What do people see before death? A scientific study solves the mystery.

 

near-death experiences

What do people see before death? A scientific study solves the mystery.

What happens to us when we die? It's a question that has puzzled humanity since the dawn of history, but a new scientific study may have provided an important step toward answering it.

Researchers from the Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications interviewed 48 people who had experienced near- death experiences (NDEs) in an attempt to understand the nature of this mysterious phenomenon, which some describe as a "vision of the afterlife."

Divergent visions of light and black holes

Participants reported a wide variety of experiences, ranging from religious visions to strange scenes resembling science fiction movies .
One participant said, “There were stone stairs to my left, and I saw Jesus at the top wearing a white robe.”

But some testimonies were far from traditional religious beliefs. One participant reported seeing a black hole, saying, "From a distance, the black hole looked completely dark, but the light surrounding it was so bright that it obscured all colors."

Another added that he saw a huge matrix of connected points in multiple dimensions, saying: "I felt that if I entered that matrix, I could move anywhere in the universe just by thinking about it."

Scientific, not spiritual, explanations

"Our cultural background provides the framework upon which near-death experience hallucinations are based," lead author Dr. France Lerner told the Daily Mail. "Someone raised in a Christian environment will see different symbols than someone raised in a Jewish or Buddhist culture."

Lerner added that the study does not indicate the existence of a separate soul or consciousness capable of leaving the body, but rather shows that the experience results from changes in the way the brain functions during its gradual shutdown.

“The geometry of the experience changes depending on how the field of view shrinks as the brain begins to fail,” the researcher explained.

Four spatial stages of the experiment

Scientists have classified near-death experiences into four different geometric patterns:
Figure (A): Narrow, tunnel-like scenes, resulting from decreased blood flow to the brain.
Figures (B) and (C): Appear in oval or curved areas, when the brain temporarily loses part of its vision.
Figure (C5): An immersive experience within a completely enclosed oval space (360 degrees).
The team noted that participants gradually moved from shape (A) to (C5) as the experience progressed, suggesting a common physiological cause behind it.

Between faith and science

Although some experiences included powerful religious scenes, the study's researchers believe these visions are not conclusive evidence of life after death, but rather a reflection of the functioning of the brain and an individual's culture.

“When the brain starts to collapse, the connection between visual and physical cues that normally maintain our sense of self breaks down,” Lerner says. “That’s where these complex visions and overwhelming emotions arise.”