have protested that such a view of the universe leaves out a sizable portion of reality. British philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) observed that a strictly materialistic approach to life completely ignored the subjective life of humans—or that area of existence which is commonly called the spiritual. It in no way accounted for emotions—the manner in which human beings experience the feelings of love between a woman and a man, between parents and children; the joy upon hearing a magnificent symphony; the sense of beauty and awe in sighting a rainbow; the inspiration of religious thought.

But the major tenets of Western science hold fast. Such human experiences, material scientists insist, are mere transient illusions— things that people imagine for themselves or dream for themselves—while the only true reality consists in the movement of atoms blindly obeying chemical and physical laws.

This soulless "world machine" was created three centuries ago by the genius of Rene Descartes (1596–1650), Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), and their predecessors; and it has proved useful for the development of physical science. The attempts of Whitehead and others to construct an approach to science that could include the experiences of people's inner lives within the framework of reality has made little impression in contemporary science, which remains rigidly devoted to the seventeenth century "world machine." Everything must be explained in terms of the physical action of material bodies being acted upon by external forces.

But even the most rigid disciple of the materialistic religion of test tubes, chemical compounds, and mathematical formulas still cannot answer the ultimate question—what lies beyond physical death?

Some scientists compromise because their instincts or desires prompt them to hope that life goes on, and they point to the research being done with those men and women who have survived the near-death experience (NDE) and the testimonies of medical personnel who have observed individuals undergoing deathbed visions. While some scientists may argue that the answers that come forth from those who have experienced NDE are subjective, other researchers insist that such reports do provide valuable clues to the dimensions of reality that lie beyond physical death.

Throughout history there have been men and women who have been somehow brought back to life after accidents, severe injuries, surgeries, and other physical traumas, and they have related their own accounts of life beyond death, the journey of the soul, and the process of judgment that awaits the spirits of the deceased on the other side. While the various representatives of religious orthodoxy may often look upon such stories as visions wrought by the severity of a painful ordeal and a subsequent misinterpretation of accepted religious teachings, and while the proponents of the material sciences may consider these experiences delusions, those who have survived such near-death encounters cannot be shaken from the testimony of their own personal experiences, regardless of the accepted dogmas and doctrines taught by the various religious bodies or the physical sciences concerning the afterlife.

Father Andrew Greeley (1928– ), who has a Ph.D. in sociology and is a best-selling novelist as well as a Roman Catholic priest, has been keeping tabs on the spiritual experiences of Americans since 1973. Together with colleagues at the University of Chicago, Greeley, a professor of sociology at the University of Arizona, released the following data in the January/February 1987 issue of American Health: Seventy-three percent of the adult population in the United States believe in life after death; 74 percent expect to be reunited with their loved ones after death.

In the fall of 1988, the editors at Better Homes and Gardens drew more than 80,000 responses when they surveyed their readership regarding their spiritual lives. Eighty-nine percent believed in eternal life; 30 percent believed in a spirit world; and 86 percent believed in miracles.

Deathbed Visions

For thousands of years, many individuals have received personal proof of survival by observing their fellow humans at the moment of death. Reports of deathbed experiences have long intrigued physical researchers, but systematic investigations of such accounts were not attempted until the pilot study of Dr. Karlis Osis (Deathbed Observations by Physicians and Nurses, 1961) sought to analyze the experiences of dying persons in search of patterns.

Because of their specialized training, ability to make accurate medical assessments, and proximity to dying patients, Osis selected doctors and nurses as informants. Each of the 640 respondents to Osis's questionnaires had observed an average of 50 to 60 deathbed patients—a total of over 35,000 cases. The parapsychologists followed up the initial questionnaire with telephone calls, additional questionnaires, and correspondence.

A total of 385 respondents reported 1,318 cases wherein deathbed patients claimed to have seen apparitions or phantasms. Fifty-two percent of these apparitions represented dead persons who were known to the patients; 28 percent were of living persons; and 20 percent were of religious figures. Visions that either gave the dying patient a view of the traditional heaven or depicted scenes of wondrous beauty and brilliant color were reported by 248 respondents to have been observed in 884 instances. Mood elevation—that is, a shift in the patient's emotions from extreme pain and fear to tranquility—was reported by 169 respondents in 753 cases.

About half of the apparitions reported by the dying patients seemed to have appeared for the purpose of guiding them through the transition from death to the afterlife. One distinct observation emerging from Osis's study was that few patients appeared to die in a state of fear.

Age and sex showed no correlation with the phenomena of deathbed apparitions, visions, or mood elevations. Interestingly enough, the more highly educated patients evidenced more deathbed phenomena than the less well educated, thus contradicting the allegation that the more superstitious are likely to experience deathbed phenomena.

Religious beliefs correlated in a positive manner, as might be expected. Only those patients who believed in life after death experienced visions depicting scenes in the other world. Religious figures were sometimes reported by those with no religious affiliation, but those with strong beliefs most often identified a biblical or saintly figure.

Another interesting statistic revealed by the study is that visions, apparitions, and mood elevations are reported more often in cases where the dying patient is fully conscious and appears in complete control of his senses. Sedation, high fever, and painkilling drugs seem to decrease, rather than to increase, the ability to experience these phenomena. By the same token, cases of brain damage or brain disease were found unrelated to the kinds of deathbed experiences relevant to Osis's study.

The questionnaire and subsequent follow-up also uncovered some intriguing areas for additional research. There were cases, for example, in which collective viewings of apparitions were reported by those who had gathered around the patient's deathbed. There were numerous instances of "extrasensory" interaction between patients and attending physicians and nurses; and many cases wherein observers underwent a change in their own personal philosophy after witnessing the experience of the dying person.

Among the many patterns disclosed by the study, Osis feels that one of the most consistent was that phenomena relevant to the survival hypothesis occurred most often when the physiological and psychological balance of the patient was not greatly disturbed. According to the research project's findings as reported by Osis, "Trends in line with the survival hypothesis occurred predominantly in patients whose mentality was not disturbed by sedatives or other medications, who had no diagnosed hallucinogenic pathology, and who were fully conscious as well as responsive to their environment." The study found that experiences irrelevant to the survival hypothesis occurred more often in those patients who were generally prone to hallucinate, "such as the sedated patients, those whose pathology was diagnosed as hallucinogenic, or those whose consciousness and contact with the environment was impaired."

Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross ( 1926– ) has said that the turning point in her work as a medical doctor occurred in a Chicago hospital in 1969 when a deceased patient appeared before her in fully materialized form. Kubler-Ross had been feeling discouraged about her research with the dying because of the opposition that she had encountered among her colleagues, but the apparition of Mary Schwartz appeared to her to tell her not to abandon her work because life after death was a reality.

"Death is simply a shedding of the physical body, like the butterfly coming out of a cocoon," Kubler-Ross has told her lecture audiences in presentations which she had conducted around the world. "Death is a transition into a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, to be able to grow, and the only thing you lose is something that you don't need anymore— and that is your physical body."

The thousands of case histories that Kubler-Ross has studied have demonstrated to her that while, in some cases, dying may be painful, death itself—as described by those who have survived near-death experiences (NDE)—is a completely peaceful experience, free of pain and fear. Kubler-Ross also found that when one of her patients died, someone was always there to help in the transition from life to death, often a deceased family member or friend. Those who had experienced a "comeback" from death to life assured her that to die was to experience a feeling of "peace, freedom, equanimity, a sense of wholeness," and they told her that they were no longer afraid to die.

While the great majority of today's scientists may consider the quest to discover the world beyond death a waste of time and energy when there are so many physical challenges awaiting humankind in the twenty-first century, Dr. Karlis Osis has spoken to this issue and advised his more materialistic colleagues to take a "wider look toward the far horizons which have attracted the best minds through the centuries." There is, of course, greatness in defeating humankind's diseases and in conquering new worlds in outer space, but, Osis wonders "how the age-old problem, 'What happens when someone dies?,' compares with these material challenges? Is it not equally important to know the certain answer to such a basic question of human existence?"

In his A Practical Guide to Death and Dying, (1988) author John W. White, a founding member of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, quotes the philosopher Socrates' (c. 470–399 b.c.e.) statement just before drinking the hemlock that would kill him: "To fear death, gentlemen, is nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not; for it is to think one knows what one does not know. No man knows whether death may not even turn out to be the greater of blessings for a human being, and yet people fear it as if they knew for certain that it is the greatest of evils."

White states that, in his opinion, the current research on death and dying indicates that one's personality will survive death of the body and, in all likelihood, will be reincarnated. "Death challenges us to find the meaning of life," he writes, "and with it, genuine happiness. It is nature's way of goading us to discover our true condition, our real self—beyond the transience and ephemerality of this material world. And not only this world, but all worlds."

Delving Deeper

Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth. Living with Death and Dying. New York: Macmillan, 1997.

Morse, Melvin. Parting Visions: Uses and Meaning of Pre-Death. New York: Villard Books, 1994.

White, John. A Practical Guide to Death and Dying. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988.

Willis-Brandon, Carla. One Last Hug Before I Go: The Mystery and Meaning of Deathbed Visions. Deer-field Beach, Fla.: Health Communications, 2000.

Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)

In the mid-1970s, the work of such noted researchers as Drs. Raymond Moody, Melvin Morse, Kenneth Ring, and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1926– ) brought the subject of the near-death experience (NDE) to the attention of the general public. As accounts of men and women who had been brought back to life and told of having witnessed scenes from the other side received wide circulation, more near-death experiencers felt confident in sharing their own stories of having come back from other-dimensional journeys outside of their bodies. As medical science became increasingly sophisticated and successful in terms of its ability to resuscitate those individuals who might otherwise have died from heart attacks, automobile accidents, and other physical traumas, the more men and women came forward to tell of having perceived the spirits of deceased friends and relatives, guardian angels, and beings of light that met them in a heavenly kind of place and communicated with them before returning them to their bodies.

In 1983, an extensive survey conducted by George Gallup, Jr., found that eight million Americans—5 percent of the adult population—said that they had undergone a near-death experience. A survey conducted in 1991 by Dr. Colin Ross, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, suggests that as many as one in three people have left their bodies and returned— most often during times of crisis, extreme pain, and near-death. In 1992, a new Gallup Poll survey revealed that around 13 million Americans claimed to have undergone at least one NDE. While such statistics and inspirational stories were new to many men and women, accounts of people who came back to life after clinical death and who told of experiencing proof of life after death had been recorded by researchers for hundreds of years.

In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, psychoanalyst Dr. Carl G. Jung (1875–1961) describes a near-death experience he underwent after he had broken a foot and suffered a heart attack. "It seemed to me that I was high up in space," he wrote. "Far below I saw the globe of Earth, bathed in a gloriously blue light.… Below my feet lay Ceylon, and in the distance ahead… the subcontinent of India. My field of vision did not include the whole Earth, but its global shape was plainly distinguishable."

The psychoanalyst described the reddish-yellow desert of Arabia, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean. "The sight of the Earth from this height was the most glorious thing I had ever seen," Jung said, estimating that his consciousness would have had to have been at least a thousand miles up to have perceived such a panoramic view of the planet. He was most emphatic in stressing his belief that the experiences he had during his heart attack were not the products of imagination or a fevered brain. "The visions and experiences were utterly real," he wrote. "There was nothing subjective about them; they all had a quality of absolute objectivity."

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), the American author of such works as The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea, wrote of his near-death experience while serving in the trenches near Fossalta, Italy. It was about midnight on July 8, 1918, when a mortar shell exploded near the 19-year-old Hemingway, badly wounding him in the legs. Later, he said that he experienced death at that moment. He had felt his soul coming out of his body "like you'd pull a silk handkerchief out a pocket by one corner. It flew around and then came back and went in again and I wasn't dead any more."

Hemingway used his own near-death experience in A Farewell to Arms when he has his fictional hero, Frederick Henry, undergo a similar experience. The novel's protagonist is also positioned in the Italian trenches when "…a blast-furnace door is swung open and a roar that started white and went red…in a rushing wind." Henry feels his spirit rush out of himself and soar with the wind. He believes himself to be dead and realizes that there is an existence beyond physical death. Then "…instead of going on, I felt myself slide back. I breathed and I was back."

Dr. Robert Crookall, a British biologist and botanist, was one of the great pioneers in the clinical study of near-death experiences. Crookall theorized that what metaphysicians had labeled the astral or the etheric body— the soul—is normally "enmeshed in" the physical body so that most people are never aware of its existence. During out-of-body or near-death experiences, however, the Soul Body separates or projects from the physical body and is used temporarily as an instrument of consciousness. According to Crookall, this Soul Body consists of matter "…but it is extremely subtle and may be described as 'superphysical.'"

Crookall perceived the physical body as animated by a semiphysical "vehicle of vitality," which serves as a bridge between the physical body and the Soul Body. This, he believed, was the "breath of life" mentioned in Genesis. In some people, he speculated "…especially (though not necessarily) saintly people," the Soul Body may be less confined to the physical flesh than it is in persons of a more physical or material nature, thus making it easier for the aesthetic to achieve out-of-body experiences.

Among the hundreds of cases of near-death and out-of-body experiences that Crookall collected, he found numerous references to a kind of psychic "umbilical cord" that appears to connect the nonphysical Soul Body to the physical body. Citing such cases from his research, Crookall wrote:

With regard to form, several [experiencers] have described seeing merely a "cord" and said that it was about half an inch wide. T. D. compared his to a "thread." H. considered, "I am sure that, had a feeble thread between soul and body been severed, I would have remained intact" (i.e., the soul would have survived the death of the body). The Tibetans also observed that "a strand" subsisted between the [Soul Body] and the [physical] body. Like H., Miss K. realized that once [the cord] was "loosed" the reentry…into the body would have been impossible. She said, "This is what death means."

Those men and women of a Judeo-Christian belief construct who have undergone the near-death experience (NDE) sometimes quote Ecclesiastes 12:5–7 as scriptural testimony to the reality of the spiritual body and its ability to separate itself from the flesh: "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel be broken at the cistern: Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return to God who gave it."

One frequently observed quality of the silver cord which appears to connect the Soul Body to the physical body is its elasticity. Numerous persons who have undergone near-death experiences have remarked upon this quality in their descriptions of the experience. Crookall wrote of a man named Edwards who stated that from the pull of his silver cord he would characterize it as being made of some kind of substance similar to "stout elastic." Another of his subjects, a Mrs. Leonard, noted that as her Soul Body neared her physical body, the cord not only became shorter and thicker, as would be expected, but also less elastic, agreeing with the often reported statements that when the Soul Body approaches very near the physical body, it tends to reenter it—in fact it is often "sucked" back.

In the late 1970s, the popular acceptance of the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross brought sharp scientific focus to bear on the question of what happens to humans after the experience of physical death. In her book Death, the Final Stages of Growth Kubler-Ross declares that "beyond a shadow of a doubt, there is life after death."

Far from an evangelical tract, Kubler-Ross's publication is actually a textbook that is based on more than a thousand interviews with terminally ill persons, many of whom had recovered from near-death experiences. They describe such sensations as floating above their own physical bodies and being able to transcend the normally accepted limitations of time and space. Nearly all of the near-death survivors told of a sense of euphoria and peace, and many had been confronted by angels and spirit beings who told them that it was not yet time for them to make the final transition to the other side. When the dying do accomplish that ultimate change of dimensions, according to Kubler-Ross's observations, they are "…at peace; they are fully awake; when they float out of their bodies they are without fear, pain, or anxiety; and they have a sense of wholeness."

Dr. Raymond Moody, who is both a medical doctor and the holder of a doctorate in philosophy, discovered an enormous number of similar reports when he became curious about what happened to his patients in the period of time in which they "died" before being revived and returned to life through medical treatment. After interviewing many men and women who had survived near-death experiences, for his book Life after Life, Dr. Moody discovered what Dr. Kubler-Ross and numerous other researchers had found: The near-death experiencers had the sensation of moving rapidly through a long, dark tunnel before "popping" outside of their physical bodies. If they were in hospital rooms or other enclosures, they often floated near the ceiling and watched medical teams attempting to revive their physical bodies. Many reported their life literally "flashing" before their eyes, and others said that they were welcomed to the other world by previously deceased relatives or friends. Whether or not they were of a religious background, they often reported an encounter with a brilliant, intense white light that assumed the form of an angel, a guide, a teacher, Father Abraham, or a Christ-figure.

In 1977, Dr. Kenneth Ring, professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut, began a scientific investigation of 102 men and women who had undergone the near-death experience. In his Life at Death, published in 1980, Ring released the results of the data that he had compiled. According to his assessment of his subjects' experiences, Ring tabulated that 60 percent of them found that the near-death experience had brought them a sense of peace and well-being; 37 percent reported a separation of consciousness from the physical body; 23 percent mentioned the process of entering a dark tunnel; 16 percent said that they had seen a bright light; and 10 percent claimed that they had entered the light.

Ring concludes his book by dropping his scientific demeanor and admitting that he, personally, believes that humankind has a "conscious existence after our physical death and that the core experience does represent its beginning, a glimpse of things to come." Ring further states that he considers the near-death experience to be a teaching, revelatory experience. In his observation, both those who undergo a near-death experience and those who hear about them from others receive "an intuitive sense of the transcendent aspect of creation." To Ring, the near-death experience clearly implies that "there is something more, something beyond the physical world of the senses, which, in the light of these experiences, now appears to be only the mundane segment of a great spectrum of reality."

Ring has also given some thought to the question of why the study of death became so prominent in the late 1970s and early 80s: "One reason…is to help us to become globally sensitized to the experience of death on a planetary scale which now hangs like the sword of Damocles over our heads. Could this be the universe's way of 'innoculating' us against the fear of death?"

A consensus among those who investigate the near-death experience yields a number of features commonly described by those who have undergone NDE:

They usually see their physical bodies apart from their spiritual bodies. They experience a soaring sensation, a definite movement out of the body and discover that their consciousness is free of time and space and all prior physical limitations.
There is often a sense of disorientation and confusion when family, friends, medical personnel, and other people seem unaware of their nonphysical presence.
The sensation of moving down a tunnel toward a bright light is frequently mentioned.
A great number of those who have undergone NDE state that they encountered an angelic being, a spirit guardian, or the spirit of someone known by them to have been deceased, such as a friend or a relative.
Many report having witnessed a kind of life review of their Earth-plane existence.
A glimpse of paradise or even a guided tour of heaven conducted by an angelic host is recalled by many.
An extreme reluctance to leave this beautiful state of existence and return to their physical bodies is commonly expressed.
Upon their return to their bodies, many near-death experiencers discover that their awareness has been expanded far beyond what it was before the NDE. Some report heightened extrasensory abilities, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

Dr. Antonio Aldo Soldaro, chief surgeon at Rome's main public hospital and a professor of surgery at Rome University, has observed that all NDE subjects "improve their spiritual and social lives. They become more generous, optimistic, and positive."

Dr. Melvin Morse, clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington, is another NDE researcher who has found that certain survivors of the near-death experience return with enhanced abilities. Morse, author of such books as Transformed by the Light, noted that some of the people he interviewed came back to life with "an increase in the amount of electrical energy their bodies emit," an acceleration of intellect and/or psychic abilities, and even the power to heal themselves.

In one of his investigations, Morse spoke to a 45-year-old woman named Kathy who said that she had been afflicted with incurable thyroid cancer and had been given six months to live. It was at that awful moment that she also developed pneumonia. After she was rushed to a hospital, her heart stopped; and as doctors worked desperately to revive her, Kathy stated that the real her was "high on top of a beautiful ridge overlooking a beautiful valley. The colors were extremely vivid, and I was filled with joy." A being of light touched her spirit body, and her entire essence was "filled with light."

Later, when she was revived, Kathy's pneumonia had disappeared. A few weeks later, her cancer, too, had inexplicably left her. Morse theorized that Kathy's NDE had a direct influence on healing the cancer. He also stated that he had studied instances in which near-death survivors had returned to life more intelligent than they had been before the experience.

Dr. P. M. H. Atwater, of Charlottesville, Virginia, nearly died after hemorrhaging in 1977. After her own dramatic experience, she began to investigate other cases of NDE in which ordinary men and women had survived near-death. By 1988, she had interviewed more than 200 NDE survivors and found that their experiences had triggered something in them that had enhanced certain abilities. She has written a number of books on the subject, such as Beyond the Light (1997). In one of her case studies, she tells of a truck driver who had survived a near-fatal crash and who subsequently began to display advanced mathematical abilities. Literally overnight he demonstrated a gift for higher mathematics. He was able to write down complicated mathematical equations about which he had no prior knowledge. Gradually, the man began to understand his new abilities and was eventually able to use them in practical applications.

In those cases in which near-death survivors claim to have been left with after effects, Atwater states that her research indicates that 80 to 90 percent exhibit physiological changes as well as psychological alterations. Among the most frequent after effects reported to Atwater are the following: The near-death experiencer looks and acts more playful. His or her skin brightens, and eyes sparkle. There is an increased sensitivity to any form of light, especially sunlight, and to any form of sound and to noise levels. Boredom levels decrease or increase. He or she has substantially more or less energy. He or she can handle stress easier and heal quicker from hurts and wounds. His or her brain begins to function differently.

If it is true that near-death survivors are physically as well as psychologically changed by their experiences, what does this say about the real power of the experience? Atwater suggests ever larger questions: "Since the part of us that has this experience 'separates' from the body to the extent that it does, is that an indication that not only do we have a soul, we are a soul-resident in a lifeform? If that is true, what else is true about life, about death, about purpose and mission and Source and Creation?"

While skeptics ridicule the "will to believe" in an afterlife as religious wishful thinking, it might be suggested that many of them embrace a "will to disbelieve" with what also amounts to a kind of religious fervor. For many scientists, there can be no consciousness after the physical body dies. The universe is comprised exclusively of material realities, and without the physical organism there can be no mind, no consciousness—and certainly no life after death. Many believe near-death experiences are but hallucinations caused by reasons that may be psychological, pharmacological, or neurological. According to the material scientists, those men and women who claim to be survivors of a near-death experience and who report that their soul left their body and began a journey into an afterlife before being revived are suffering from delusions. Science has proved that there is no aspect of personality within a human being that could travel anywhere without a physical body to propel it.

Dr. Susan Blackmore of Bristol University in England has spent many years investigating the near-death experience and is convinced that all the phenomena associated with an NDE are manifestations of the "winding down" of brain functions as a person nears death. Blackmore explains the oft-mentioned "tunnel of light" seen by near-death experiencers as a result of the turmoil occurring in the section of the brain that controls vision. As the brain continues to shut down and is increasingly deprived of sensory input, it begins to draw upon memory to answer such questions as "who am I?" and "where am I?" and information stored in the memory supplies images based upon the individual's perception of self and expectations of an afterlife.

In October 2000, the results of a year-long research project that was described as the "first scientific study of near-death experiences" were released by Dr. Peter Fenwick, a consultant and neurophysicist at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, and Dr. Sam Parnia, a clinical research fellow and registrar at Southampton Hospital. Although the doctors were initially skeptical of reports in which people close to death had encounters with bright lights and heavenly beings, their new study concludes that a "number of people have almost certainly had these experiences after they were pronounced clinically dead." By carefully examining medical records, the researchers ruled out the collapse of brain functions caused by low levels of oxygen or that drugs might be responsible for the experiences.

"These people were having these experiences when we wouldn't expect them to happen, when the brain should be able to sustain lucid processes or allow them to form memories that would last," Parnia said. "So [the study] might hold an answer to the question of whether mind or consciousness is actually produced by the brain or whether the brain is a kind of intermediary for the mind, which exists independently."

Fenwick commented, "If the mind and brain can be independent, then that raises questions about the continuation of consciousness after death. It also raises the question about a spiritual component to humans and about a meaningful universe with a purpose rather than a random universe."