In early 1988, British neuropsychiatrist Peter Fenwick found himself inundated with letters from people who believed they had survived near-death encounters.
“I floated slowly down a tunnel, not at all afraid but looking forward to something,” one man wrote to her. “When it came I was completely relaxed and going to the most wonderful light. Believe me, it was great. No worries, worries or anything, just amazing.
In another letter, a woman described walking down a country lane and coming upon golden gates.
“Inside was the most beautiful garden, no lawn, path or anything else, but all kinds of flowers,” he wrote. “The ones that attracted me the most were the Madonna lily, the delphinium and the rose, but there were many, many more.”
The letters were among more than 2,000 received by Dr Fenwick shortly after he appeared in a BBC documentary. “Death Glimpse” In which he commented on near-death visions of people who appeared to be briefly dead, or nearly dead, and then revived.
“These letters are written by people who have never told anyone about their experiences before,” Dr. Fenwick said in 2012. Lecture But TEDxBerlin. “Why? Because they’re so scared. They told their wives or their husbands. They said they weren’t interested. They told their friends. They said, ‘You’re crazy.’
But consciousness expert Dr. Fenwick took a keen interest. More scientifically open-minded than many of his peers, he began studying near-death experiences—a controversial subject in neuroscience—in the mid-1970s. He believed that consciousness existed beyond physical death, and he believed that letters would help strengthen his position.
Dr. Fenwick sent letter writers a long questionnaire to rate their experiences. He presented his findings, along with excerpts from the letters, in “The Truth in the Light: An Investigation of Over 300 Near-Death Experiences” (1995), which he wrote with his wife, Elizabeth Fenwick. The book established him as a leading authority on near-death studies.
Dr Fenwick died on November 22 at his home in London, his daughter Annabelle Fenwick said. He was 89 years old.
“Truth in Light” revealed a startling similarity between the letter writers. More than 50 percent of them reported traveling in a tunnel. 72 percent saw a bright light. About 40 percent met someone they knew, including deceased relatives. Surprisingly, 72 percent said they had decided to return.
A woman who was involved in a horrific car accident recalls being “motivated by a strong feeling to enter the light” through a tunnel.
“I was at peace, completely content, and I thought I was born on Earth and knew the answer to every mystery – I wasn’t told, I just knew, the light held all the answers,” she said. He wrote. “Then all of a sudden there was confusion. I had to hurry back to the tunnel. Something was wrong.”
Suddenly, he continued, “I regained my body and all my emotions. I panicked and felt pain, great pain all over my body. I believed I had been dead for a while.’ ‘
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Neuroscientists have for decades dismissed near-death experiences, or NDEs, as symptoms of anoxia — a lack of oxygen to the brain. Dr. Fenwick rejected this assessment in “Truth in the Light,” referring to the pilots’ instructions.
“Pilots in training regularly go through severe anoxia in simulators to ensure they can get their oxygen masks on in time,” he wrote. “People who fail to do this don’t have NDEs. They either faint or become so confused that they try to land their plane in the clouds.
He also rejected another common criticism of near-death experiences: that they are run-of-the-mill hallucinations, like those experienced by people with high fevers.
“But describing it as a hallucination does not explain the underlying mechanism and leaves many old questions unanswered,” Dr. Fenwick wrote. “Why should everyone have more or less the same delusion under the same circumstances? And why does it seem so real?”
Peter Brook Cadogan Fenwick was born on 25 May 1935 in Nairobi, Kenya, where his father, Anthony Fenwick, was sent by his family to farm coffee in northern England. His mother, Betty (Darling) Fenwick, was an Australian-born doctor and director of surgery at Nairobi Hospital.
Peter was a curious and mischievous boy. He liked to make things, including the occasional small bomb. One evening, as his parents prepare to host dinner guests, Peter quietly lays a trail of dynamite around the table to light it for fun. His father interrupted the plot.
“I think he was clearly one of those kids who is incredibly bright but maybe not always so brilliant at reading across the room,” his daughter Annabelle said in an interview. “He did things because he could,” she added.
After graduating from Stowe School, a prestigious boarding school in the English countryside, Dr. Fenwick studied natural sciences at Cambridge University. He graduated in 1957 and continued his studies there, earning his medical degree in 1960.
Dr. Fenwick aspired to be a brain surgeon, but changed his mind after observing brain surgery.
“I suddenly realized that if you were a brain surgeon, you saw a deep, black hole in the brain, and I could see that it was no fun”. told “I realized I didn’t want to be a neurosurgeon, I wanted to be a neuropsychiatrist so I could talk to people and not make them unconscious when I was in this deep, dark hole,” the British newspaper The Telegraph reported last year. I saw.”
He joined London’s Maudsley Hospital, the UK’s largest psychiatric teaching hospital, where he first specialized in epilepsy. He also studied sleepwalking, dreams and meditation. (His first research paper was in meditation. George Harrison of the Beatles.).
Published in 1975 by American philosopher and psychologist Raymond A. Moody Jr. “Life After Life” One of the first books by a therapist about near-death experiences. It was an international bestseller, but Dr. Fenwick, like many other readers, was skeptical about the near-death dreams described in the book.
Then, the following year, one of his patients told him he had seen a bright light through a tunnel while experiencing near-fatal complications during heart surgery.
“I could see it, talk it through with him and actually see that it wasn’t a psychobabble – it was a real experience,” Dr Fenwick told The Telegraph. “It was very important.”
Dr Fenwick was founder of the International Association for Near Death Studies UK. He was also president of the Scientific and Medical Network, an organization that supports Research At the interface between science, philosophy and spirituality.
In addition to his daughter Annabelle, he is survived by his wife, Elizabeth (Roberts) Fenwick, with whom he wrote four books in addition to “The Truth in the Light,” including “The Art of Dying” (2008). process of death; another daughter, Natasha Love; a son, Tristam; and nine grandchildren.
In “Truth in the Light,” Dr. Fenwick revealed that 82 percent of the people he surveyed were less afraid of dying as a result of near-death experiences, and 42 percent reported being more spiritual. . Forty-eight percent, he wrote, “believed” there was “life after death.”
“Once you’ve had that experience, you’re changed, whether you like it or not,” he told The Telegraph.
His belief that there is death of the body, but not of the individual person, erased the fear he had about dying.
“Actually,” he said, “I’m looking forward to it.”