Who Is Raymond A. Moody

Raymond A. Moody Jr. (born 1944) is an American philosopher, psychiatrist, and author who is widely credited with coining the term "near-death experience" (NDE) and bringing the phenomenon to mainstream public awareness. Moody holds both a PhD in philosophy and an MD, and this dual training—rare in the field—has shaped his distinctive approach: he treats NDEs as phenomena that deserve serious philosophical analysis, not just clinical description. His 1975 book Life After Life, based on interviews with approximately 150 people who had been clinically dead or close to death and reported vivid conscious experiences, became an international bestseller and launched a field of inquiry that now spans cardiology, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy of mind.

Before Life After Life, near-death experiences were occasionally noted in medical literature but had no common name, no shared vocabulary, and no systematic study. Moody identified a recurring pattern of elements—leaving the body, passing through a tunnel or darkness, encountering a being of light, experiencing a life review, reaching a boundary, and returning with a transformed sense of meaning and purpose—that he compiled into a composite "model NDE." While he was careful to note that no single person reported all elements, the pattern was striking enough to galvanize both public interest and scientific investigation. His work directly inspired the founding of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) and influenced subsequent researchers including Kenneth Ring, Michael Sabom, Pim van Lommel, and Sam Parnia. Moody has continued to explore the boundaries of consciousness through work on shared death experiences, grief therapy using mirror-gazing (a technique adapted from ancient Greek psychomanteum practice), and the philosophical implications of NDEs for questions about the nature of mind, identity, and death.

Core Concepts

1. The near-death experience as a consistent, cross-cultural phenomenon
   • Moody’s foundational contribution was demonstrating that people who come close to death—across different ages, cultures, religions, and medical circumstances—report strikingly similar conscious experiences. He identified common elements (out-of-body perception, tunnel passage, light, life review, encounter with deceased relatives, a boundary or point of no return) that now define the standard phenomenological profile of NDEs. This pattern has been replicated by subsequent researchers worldwide. (Wikipedia)
2. The NDE as a philosophical problem, not just a medical curiosity
   • Unlike many researchers who frame NDEs purely as neurological events, Moody has consistently insisted that they raise genuine philosophical questions about the relationship between consciousness and the brain. His philosophical training leads him to treat the hard problem of consciousness—whether subjective experience can be fully explained by brain activity—as central to understanding NDEs, rather than dismissing them as hallucinations or affirming them as proof of an afterlife.
3. Shared death experiences
   • In later work, Moody documented cases where bystanders at a deathbed—family members, nurses, friends—reported experiencing elements of the NDE alongside the dying person: leaving the body, seeing a light, encountering deceased relatives. These "shared death experiences" are significant because the bystanders are not themselves physiologically compromised, making conventional neurological explanations (oxygen deprivation, endorphin release) harder to apply.
4. The psychomanteum and facilitated grief encounters
   • Drawing on ancient Greek oracle-of-the-dead practices, Moody developed a modern "psychomanteum"—a controlled mirror-gazing environment designed to facilitate visionary encounters with deceased loved ones. While controversial, he has reported that a significant majority of participants experience some form of perceived contact, and the practice has been explored as a grief therapy technique by subsequent clinicians.

Essential Writings

• Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon—Survival of Bodily Death
  • The book that started the field. Moody’s slim, readable account of 150 NDE cases established the vocabulary and phenomenological framework that all subsequent research has built upon. Originally published in 1975, it has sold over 13 million copies and been translated into dozens of languages.
  • Best use: still the essential first read. It’s short, vivid, and philosophically honest—Moody raises the questions without forcing conclusions.
• Glimpses of Eternity: Sharing a Loved One’s Passage from This Life to the Next
  • Moody’s exploration of shared death experiences—cases where people at the bedside of a dying person report participating in the dying person’s transition experience. It extends NDE research into territory that is harder to explain through individual brain-based mechanisms.
  • Best use: for readers already familiar with NDEs who want to explore the next frontier of the data.
• The Light Beyond
  • A follow-up to Life After Life that incorporates additional cases, responds to criticisms, and expands on the transformative aftereffects of NDEs—including lasting changes in values, reduced fear of death, and increased compassion reported by experiencers.
  • Best use: the natural second read after Life After Life, especially for readers interested in how NDEs change people long-term.
• Reunions: Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones
  • Moody’s account of the psychomanteum experiments—a controlled mirror-gazing environment based on ancient Greek practices, designed to facilitate visionary contact with deceased loved ones as a form of grief therapy.
  • Best use: the most unusual of Moody’s books—read it for the creative methodology and its implications for the psychology of grief and bereavement.

Image Attribution

Raymond Moody at a workshop in Paris, 5 February 2017. Source: Own work. Author: Ehabich Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raymond_Moody_1.jpg