Does our consciousness survive bodily death?

As I spent some time this past week poring over the abstract book from the recent conference “Toward a Science of Consciousness” sponsored by the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, I realized that it was going to be more than a little challenging to select a topic for this week’s blog post. Ultimately, I decided to select a paper presented by Julie Beischel and Adam Rock of the Windbridge Institute that bridges (no pun intended) 2 of my favorite subjects: specifically, the survival of consciousness and psi (feel free to substitute your favorite term here, eg clairvoyance, telepathy, etc.).


In their paper, entitled “A Phenomenological Pathway to an Empirically Driven Distinction Between Survival Psi and Somatic Psi by Research Mediums,” Drs. Beischel and Rock describe the experiences of the Windbridge Institute with certified research mediums (CRMs) who had been screened and trained over a period of several months and had their abilities documented under controlled laboratory conditions. According to the paper, “these CRMs are able to consistently report accurate and specific information about the deceased loved ones (termed discarnates) of living people (termed sitters) during anomalous information reception (AIR); that is, without any prior knowledge about the discarnates or sitters, in the absence of sensory feedback, and without using deceptive means.”

Up to this point, the scientific/skeptical portion of my brain really liked what I’d read, although I felt strongly compelled to read more of the background on the screening, training, documentation processes as well as the controlled lab conditions. (Note: Many publications on the research conducted at the Windbridge Institute are available through the Publications section of their website) However, in the interest of time (and knowing that a follow-up post is always fair game, as is a query directed to the good researchers at Windbridge), I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt…

Continuing on, the researchers indicated that an identification of the specific parapsychological mechanisms underlying the AIR demonstrated by the CRMs has been historically lacking. They proposed 3 specific psi-based mechanisms by which AIR might be possible, namely super-psi (potent psychic ability), somatic-psi (psi communication with the living – used to obtain information regarding the deceased), and survival-psi (telepathic communication – specifically with the deceased). Two specific studies were described, one quantitative study in which CRMs’ experiences during readings for discarnates were compared to their experiences during control conditions, and a subsequent study in which CRMs’ experiences of purported communication with discarnates was qualitatively compared to their experiences during psychic readings for the living (ostensibly employing somatic psi).

In the final analysis comparing the essential aspects of the 2 experiences, Beischel and Rock suggested that CRMs could differentiate between ostensible discarnate communication and their use of somatic psi during psychic readings. To me this is an absolutely fascinating statement suggesting that individuals with mediumistic abilities are able to not only tap into the conscious and subconscious minds of the living, but that they are also able to establish communication with the deceased and further can discriminate between the two. While this paper may not directly address the question of survival of consciousness after physical death, it does indicate a positive trend in the establishment of objective research methodologies for interrogating these very questions.