Liv Bridge
The answer as to what happens when we die has been a bit of conundrum that has stumped people throughout the ages.
The concept of 'life after death' in many religious scriptures generally considers our souls transcend to a happier, harmonious place when we die, unless you've been a bad guy in your mortal life in which case, it might be downstairs to a burning land of purgatory for you.
Others believe we reincarnate into another being, while some think the light is simply snuffed out into an eternal void of nothingness.
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However, science is coming to the rescue for those of us consumed by death anxiety, as new research suggests our brains could be transporting our souls to the afterlife.
Back in ancient Greece times, Greeks believed the dearly departed had their souls transported across the River Styx and into the afterlife by 'the ferryman', which UK researchers have found might have an element of truth to it.
Scientists at the Imperial College London studied a psychedelic neurochemical and found it could be helping the human soul pass over into nirvana when we die.
DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) is a naturally occurring molecule that is found in plants, animals, and possibly the human brain.
It is possible to take DMT recreationally as a drug, which the Alcohol and Drug Foundation warns can prompt some serious hallucinations, like seeing or hearing things that don't exist.
Yet the British scientists claim DMT could also be responsible for the vivid hallucinations that many have reported when in a near-death experience.
Countless survivors who have warded off the clutches of death say they experienced such visions, with even more emerging back to life with a fresh perspective on the afterlife.
For instance, an atheist said he had an out-of-body experience while medics performed CPR on him and he managed to visit his dad before regaining consciousness, while a Christian woman said the 'hand of God' took her to both heaven and hell-like places.
Another woman 'came back to life' after 27 minutes and scribbled a two-worded memo: "It's real."
The study found such accounts corroborate with the types of experiences people who have taken DMT recreationally report, suggesting the brain is triggered into releasing this psychedelic neurochemical in the moments before death.
David Luke, associate professor of psychology at the University of Greenwich in London, revealed such evidence has so far only been observed in animals, such as rats, but their data suggests it can also happen to humans.
The team tested similarities between the DMT state and near-death experiences by administrating the chemical and a placebo to 13 people.
Publishing their results in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, the team found a 'striking similarity' between the two states in 2018, and in 2023 conducted more research on the matter.
This time, they compared the experiences of one person who had both a near-death experience and a trip on a 5-MeO-DMT, which is a similar molecule to DMT but is less intense.
The study revealed the participant enjoyed some 'shared characteristics' like 'entering other worlds, meeting menacing or benevolent entities, experiencing synesthesia, perinatal regression, and lucid dreamlike properties'.
However, what is strange is that some elements of his near-death experience did not occur during the 5MeO-DMT experiment, like encountering dead loved ones, seeing your life flash behind your eyes, or coming close to the white light or pearly gates of heaven that represent the point of no return between life and death.
Essentially, visions of the afterlife may just be unique to those experiencing death - and not just the psychedelics produced in the brain.