Because the publication of several prospective studies on near-death experience (NDE) in survivors of cardiac arrest have shown strikingly similar results and conclusions, the phenomenon of the NDE can no longer be scientifically ignored. The NDE is an authentic experience that cannot be simply reduced to imagination, fear of death, hallucination, psychosis, the use of drugs, or oxygen deficiency. Patients appear to be permanently changed by an NDE during a cardiac arrest of only some minutes' duration. It is a scientific challenge to discuss new hypotheses that could explain the possibility of a clear and enhanced consciousness--with memories, self-identity, cognition, and emotions--during a period of apparent coma. The current materialistic view of the relationship between consciousness and the brain, as held by most physicians, philosophers, and psychologists, seems to be too restricted for a proper understanding of this phenomenon. There are good reasons to assume that our consciousness, with the continuous experience of self, does not always coincide with the functioning of our brain: enhanced or nonlocal consciousness, with unaltered self-identity, apparently can be experienced independently from the lifeless body. People are convinced that the self they experienced during their NDE is a reality and not an illusion.

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Moderated by Krista Tippett, creator and host of America Public Media's On Being, philosophers Thomas Metzinger (University of Mainz, Germany) and Evan Thompson (University of Toronto) join cardiologist and expert on near-death experiences Pim van Lommel (Hospital Rijnstate, the Netherlands) to examine recent developments in neuroscience and philosophy that shed light on whether our conscious experience of a unified self is reality or illusion. The following is an edited transcript of the discussion that occurred December 7, 2010, 6:00-7:30 PM, at the New York Academy of Sciences in New York City.

Das Herz steht still, die Atmung ist ausgefallen. Die Diagnose lautet: klinisch tot. Kann man in einem solchen Zustand noch etwas wahrnehmen? Ja, sagt der Kardiologe Pim van Lommel. Denn sehr viele Menschen, die aufgrund einer ernsten Erkrankung, eines Herzstillstands oder eines Unfalls an der Schwelle zum Tod standen, berichten nach ihrer Genesung von außergewöhnlichen Bewusstseinserfahrungen: Sie nahmen eine wunderschöne Landschaft und ein heilsames Licht wahr und empfanden unbeschreibbare Glücksgefühle. Sie sahen sich selbst von oben und konnten nachher über Details der Umgebung Auskunft geben – und dass trotz ihrer Bewusstlosigkeit. Das paradoxe Ereignis von erhöhtem Bewusstsein wird heute ›Nahtoderfahrung‹ (NTE) genannt. Aber auf der Basis unserer aktuellen medizinischen Konzepte ist es nicht möglich, Bewusstsein bei Herzstillstand nach Beendigung von Blutkreiskauf und Atmung zu erfahren. Wie ist das trotzdem möglich? Pim van Lommel fand heraus, dass das Bewusstsein nicht an einen funktionierenden Körper gebunden sein muss. Es gibt gute Gründe dafür anzunehmen, dass unser Bewusstsein nicht immer mit dem Funktionieren unseres Gehirns übereinstimmt. Van Lommels These lautet: Das Gehirn fungiert nur als Empfänger eines endlosen Bewusstseins, das nach dem Tod nicht aufhört zu existieren. Denn selbst wenn das Gehirn nachweislich nicht mehr funktioniert, können Menschen über ein klares Bewusstsein verfügen. Seine Erkenntnisse sind spektakulär und zwingen uns, über Leben und Tod und über die bisher üblichen Erklärungsmodelle der Beziehung zwischen Gehirn und Bewusstsein neu nachzudenken. In this interview, Pim van Lommel argues that according to our current medical concepts it is not possible to experience consciousness during a cardiac arrest when circulation and breathing have ceased. But during the period of unconsciousness due to a cardiac arrest or coma, patients may report the paradoxical occurrence of enhanced consciousness, with cognitive functions, with emotions, with self-identity, with memories from early childhood and sometimes with perception out and above their lifeless body. This is called a ›Near-Death Experience‹ (NDE). In a prospective study on NDE by Pim van Lommel, as published in The Lancet, it could not be shown that physiological (anoxia), psychological, pharmacological or demographic factors could explain the cause and content of these experiences. According to this study, the current materialistic view of the relationship between the brain and consciousness held by most physicians, philosophers, and psychologists is too restricted for a proper understanding of this phenomenon. Pim van Lommel argues that there are now good reasons to assume that our consciousness does not always coincide with the functioning of our brain. As he elaborates in this interview, van Lommel has come to the inevitable conclusion that most likely the brain must have a facilitating and not a producing function to experience consciousness. By making a scientific case for consciousness as a nonlocal and thus ubiquitous phenomenon we must question a purely materialist paradigm in science. Moreover, recent research on NDE seems to be a source of new insights into the possibility of a continuity of our consciousness after physical death.