Provocative Sperryville talk on near-death experiences

4 percent of people worldwide may have them

He studied science, law, and economics and eventually pursued a career in international economic development; but for the last 30 years Geoff Gowen has also closely followed developments in the science of the paranormal.

In his talk to the Unitarian Universalists of the Blue Ridge in Sperryville, Gowen offered fascinating information on just one paranormal topic: the near-deathexperience (NDE). He highlighted the disinclination of many mainstream scientists to investigate the phenomenon even though modest estimates suggest that 4 percent of people worldwide — both those with and without religious belief — have had the experience.

Gowen puts this reluctance down to the dominant materialist paradigm in modern science — i.e. if an event can’t be materially quantified, it can’t have happened. But he went on to tell of a new breed of researchers who call themselves “post-materialist” scientists, some of whom make their academic home just 50 miles from here in Charlottesville, at the Department of Perceptual Services (DOPS) at the University of Virginia Medical School. One of these post-materialist scientists is Dr. Bruce Greyson, who devised a scale, now in use worldwide, that allows researchers to standardize and classify NDEs.

Another is Dr. Julie Beischel who, in the 2019 edition of EdgeScience, reports on a case she investigated involving a paramedic named Frank and his trainee. The two had worked unsuccessfully for 20 minutes to resuscitate a man in cardiac arrest. When their supervisor suggested that they abandon the effort since the patient was clearly dead, Frank said that his trainee could use a little more CPR practice and they’d continue a bit longer.

The supervisor quipped that Frank’s trainee would have as much chance resuscitating the mannequin used for teaching CPR as he would the man they were working on. At those words, there was a sudden and astonishing return of circulation in the patient, who was rushed to the hospital, treated, and eventually released, having been declared “neurologically intact” despite having seemed “dead” for over 20 minutes.

What’s even more provocative, Gowen reported, is that the patient, who later contacted Frank to thank him, repeated the conversation he had overheard (though his body appeared dead) between Frank and the supervisor. When he had heard the supervisor declare the chance of resuscitating him was as likely as the chance of resuscitating a mannequin, he knew that, if he wanted to live, he was going to have to get back in that body. And, apparently, that’s what he did.

Curiosity peaked? Here’s the website of the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Division of Perceptual Studies: med.virginia.edu/ perceptual-studies/

What a mystery it is to be alive!

The writer lives in Sperryville.

Editor’s note: Apart from neardeath experiences, UVA’s Division of Perceptual Studies is a leader of research into altered states of consciousness, neuroimaging, and last but not least children who report memories of previous lives. According to UVA, some young children, usually between the ages of 2 and 5, speak about memories of a previous life they claim to have lived.