Dr. Griffiths said: an 

improved outlook on life 

after an experience in 

which the boundaries 

between the self 

and others disappear. 

In interviews, Dr. Martin 

and other subjects described 

their egos and bodies vanishing 

as they felt part of some larger 

state of consciousness in which 

their personal worries and insecurities 

vanished. They found 

themselves reviewing past relationships 

with lovers and relatives 

with a new sense of empathy. 

Dr. Grob writes, “individuals 

transcend their primary identification 

with their bodies and experience 

ego-free states before the time 

of their actual physical demise, 

and return with a new perspective 

and profound acceptance of the life 

constant: change.”