In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife

In the final section of the book, Junger delves deeper into near-death experiences. He notes that while medical science can explain phenomena like tunnels of light and out-of-body sensations through neurochemical processes, it struggles to account for the consistent reports of dying individuals seeing deceased loved ones. Junger emphasizes that these visions occur across diverse settings—from mud huts to hospital rooms, and car accidents to battlefields. He recounts personal experiences, including his mother’s vision of her estranged brother George, shortly before her death. Junger also shares a paramedic’s account of a 70-year-old woman who seemed to foresee her imminent death during a heart attack.

Junger extensively references William F. Barrett’s Deathbed Visions, a compilation of numerous similar experiences from previous centuries. He notes that the accounts in Barrett’s book are remarkably consistent, not only with each other but also with modern reports. Junger highlights cases in which individuals saw visions of recently deceased people whose deaths they could otherwise not have known about, such as the Frenchman Paul Durocq, who saw a friend who had died while Durocq was traveling. The author also mentions Barrett’s focus on the death visions of children, which Junger finds particularly persuasive.

The narrative then shifts to discussing the improbable nature of existence itself. Junger details the precise physical constants required for the universe to support life, citing calculations that suggest the odds of these conditions occurring by chance are astronomically low—10 to the power of negative 230. This leads Junger to ponder whether, given the improbability of existence, other seemingly impossible phenomena might be possible.

Junger provides a comprehensive overview of quantum theory’s development, mentioning key figures and their contributions. He begins with Max Planck’s breakthrough in 1900, when the German theoretical physicist solved a problem involving thermal radiation by inventing the “quantum of action.” Junger explains that a quantum is the smallest possible unit of energy that can be emitted by an electron, and Planck’s discovery showed that energy is radiated in units rather than waves. The author then discusses Albert Einstein’s contributions, noting how Einstein, while working as a patent clerk, proposed that light was composed of quantum packets that could behave as both particles and waves. This led to Niels Bohr’s work on calculating the angular momentum of electrons, which in turn helped Louis de Broglie demonstrate that electrons orbiting a nucleus behave like waves as well as particles. Junger pays particular attention to Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, which proposes that an electron exists as a statistical probability in multiple positions simultaneously until observed, at which point its wave function collapses into a single state.

Throughout this section, Junger stresses how these quantum concepts challenge classical notions of reality. He discusses the idea of particles existing in multiple states simultaneously (superposition) and how the act of observation appears to create the very thing being observed. The author mentions Schrödinger’s famous cat thought experiment to illustrate these paradoxical ideas. Junger connects these scientific concepts to broader philosophical questions about the nature of reality and consciousness. He discusses how some physicists, including Schrödinger, turned to ancient philosophical and religious texts to grapple with the implications of quantum theory. Finally, Junger explores how these quantum principles might apply to the entire universe, discussing the theory that the universe existed as a nearly infinite wave function until conscious thought forced it into existence in its current form. He draws parallels between these scientific ideas and religious or philosophical concepts about the nature of reality and consciousness, suggesting that quantum mechanics might provide a bridge between scientific and spiritual understandings of the world.

The narrative touches on the historical tension between scientific inquiry and religious orthodoxy, exemplified by the story of Casimir Liszinski, a 17th-century thinker executed for heresy. Liszinski, a lapsed Polish Jesuit, wrote a secret treatise proposing that humans created God, rather than the reverse. Liszinski was initially sentenced to die by brutal, protracted torture. Junger notes that while this sentence was commuted to beheading followed by burning, it still demonstrates the extreme reactions faced by those who challenged religious orthodoxy with rational thought during that era. The author contrasts Liszinski’s fate with his own father’s dedication to science and reason in a more tolerant era, sharing anecdotes about his father’s work and passion for physics. Junger grapples with the contradiction between his father’s scientific worldview and the inexplicable vision of his father during his own near-death experience.

Junger explores various theories about consciousness and reality. He discusses the idea of biocentrism proposed by Robert Lanza, which suggests consciousness might be a fundamental aspect of the universe, like gravity or electromagnetism. This theory posits that consciousness is woven into the very nature of matter. Junger acknowledges that critics argue biocentrism cannot be tested, but he suggests this doesn't necessarily invalidate the theory. As with quantum mechanics, the untestability of biocentrism suggests that it may function as a bridge between rationalist and religious or spiritual understandings of the world.

The author examines the concept of “delayed-choice quantum erasure,” explaining an experiment conducted in the early 21st century that seemed to demonstrate the possibility of retroactively altering past events (132). Scientists constructed a quantum eraser between the islands of La Palma and Tenerife, 88 miles apart. A beam of light was projected through parallel slits on La Palma and then traveled across the ocean to a screen on Tenerife. By observing individual photons as they arrived on Tenerife, scientists appeared to alter those photons’ behavior on La Palma. This concept is explained in greater detail in the Index of Terms. Junger uses it to argue that common understandings of time and causality may not reflect reality.

Junger considers the profound implications of these ideas for humanity’s understanding of time, causality, and the nature of reality itself. He speculates about the possibility that the universe might prohibit complete knowledge of itself, suggesting that as physicists get closer to ultimate truths, test results might become increasingly unreliable. The author even proposes that the cosmos might be consciously tricking humans to prevent a fatal self-referential collapse of the universe.

Throughout the text, Junger interweaves personal reflections with scientific and philosophical discussions. He ponders the nature of his own survival, questioning whether he might have died and is experiencing an alternate reality. The author considers theories like the multiplicity of universes and Leibniz’s monad theory, which proposes that each individual exists in a self-contained universe. He contrasts the monad theory with Schrödinger’s notion of a single, overarching consciousness, suggesting that people’s individual experiences might be illusions concealing an ultimate reality of one great, unified awareness. Junger reflects on the commonality of beliefs about death as a merging rather than a severing across various religions, mystical experiences, and scientific theories.

The chapter concludes with a detailed anecdote about a camping trip Junger took with his father as a teenager. He describes how his father became hypothermic. Junger recounts setting up camp, building a fire, and caring for his father, reflecting on the trust and love implicit in their relationship. He emphasizes the significance of love and companionship in the face of the great unknown of death.