World Futures
January 1, 2006
Pim van Lommel
65 citations
Near-death experiences (NDEs) in cardiac arrest survivors cannot be explained by physiological, psychological, or pharmacological factors, according to a prospective study in the Netherlands. The article discusses general aspects of NDEs, questions about consciousness and its relation to brain function, and details from the 2001 Lancet study. It explains neurophysiology during cardiac arrest and in a normally functioning brain, and explores implications for consciousness studies, including how continuity of consciousness might be possible. The scientific study of NDEs challenges medical and neurophysiological ideas about the range of human consciousness and the mind-brain relationship.
World Futures
February 17, 2024
Azul Delgrasso
4 citations
5-MeO-DMT, a psychedelic compound used for centuries by Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon, Caribbean, and Northern Mexico for ceremonial and nature-connected practices, is now being studied for treating depression, anxiety, and PTSD. This paper examines the limited historical writings and accounts of the compound's origins and original use, placing those accounts in their historical and cultural contexts.
World Futures
April 29, 2026
Azul Delgrasso, Jay Monger
Leadership emerges less from positional authority than from attunement—an embodied capacity to sense self, others, and context. This article argues that well-designed relational containers, such as the Way of Council and men's work, combined with low-dose (psycholytic) 5-MeO-DMT sessions, can deepen empathy, coherence, and collective intelligence in complex, transdisciplinary settings. Using facilitator narrative, reflective inquiry, and two composite vignettes, the authors show how these practices support ethical self-reflection, dialogic sense making, and responsible action. They emphasize that carefully held low-dose sessions may amplify intersubjective resonance and relational learning when grounded in consent, safety, and cultural humility.
World Futures
April 19, 2026
Pascal Michael
Alien abduction experiences—reports of being taken by non-human entities into craft-like environments—are scientifically contentious but can be explained by converging neuroscientific and psychological mechanisms. Leading neurobiological candidates include sleep paralysis, REM dreaming intrusion, temporoparietal and basal ganglial involvement, 'death feigning' reactivation, and serotonergic changes that alter self-experience. Predictive processing models integrate these factors, framing abduction as high-confidence inferences under sensory ambiguity and arousal, shaped by cultural expectations. Psychological factors like dissociation, fantasy proneness, absorption, suggestibility, memory vulnerability, and past trauma modulate susceptibility and narrative content. Parallels with psychedelic and near-death experiences suggest overlapping mechanisms, though context and meaning-making differ. The review offers an integrated framework while noting limitations and a minority of unexplained cases.