Commentary on After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond, by Bruce Greyson, MD

Abstract

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are a typically profound set of experiences occasioned during both actual and subjective proximity to death. In March of 2021, Bruce Greyson, MD, one of the original researchers founding the field of near-death studies, published the book, After. It represents a thought-provoking and highly readable chronicling of an almost half-century of both his impressive scholarship and personal experience of changing worldview. In the present article, I provide a thorough essay-style analysis of the publication, focusing on how much of what Greyson reported is consistent with, yet also lacks considerable recognition of, the model of NDEs provided by a psychedelic framework. That is, substantial explanatory power can be derived from considering NDEs as a psychedelic phenomenon in terms of possible neurobiological correlates, its acute state, long-term sequalae, and putatively parapsychological effects. In writing this article, I hold no a priori ontological assumptions but hope at least to offer the necessary neurally-oriented explanations where the literature indicates them. However, I also note that certain NDE dimensions may not yet be fully explicated in terms of such a reductionist paradigm, and even where they could be, the 'hard problem of consciousness' is still to be resolved within the natural sciences. Although I believe the book would have benefited from this embrace of the phenomenon's likely mediation by such endogenous neurotransmission, or convergence on similar mechanisms, I nevertheless affirm that Greyson has delivered a laudable exposition of the transcendent experience as having deep psychiatric, personal, interpersonal, ethical, and possibly metaphysical implications.

Response to Pascal Michael’s “Commentary on After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond”

“…Whether NDEs are qualitatively different from other mystical states is still a matter for debate and further research. Many of Michael's (2021) arguments for the role of endogenous neuro transmitters in NDEs have a sound empirical basis. For example, it is true, as he wrote, that we now have the technology to assay neuro transmitters in the brain.…”

“…In fact, "4-way white lightning acid" was LSD mixed with various amphetamines or cocaine to intensify and prolong the effect, and in 1971, the date of Justin's experience, it was administered not only on blotter paper but was also sprinkled on sugar cubes or bread or included in tablets. Michael (2021) presented a forceful summary of the evidence suggesting a connection between psychedelic drugs and NDEs. Some of his evidence stands up well to scrutiny, like a sturdy oak.…”

“…I thank Pascal Michael (2021) for his careful reading of, and kind words about, my book, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond (Greyson, 2021a), and for revisiting the intriguing question of the relationship of psychedelic drug experiences and near-death experiences (NDEs). I also appreciate Michael's open-minded skeptical approach, suggesting that mediation of NDEs by endogenous neurotransmitters is likely, but acknowledging that some NDE dimension may not be fully explained by such a reductionist paradigm and that the 'hard problem of consciousness' remains unresolved; and his acknowledgment that a psychedelic model for mediation of NDEs does not necessarily imply a reductionistic physicalist interpretation but may also be consistent with a "transmission" model in which the brain is a transmitter rather than creator of consciousness.…”

“…I also appreciate Michael's open-minded skeptical approach, suggesting that mediation of NDEs by endogenous neurotransmitters is likely, but acknowledging that some NDE dimension may not be fully explained by such a reductionist paradigm and that the 'hard problem of consciousness' remains unresolved; and his acknowledgment that a psychedelic model for mediation of NDEs does not necessarily imply a reductionistic physicalist interpretation but may also be consistent with a "transmission" model in which the brain is a transmitter rather than creator of consciousness. Michael (2021) chided me for not taking a neurochemical explanation for NDEs as seriously as he does. I have received a fair number of complaints from proponents of different explanatory models for NDEs, each complaining that I failed to recognize the full explanatory value of his or her favorite hypothesis.…”

“…Nevertheless, I thank Michael for providing me this opportunity to elaborate on my assessment of the neurochemical hypotheses. Michael (2021) started by suggesting that Alexander Ogston's neardeath out-of-body experience (OBE) might have been due to putative endogenous psychedelic molecules, a plausible speculation for illusions of out-of-body travel. However, Ogston's OBE included corroborated visual perceptions of another patient in a different part of the hospital, of whom he had not been aware, dying and being carried out by the hospital staff after they had removed their shoes, so clearly Ogston's OBE was not an illusion.…”