Research evidence for after death consciousness

Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Brazilian MD and PhD, explains his research on psychic mediums in “Consciousness and the Brain: What Does Research on Spiritual Experiences Tell Us?”  

"Our group (NUPES - Research Center in Spirituality and Health, School of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil) recently published a case study investigating the fit and accuracy of mediumistic letters produced by the most prolific Brazilian medium, Chico Xavier (1910–2002) (Rocha et al., 2014). We investigated 13 letters allegedly written by the same deceased personality (J.P.), an engineering student who drowned when he was 24 years old. A special emphasis was put on determining the accuracy of objectively verifiable items of information provided by the letters and the likelihood of Xavier’s access to the information via ordinary means of information (i.e., fraud, chance, information leakage, and cold reading).

"Xavier, who never obtained material profits from his mediumship, used to perform weekly sessions where hundreds of mourning relatives from all over Brazil sought his help, hoping to obtain a “psychographed” letter (i.e., a letter written by the medium allegedly under the influence of a deceased personality). It is estimated that Xavier produced 10,000 of these letters during his life. Relatives usually, after waiting in a long line, exchanged a few words with Xavier. After that they waited, seated in a large room while Xavier, for about three hours, wrote the letters uninterruptedly at a table in front of the audience. While writing the letters, Xavier had no direct exchange with the sitters. In each session, Xavier used to write an average of six letters.

"40 days after J.P.’s death, his parents and his sister traveled 400 km to see Chico Xavier. They had never met previously and, after waiting in the queue, the only thing the sister said to Xavier was that she had lost her brother, that her parents were devastated, and that they would like to receive some news from him or even a letter. She stated definitively that they did not say any names or give any other information to Xavier. At that session, they received the first letter and, in the next five years, they received a total of 13 psychographed letters.

"In the first letter, there were 16 items of verifiable information, including three first names (“Sueli,” “Jair,” and “Elvira”), one surname (“grandpa Basso”), and one date (“Sunday”— in reference to the day of J.P.’s death). It also included a detailed description of the circumstances of J.P.’s death (being with friends, resuscitation procedures, the absence of the use of alcohol and drugs), and references to past activities of the deceased (studying, teaching classes, and being fond of kissing). All information was confirmed to be correct and accurate.

"Out of the set of 13 letters, we identified 99 items of verifiable information; 98% of these items were rated as a “Clear and Precise Fit,” and no item was rated as “No Fit.” Given the circumstances, ordinary explanations for accuracy of the information were only remotely plausible.

"There were some pieces of information that were unknown by the relatives present at the sessions, so their accuracy was able to be checked only later, after some search (e.g., the death of a distant aunt, and some “drop in” communications—situations where allegedly a deceased personality, unknown to the medium or sitters, communicates via the medium without the request of relatives relatives or friends).

"In addition, the letters expressed several of J.P.’s personality traits (e.g., his use of slang, humor, puns, and particular colloquial expressions). As a whole, these results seem to provide empirical support for non-reductionist theories of consciousness (Rocha et al., 2014)."

Alexander Moreira-Almeida, “Consciousness and the Brain: What Does Research on Spiritual Experiences Tell Us?” in Beauregard, Mario; Dyer, Natalie; Woollacott, Marjorie, editors. Expanding Science: Visions of a Postmaterialist Paradigm, (p. 301-317), 2020. AAPS. Kindle Edition.

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Alexander Moreira-Almeida, M.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine (Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora) and Founder and Director of the Research Center in Spirituality and Health, Brazil. He is Chair of the WPA (World Psychiatric Association) Section on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry and Coordinator of the Section on Spirituality of the Brazilian Psychiatric Association. He is the editor of Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship, and is also a co-founder of the Campaign for Open Sciences to promote the movement toward a Postmaterialist Science.