Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience

by Pim van Lommel

parts of the NDE to sixteen elements, grouped into four clusters: cognitive, affective, paranormal, and transcendental.9 The cognitive component includes losing one’s sense of time, having accelerated thoughts, the life review and preview, and the possibility of universal knowledge. The affective component covers feelings of peace, joy, cosmic unity, and the perception of or inclusion in a brilliant and nonblinding light. Paranormal refers to all those phenomena that defy explanation with our normal physical laws and universally accepted concepts. The paranormal component may include a hyperacute auditory and visual sense, the conscious experience of remote events, premonitions and prophetic visions, and an out-of-body experience. Transcendental literally means “climbing or going beyond.” The transcendental component involves traveling to an unearthly realm, meeting or sensing the presence of a mystical being, seeing and communicating with deceased persons or religious figures, and reaching a border. The affective and transcendental components were reported most frequently, the paranormal and cognitive components less often.