Is There Life After Death? Can Science Prove the Afterlife?

Is there an afterlife?

The search and the belief in the after-life has long been the subject for debate for centuries now. The belief or the non-belief that there is a conscious state after death has shaped man’s actions since the dawn of time. Many empires have risen and fallen for the stake at life or life everlasting. There has been many beliefs about it; philosophical, religious, materialistic and scientific. But is after life a reality? Can it really be explained logically and scientifically without resorting to religious dogma?

The argument about the existence of a different plane of existence after the body ceases to live have been a big controversy for hundreds of years now. During the ancient times, man developed ways to access the afterlife or to prepare for such. Now a days, many scientists dismiss the thought of the afterlife as just as religious nonsense. On the other hand there has been an ongoing movement where in some scientists have now searched for scientific basis of the life after death.

Many accounts of Near Death Experiences has been used to account for evidence in proving the existence of the afterlife. Lay people, religious individuals and even men of science have had encountered such near death scenarios. They normally come back to recount their experiences and prove the truth about this other realm. There has also been cosmological theories that point out the existence of a different plane beyond our normal existence. Many though, still doubt the truth about the afterlife.

Near Death Experiences (NDE)

Can near death experiences prove the afterlife?

Many near death experiences has been documented and published to convince people that there if life beyond death. Most experiences recount a feeling of following a light, going into a tunnel or being lifted out of the body. They say stories about seeing beings that are of not human existence or seeing people who they have once known but passed away. This experience has been universal for most people from the different parts of the world. In Christian cultures, they have recounted seeing angels and even Jesus himself, on the other hand for Jews they have said seeing beams of light or beings of light much like angels. In the east, there are stories recounting the contact with sacred animals as well a connection with their dearly departed.

One notable near death experience was of Dr. Eben Alexander. He was a neurosurgeon who went to Harvard and worked in the said field for 25 years. Before going into his NDE, Dr. Alexander deposed the belief in afterlife. He thought that life after death cannot be possible since when the brain ceases to live, all consciousness is gone (as was his previous belief). Dr. Alexander then went into a seven day coma due to bacterial meningitis. In his book, one of the arguments he wrote was that he was not merely hallucinating at this point and that DMT dump did not affect him. DMT, or a natural kind of serotonin is a brain chemical that induces vivid dreams and hallucinations. This is normally found in the neocortex of the brain. LSD users commonly highjack their brain through the DMT to have real ether like experiences. But in Dr. Alexander’s situation, his neocortex was severely damaged that it is not plausible to be caused by such. He then writes more about other scientific evidences to recount and support his claim to the afterlife. He also stated there that is not just a recall of past, intermixed and distorted memories; since in his experience he was able to “fully” encounter and experience the whole situation as if he was alive. There are many more evidences that he has written about in his book “Proof of Heaven”.

Quantum Physics Proves Life After Death

What happens when we die?

Robert Lanza, a renowned scientist and a medical doctor from Massachusetts, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania has theorized Biocentrism to state the reality of the afterlife. According to Dr. Lanza, Biocentrism basically states that life is the central force in everything and as such life created the universe and not vice versa. Biocentrism also follows the Theory of Relativity that time and space is not same and is relative to different perceptions. According to biocentrism, life, death, space and time do not follow a single flow as most people perceive it, but rather works in different patterns. After establishing that death and the lack of thereof can exist in different parallels. In this theory, it said that there are other parallel worlds and universes that exist, in which different circumstances occur for the same individuals. They experience life differently in each parallel world and are given different life situations. According to Lanza, in such parallelism, death may occur in one while in another is life; which negates the reality of death. To simply put it, you may die in this world but you are alive and healthy in another. He also states that once we “die” in this realm, there is a possibility to cross into the multiverses as he states “perennial flower that returns to bloom in the multiverse”. He then believes that our existence, and how we understand it is an easy way for our minds to grasp the complexity of the world around us; and that we cannot fully grasp the worlds beyond hence we succumb to the belief that life ceases once we physically die. He wrote his theory in the book Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe.

His Biocentrism Theory is better explained through the Double Slit Pattern and Experiment. In this experiment, chemical particles are made to go through and pass through a single slit and double slit. If it goes through the single slit it passes by straight on. Which is like saying, we are born, live and then die. On the other hand, in the double slit patter, the particles are made to pass through two slits. The particle may either go through a one slit or the other slit. If a person does not watch the particle closely, he will then perceive that the particle passed through both slits. This basically states that it depends on how a person looks on it. He may see the particle moving differently than what it really does. In short we may think that we have died in this realm but in reality we just passed on to another realm.

Communicating With the Departed

One case study that raises much speculation is the accounts of people speaking to their loved ones who have already passed on. In 2013, a scientist from the University of Virginia named Dr. Bruce Greyson conducted a study about people who experienced NDE. He then found that the encounters with the departed made much more impact than those who are alive and well. But this may be dismissed as just a dream like state or a created story, however some of the people who were interviewed had stated that they met a certain person. This person they met have passed on already without them knowing about the said death. This great mystery gives evidence that even if we do not know they have departed they were able to communicate with the person who had NDE. How is it possible for a person who has no knowledge about a departed relative be able to talk to him or her if not for the existence of afterlife as this paper notes.

Conclusion on Science and the Afterlife

Since most people who have encountered near death experiences do give accounts of it as a pure and real experience we may then see that there are evidences of the life beyond. There are many scientific papers and theories that have shown great evidence of the afterlife. On the other hand, many scientists repute this because no scientific experiment can be done to compare different NDE’s experiences and no control group can be created to compare with. As such, no ethical way can be done to scientifically test theories and evidences to do a scientific method of verification. However there are many strong scientific data and theories that support the life after death.

Many may doubt the existence of the afterlife. But in truth, we can never deny the proof of many people who have encountered heavenly realms when they experienced deathly moments. We cannot possibly dismiss the afterlife as a religious dogma just because a lot of people do not fully understand it. There will be more evidences in the future. Life after death is a reality, just like we feel the wind blows even if we cannot feel it.

Sources:

• https://listverse.com/2014/02/15/10-reasons-there-might-be-an-afterlife/ – 8 theories about the afterlife
• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2503370/Quantum-physics-proves-IS-afterlife-claims-scientist.html – Quantum Physics explaining the after life.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lanza –
• https://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/harvard-neurosurgeon-confirms-the-afterlife-exists/ – Dr. Eben Alexander – “Proof of Heaven” published 2012
• https://time.com/68381/life-beyond-death-the-science-of-the-afterlife-2/