Do we have scientific proof for the existence of an immortal human soul, one that continues to live after the death of the body, but in an even more intense and complete way than on earth?
According to a Gallup poll, 5% of all people have had an experience of getting a glimpse of the next life after recovering from what was apparently a clinical death. (P. van Lommel, Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience, 2007). This experience is referred to as a near-death experience (NDE). Many famous personalities have survived clinical death, during which they had an NDE. They include American actresses Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Seymour, as well as the English actor and director Peter Sellers. The Italian scientist, neurobiologist Umberto Scapagnini, who survived clinical death, met both his mother, who had died a year earlier, and St. Padre Pio during this experience (cf. Antonio Socci, Those who have returned from beyond, Kraków 2014, p. 107).
In the years 1975-2005, 42 scientific papers were published regarding 2,500 people who had experienced clinical death and had subsequently come back to life (resuscitated). Thanks to these publications, the scientific community began to change its attitude towards the accounts of people who had experienced recovery from clinical death. The breakthrough came with the scientific publication of Pim van Lommel and a team of Dutch experts in the medical journal The Lancet. These researchers studied 60 patients who survived clinical death. In each case, the ECG (heart) recorded cessation of function, and the EEG (brain) was flat. From a medical point of view, these patients were clinically dead, at which point their souls left their bodies. After leaving the body, these souls retained full self-awareness. They could see and hear everything clearly, but they were invisible to people on earth.
Blind Since Birth
In his book Eternal Consciousness, Dr. van Lommel cites testimonies of survivors of clinical death. It describes the case of Vicki, a woman blind since birth, who experienced clinical death as a result of a car accident.
It happened in 1973 when the woman was 22 years old. During the accident, Vicki was completely unconscious. Her skull was fractured and her cervical and thoracic vertebrae cracked. When the doctors confirmed her clinical death, the girl’s soul left her body and she began to see everything clearly for the first time in her life. From above, she watched the wreckage of the car; then she saw her body as it was being transported to the hospital; and the medical team that was performing the resuscitation.
Vicki recognised her body through the wedding ring, which she knew only by touch. She described her extraordinary experience as follows: “I had never seen anything before: no light, no shadow, nothing at all . . . In dreams, I did not see pictures or any visual representations. My senses were just taste, touch, sound and smell. I didn’t experience any visual sensations. The first thing I remembered after the accident was myself at the Harbour View Medical Centre looking down on everything. I was afraid because I had never seen anything before, I had never had any visual experiences before! At first, I was terrified. Eventually, I recognized my wedding ring and my hair. I thought: is that my body lying down there? Have I died or what? They kept shouting, “She’s still not breathing, still not breathing!” And they kept doing something with the body that I had just discovered was my body. I had this feeling: ‘What for? Why are they trying so hard?’ I decided to leave because I couldn’t communicate with these people anyway. As soon as I thought that, I flew up and passed through the ceiling as if it wasn’t there. It was wonderful to be outside and to be free. I wasn’t afraid of hitting anything. I didn’t know where I was going. I heard vivid sounds, like wind chimes as well as other sounds that were the most incredible imaginable – from the lowest to the highest tones.
As I approached a particular area, I saw trees, birds and a few people. It was as if they were woven out of light. I could see them, it was amazing, really great. I was stunned by this discovery because I could never imagine light. And there was something else. I still feel touched when I talk about it . . . I had the impression that I could have any knowledge I wanted. In this other world I met some friends who welcomed me. There were five of them. Debby and Diana were my friends from school who had died long ago, one of them at the age of eleven years old and the other at the age of six. Both were blind and mentally challenged, but here they could see and they looked radiant and beautiful. They were healthy and full of life. They were no longer children, but rather at the age of the peak of female beauty. Aside from them, I saw the Zilks, a couple who took care of me when I was a child. They were both already dead. Then I met my grandmother who actually raised me. She died two years before my accident. Grandma stood back a little and reached out her arms to give me a hug . . . and then I was sent back to my body. The pain was unbearable.”
What Vicki saw at the time of clinical death has been verified and confirmed by eyewitnesses. So these were not the hallucinations of a young woman, but an objective view of reality. Vicki’s body was dead, so neither her brain nor her senses were functioning, but despite the death of her body, she came back to life. During the time when she was clinically dead she had acute awareness, memory, and the ability to see and recognize. Vicki’s testimony about her experience of the fullness of life after death of the body refutes all atheistic dogmas that man does not have an immortal soul and ceases to exist at the time of death.
A Seven-Year-Old Boy
In January of 2000, seven-year-old Matteo Pio Colelli, who lived with his parents in San Giovanni Rotondo, contracted acute meningitis. The boy suffered from septic shock and severe damage to the kidneys, respiratory, cardiovascular, and blood clotting systems, as well as metabolic acidosis. Despite the great efforts of the doctors, the time of the child’s death was approaching. Matte’s parents began to call for the intercession of St. Padre Pio and they brought his relics to the boy’s room. And then an amazing miracle happened: the dying Matteo awoke and regained full consciousness, while his organs began to function perfectly. The doctors were shocked to find out that the patient no longer had the slightest damage to the brain, kidneys or other organs. Miraculously, the boy was healed completely. Dr. Alessandro Villella wrote: “I cannot give a scientific explanation for the complete recovery of little Mattea Colella; I believe that it must have been a supernatural event.” (Antonio Socci, Those Who Returned from the Beyond, Kraków 2014). As Matteo was on the verge of death, his body was in such a state that, from a medical point of view, he could not see or hear anything, much less remember what happened to him. However, as soon as he woke up, the boy related exactly what he had experienced during his clinical death: “I slept and looked at myself from behind the bed from the place where the pumps stood. Then, at one point, I saw many rays of strong light which were shining through the door. This light woke me up and first I saw Padre Pio and then angels on the other side. I saw him as an old man. I could see myself on this bed from a distance, through a round opening, and I was feeling good. I was near the devices, and Padre Pio with a white beard, wearing a long brown gown, gave me his right hand and said: ‘Matteo, do not worry, you will recover soon,’ and he smiled at me. And when you woke me up, I was sick and I was alone, Padre Pio and the angels were gone, I was looking for them and I was suffering.”
The testimony of seven-year-old Matteo, who left his body as he neared death, shows that there is life after death, that a person has not only a body, but also an immortal soul, which continues to live after the death of the body and retains all intellectual and cognitive abilities.
Gloria Polo
On May 5, 1995, at the University of Bogota, Gloria Polo was struck by lightning. Her husband was not injured, but her cousin was killed instantly. Gloria was badly burned, and her heart stopped working. The woman was clinically dead and experienced an NDE. She left her body and found herself in a beautiful white tunnel of enchanting light that gave her joy and peace. Gloria realized she was really dead. She felt herself rising up until she reached a wonderful place which was such a beautiful garden that there are no words to describe it. It was then that she saw her deceased parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. It was a joyful moment for her. Gloria could hug each of them. It was then that she realised that the reincarnation that she had previously believed in was untrue. She was completely free from her body and was not subject to the constraints of time or space. She could hug her children. She saw their thoughts, but they did not realise that their mother was with them.
Gloria’s soul was then returned to her body, which was a very painful experience for her. She was taken to the hospital, and there, lying on the bed, she saw the figure of the Lord Jesus, who with great love asked her to repent of her sins and to ask for God’s mercy. Gloria, however, did not have the awareness of or remorse for her sins. During the surgery, she found herself out of her body again, and it was then that she met the terrifying beings who came to “present her bill” for all the sins she had committed. When the woman tried to escape, she began to sink into a terrible, dark abyss. Disgusting unclean spirits attacked her from all sides. Gloria screamed in terror and thought that she was on fire because of a wave of hatred from the evil spirits. She understood that this was a consequence of all her sins, especially the sins of impurity.
It was then that she saw her whole life in the light of the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments). It was an extremely painful examination of conscience for her, which made her realise how terrible the consequences of sins are. Gloria saw all her sinful deeds, thoughts, and neglect in sequence, like in a movie. She began to apologize sincerely to Jesus. At the same time, she discovered the power of intercessory prayer, which so many people at that time were offering to God on her behalf. When Gloria awoke, her legs, burned by the lightning, and her scorched liver, lungs, kidneys, and ovaries were completely healed. It was a spectacular event. The head of the department said that in 38 years of his medical practice he had not seen such a great miracle.
14/05/2023
