Near-Death Experiences, Shared-Death Experiences & the Question of What Comes Next
Near-Death Experiences, Shared-Death Experiences & the Question of What Comes Next
The Research of Dr. Raymond Moody
What If Consciousness Is More Than We Currently Understand?
For thousands of years, human beings have described extraordinary experiences surrounding death. But in the modern era, one researcher fundamentally changed the way these experiences were discussed, documented, and eventually studied:
In 1975, Moody published his groundbreaking book Life After Life and introduced the term “Near-Death Experience” — NDE.
His original investigation involved more than 100 people who had either come extremely close to death, had been resuscitated, or reported extraordinary experiences associated with dying.
But that was only the beginning.
Moody continued investigating for decades, interviewing thousands of people about near-death and other extraordinary experiences surrounding death.
What fascinated Moody wasn’t simply that people reported strange experiences. It was that people who didn’t know one another repeatedly described remarkably similar elements.
Yet certain themes appeared again and again. Not everyone experienced every element, and there is no universal sequence. But the recurrence was significant enough for researchers to identify recognizable patterns.
Inside This Research Journey
Discover the experiences, the researchers who investigated them, and the questions still being explored.
What Happens During a Near-Death Experience?
One of the most fascinating characteristics reported during NDEs is a dramatic change in the person’s sense of consciousness.
Rather than describing themselves as becoming less conscious, some people describe the exact opposite.
They feel more conscious.
More awake.
More aware.
More alive.
Some describe the experience as being “more real than real.”
Ordinary physical existence can seem dull by comparison.
And something else extraordinary sometimes happens:
Some experiencers report looking down and seeing their physical body below them.
They may see doctors performing medical procedures or people attempting to resuscitate them.
They may recognize the body as their own while simultaneously feeling that the body is no longer who they are.
Their center of identity seems to have moved somewhere else.
The damaged or dying body becomes something they are observing rather than something they believe themselves to be.
That distinction is profound.
Recurring Features of Near-Death Experiences
Across Moody’s work and the research that followed, a collection of recurring characteristics emerged.
Profound Peace
Physical pain may disappear. Fear may disappear. Some experiencers instead describe an overwhelming feeling of peace, acceptance, love, or belonging.
Separation From the Physical Body
Some report perceiving themselves outside their physical body. They may observe the room, medical personnel, family members, or events surrounding their apparent death or resuscitation.
Heightened Consciousness
Instead of consciousness becoming confused or dreamlike, some experiencers report extraordinary clarity. Thinking can seem incredibly fast. Colors may appear more vivid. Awareness may feel expanded. Reality itself may seem more intense.
Movement Through Darkness or a Tunnel
Some people describe moving rapidly through darkness, a tunnel, passageway, or another transitional environment.
An Extraordinary Light
A brilliant light is one of the most famous features associated with NDEs. People frequently describe it as different from ordinary physical light: extraordinarily bright without hurting the eyes, sometimes associated with intelligence, presence, or love.
A “Being of Light”
Moody used the phrase “Being of Light” to describe another recurring feature.
Some experiencers interpret this presence through their religious beliefs. Some identify it as God, Jesus, or another religious figure. Others refuse to identify it religiously.
Beneath those interpretations is a recurring description: an extraordinary presence associated with overwhelming love, acceptance, intelligence, or understanding.
Deceased Family Members & Other Beings
Some people report encountering relatives or friends who have already died. Others report beings, guides, angels, or religious figures.
The interpretations differ. The underlying experience of encountering an apparently conscious presence occurs repeatedly throughout the literature.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies investigates these reported characteristics, including out-of-body perceptions, unusual clarity, encounters, and life reviews.
University of Virginia — Research Overview ↗One important detail: not every NDE is peaceful. Researchers have also documented distressing experiences, which belong to the broader literature.
The Panoramic Life Review
Perhaps one of the most profound elements documented in NDE research is the panoramic life review.
Some experiencers report suddenly witnessing enormous portions of their lives.
But they do not necessarily describe it like sitting in a theater watching an ordinary movie.
Some describe many events occurring almost simultaneously.
And in some accounts, something even more remarkable happens.
Imagine saying something cruel to someone decades earlier and suddenly experiencing not only your memory of saying it—but what that person felt when they heard it.
Imagine an act of kindness you barely remembered and suddenly understanding how deeply it affected another person’s life.
In these accounts, the measurement of a life can seem radically different from the measurements society emphasizes.
None of those things necessarily appears to be the central question.
Did you love?
Did you show compassion?
Did you help?
What effect did your actions have on another human being?
For some experiencers, the life review becomes not simply a memory of their lives. It becomes an extraordinary understanding of them.
A Boundary — And the Decision to Return
Another recurring element involves reaching some kind of boundary.
Different people describe it differently.
Or simply an intuitive understanding that there is a point beyond which they cannot continue and still return to physical life.
Some people report being told:
Others describe understanding that they still have something left to accomplish.
Some report having a choice. Others report having no choice at all.
Remarkably, some describe being disappointed about returning.
Despite having been injured, unconscious, critically ill, or medically endangered, the experience they describe is sometimes so peaceful and vivid that returning to the physical body feels like the less desirable option.
The Experience Often Doesn’t End When the Person Returns
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of NDE research isn’t what happens during the experience.
It is what happens afterward.
Many experiencers report profound and lasting changes.
Fear of death may decrease dramatically.
Relationships may become more important.
Material possessions may become less important.
Compassion may increase.
Spiritual questions may become more important.
Some people completely reevaluate what they believe the purpose of their lives to be.
Then Raymond Moody Discovered Something Even Stranger
Decades after introducing the world to the term near-death experience, Moody helped identify and name another phenomenon.
With author Paul Perry, Moody coined the term:
This phenomenon creates an entirely different question.
Because during a shared-death experience:
They may be perfectly healthy.
They may simply be sitting beside someone who is dying.
And yet they report experiencing phenomena that resemble portions of an NDE.
What Is a Shared-Death Experience?
Some people near a dying individual report extraordinary changes in perception occurring around the moment of death.
Reports can include:
Leaving the Body With the Dying Person
A healthy witness may experience themselves outside their own physical body while also perceiving the dying person outside theirs.
Accompanying the Dying Person
Some witnesses describe traveling with the dying individual through part of what seems like a transition.
Eventually they reach a point where they understand:
Extraordinary Light
Some witnesses describe unusual light surrounding the dying person or transforming their perception of the environment.
Deceased Relatives or Other Beings
Some report perceiving deceased people or other presences apparently connected with the dying individual.
Elements of Another Person’s Life
Some accounts contain imagery, memories, or information apparently associated with the dying person’s life.
Changes in Space & Time
The hospital room, bedroom, or surrounding physical environment may seem to disappear or become transformed.
Experiencing a Death From Far Away
Some people report suddenly awakening, seeing someone, experiencing an unusual presence, or simply knowing that someone has died—only to later discover that the person died around that time.
These accounts raise an especially interesting research question.
That question does not by itself prove an afterlife.
But it is a question worthy of investigation.
Raymond Moody and Paul Perry explore shared-death experiences in Proof of Life After Life.
Raymond Moody — Books & Shared-Death Research ↗Moody Was the Beginning — He Wasn’t the End
If Raymond Moody were the only person who had collected these accounts, it would be much easier to dismiss the phenomenon as the interpretation of one researcher.
But other researchers followed.
And they began documenting many of the same patterns.
Dr. Bruce Greyson
Psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Greyson became one of the world’s most prominent academic researchers of near-death experiences.
Greyson has investigated more than 1,000 cases.
In 1983, he developed the Greyson Near-Death Experience Scale, a standardized 16-item instrument designed to help researchers systematically identify and compare NDEs.
The scale went on to be used in hundreds of studies.
Once researchers had standardized criteria, the phenomenon could be investigated across different populations rather than simply collected as individual stories.
Many of the same themes continued appearing:
Why the Greyson Scale Matters
Before a field can compare unusual experiences across studies, researchers need a way to describe and measure what participants report.
The Greyson Scale was designed to provide that structure.
Its 16 questions examine different aspects of the experience, including changes in thinking, emotion, perception, and apparently transcendental events.
A standardized scale does not determine whether consciousness survives death.
What it does is allow researchers to examine whether different people report similar characteristics using a consistent measurement approach.
Greyson’s original 1983 study described the development and evaluation of the scale, including reliability and validity testing.
Dr. Kenneth Ring
Psychologist Dr. Kenneth Ring was another important early researcher.
Beginning in the late 1970s, Ring conducted systematic investigations involving more than 100 near-death survivors.
His work independently documented several of the same general patterns Moody had identified.
His 1980 book Life at Death became another major contribution to the developing field.
Again, this mattered because another researcher was asking different people similar questions.
And recognizable patterns continued appearing.
Why Kenneth Ring’s Work Matters
Ring’s research helped move the field from identifying recurring accounts toward investigating whether common elements appeared in recognizable stages.
He examined reports from people who had come close to death and explored the patterns found across their experiences.
His work provided another early comparison point for Moody’s findings.
Importantly, Ring also explored whether the experiences could be understood through naturalistic explanations.
Researchers were not only asking what people experienced, but also how those experiences should be understood.
Life at Death: A Scientific Investigation of the Near-Death Experience — Kenneth Ring (1980).
Find the Book & Publication Details ↗Dr. Janice Miner Holden and Decades of Research
Researchers including Dr. Janice Miner Holden helped consolidate decades of NDE research.
Holden, Greyson, Debbie James, and other researchers examined the characteristics, aftereffects, psychological dimensions, and unusual perceptual claims surrounding NDEs.
By this point, near-death experiences were no longer simply stories contained in Raymond Moody’s books.
They had become the subject of a substantial international research literature.
The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences
One of the most useful educational resources for someone wanting to go beyond individual books is The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation.
Edited by Janice Miner Holden, Bruce Greyson, and Debbie James, this 2009 volume brings together researchers examining multiple aspects of NDEs.
Its subjects include:
Rather than presenting only one researcher’s conclusions, the book provides a broader view of the field.
For readers who want to understand how NDE research developed over several decades, this is an especially valuable resource.
William Peters and Shared-Death Research
The study of shared-death experiences also continued beyond Moody.
William Peters and the Shared Crossing Research Initiative systematically investigated SDE accounts.
One peer-reviewed investigation analyzed 164 shared-death experiences reported by 107 individuals.
Researchers identified different forms of shared experiences surrounding death, including people who:
Remotely Sensed a Death
Reported an experience or awareness connected with a distant death.
Witnessed Unusual Phenomena
Described extraordinary perceptions around a death.
Accompanied the Dying Person
Felt they traveled alongside the person through part of a transition.
Participated in the Transition
Felt they assisted the dying person in some way.
Again, this doesn’t automatically tell us why these experiences occur.
But it gives researchers something identifiable to investigate.
What the Shared-Death Study Found
The 2021 study examined written accounts and interviews from people reporting shared-death experiences.
Researchers identified four broad types of reported experience: remotely sensing a death, witnessing unusual phenomena, feeling that one accompanied a dying person, and feeling that one helped during the dying process.
The research also explored how these experiences affected people’s beliefs, grief, and sense of continued connection with someone who had died.
This is an important development: SDEs are being examined both as extraordinary accounts and as experiences that can meaningfully affect grief, relationships, and views about death.
When Researchers Study Awareness During Cardiac Arrest
The AWARE Studies and Dr. Sam Parnia
There is another fascinating development in the scientific investigation of near-death experiences.
Some researchers have attempted to study awareness during actual medical emergencies rather than relying exclusively on accounts collected long after the event.
One prominent example is the AWARE research program associated with Dr. Sam Parnia.
The research examines what people remember experiencing around cardiac arrest and resuscitation.
Instead of asking only what someone remembers years later, researchers can attempt to investigate experiences in relation to documented medical events.
What Did AWARE II Investigate?
Published in 2023, AWARE II was a multicenter study involving 25 hospitals.
Researchers examined cardiac arrests in hospital settings and attempted to measure aspects of brain activity and oxygenation during resuscitation.
They also used audiovisual testing intended to investigate possible awareness.
Among the 28 interviewed survivors, 11 reported memories or perceptions suggesting some form of conscious experience around their cardiac arrest or resuscitation.
The researchers identified several categories of recalled experience, including some described as transcendent.
The study also examined electrical brain activity during resuscitation.
Why Is This Research Important?
The question is not simply whether somebody remembers something extraordinary.
Researchers are also asking:
The results do not establish that consciousness exists independently of the brain.
But they provide another scientific approach to investigating reported awareness around cardiac arrest.
Importantly, the study did not verify visual out-of-body perceptions using its visual targets.
The Mystery of Perception Outside the Body
Can Someone Accurately Describe Something They Could Not Normally See?
One of the most fascinating questions arising from near-death research concerns reports of out-of-body experiences.
Some experiencers say they perceived events while their physical bodies were unconscious or medically compromised.
A person might report seeing medical personnel performing a procedure.
Another might describe details of an emergency room.
Some accounts involve observations reportedly occurring elsewhere.
These claims raise a question that researchers call veridical perception.
Veridical means corresponding to what is actually true or real.
In this context, researchers investigate whether a reported perception can be independently verified.
Why Is Verification So Important?
Imagine someone reports that, during an apparent out-of-body experience, they saw an unusual object in another room.
If that object really existed, several questions immediately become important.
Researchers investigate these questions because an accurate description becomes more informative when other plausible explanations can be evaluated.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies identifies apparently veridical NDEs among its areas of research.
Why This Research Is Worth Exploring
Reports of accurate perception during unusual states of consciousness raise questions about memory, sensory processing, timing, and the relationship between brain activity and experience.
Not all extraordinary accounts can be independently verified.
Even a strikingly accurate report requires careful investigation before drawing conclusions about how information was obtained.
But this area gives researchers a concrete question to investigate rather than relying only on philosophical interpretation.
Why Do These Experiences Change People’s Lives?
The Research Into Lasting Transformation
One of the most compelling aspects of near-death experiences is that many people report changes continuing long after the experience itself.
Someone who once feared death may describe becoming less afraid.
Someone who pursued money or status above everything else may begin emphasizing relationships.
Some report a stronger desire to help others.
Others describe a new interest in spirituality, personal meaning, or service.
These changes are often referred to as the aftereffects of near-death experiences.
Researchers have studied them for decades.
The 2009 Handbook of Near-Death Experiences includes an examination of aftereffects, while other studies have investigated NDEs’ influence on beliefs, relationships, and psychological well-being.
Why the Aftereffects Matter
The question becomes much larger than what a person experienced during a medical emergency.
Why does the experience remain meaningful?
Why do some people describe it as more important than events that occurred over many years?
Why do personal priorities sometimes change?
Why might a person become less interested in possessions and more interested in compassion?
Could such experiences influence the way someone understands identity, purpose, and relationships?
These are questions psychology and consciousness research can investigate.
The answers matter whether a person interprets NDEs as spiritual experiences, neurological events, or something not yet fully understood.
The experience can become part of the person’s life story.
Their beliefs may change.
Their relationships may change.
Their priorities may change.
Their understanding of themselves may change.
Why Raymond Moody’s Work Matters
Raymond Moody did not invent these experiences.
People described extraordinary experiences surrounding death long before he was born.
What Moody did was recognize something important.
He recognized the pattern.
He listened.
He documented.
He compared accounts.
He identified recurring characteristics.
And in 1975, he gave the phenomenon a name:
Decades later, Moody and Paul Perry brought greater attention to another remarkable category: the shared-death experience.
Then other researchers entered the field.
Bruce Greyson.
Kenneth Ring.
Janice Miner Holden.
William Peters.
And many others.
Different researchers.
Different subjects.
Different methodologies.
Different decades.
Yet many of the fundamental characteristics continued to appear.
None of this means science has conclusively demonstrated what happens after death.
There remain neurological, psychological, physiological, philosophical, and transcendent interpretations of these experiences.
And that distinction matters.
Science should investigate extraordinary claims rather than simply declaring what people must believe about them.
Over the last half-century, experiences have been documented, thousands of accounts collected, recurring patterns identified, standardized research instruments developed, and prospective studies conducted.
Now Imagine, Just for One Moment
We are not asking you to blindly believe anything.
We are asking you to consider something.
Imagine that death isn’t the moment when your awareness becomes smaller—but the moment when it becomes larger.
Imagine becoming more conscious than you have ever been.
More aware.
More vivid.
More alive.
Imagine suddenly realizing that the physical body you spent an entire lifetime protecting, decorating, feeding, worrying about, and identifying with was only one part of your existence.
Imagine looking back upon your entire life with extraordinary clarity.
Not through the measurements the world taught you to use.
Not your bank account.
Not the size of your house.
Not your job title.
Not how many people knew your name.
Not what you owned.
Imagine experiencing how your words made another person feel.
Imagine feeling the pain caused by something cruel you said twenty years ago.
But imagine also experiencing the comfort you gave someone when they desperately needed it.
The person you forgave.
The stranger you helped.
The child you encouraged.
The person you loved when they felt unlovable.
The moment you chose compassion when cruelty would have been easier.
The moment you changed someone’s life without ever realizing you had done it.
Imagine discovering that those moments mattered more than almost everything society told you was important.
Imagine if consciousness doesn’t simply disappear.
Imagine if the thousands of experiences documented over decades are pointing toward some aspect of reality that humanity simply does not completely understand yet.
That does not mean you have to believe every account.
It doesn’t mean every interpretation is correct.
And it doesn’t mean science has proven an afterlife.
It means there are reports and research worthy of careful attention.
There are human experiences worthy of investigation.
There are questions about consciousness that remain unanswered.
And perhaps some of the most important questions human beings can ask should not be dismissed merely because we don’t yet know how to answer them.
But what happens if death isn’t simply an ending?
What happens if it is a transition?
What happens if the consciousness experiencing these words right now is more than the physical body carrying it?
And what happens if one day you actually experience your life from the perspective described by so many of these people?
If That Possibility Were True, Would Knowing It Change How You Live Today?
Would you forgive faster?
Would you love more deeply?
Would you spend less time hating?
Would you worry less about possessions?
Would you treat strangers differently?
Would you tell the people you love that you love them?
Would you think differently about the person looking back at you in the mirror?
Because ultimately, whether someone interprets these experiences spiritually, neurologically, psychologically, or as evidence that consciousness survives physical death, one message repeatedly emerges from the people who return:
Compassion matters.
How we treat one another matters.
And perhaps that is worth thinking about before we ever discover exactly what waits for us on the other side.
The Quantum Path to Healing
This education is not being presented to tell you what you must believe.
It is being presented to encourage you to look.
Look at the research.
Look at the documented experiences.
Look at the similarities.
Look at the questions science has answered—and just as importantly, the questions it has not.
Then think for yourself.
Because the Quantum Path to Healing is not simply about changing the body.
It is about exploring consciousness, purpose, connection, compassion, and the possibility that human existence may be far greater than what we can currently see.
Maybe these experiences ultimately have explanations very different from what we imagine.
Maybe they don’t.
But imagine for just one second that thousands of people describing these extraordinary experiences have glimpsed something humanity has not yet fully learned how to understand.
Imagine that the reality beyond this life is not darker or less conscious—but more vivid.
More aware.
More connected.
And imagine that when everything else is stripped away, what remains most important is not what you accumulated—
You don’t have to believe that.
You don’t have to reject it.
We are simply asking you to investigate it.
Read the research.
Listen to the experiences.
Question the explanations.
Consider the possibilities.
And then ask yourself one final question:
Would you live differently today?
Continue Your Exploration
These resources connect you with the researchers, studies, and books discussed in this article.
Raymond Moody — Life After Life
The original book that helped introduce near-death experiences to a broad modern audience. Explore Moody’s official website and his books.
Moody’s Official Website ↗ Books & Publications ↗University of Virginia — Perceptual Studies
Research into near-death experiences, consciousness, reported perceptions, and related questions.
Explore University Research ↗Bruce Greyson — NDE Scale (1983)
The original published study describing a standardized method for identifying and comparing near-death experience characteristics.
Read the Original Study ↗The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences
Edited by Janice Miner Holden, Bruce Greyson, and Debbie James. A broad review of decades of investigation and different interpretations.
Explore the Book ↗Shared-Death Experiences (2021)
A peer-reviewed investigation of 164 reported shared-death experiences from 107 individuals.
Read the Research ↗AWARE II — Cardiac Arrest (2023)
A multicenter study examining reported awareness and physiological measurements during resuscitation.
Read the Original Study ↗Research note: These studies document reported experiences, their characteristics, and certain physiological or psychological findings. They do not establish scientific proof of an afterlife or independently surviving consciousness.
Curiosity Is Where Understanding Begins
You do not need to accept every explanation or reject every extraordinary account.
Explore the evidence, ask thoughtful questions, and consider how the experience of being human might be richer than our current understanding.