Research challenges the materialistic understanding of death, according to which biological death represents the final end of existence and of all conscious activity.

Individuals approaching death often experience encounters with their dead relatives, who seem to welcome them to the next world. These deathbed visions are authentic and convincing they are often followed by a state of euphoria and seem to ease the transition.

If consciousness can function independently of the body during one's lifetime, it could be able to do the same after death.

Dying before dying has two important consequences: It liberates the individual from the fear of death and influences the actual experience of dying at the time of biological demise.

A number of cases have been reported in which a dying individual has a vision of a person about whose death he or she did not know.