Review

A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences.

Volume: 13 Number: 2 August 31, 2026
EN TR

A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences.

Abstract

Living beings create order while, under the second law of thermodynamics, producing greater disorder through metabolic heat dissipation. Consciousness creates additional order that supports survival and reproduction, generating an entropy debt that must be discharged non-metabolically as heat according to Landauer’s principle through information erasure within the “explanatory gap” of the hard problem. Consciousness is assumed to depend on tryptophan in microtubules and its capacity for heat dissipation through superradiation. After post-mortem microtubule decomposition, this mechanism would cease, violating Landauer’s principle and the second law; therefore, survival after death would imply life-before-death solipsism. This framework distinguishes near-death experiences (NDEs) and out-of-body experiences (OBEs) from life after death and proposes natural biophysical mechanisms. NDEs and OBEs may result from disinhibited microtubular consciousness after electroencephalographic activity stops, while microtubular tryptophan remains activated by ultraviolet photons. These photons may originate from light reaching the retina or skin and be transmitted to the brain through mitochondria and microtubules functioning as optical waveguides. Ultra-weak photon emissions also accompany membrane depolarization at death. The transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics may explain entanglement between microtubular and environmental photons, potentially accounting for rare veridical extraocular perceptions. Veridical auditory experiences may involve ambient sound stimulation of Heschl’s gyrus through auditory-nerve axonal solitons or transcranial low-frequency sound perception. Finally, near death, a pseudo-solipsistic sense of “added time” may produce an apparent eternity despite progressively declining microtubular stimulation in the dying brain during the final stages of consciousness.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

There is no supporting institution

Ethical Statement

There is no need for an ethics committee approval

Thanks

I am grateful to Dr. Ruth Kastner for her correspondence concerning the potential role of the quantum substratum in the generation of veridical NBEs and OBEs.

References

  1. 1. Lugten PC. How Entropy Explains the Emergence of Consciousness: The Entropic Theory. J. Neurobehav. Sci. 2024; 11(1):10-18 https://doi.org/10.4103/jnbs.jnbs_6_24.
  2. 2. Chalmers D. Reality+. New York: W.W. Norton, 2022 p. 398.
  3. 3. Landauer R. Irreversibility and heat generation in the computing process. IBM J 1961; 5(3): 183-191.
  4. 4. Hameroff S, Penrose R. Reply to Seven Commentaries on ‘Consciousness in the Universe: Review of the ‘Orch OR’ Theory’. Phys. Life Rev. 2014; 11(1): 94-100.
  5. 5. Kurian P. Computational Capacity of Life in Relation to the Universe. Sci.Adv. 2025; 11(13) https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt4623
  6. 6. Kastner RE. On Quantum Non-unitary as a Basis of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Entropy 2017;19(3):1612.08734, p. 106. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1612.08734. 7. Moody R. Life After Life. Atlanta: Mockingbird Books, 1975
  7. 8. Greyson B. The Darker Side of Near-Death Experiences. J. Sci. Explor. 2023; 37(4): 683- 699. https://doi.org/10.31275/20232843.
  8. 9. King RA. The Irrelevance of Time in Near-Death Experiences. Academia Letters, Article 2427. July 2021 https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2427.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Central Nervous System

Journal Section

Review

Publication Date

August 31, 2026

Submission Date

March 4, 2026

Acceptance Date

August 19, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 13 Number: 2

APA
Lugten, P. (2026). A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences. The Journal of Neurobehavioral Sciences, 13(2), 75-85. https://doi.org/10.32739/jnbs.13.2.291
AMA
1.Lugten P. A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences. JNBS. 2026;13(2):75-85. doi:10.32739/jnbs.13.2.291
Chicago
Lugten, Peter. 2026. “A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences”. The Journal of Neurobehavioral Sciences 13 (2): 75-85. https://doi.org/10.32739/jnbs.13.2.291.
EndNote
Lugten P (August 1, 2026) A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences. The Journal of Neurobehavioral Sciences 13 2 75–85.
IEEE
[1]P. Lugten, “A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences”., JNBS, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 75–85, Aug. 2026, doi: 10.32739/jnbs.13.2.291.
ISNAD
Lugten, Peter. “A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences”. The Journal of Neurobehavioral Sciences 13/2 (August 1, 2026): 75-85. https://doi.org/10.32739/jnbs.13.2.291.
JAMA
1.Lugten P. A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences. JNBS. 2026;13:75–85.
MLA
Lugten, Peter. “A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences”. The Journal of Neurobehavioral Sciences, vol. 13, no. 2, Aug. 2026, pp. 75-85, doi:10.32739/jnbs.13.2.291.
Vancouver
1.Peter Lugten. A Hypothetical Explanation for Near-Death and Out-of Body Experiences. JNBS. 2026 Aug. 1;13(2):75-8. doi:10.32739/jnbs.13.2.291