Pim van Lommel Libros

As a cardiologist, Pim van Lommel was intrigued by the numerous patients who reported near-death experiences following heart attacks. Struggling to reconcile these accounts with scientific rigor, he initiated a research study in a controlled hospital setting to explore this phenomenon. Over more than twenty years, van Lommel systematically examined near-death experiences among patients who survived cardiac arrest. In 2001, he published his groundbreaking study in The Lancet, marking the first scientifically rigorous exploration of this topic and sparking international interest. Now available in English, van Lommel presents his findings and theories in a book that has sold over 125,000 copies in Europe. He provides compelling evidence that near-death experiences are genuine phenomena, not mere products of imagination, psychosis, or oxygen deprivation. Additionally, he notes that such experiences often lead to lasting changes in patients' personalities. Van Lommel argues that prevailing views on the connection between the brain and consciousness are too limited for a full understanding of these experiences. He posits that consciousness can exist independently of brain function, suggesting a profound relationship between consciousness and the body that challenges conventional perspectives.

As a cardiologist, Pim van Lommel was struck by the number of his patients who claimed to have near-death experiences as a result of their heart attacks. As a scientist, this was difficult for him to accept: Wouldn't it be scientifically irresponsible of him to ignore the evidence of these stories? Faced with this dilemma, van Lommel decided to design a research study to investigate the phenomenon under the controlled environment of a cluster of hospitals with a medically trained staff. For more than twenty years van Lommel systematically studied such near-death experiences in a wide variety of hospital patients who survived a cardiac arrest. In 2001, he and his fellow researchers published his study on near-death experiences in the renowned medical journal The Lancet. The article caused an international sensation as it was the first scientifically rigorous study of this phenomenon. Now available for the first time in English, van Lommel offers an in-depth presentation of his results and theories in this book that has already sold over 125,000 copies in Europe. Van Lommel provides scientific evidence that the near-death phenomenon is an authentic experience that cannot be attributed to imagination, psychosis, or oxygen deprivation. He further reveals that after such a profound experience, most patients' personalities undergo a permanent change. In van Lommel's opinion, the current views on the relationship between the brain and consciousness held by most physicians, philosophers, and psychologists are too narrow for a proper understanding of the phenomenon. In Consciousness Beyond Life, van Lommel shows that our consciousness does not always coincide with brain functions and that, remarkably and significantly, consciousness can even be experienced separate from the body.