The mind entity is the seat of consciousness of the person, the subject in which phenomenal experience occurs. All cognitive faculties—perception, thinking, feelings, volition, memory, and self-awareness—reside in the nonmaterial mind, not in the brain.
In ordinary in-body consciousness, the mind entity interacts energetically with the brain’s electrical activity to establish consciousness and support the mind’s cognitive faculties. Ordinarily, the mind is completely dependent on the brain’s electrical activity for consciousness. However, in an NDE, the person’s mind entity can separate from the brain and operate independent of the brain and body.
There are thus two states of consciousness: an “in-body” state, whereby the mind entity is dependent on brain activity for normal cognitive functions, and an “out-of-body” state whereby the mind entity is separated. In the separated state, there is no brain interaction; thus, visual, auditory, and other sensations occur directly in the mind without the physical sensory apparatus of the body and brain. When returning to and reuniting with the body, the NDEr’s mind entity returns to ordinary in-body consciousness.
If the mind entity, the essence of the person, is objectively real, how does it work in the physical body in ordinary in-body consciousness?
When united with the body, the mind entity has a strong dependence on brain activity for awareness. We can see this connection when the brain is impaired: When a person is hit on the head or takes certain drugs or alcohol, the person’s consciousness is also impaired. When the brain activity stops, the person becomes unconscious. A person’s brain activity, measured by various imaging techniques, is closely paired with their subjective experience, so the brain’s neural activations are necessary for ordinary in-body consciousness.
If the mind entity is united with the body in ordinary consciousness, there must be some way that the mind works with the brain to be aware. There must be some form of interaction between the mind and the brain. So how does the mind work with the brain to achieve consciousness? Is there some plausible mechanism?
Skeptical philosophers invariably ask how something that is nonmaterial could possibly interact with physical matter. Surely there must be some sort of “push-pull” mechanism in which the nonmaterial mind exerts a force on physical matter—and vice versa, physical matter exerts a force on the mind. How could a nonmaterial mind entity causally interact with the physical brain?
In fact, there is substantial evidence of the interaction of the out-of-body mind with physical processes. These subtle interactions give rise to subjective phenomenal sensations with veridical perceptions. There are numerous forms of interaction between the mind and physical energies, such as light, sound vibrations, solid surfaces, and solid objects.
The NDEr’s “sight” interacts with light to provide veridical visual perceptions with normal colors. The NDEr’s “hearing” interacts with sound vibrations from heart monitors, fluorescent lights, and human speech to provide veridical auditory perceptions. Many NDErs report that they “bob” against the surface of the ceiling.
Some NDErs report feeling a change in density or slight resistance when moving through solid objects, such as walls and ceilings. As we described earlier, Lauren Bellg’s patient Howard reported that as he floated up through the ceiling of his ICU room and into the room above, he felt the different densities of passing through insulation.
In another case, a 10-year-old NDEr reported an experience during sleep. (We assume this NDEr is a woman.) Even though she was not near death, her experience included many of the elements of an NDE: being out-of- body, being surrounded by a bright light, having feelings of peace, calmness, and love. But most important for our considerations here, she reported:
“I remember feeling a bit confused and decided to go upstairs to talk to my parents, but when I got to the door, I realized I couldn't reach for the doorknob. It frightened me and the desperation to try and get their help grew, so I [began] to force myself through the door. It felt as if I was pressing through a cotton ball. Some resistance.”
Finally, in a personal communication in 2018, NDEr Laszlo from Hungary told us that he was out-of-body following a car crash. Laszlo was standing some distance from the crash site. He looked down at his [nonmaterial] “body” and could see his spirit form. When a man ran past him to the crash, the man’s body passed through the spirit form of Laszlo’s shoulder. Laszlo described the effect of the interaction as a kind of wafting of his spirit form, the way a hand wafts through cigarette smoke.
These NDErs report a subtle interaction between the NDEr’s nonmaterial “body” and solid matter. Their sense of resistance indicates a weak force is exerted by matter as their nonmaterial “body” passes through it. According to Newton’s third law of motion, for every force of one object on another, there is an equal and opposite opposing force. So, an NDEr’s experience of resistance indicates that matter exerts a force on their “body” when it passes through solid matter. We can conclude that there is a new physical force of interaction which occurs between the nonmaterial mind and solid matter. The force is very weak but is nonetheless present.
Robert G. Mays, BSc and Suzanne B. Mays, AA, “There is no death: Near-death experience
evidence for survival after permanent bodily death.” An essay written for the
2021 Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies addressing the question: “What
Is The Best Available Evidence For The Survival Of Human Consciousness After
Permanent Bodily Death?” Footnotes are omitted from these excerpts but are in
the full text available from the Bigelow website at https://bigelowinstitute.org/contest_winners3.php.
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