Firstly of 1988 British neuropsychiatrist Peter Fenwick discovered himself inundated with letters from individuals who believed they’d survived a near-death expertise.
“I have been slowly drifting down a tunnel, not afraid in any manner, however trying ahead to one thing,” one man wrote to him. “When it got here I used to be at absolute peace and strolling in direction of essentially the most fantastic mild. Belief me, it was nice. No worries or issues or something, simply fantastic.”
In one other letter, a girl describes strolling down a rustic lane and coming throughout golden gates.
“Inside was essentially the most lovely backyard, with out garden or path or something, however flowers of each type,” she wrote. “Those that attracted me essentially the most had been the Madonna lilies, the delphiniums and the roses, however there have been many, many extra.”
The letters had been amongst greater than 2,000 that Dr Fenwick acquired shortly after showing in a BBC documentary, “Death Glare”, during which he feedback on near-death visions of people that apparently died briefly or almost died after which got here again to life.
“These letters had been written by individuals who had by no means, ever informed anybody about their experiences earlier than,” Dr. Fenwick mentioned in 2012. a lecture at TEDxBerlin. “Why? As a result of they’re too scared. They informed it to their wives or husbands; they mentioned they weren’t . They informed it to their buddies; they mentioned, “You are loopy.”
However Dr. Fenwick, an professional on consciousness, was keenly . Possessing a extra scientifically open thoughts than lots of his friends, he had begun finding out near-death experiences – a controversial subject in neuroscience – within the mid-Nineteen Seventies. He believed that consciousness existed past bodily loss of life and felt that the letters would assist strengthen his place.
Dr. Fenwick despatched the letter writers a prolonged questionnaire to categorize their experiences. He introduced his findings, together with excerpts from the letters, in Reality within the Gentle: An Investigation of Over 300 Close to-Demise Experiences (1995), which he wrote along with his spouse, Elizabeth Fenwick. The ebook establishes him as a number one authority on near-death research.
Dr. Fenwick died Nov. 22 at his dwelling in London, his daughter Annabelle Fenwick mentioned. He was 89.
“Reality within the Gentle” revealed hanging similarities between the letter writers. Greater than 50 p.c of them reported touring in a tunnel. Seventy-two p.c noticed a shiny mild. Almost 40 p.c met somebody they knew, together with deceased kinfolk. Strikingly, 72 p.c report that they’ve decided to return.
A girl who suffered a horrific automobile crash recollects being “inspired by a powerful feeling to stroll into the sunshine” by a tunnel.
“I used to be calm, fully content material, and I noticed that I used to be born on earth and knew the reply to each thriller—I wasn’t informed, I simply knew that the sunshine held all of the solutions,” she wrote. “Then there was sudden confusion. I needed to hurry again to the tunnel; one thing was flawed.”
Abruptly she continued, “I acquired my physique and all feelings again. I panicked and felt ache, large ache throughout my physique. I imagine I died briefly.”
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Neuroscientists have for many years dismissed near-death experiences, or NDEs, as signs of anoxia — a scarcity of oxygen flowing to the mind. Dr. Fenwick refuted this evaluation in “Reality within the Gentle,” pointing to the pilots’ directions.
“Trainee pilots are commonly subjected to acute anoxia in simulators to make sure they’ll placed on their oxygen masks in time,” Dr. Fenwick wrote. “Those that fail to take action don’t have an NDE; they both go out or grow to be so confused that they attempt to land their planes on clouds.
He additionally rejected one other widespread criticism of near-death experiences: that they’re mere hallucinations, like these skilled by folks with excessive fevers.
“However describing it as a hallucination doesn’t clarify the underlying mechanism and leaves lots of the usual questions unanswered,” Dr. Fenwick wrote. “Why ought to everybody have roughly the identical hallucinations beneath the identical circumstances? And why does it must look so actual?”
Peter Brook Cadogan Fenwick was born on 25 Might 1935. in Nairobi, Kenya, the place his father, Anthony Fenwick, was despatched by his household to northern England to develop espresso. His mom, Betty (Darling) Fenwick, was an Australian-born physician and director of surgical procedure at Nairobi Hospital.
Peter was a curious and mischievous boy. He appreciated to construct issues, together with the occasional little bomb. One night, as his dad and mom ready to welcome dinner visitors, Peter quietly positioned a wad of gunpowder across the desk, hoping to mild it for enjoyable. His father foiled the plot.
“I feel he was a kind of youngsters who’re extremely shiny however possibly not all the time so good at studying the room,” his daughter Annabelle mentioned in an interview. She added: “He did issues as a result of he may.”
After graduating from Stowe Faculty, a prestigious boarding establishment within the English countryside, Dr. Fenwick studied pure sciences at Cambridge College. Graduated in 1957. after which continued his research there, receiving his medical diploma in 1960.
Dr. Fenwick aspired to grow to be a mind surgeon, however modified his thoughts after observing mind surgical procedure.
“I abruptly realized that in case you’re a mind surgeon, you are going to take a look at a deep, darkish gap within the mind, and I noticed that there is no enjoyable in that,” he said the British newspaper The Telegraph final yr. “I noticed I did not wish to be a neurosurgeon, I wished to be a neuropsychiatrist so I may speak to folks and never go away them unconscious whereas staring into this deep, darkish gap.”
He joined the Maudsley Hospital in London, Britain’s largest psychiatric educating hospital, the place he initially specialised in epilepsy. He additionally studied somnambulism, goals and meditation. (One in every of his first objects of examine within the subject of meditation was George Harrison of the Beatles.)
In 1975 American thinker and psychiatrist Raymond A. Moody Jr. posted “Life After Life”, one of many first books by a physician about near-death experiences. It was a global bestseller, however Dr. Fenwick, like many different readers, was skeptical concerning the deathbed visions recounted within the ebook.
Then, the next yr, a affected person of his informed him he noticed a shiny mild by a tunnel whereas experiencing near-fatal problems throughout coronary heart surgical procedure.
“I used to be in a position to have a look at it, speak it by with him and really see that it wasn’t psychobabble – it was an actual expertise,” Dr Fenwick informed The Telegraph. “That was extraordinarily necessary.”
Dr Fenwick is founding father of the Worldwide Affiliation for Close to-Demise Research UK. He additionally served as president of the Scientific and Medical Community, a company he helps research within the connections between science, philosophy and spirituality.
Along with his daughter Annabelle, Dr. Fenwick is survived by his spouse, Elizabeth (Roberts) Fenwick, with whom he wrote 4 books along with Reality within the Gentle, together with The Artwork of Dying (2008), concerning the dying course of ; one other daughter, Natasha Lowe; a son, Tristam; and 9 grandchildren.
In Reality within the Gentle, Dr. Fenwick revealed that 82 p.c of the folks he surveyed had been much less afraid of loss of life on account of their near-death experiences, and that 42 p.c reported being extra non secular. Forty-eight p.c, he wrote, had been “satisfied” that there was “survival after loss of life.”
“As soon as you have had that have, you modify whether or not you prefer it or not,” he said Telegraph.
His conviction that there was loss of life of the physique, however not of the person, erased any concern he had of loss of life.
“Truly,” he mentioned, “I am trying ahead to it.”
