Monday 22nd September 2025 ZOOM SPR WEB EVENT at 8pm (BST): The Spectrum of Paradoxical Consciousness: A Typology of Mind-Brain Anomalies - Michael Nahm

REGISTRATIONS FOR THIS EVENT WILL CLOSE TWO HOURS BEFORE THE TALK IS DUE TO START. ALL SPR WEB EVENTS ARE RECORDED AND A LINK TO THE RECORDING WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY SENT TO THOSE WHO REGISTER TO ATTEND WHEN THE RECORDING IS READY. From the speaker: Lucid awareness in the presence of compromising brain conditions has been reported for a long time by physicians and lay persons. Of those phenomena, experiences that have been termed near-death experiences (NDEs) became increasingly known since the 1970s and have lately been recognized as a serious research topic in the medical setting. The interest in several less known but related phenomena has only gained traction among researchers in mainstream settings more recently. Encompassing attempts to classify these phenomena and depict their interrelations are still lacking. In this chapter, I provide a preliminary typology of lucid awareness in different kinds of circumstances where lucid awareness should not be occurring according to modern models of brain functioning. This typology aims to facilitate communication and streamline future research regarding these phenomena. The first class of phenomena discussed concerns cognitive feats despite different kinds of anatomical brain damage. The second class concerns cognitive feats despite dysfunctional brain physiology. In this context, I will discuss paradoxical lucidity, pleasurable and distressing NDEs, awareness during anaesthesia, as well as a variety of little-known experiences reported from coma states, such as continued awareness in (and out of) the body and “alternate life” experiences.