A top scientist who has an abundance of experience in studying near-death situations has made a bold claim that there's proof of an afterlife.
Argument has raged on in the medical community over the likelihood of this being a possibility, but it looks like we may have some proof that it is.
It's a game-changer in the science world if he's proved right, but Dr Sam Parnia - a well-known associate professor of medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Centre - has recalled previous situations that back his claim up.
The British professor claimed that patients who are resuscitated after their heart stops frequently end up living through 'every single moment of their lives', all over again.
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Dr Parnia claims that this remarkable phenomenon happens in a different perspective as well.
These claims have fascinated experts for decades, and it is said that it only happens to those that are clinically dead, which is when blood circulation and breathing stops.
It may seem far-fetched, but the NYU professor has gone through 30 years of research that spans across millions of patients - so he might know a thing or two about the subject.
Speaking to Times Radio in September this year, he revealed that 'many millions of people all over the world' have gone through the early state of death before coming back to life.
"Incredibly, (patients) consistently report that even though from the outside perspective there looks like there is no consciousness and they're supposed to be dead, internally they go through a new experience," he revealed.
Dr Parnia explained: "They feel that their own consciousness, their selfhood, becomes suddenly vast and it becomes more lucid and more sharp.
"They are able to gather information about what's happening to them as doctors and nurses are trying to revive them."
Because of how they are seeing things, almost in '360 degrees', they conclude that 'it looks like I'm dead', and they live through every moment of their lives, including interactions with others from their perspective and the other person's as well.
"For example, if they had done something to hurt someone, they relive the exact same pain the other person has had," Dr Parnia claimed. "If they've done something that's caused happiness in other people, they relive the same happiness."
There is a scientific explanation behind all of this, as studies in the past show that the human brain still functions for a short period of time after the heart stops beating, despite not showing any activity on scans.
The brain is also capable of bursts of activity up to an hour without oxygen while being resuscitated.
This could change the rules around whether people should be declared just three to five minutes after a lack of oxygen going to the brain, as they could still be resuscitated.
Dr Parnia highlighted that 'we weren't supposed to be able to reverse death', and how peculiar it is that we may struggle to recall 'more than a fraction' of our lives, but that our brain can go through it all in death.
"It's as if everything was recorded in life that comes to the fore like an iceberg that emerges, you're suddenly evaluating your entire life based upon a prism of morality and ethics," he explained.
He did point out that many don't come back from clinical death, but did say that those that do are positively transformed as they have a newfound understanding of what life is about, down to the smallest details.
Topics: Science, Health, Education, World News
Joshua Nair