A Sceptical Doctor
This is a fascinating book written by a sceptical western medical doctor, Bruce Greyson. In the course of his work as a practitioner Greyson came across hundreds of accounts of people who had Near Death Experiences (NDEs) - though many of them were reluctant to speak about them because no-one would believe what they recalled.
In extreme physical conditions, when the brain was all but dead, these people reported the most remarkable "out of body" experiences, where their mind (soul/spirit) separated from their bodies and gained new abilities.
Being a doctor trained in Western science, Greyson refuses to rubbish such accounts - it is only when science investigates and consider the unusual that it actually grows. It is no part of science to ignore what it cannot understand. "Pretending something didn't happen just because we can't explain it is the exact opposite of science." (page 19)
With a sceptical mind Greyson does everything he can to rule out the possibility that these experiences were generated by drugs, dreams, mental disorders and so on.
He is convinced that NDEs are real experiences.
Those who reported their experiences spoke of seeing and hearing things and while detached to their bodies that they simply could not have seen or heard through their ordinary bodily physical senses. For example, overhearing a conversation in a room that was far away from their hospital bed.
A "doctrine" of Near Death Experiences
Before exploring the remarkable nature of these experiences, how might we view the separation of body from soul (Greyson calls it mind) biblically?
Greyson cannot be documenting death, because death is the permanent separation of body and soul. But is it possible, in extremis, that for a few moments in this life a soul - the real "us" - might be separated from our bodies?
And if so, could this experience give us an insight into what freedom from this present body might give us? We know that due to the fall of mankind, our present bodies are fallen and as a result we are all restricted and now "groan" along with all of creation (Romans 8:22-23). We eagerly wait for our "adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."
Paul is saying that a key aspect of future glory is a new body, for this present one is such a drag upon us.
Is there any Scripture which would preclude the possibility of a temporary separation of body and soul?
Some Unusual Scriptures
There are some unusual Scriptures which may help us here. The apostle Paul tells the Corinthian Christians "even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit." (1 Corinthians 5:3). He says something very similar in Colossians 2:5, "For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit." (Colossians 2:5)
It's possible to spiritualize these verses away, but perhaps there are rare circumstances in which body and soul can separate.
We can't build a whole doctrine on these verses, but the possibility is there.
Added to these Scriptures, there is little in the reports of those who have had NDEs that runs contrary to what we would expect of a life freed from our present fallen bodies. Our new bodies will be imperishable, powerful, glorious and spiritual (1 Corinthians 15), which makes these, by contrast, perishable (hearing loss, disease, etc.), weak, inglorious and natural.
Glimpses of Heaven?
In any case, here are some of the experiences that we read about in After:
Time seems to run in a very different way. "What I felt in five to ten seconds could not be described in ten times that length of time." "I knew what it was like to experience eternity where there is no time... "there’s nothing progressing from one point to another..." " they felt outside the flow of time..." An extremely rapid review of the whole of life is another common experience.
We would probably expect a shift in the perspective of time from this world to the next.
Extreme clarity of thought. Freed from the restrictions of a fallen body, thought life became clearer, "all my thoughts and ideas were coherent and very clear." "Many of them report that their thoughts became much faster, clearer and more logical than usual." We might expect that freed from the restrictive brain of a fallen body thought would fly.
The ability to see and hear more. Many reported seeing and hearing things more wonderful than they had ever seen or heard before. "Light like no light we've ever seen... flowers that had colours that I'd never seen before... utter glory in colour... light infinitely more beautiful than any light we know..." "I felt as if I had been limited by my physical senses for all these years. Sights that were very far away from me were as clear as sight very close..." One experiencer described the experience as switching on the light in a dark room.
These present bodies, for sure, restrict us in many ways. On the one hand that is a necessary corollary of finitude: a finite body simply cannot process the full spectrum of sounds or the full spectrum of light. However, the restrictions of this fallen body are far greater than our new bodies will possess. Take hearing. The clearest hearing of a child ranges from roughly 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. But by the age of 60, the higher frequencies (especially) have been severely curtailed.
The experience of bliss. Many described the experience of being free from the body as a positive one, "The absence of physical boundary was one of glorious bliss." "No words have been invented to tell this story with adequate beauty... try to draw an odour using crayons..."
A Changed Perspective
Many of those who experience NDEs have been so deeply impacted by them that life is never the same again. Some come to believe in God, most believe that since the mind can work independently of the body they now believe in life beyond the grave. Most appreciate life more and many become less materialistic. For some coming back into a restrictive body was a profound disappointment. Whatever the change, Greyson ruefully comments, "As a psychiatrist I knew well how hard it can be to help people make modest changes in their lives, often requiring weeks, months or years of intensive work. And yet experiencers claimed their NDEs overhauled their lives in a matter of seconds."
Reflections
Our minds (we would say soul/spirit) are more than our brains. Greyson says that the vast amount of research now available on NDEs has severely challenged the traditional scientific view that the mind is caused by the brain. "The association between mind (we would say soul or spirit) is a fact. But the interpretation that the brain creates the mind is not scientific fact." "If the mind were in fact produced by electrical and chemical changes in the brain then near death experiences that happen when the brain is not functioning should be impossible."
Our fallen brains restrict our minds (souls/spirits). "The brain filters out everything that does not help our thinking but hinders it, slows it down, focusses it." We would expect this.
A challenge to the materialistic world view. A book like this is helpful apologetic material to aid our discussions with unbelievers who have absorbed the narrow materialistic vision of the west.
A glimpse of heaven? I could not help thinking that this book gives us, if not a glimpse of heaven, an insight into the restrictions of our present fallen bodies, and therefore an idea of what our new resurrection bodies will allow our renewed selves to experience.
According to 1 Corinthians 15, those bodies will be incorruptible, powerful, glorious and spiritual, just like the resurrected body of the Lord Jesus.
Should we not expect those new bodies to experience time in a different way, and enjoy colours we have never seen, as just two examples?
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