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Physically Transcendent Awareness: A Comparison of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Before Birth and After Death

J. Wade

Journal of Near-Death Studies December 1, 1998 DOI: 10.1023/a:1025026626098 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Topics Philosophy of mind
Key points Argues that veridical accounts from pre- and perinatal experiences and out-of-body NDEs suggest consciousness can exist independently of the body, predating conception and surviving death.

Abstract

Veridical evidence of a physically transcendent source of consciousness comes from both extremes of the life span when central nervous system functioning is compromised, suggesting that some form of personhood can exist independently of known cellular processes associated with the body. In pre- and perinatal accounts, veridical memories have surfaced of events in the first two trimesters, long before the central nervous system is fully functional, continuing through the third trimester, when measurable brain activity begins, until just after birth. In the empirically verifiable out-of-body phase of near-death experience (NDE) accounts, a source of consciousness has been shown to record events when measurable metabolic processes, including brain activity, have ceased altogether. These two states have similar phenomenologies, suggesting that a physically transcendent source representing individual consciousness predates physical life at the moment of conception and survives it after death, and that its maturity and functioning do not directly reflect the level of central nervous system functioning in the body.

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Philosophy of mind Near-death experience