Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind: A Study of Apparent Eyeless Vision
⚡ Contested ↗📌 Appears in:
Plain English Summary
Can people who have been blind since birth suddenly 'see' during a near-death experience? This groundbreaking 1997 study tackled that wild question head-on. Researchers interviewed 31 blind people who had near-death or out-of-body experiences, and an astonishing 80% reported visual perception — including 9 out of 14 people born completely blind. Their experiences matched the classic pattern reported by sighted people: tunnels of light, life reviews, the works. Two cases were especially striking — a totally blind man correctly described the color and pattern of someone's tie, and a newly blinded woman accurately described a hospital hallway, confirmed by a witness. After ruling out dreaming, guesswork, and other sensory workarounds, the authors proposed something called 'transcendental awareness' — a way of knowing that goes beyond physical eyesight. It's the kind of finding that keeps neuroscientists scratching their heads.
Abstract
This article reports the results of an investigation into near-death and out-of-body experiences in 31 blind respondents. The study sought to address three main questions: (1) whether blind individuals have near-death experiences (NDEs) and, if so, whether they are the same as or different from those of sighted persons; (2) whether blind persons ever claim to see during NDEs and out-of-body experiences (OBEs); and (3) if such claims are made, whether they can ever be corroborated by reference to independent evidence. Our findings revealed that blind persons, including those blind from birth, do report classic NDEs of the kind common to sighted persons; that the great preponderance of blind persons claim to see during NDEs and OBEs; and that occasionally claims of visually-based knowledge that could not have been obtained by normal means can be independently corroborated. We present and evaluate various explanations of these findings before arriving at an interpretation based on the concept of transcendental awareness.
Links
Related Papers
Companion
- Near-Death Experiences with Reports of Meeting Deceased People — Kelly, Emily Williams (2001)
- Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Following Near-Death Experiences — Greyson, Bruce (2001)
- The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, Reliability, and Validity — Greyson, Bruce (1983)
- A systematic analysis of distressing near-death experience accounts — Cassol, Helena (2019)
- The Near-Death Experience Content (NDE-C) scale: Development and psychometric validation — Martial, Charlotte (2020)
- AWARE--AWAreness during REsuscitation--A prospective study — Parnia, Sam (2014)
- AWAreness during REsuscitation - II: A Multi-Center Study of Consciousness and Awareness in Cardiac Arrest — Parnia, Sam (2023)
- Terminal lucidity: A review and a case collection — Nahm, Michael (2012)
- Non-local Consciousness: A Concept Based on Scientific Research on Near-Death Experiences During Cardiac Arrest — van Lommel, Pim (2013)
More in Nde
The Central Clinical Relevance of Near-Death Experiences in Acute Care Contexts
Explanation of Near-Death Experiences: A Systematic Analysis of Case Reports and Qualitative Research
Neuro-Functional Modeling of Near-Death Experiences in Contexts of Altered States of Consciousness
Which Near-Death Experience Features Are Associated with Reduced Fear of Death?
Advancing the Evidence for Survival of Consciousness
📋 Cite this paper
Ring, Kenneth, Cooper, Sharon (1997). Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind: A Study of Apparent Eyeless Vision. Journal of Near-Death Studies. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025010015662
@article{ring_1997_near_death_blind,
title = {Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind: A Study of Apparent Eyeless Vision},
author = {Ring, Kenneth and Cooper, Sharon},
year = {1997},
journal = {Journal of Near-Death Studies},
doi = {10.1023/A:1025010015662},
}