Nancy Rynes was a science writer and professed agnostic until she had a Near Death Experience following a cycling accident. In this interview, she discusses her accident, the NDE experience and the subsequent integration of those experiences into her worldview.
Her story contains many elements common to the NDE including a life review and a fundamental flip in life philosophy and beliefs.
A quick skip to her website http://nancyrynes.com, and you can see that she has also leveraged her experience into a monetised business with books, coaching, public speaking and even paintings for sale.
To be fair, if I had experienced similar events I would probably be motivated to raise awareness about it in as many public arenas as possible. It is pretty big news after all.
But turning an NDE into ones personal brand sits a little uneasy with me, credibility-wise.
I think this interview is still well worth watching (with a critical eye) and I leave it to you to make your own assessment as to its veracity.
Full disclosure: my own opinions now lean towards the high probability that ones phenomenal consciousness does not end at death.
As to one’s identity, personality, memories, physical form etc….based on this account (and many others) there does seem to be some ‘self‘ continuity at least in the initial minutes after death.
As to what happens out beyond that, we can only speculate…and contemplate.
PS: I have written quite a few posts now covering Near Death Experiences and if you are interested you can read more here:
- Looking at the evidence for survival of human consciousness after death.
- Book review: After.
- Near Death Experience. A philosophical inquiry
- NDE: Anke Evertz
- A Dutch study on NDE
- The Near Death Experience of Dr Bettina Peyton

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