LUCID DYING

An expert in medical resuscitation explores emerging evidence that calls for new thinking about life, death, and purpose.

The reality of life is that death comes for us all, whether we accept it gracefully or rail against the fading of the light. However, research over the past decade has revealed a more complicated picture than a simple binary, writes Parnia, author of Erasing Death and director of critical care and resuscitation research at New York University School of Medicine. In his latest book, the author examines the strands of current research, many based on new developments in brain-scanning technology. One of the most intriguing is evidence that after the brain “dies,” there can sometimes be a sudden surge of electrical activity, much more powerful than the usual level of activity. Parnia suggests that this is a postdeath “hyper-consciousness,” which might connect with the experiences of people who have shown all the signs of death but have somehow returned to life, due to resuscitation or through an unexplained process. The returnees have a common story to tell, regardless of their cultural background or religious beliefs, and they often feel a compulsion to recount the experience. There are hundreds of such cases, writes the author—far too many to ignore. This raises difficult issues about consciousness, the self, neuroscience, and the line between life and death, and there are no simple answers. Some people might find some of the author’s stories disturbing, although that is certainly not Parnia’s intention. “We are at the cusp of the exploration of a new frontier of science,” he writes. “I have little doubt that, in the future, people who would be declared dead today will be routinely brought back to life.”

This engaging blend of new research and personal experience tackles fundamental questions about existence and awareness.