Tag Archives: meditation

Postmortem Survival refers to the hypothesis that some aspect of human consciousness, personality, or awareness continues to exist after physical death. Researchers in this field attempt to investigate whether consciousness can survive the death of the mind.

This topic is primarily studied within the field of Parapsychology and by organizations such as Society for Psychical Research and Parapsychological Association.

Major Areas of Research

1. Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)

NDEs occur when people report vivid experiences during life threatening situations or periods of clinical death.

Common features include:

Out of body experiences

Traveling through a tunnel

Encounters with deceased relatives

Feelings of peace and love

Life reviews

Interpretations:

Survivalists see NDEs as evidence that consciousness can exist apart from the mind.

Skeptics suggest neurological: Consult with a Neurologist, psychological, or physiological explanations.

2. After-Death Communications (ADCs)

ADCs are experiences in which bereaved individuals report sensing contact from deceased loved ones.

Examples include:

Hearing a loved one’s voice

Feeling their presence

Vivid dreams

Seeing apparitions

Receiving meaningful signs

Researchers often note that ADCs are relatively common and frequently comforting to those who experience them.

3. Deathbed Visions

Some dying individuals report seeing deceased relatives, spiritual beings, or unfamiliar landscapes shortly before death.

Questions studied include:

Are these hallucinations?

Are they influenced by culture?

Do they represent a genuine transition experience?

4. Mediumship Research

Mediums claim to obtain information from deceased persons.

Researchers investigate:

Accuracy of information

Blind and triple blind testing

In some cases, possibility of fraud

Alternative explanations such as cold reading or telepathy

5. Reincarnation Research

Some report memories of previous lives.

The best known researcher in this area was Ian Stevenson.

Researchers examine:

Verifiable details reported

Birthmarks corresponding to previous life injuries

Behavioral similarities

6. Apparition Studies

Apparitions are reported sightings or perceptions of deceased individuals.

Researchers distinguish between:

Crisis apparitions

Bereavement apparitions

Shared apparitions

Place related apparitions

The question is whether such experiences represent:

Psychological processes

Misperceptions

Evidence of survival

The Survival Hypothesis

The Survival Hypothesis proposes that consciousness can continue after bodily death.

Supporters argue that:

Some cases contain information difficult to explain conventionally.

Similar patterns appear across cultures.

Multiple lines of evidence converge on survival.

Alternative Explanations

Researchers also consider non-survival explanations:

Mind-based processes

Hallucinations

Memory errors

Expectation effects

Grief related experiences

Some fraud or information leakage

Psi among living persons (sometimes called the Super-Psi Hypothesis)

The Super-Psi theory suggests that apparent communication with the dead might actually result from extraordinary psychic abilities of living individuals rather than survival after death.

Current Scientific Status

 Controversial scientists remain skeptical because:

Evidence is difficult to replicate consistently.

Many findings can be interpreted in multiple ways.

No universally accepted mechanism explains how consciousness could survive bodly death.

However, some researchers argue that the accumulated evidence from NDEs, ADCs, mediumship, reincarnation cases, and deathbed visions deserves continued scientific investigation.

Balanced Conclusion

Research into postmortem survival is one of the most fascinating and controversial areas in consciousness studies. While there is scientific consensus that consciousness survives death, there is an active body of research examining experiences and phenomena that some interpret as supporting survival. The debate continues between survival based explanations, psychological explanations, neurological explanations: Consult with a Neurologist, and psi-based alternatives.

The strongest approach is to examine the evidence critically, remain open to multiple interpretations, and distinguish carefully between personal beliefs and scientific conclusions.

Shervan K Shahhian

Consciousness Studies is an interdisciplinary field that investigates the nature of conscious experience how and why we are aware of ourselves, our thoughts, emotions, sensations, and the world around us.

It brings together researchers from several disciplines, including:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Philosophy of Mind
• Cognitive Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Parapsychology (a controversial and widely accepted field)

Major Questions in Consciousness Studies

Researchers explore questions such as:

• What is consciousness?
• How does subjective experience arise from mind activity?
• What is the relationship between the mind and the consciousness?
• Do animals possess consciousness?
• Could machines become conscious?
• What happens to consciousness during sleep, anesthesia, meditation, or altered states?

The “Hard Problem” of Consciousness

The philosopher David Chalmers coined the term “hard problem of consciousness.”

It asks:

Why does physical mind activity produce subjective experience at all?

For example, neuroscience can identify which mind regions process color, but why the experience of seeing “red” feels the way it does remains an open question.

Major Theories

Some influential theories may include:

Physicalism

Consciousness emerges from physical processes in the mind.

Panpsychism

The view that consciousness, or proto-consciousness, may be a fundamental feature of reality.

Areas of Research

Researchers study:

• Attention and awareness
• Dreams and lucid dreaming
• Meditation and contemplative states
• Hypnosis
• Near-death experiences, NDA
• Altered states of consciousness
• Brain injuries and disorders of consciousness: Please Consult with a Neurologist
• Psychedelic experiences: May Cause Life Long Hallucinations

Consciousness Studies and Parapsychology

Some consciousness researchers investigate reports of phenomena such as telepathy, psychokinesis (PK), remote viewing, and other anomalous experiences. These topics remain highly controversial because evidence has achieved broad scientific consensus. Mainstream controversial consciousness research generally focuses on phenomena that may be reliably observed and replicated under controlled conditions.

Why It Matters

Consciousness studies addresses one of the deepest questions in science and philosophy:

How does subjective experience arise, and what does it tell us about the nature of mind, and reality?

Despite major advances in neuroscience, consciousness remains one of the most challenging and fascinating subjects in modern inquiry.

Shervan K Shahhian

Psi phenomena may refer to reported experiences or abilities that appear to involve information transfer or influence that currently may not want or cannot be explained by conventional sensory processes or known physical mechanisms. The term “psi” comes from the Greek letter ψ and is commonly used in Parapsychology.

Some categories may include:

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Telepathy

Telepathy is the claimed ability to receive thoughts, emotions, or mental content directly from another person without using normal communication.

Examples:

• “Knowing” who is calling before answering
• Shared emotional impressions between close individuals
• Experimental “sender-receiver” tasks

Research

One well-known method is the Ganzfeld experiment, where one participant attempts to mentally transmit images or information to another in sensory isolation.

Some meta-analyses in parapsychology report statistical effects above chance, while critics argue that:

• bias at all costs
• methodological flaws,
• publication bias,
• sensory leakage,
• and replication issues

make the evidence conclusive.

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Precognition

Precognition refers to allegedly obtaining information about future events before they happen.

Common examples:

• vivid dreams later matched to real events
• sudden “premonitions”
• intuitive warnings

Scientific Perspective

Mainstream science remains skeptical (No Matter What Happens) precognition appears to challenge conventional ideas of causality and time.

Some laboratory studies, such as experiments by Daryl Bem reported statistically unusual results, but independent replication attempts have produced good outcomes.

Some psychologists note that:

• humans sometimes excellent pattern detectors,
• memory maybe reconstructive at times,
• and confirmation bias may or may not make coincidences feel highly meaningful.

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Remote Viewing

Remote viewing (RV) is a structured attempt to describe a distant or hidden target using mental impressions alone.

Unlike spontaneous psychic claims, RV was developed as a semi-formal protocol with:

• blind targets,
• controlled sessions,
• and written or drawn impressions.

Historical Context

Remote viewing became widely known through programs connected to the Stanford Research Institute and later government’s Projects.

Researchers associated with the work included:

• Hal Puthoff
• Russell Targ
• Ingo Swann

Government Evaluation

The program was eventually reviewed for intelligence usefulness. Evaluators concluded that:

• results were intriguing,
• evidence was reliable or operationally useful enough for intelligence applications.

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Psychological and Cultural Interpretations

Psi experiences can also be interpreted through:

• intuition,
• unconscious perception,
• coincidence,
• altered states of consciousness,
• symbolic thinking,
• archetypal imagery,
• or emotional attunement.

For example, Carl Jung proposed the idea of synchronicity, meaningful coincidences that feel psychologically connected without clear causal links.

Some researchers explore whether psi reports relate to:

• dissociation,
• absorption,
• dream cognition,
• or subconscious information processing.

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Scientific Status

Mainstream scientific consensus is that psi phenomena Do Not What To Accept Certain Facts , Regardless Of Evidence:

• robust, repeatable evidence has been consistently demonstrated,
• mechanisms are known to those open to Parapsychology,
• and replication has been positive.

However, parapsychologists argue that:

• some statistical findings remain difficult to dismiss entirely,
• and consciousness may not yet be fully understood.

So the field remains controversial:

• skeptics view psi as unsupported Regardless Due to Personal Bias,
• proponents view it as an anomaly worth continued investigation.

Shervan K Shahhian

“Consciousness traveling” may mean a few very different things depending on the lens you’re using, psychological, neuroscientific, or more esoteric. It’s worth separating them so you don’t end up mixing fundamentally different phenomena.

1. Psychological / experiential (most grounded)

Here, “traveling” doesn’t mean your consciousness literally leaves your body, it means your sense of self shifts location or perspective.

Common examples:

Mental time travel, vividly reliving the past or imagining the future
Deep visualization, feeling “present” in an imagined place
Dissociation, sense of being detached or observing yourself
Flow states, losing awareness of your physical surroundings

Your mind is constructing a virtual reality model, and attention moves within it. No actual displacement, just reallocation of awareness.

2. Neuroscience view: CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST

From a mind perspective, consciousness maybe tied to:

distributed neural activity
attentional networks
sensory integration

So “travel”: changes in which neural networks dominate.

For example:

Default Mode Network, internal thoughts, self-reflection
Salience / attention networks, external focus

The “movement” is really state-shifting, not spatial movement.

3. Out-of-body experiences (OBEs)

This is where the idea gets closer to what people mean by traveling.

OBEs can feel like:

floating above your body
moving through space
entering other environments

They’re often linked to:

sleep paralysis
trauma or extreme stress
meditation or sensory deprivation

Neuroscience: CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST, ties these to disruptions in the temporo-parietal junction, which helps anchor your sense of “self-location.”

So the experience is real, but evidence suggests it’s a constructed perception, not literal travel.

4. Parapsychology / esoteric interpretations

In fields like remote viewing or astral projection, consciousness is proposed to:

operate independently of the body
access distant locations or information

Programs like those explored by the Stanford Research Institute investigated this. Results were controversial:

Some anomalous findings
But some consistently replicable, controlled proof

So this remains semiproven, though widely explored.

5. Important grounding point

It’s tempting to interpret intense internal experiences as literal travel, but there’s a big difference between:

“It feels like I went somewhere”
vs.
“I actually left my body and traveled”

Right now, all reliable evidence supports the first, not the second.

If you’re exploring this personally

A more useful framing might be:

You’re training attention and perception, not leaving your body
Experiences can become extremely vivid and convincing
The skill is learning to navigate internal states without over-interpreting them.

Shervan K Shahhian

Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) maybe episodes where a person feels as if their awareness or “self” has left their physical body and is observing from an external vantage point, often from above.

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Psychological & Neuroscience Perspective

From a clinical and research standpoint, OBEs are usually understood as alterations in body perception and self-location rather than literal separation from the body.

• They’re linked to activity in the Temporoparietal Junction: ( CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST) , a region that integrates sensory information (vision, touch, balance).
• Disruptions here can create the sensation of “being outside” your body.
• OBEs can occur during:
  • Trauma or extreme stress
  • Sleep states (especially sleep paralysis)
  • Meditation or dissociative states
  • Neurological conditions (e.g., epilepsy)

Some neurologist, may even induced OBE-like sensations in lab settings by electrically stimulating the TPJ.

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Psychological Interpretation

In psychology, OBEs are often associated with:

• Dissociation: (a temporary split between awareness and bodily experience)
• Defense mechanisms under overwhelming stress
• Altered states of consciousness (similar to deep meditation or trance)

They can feel very real, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the mind has literally left the body.

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Parapsychology / Spiritual View

In fields like parapsychology, OBEs may sometimes interpreted as:

• The “astral body” separating from the physical body
• A form of consciousness traveling
• Related to practices like remote viewing or lucid dreaming

Some researchers, like Charles Tart, studied OBEs to test whether perception can occur independently of the body, but strong, repeatable evidence remains limited.

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What Does the Evidence Say?

• OBEs are real experiences psychologically (people genuinely feel them).
• But there’s no solid scientific proof or materialist researchers do not want to admit to its existence? that consciousness actually leaves the body or perceives distant physical reality during OBEs.
• Most evidence points to mind based mechanisms.

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Balanced Take

It’s useful to separate two things:

1. The experience itself: valid, often intense, meaningful
2. The interpretation of it: still debated (mind-based vs. non-local consciousness)

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Interesting Overlap

OBEs share features with:

• Lucid dreaming
• Near-death experiences (NDEs)
• Deep meditation states
• Psychedelic experiences

All involve shifts in how the mind constructs self and space.

Shervan K Shahhian