Peter Fenwick, a leading expert on near-death experiences, dies at the age of 89

In early 1988, British neuropsychiatrist Peter Fenwick drowned in letters from people who believed they had had a brush with death.

“I slowly floated through the tunnel, I wasn’t afraid at all, but I couldn’t wait,” one of the men wrote to him. “When it came, I was completely placid and heading towards the most wonderful lightweight. Believe me, it was great. No worries, no problems or anything, just wonderful.”

In another letter, a woman described walking along a country road and coming across golden gates.

“There was the most pretty garden inside, no lawn, path or anything, but flowers of all kinds,” she wrote. “I was most drawn to Madonna’s lilies, delphiniums and roses, but there were many, many more.”

These letters were among more than 2,000 that Dr. Fenwick received shortly after his appearance in the BBC documentary: “Glimpses of Death”, in which he commented on near-death visions of people who apparently died or almost died briefly and then came back to life.

“These letters were written by people who had never, ever told anyone about their experiences,” Dr. Fenwick said in a 2012 study. lecture On TEDxBerlin. “Why? Because they’re too scared. They told it to their wives and husbands; they said they weren’t interested. They told it to their friends; they said, ‘You’re crazy.’

But Dr. Fenwick, an expert in consciousness, was keenly interested. Possessing a more scientifically open mind than many of his peers, he began investigating near-death experiences – a controversial topic in neuroscience – in the mid-1970s. He believed that consciousness existed beyond physical death and thought the letters would aid strengthen his position.

Dr. Fenwick sent the letter writers an extensive questionnaire to classify their experiences. He presented his findings, along with excerpts from the letters, in the book “The Truth in the Delicate: An Investigation of Over 300 Near-Death Experiences” (1995), which he wrote with his wife Elizabeth Fenwick. This book made him a leading authority on near-death research.

Doctor Fenwick died on November 22 at his home in London, said his daughter Annabelle Fenwick. He was 89 years ancient.

“Truth in Delicate” revealed surprising similarities between the letter writers. More than 50 percent of them admitted that they had traveled through the tunnel. Seventy-two percent saw a brilliant lightweight. Nearly 40 percent met someone they knew, including deceased relatives. Surprisingly, 72 percent said they had made the decision to return.

A woman who was involved in a terrible car accident recalls that “a robust feeling encouraged her to enter the lightweight” through the tunnel.

“I was placid, completely content and I understood that I was born on earth and I knew the answer to every mystery – I was not told, I just knew, the lightweight held all the answers,” she wrote. “Then there was sudden confusion. I had to get back to the tunnel quickly; something was wrong.”

Suddenly she continued, “I got my body and all my emotions back. I panicked and felt pain, huge pain throughout my body. I believe I died for a compact time.

Have you had a near-death experience? Share your memories.

For decades, neurologists have dismissed near-death experiences (NDEs) as symptoms of anoxia – a lack of oxygen flowing to the brain. Dr. Fenwick refuted this assessment in “The Truth in the Delicate” by pointing to pilot instructions.

“Pilots in training regularly undergo severe anoxia in simulators to ensure they can put on their oxygen masks in time,” Dr. Fenwick wrote. “Those who don’t do this are not experiencing NDEs; they either pass out or are so disoriented that they try to land on the clouds.”

He also rejected another common criticism of near-death experiences: that they are mere hallucinations, similar to those experienced by people with high fevers.

“But describing it as a hallucination does nothing to explain the underlying mechanism and leaves many ancient questions unanswered,” Dr. Fenwick wrote. “Why would everyone have more or less the same hallucinations under the same circumstances? And why would it seem so real?”

Peter Brooke Cadogan Fenwick was born on May 25, 1935 in Nairobi, Kenya, where his father, Anthony Fenwick, was sent by his family to northern England to grow coffee. His mother, Betty (Darling) Fenwick, was an Australian-born physician and director of surgery at Nairobi Hospital.

Peter was a curious and mischievous boy. He enjoyed building things, including the occasional diminutive bomb. One evening, as his parents were preparing to entertain guests for dinner, Peter quietly scattered a trail of gunpowder around the table, hoping to set it on fire for entertainment. His father disrupted the plot.

“I think he was definitely one of those kids who was incredibly brilliant, but maybe not always that brilliant at reading the room,” his daughter Annabelle said in an interview. She added: “He did things because he could.”

After graduating from Stowe School, a prestigious boarding institution in the English countryside, Dr. Fenwick studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge. He graduated in 1957 and then continued his education there, obtaining a medical diploma in 1960.

Dr. Fenwick wanted to become a brain surgeon, but changed his mind after seeing brain surgery.

“I suddenly realized that if you’re a brain surgeon, you look into a deep, dim hole in the brain and there’s nothing humorous about it,” he said. he said last year by the British newspaper The Telegraph. “I realized I didn’t want to be a neurosurgeon. I wanted to be a neuropsychiatrist so I could talk to people and not pass out while I was staring into this deep, dim hole.”

He started working at the Maudsley Hospital in London, the largest psychiatric teaching hospital in the UK, where he initially specialized in epilepsy. He also studied sleepwalking, dreams and meditation. (One of his first meditation research subjects was George Harrison of the Beatles.)

In 1975, the American philosopher and psychiatrist Raymond A. Moody Jr. published Life After Life, one of the first books written by a physician on near-death experiences. It was an international bestseller, but Dr. Fenwick, like many other readers, was skeptical of the deathbed visions described in the book.

Then, the following year, his patient told him that he had experienced a brilliant lightweight at the end of the tunnel during heart surgery and had experienced near-fatal complications.

“I was able to look at him and discuss it with him and see that it wasn’t psychobabble – it was a real experience,” Dr Fenwick told The Telegraph. “It was extremely essential.”

Dr Fenwick was the founder of the International Association for Near Death Studies in the UK. He was also president of the Scientific and Medical Network, a support organization tests in the connection between science, philosophy and spirituality.

In addition to his daughter Annabelle, Dr. Fenwick is survived by his wife, Elizabeth (Roberts) Fenwick, with whom he wrote four books in addition to “The Truth in the Delicate,” including “The Art of Dying” (2008), about the death process; another daughter, Natasha Lowe; son, Tristam; and nine grandchildren.

In the book “The Truth in the Delicate,” Dr. Fenwick revealed that 82 percent of people he surveyed were less afraid of death as a result of near-death experiences, and 42 percent said they were more spiritual. He wrote that forty-eight percent were “convinced” that there was “survival after death.”

“Once you have the experience, you change whether you like it or not,” he said he said Telegraph.

His belief that the death of the body, and not of an individual, had occurred erased any fear he had of death.

“Actually,” he said, “I’m looking forward to it.”