The Langone Medical Center building of New York University (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nI\u2019ve lately been reading Sam Parnia, Lucid Dying: The New Science Revolutionizing How We Understand Life and Death<\/em> (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2024), and finding it very enjoyable and quite stimulating. \u00a0<\/span>Dr. Parnia, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of medicine at New York University\u2019s Langone Medical Center, where he is also director of research into cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In the United Kingdom \u2014 born in London, he is a British subject \u2014 he is director of the Human Consciousness Project at the University of Southampton. \u00a0He received his medical degree in 1995 from Guy\u2019s and St. Thomas\u2019 Medical School (that is, from the Medical School of King\u2019s College London and then earned a doctorate in cell biology from the University of Southhampton in 2007, followed by\u00a0fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of London and the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. \u00a0Dr. Parnia has described himself, by the way, as not at all religious.<\/p>\nFor several years, this blog was graced with the presence of a resident atheist commentator who called himself \u201cgemli.\u201d \u00a0His principal objection to the concept of \u201cnear-death experiences\u201d \u2014 he never really got beyond it \u2014 was that, by definition, a \u201cnear-death\u201d experience was not, could not be, an experience of death. \u00a0Nearly dead, he told us over and over again, is not the same thing as dead. \u00a0I think that it\u2019s partly (but not solely) for that reason that Dr. Parnia rejects the term near-death experience<\/em>, substituting in its place recalled experience of death<\/em>. \u00a0(I\u2019ll probably have more to say about his proposed new term, which he insists is more precise and more accurate, in a future post. \u00a0It does have a couple of definite advantages, although it\u2019s probably too late to dislodge near-death experience<\/em> from widespread usage.)<\/p>\nIn this post today, I think that I\u2019ll share a couple of paragraphs that resonate very much not only with very many of the accounts that I\u2019ve read but with several accounts that I\u2019ve been given in person by those who had the experience:<\/p>\n
One of the most intriguing observations about the recalled experience of death is how different the experience is for the person dying and the people desperately trying to save him or her from death. \u00a0People undergoing a life-threatening illness or accident may naturally experience a tremendous sense of panic, feat, and distress as their condition deteriorates and they fight for their life. \u00a0Then suddenly everything goes blank, as they lose consciousness from the outsiders\u2019 perspective. \u00a0This person who had been teetering around death appears unconscious and seemingly dead, yet from the perspective of the person who is going through death, there is an inexplicable sense of continuation of\u00a0<\/em>consciousness, neither interrupted nor halted. \u00a0<\/i>Their consciousness now feels more lucid, with visual and auditory awareness regarding events. \u00a0At the same time, the people on the \u201coutside,\u201d the doctors and nurses, are fighting to revive the individual. \u00a0There is blood, shouting, calls for more equipment. \u00a0Perhaps weeping loved ones in a corner.<\/p>\nThis inner perception is experienced as a separation of consciousness and selfhood combined with a vast expansion of consciousness, which is very much felt as a release and liberation from the body. \u00a0This is all experienced without pain or distress, even if the person is undergoing seemingly painful lifesaving medical procedures. \u00a0This individual \u2014 wading deeper and deeper in the grey zone [a favorite expression of Parnia\u2019s for the period (and the proecess) between the onset of dying and final irreversible death] \u2014 may look at this frenetic activity with equanimity. \u00a0What happens to this body on the gurney seems unimportant. \u00a0(133)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The distinction that Dr. Parnia sketches here between the subjective experience of a dying person and the objective observations of those around him or her (e.g., medical personnel, family members, witnesses) is, of course, the same that yields \u201cthe hard problem of consciousness.\u201d \u00a0Scientists can describe what transpires in the brain of an angry person or a person eating sugar, but such descriptions are of an entirely different nature than feeling anger or tasting something sweet.<\/p>\n
I also share a list that Dr. Parnia \u00a0provides of \u201cfifteen distinct components, or sub-themes,\u201d that are characteristic of the \u201cout of body\u201d portion of a \u201crecalled experience of death\u201d:<\/p>\n
\n- Vast expansion of consciousness.<\/li>\n
- Separation from the body with external visual awareness.<\/li>\n
- Liberation and weightlessness.<\/li>\n
- Hovering or floating in the space around the body.<\/li>\n
- Observing the body or events from above.<\/li>\n
- Becoming detached from events and the body.<\/li>\n
- Realization of having died.<\/li>\n
- Lucidity with reasoning and clarity of thought.<\/li>\n
- Initial confusion. \u00a0This is often transient and often goes away after the person becomes accustomed to their [sic<\/em>] new situation.<\/li>\n
- Taking on the appearance of a transparent humanlike form or a light.<\/li>\n
- Bird\u2019s-eye view \u2014 in all directions \u2014 as if through 360 degrees.<\/li>\n
- Consciousness pervades everything.<\/li>\n
- Shedding the body.<\/li>\n
- Connection by a metaphorical cord.<\/li>\n
- Selfhood and consciousness not the same as the body. \u00a0(133-134, italics removed)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 Very recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued three new sets of official resources to help Church members understand and answer their own questions and those of others on their respective topics. \u00a0These three are focused on: Church Financial Administration Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Religion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":110546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1104,900,903,960,21899,894],"class_list":["post-110540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-death","tag-nde","tag-near-death-experience","tag-obe","tag-out-of-body-experiences","tag-sam-parnia"],"yoast_head":"\n
On "the recalled experience of death"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" Very recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued three new sets of official resources to help Church members understand and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On "the recalled experience of death"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" Very recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued three new sets of official resources to help Church members understand and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T03:49:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T03:50:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2025\/05\/Nyu-langone-medical-center-building.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"722\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html\",\"name\":\"On \\\"the recalled experience of death\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-01T03:49:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-01T03:50:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" Very recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued three new sets of official resources to help Church members understand and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On “the recalled experience of death”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On \"the recalled experience of death\"","description":" Very recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued three new sets of official resources to help Church members understand and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On \"the recalled experience of death\"","og_description":" Very recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued three new sets of official resources to help Church members understand and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2025-06-01T03:49:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-01T03:50:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":722,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2025\/05\/Nyu-langone-medical-center-building.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html","name":"On \"the recalled experience of death\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-01T03:49:37+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-01T03:50:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" Very recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued three new sets of official resources to help Church members understand and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/05\/on-the-recalled-experience-of-death.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On “the recalled experience of death”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2025\/05\/29.jpg\")
<\/a>