Researchers studying Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) face huge obstacles they have to overcome to get any useful data. Human memory is notoriously inaccurate; the trauma of nearly dying makes it difficult to talk about, and no one can say exactly what the phenomenon could be.
All that is known is that there are similar elements to almost everyone's NDE, which suggests that whatever it is, it's a genuine life experience and not imagination.
Many people are reluctant to talk about the experience because it was so personal and private. But three researchers have published a paper in Frontiers in Psychology that approached the problem of recalling the NDE in a unique way.
What if they asked patients to draw what they remember seeing rather than just talk about it?
The researchers recruited 50 people online, "all of whom were tasked with completing a questionnaire about their experience and a graphic reconstruction procedure — that is, they were given a pen and asked to draw and annotate the physical space they perceived during each stage of their out-of-body or near-death experience," writes Discover Magazine's Dr. Katie Spaulding.
The participants were also asked to show where they were in relation to the space they were drawing and any movement they made during the NDE.
You might expect 50 different kinds of drawings to emerge. The researchers were surprised at what they got.
“Four principal categories were identified,” the researchers noted, specifically “conical, elliptic arc, low-curvature elliptic arc, and ellipsoidal.”
"But even more striking was how these spaces were lit," Spaulding writes. "When participants saw themselves in a conical space — moving through a tunnel or corridor — it was invariably cast in shades of grey. When in elliptical arcs — surrounded by space on all sides — they would often be bathed in glorious technicolor."
As you might imagine, the colors were most memorable.
“Many colors, especially greens and purple, were vivid,” reported one participant. “Lavender, pink, magenta, and deeper greens from bright to dark intensity! Very high clarity, more than on Earth!”
Those who drew being inside an ellipsoidal space (a bubble) reported how bright the light was.
“It was a bright sunny day […] I felt contained and embraced in the space,” one participant recalled. “The light was pulsating and sparkling. It was retracting and expanding. It would pulsate randomly when talking. The tempo of the light was almost at the speed of a heartbeat.”
That same participant reported something else truly remarkable.
“[There was] one massive entity, brighter than anything I’ve ever experienced,” agreed another. “I was […] in total unity with it and everything else. I had no need to speak because I could/did know anything in a penetrating way […] The sense of infinite love was so profound there are no words to describe it.”
Discover:
As intriguing as these results are, one thing is undeniable: they really raise more questions than they answer. Why, for example, is there such a contrast between the first type of report — that grey and confined area, often coming first in the sequence of experiences — and the second, a high-contrast kaleidoscope of color and space?
The answer, the researchers stressed, is beyond the scope of their study. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have some ideas. Notably, greyscale tunnel vision is also a symptom of oxygen deprivation, low blood pressure, and extreme stress. Could that explain the ubiquity of these low-saturation conical spaces as participants approached their end? Perhaps — but for now, it’s only a hypothesis.
To be sure, it should be pointed out that this is one study, and not particularly valid if you consider that the 50 participants were not randomly chosen; they were self-selected. The NDE, experienced at a time of great stress or trauma, must be seen in that light.
But when you consider that the participants had to commit to a two- or three-hour session, "describing and drawing all the details of a profound, life-changing event to a stranger over Google Meet," as Spaulding points out, the value of the data can't be challenged. It's doubtful that the requirements for the study participants would have lent themselves to random sampling.
The relentless urge to know, to comprehend, and to satisfy our deep-seated curiosity will forever propel us toward the absolute boundaries of human experience.
