Pim van Lommel

Earlier research had relied on people who came forward with a story, often years later. Van Lommel's team instead interviewed every consecutive patient who was successfully resuscitated in ten Dutch hospitals, within days of the event. This design removes most of the selection problem.

The main findings were these.

• Of 344 patients, 62 (18 percent) reported some recollection from the period of clinical death, and 41 (12 percent) described a core experience.
• The length of the cardiac arrest, the drugs given, and prior fear of death did not predict who had an experience.
• Patients were interviewed again after two years and after eight. Those who had the experience showed lasting changes, including reduced fear of death and greater interest in the meaning of life.

The authors argued that if the experiences were caused simply by a lack of oxygen to the brain, most patients should have had one, since all had been clinically dead.

In Consciousness Beyond Life van Lommel argued that consciousness is not produced by the brain and that the brain acts more like a receiver.^[2] This goes well beyond the 2001 data. Critics accept the study and reject the conclusion, arguing that memory formation after cardiac arrest is poorly understood and that unknown brain processes remain the more economical explanation. See Skeptical accounts of near-death experiences.

The Bridge cites the Dutch study.^[3] The idea of the brain as a receiver is compatible with the framework and echoes the transmission theory of William James. See Spinoza, Leibniz, and William James. Van Lommel has no connection to The Source of Aletheia and has not reviewed or endorsed Universal Panpsychism.

1. van Lommel, P., van Wees, R., Meyers, V., & Elfferich, I. (2001). Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: A prospective study in the Netherlands. The Lancet, 358(9298), 2039-2045.
2. van Lommel, P. (2010). Consciousness beyond life: The science of the near-death experience. HarperOne.
3. Ryan, J. C., & The Source of Aletheia Coordinating Council. (2026). The Bridge: Spiritual awakening handbook. The Source of Aletheia International Institute.