Consciousness as a Channel for UAP and the Supernatural

People describe “supernatural” episodes with disarming clarity. A tunnel of light during a medical crisis. A seemingly telepathic message during a close pass of a bright, silent object in the sky. 

An encounter with a deceased spouse that feels more real than memory. Across traditions these events are reported to change lives: fear of death softens, priorities reorganize, altruism grows, and creativity spikes. If we care about consciousness as a measurable feature of human life, then we should care about how these extraordinary episodes shift it.

This explainer maps the most common kinds of “supernatural” experiences, the instruments used to study them, what tends to change afterward, and the live debates about mechanism. Where appropriate we add speculation labels so readers can see where evidence ends and hypotheses begin.

Note:  UAPedia approaches this topic like a court that admits credible testimony and weighs it alongside instruments and peer-reviewed research. We do not over-rely on any single stream of authority. That includes government reports, which we treat as one source among many, in line with our editorial policy: How UAPedia treats government sources.

A working definition and a measurement toolkit

By “higher state of consciousness” we mean a shift in at least one of these domains that persists beyond the moment: reduced death anxiety, broadened sense of connection, sustained meaning, prosocial motivation, or enhanced cognitive flexibility. 

This is pragmatic rather than metaphysical. It lets us ask which events move the needle and with what reliability.

Core instruments and findings:

• Greyson Near-Death Experience Scale. A validated clinical instrument that differentiates near-death experiences (NDEs) from other states. Reliability and validity were established four decades ago, enabling consistent comparisons and aftereffect studies. (PubMed)
• MEQ-30 (Mystical Experience Questionnaire). A 30-item, validated measure used in controlled trials to quantify unity, sacredness, and ineffability. It shows strong psychometrics across multiple psilocybin studies. (PMC)
• AWE-oriented behavioral measures. Experiments show that induced awe decreases self-focus and increases generosity and helping behaviors. (PubMed)
• Absorption traits. The Tellegen Absorption literature indicates that a person’s propensity to become deeply immersed correlates with suggestibility and the intensity of altered states. It is a background factor that can modulate how a supernatural event is perceived. (PMC)

Types of experiences, what changes after, and what the data say

Near-death experiences

What happens. Reported features include panoramic life review, encounters with deceased persons or luminous beings, and a sense of traveling through or becoming light. Clinically, NDEs occur during extreme physiological crisis such as cardiac arrest.

After the event. The most robust pattern is a drop in fear of death paired with increased spirituality and compassion. A 2021 analysis found that positive emotions during an NDE correlated with greater reductions in fear of death afterward. (UVA School of Medicine) Systematic reviews agree on common positive transformations such as altruism and life meaning, while acknowledging distressing variants that can produce confusion and anxiety. (PMC)

How we measure it. The Greyson Scale standardizes intensity and content across cases, making comparisons and long-term follow-ups possible. (PubMed)

Nuances.

• Distressing NDEs exist. Nancy Evans Bush and Bruce Greyson document three recurring subtypes: inverse, void, and hellish. These are rarer, require careful integration, and can still be transformative over time. (PMC)
• Consciousness during CPR. The multi-center AWARE-II study examined electrocortical activity during resuscitation and documented structured experiences in a subset of survivors, including some reports of awareness without explicit recall. The study does not settle the survival question. It does justify continued inquiry into awareness during apparent clinical death. (PubMed)

Post-NDE expectations. Reduced death anxiety, re-prioritized values, increased compassion, and a drive toward service are repeatedly reported. Many experiencers also report difficulty fitting back into previous social roles, which argues for gentle, informed aftercare. (UVA School of Medicine)

Speculation label
Hypothesis: NDEs may transiently relax high-level predictive priors, allowing atypical information integration that leaves durable trait-level changes. This is consistent with predictive processing models, though mechanism during anoxia remains debated.

Psychedelic-occasioned mystical experiences

What happens. In controlled settings, a single high-dose psilocybin session can produce complete mystical-type experiences by MEQ-30 criteria. (PMC)

After the event. Personality research shows significant and lasting increases in the domain of Openness after psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences, often persisting beyond one year. Participants and community observers report enduring changes in attitudes and behavior. (PMC)

How we measure it. MEQ-30 total and subscale scores, combined with long-term follow-ups.

Nuances.

• Not uniformly blissful. Acute anxiety or “challenging experiences” can occur, which skilled preparation and support can mitigate. (PubMed)
• Mechanism debates. The REBUS model predicts relaxed high-level priors and increased bottom-up signaling during psychedelic states, which explains why content feels self-authentic and insight-laden. This does not determine whether some reported entities are non-local or internally generated. Speculation label: Researcher opinion.

Post-experience expectations. Sustained meaning, prosocial orientation, refreshed creative problem solving, and a sense of connectedness are commonly reported in clinical cohorts who were carefully screened and supported. (PubMed)

After-death communications and deathbed phenomena

What happens. Many bereaved individuals report a felt presence, sensory encounters, or dreams of the deceased that feel qualitatively real. End-of-life staff frequently report that dying patients speak with deceased relatives shortly before death.

After the event. These experiences are often comforting and associated with healthier grief trajectories. In a 2023 study of partner after-death communications, 40 percent reported accelerated recovery and similar proportions reported positive meaning-making. (UVA School of Medicine)

How we measure it. Population studies and clinical surveys. A classic epidemiological study found that nearly half of widows and widowers reported at least one sensory encounter with a deceased spouse. Later critical reviews place prevalence in the 30 to 60 percent range. (PMC)

Nuances.

• Methodological caution. Many deathbed vision studies rely on secondhand reports from staff rather than patients, which can bias content. Newer prospective designs are improving this. (PMC)
• Cultural framing. What is perceived, and how it is interpreted, tracks cultural beliefs. That does not mean it is “just culture”; it means interpretation channels the meaning and the aftereffects.

Post-experience expectations. Reduced loneliness and death anxiety, greater peace about the deceased, sometimes a spontaneous shift toward spiritual practice. (ScienceDirect)

Speculation label
Witness interpretation: some ADCs may be more than grief imagery. The evidence is not dispositive either way.

Sleep-linked “threshold” phenomena: sleep paralysis, lucid dreams, and out-of-body experiences

What happens. Sleep paralysis blends waking awareness with dream physiology, often with a sensed presence. Lucidity adds meta-awareness to dream content. Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) can occur spontaneously or be induced by neurological triggers.

After the event. For some, these episodes are terrifying. For others they catalyze spiritual curiosity or creative practice. Education about sleep physiology reduces distress, and skill training can convert paralysis into lucid exploration.

How we measure it.

• Lifetime prevalence of sleep paralysis is about 7.6 percent in the general population and higher in student and psychiatric samples. (PMC)
• OBEs correlate with altered processing at the temporo-parietal junction. Electrical stimulation has occasionally evoked OBE-like experiences in patients, anchoring phenomenology to known multisensory integration hubs. (The Journal of Neuroscience)

Nuances.

• Not all OBEs are pathology. Neuroscience shows a pathway by which self-location can shift. It does not settle the ontology of OBE content.
• Transformational potential. Some people report a durable sense that consciousness is not rigidly tied to the body, which changes their values and reduces death anxiety. This is testimony, not a lab finding.

Post-experience expectations. Better sleep hygiene and education tend to reduce fear. Those who cultivate lucid skills sometimes report increases in creativity and problem solving that carry into daytime life.

Speculation label
Researcher opinion: threshold states loosen predictive models and can enable insight when guided safely.

Kundalini-type awakenings

What happens. A rapid onset of somatic currents, spontaneous movements, heat, and altered perception following intense spiritual practice or spontaneously. The phenomenon is recognized in yogic literature and has analogues in other traditions.

After the event. Reports vary from profound clarity and compassion to destabilizing anxiety, insomnia, and sensory overload. Distinguishing spiritual emergence from psychiatric crisis requires careful, case-by-case evaluation.

How we measure it. Case series and clinical overviews discuss differentials between psychopathology and spiritually framed kundalini events. Greyson has cataloged characteristic somatic and psychological features. Recent case literature underscores the overlap with psychosis in a small subset. (UVA School of Medicine)

Nuances.

• Integration is the work. Breath regulation, grounding, trauma-sensitive therapy, and community support are common building blocks for stabilization.
• Clinician humility helps. Recognizing both the growth potential and the risks is essential in treatment planning.

Post-experience expectations. When stabilized, many report a wide-angle awareness, spontaneous compassion, and re-ordered life values. When poorly supported, prolonged dysregulation is possible.

Speculation label
Hypothesis: large autonomic shifts plus meaning amplification may drive both symptoms and growth.

Meaning-laden coincidences and “synchronicity”

What happens. A cluster of external events seems uncannily coordinated with inner life. Many experiencers report a surge of these coincidences around major spiritual events or after first contact-like episodes.

After the event. Some report an expanded sense of participation in reality and a tilt toward creativity or service. Others feel destabilized or obsessively pattern-seeking.

How we measure it. Instrument development has accelerated, including a validated Synchronicity Awareness Scale and diary methods. Emerging work links the frequency of perceived meaningful coincidences to creative activity, although effects vary by measure. (PMC)

Nuances.

• Bias vs. mystery. Frequency-illusion and apophenia can inflate the sense of the uncanny. On the other hand, many coincidental clusters resist simple probability explanations at the level of personal meaning. (Wikipedia)

Post-experience expectations. A phase of intense meaning making is common. Gentle skepticism and good journaling hygiene can keep growth without sliding into compulsive patterning.

Speculation label
Researcher opinion: meaning-tracking systems in the brain temporarily up-weight salience after extraordinary events, which increases both insight and false positives.

UAP encounters as a special case

UAP contact belongs in this map because many close-range reports include non-verbal messaging, altered time sense, and the “Oz Factor” calm-hyperreal bubble. Large-N survey work by the Dr. Edgar Mitchell FREE Foundation reports high rates of telepathic impressions among experiencers. These data are not population prevalence figures. They are still the largest structured sample showing that consciousness-centered content is common in contact narratives. (A Greater Reality)

Children at the 1994 Ariel School event in Zimbabwe told investigators that environmental warnings were “put into their minds.” The telepathic element remains debated, yet the case illustrates why post-event changes in values often follow perceived contact.

Jenny Randles’ widely referenced “Oz Factor” describes a repeatable phenomenology of suspended sound, slowed time, and heightened clarity at the heart of many high-strangeness close encounters. The pattern matters because it often coincides with the very cognitive shifts reported after the event. (Encyclopedia.com)

Speculation label. Hypothesis: some UAP events operate across physical and informational layers, with consciousness acting as part of the channel.

Life after the extraordinary: common trajectories

Across types, three post-experience arcs recur:

1. Integration to growth. Death fear drops. Values shift from status to service. Awe becomes a trait rather than a state. Randomized studies of awe induction demonstrate measurable increases in prosocial behavior, which aligns with many testimonies. (PubMed)
2. Destabilization to healing. Distressing NDEs, kundalini crises, and recurrent sleep paralysis can trigger anxiety or depression. Clinicians who know the terrain can help distinguish emergency from emergence and reduce risk. (PMC)
3. Creative reconfiguration. Experiencers report creativity bursts, often supported by hypnagogic practices or dream journaling. Controlled work on threshold states shows that even brief N1 micro-sleep can triple rule-discovery odds in problem solving. The lab mechanisms differ by episode type, yet the subjective arc is similar.

What actually shifts in consciousness

• Death salience re-coded as wonder. Studies repeatedly link NDEs to reduced death anxiety and deeper life meaning. (UVA School of Medicine)
• Self-boundaries soften. Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences and long-term contemplative practice both show measurable changes in self-processing networks. This is consistent with MEQ-30 scores and fMRI/EEG signatures in other literatures. (PMC)
• Trait openness grows. Personality research finds lasting gains in Openness after mystical-type sessions in screened, supported cohorts. (PMC)
• Meaning and coincidence tracking up-shift. Validated synchronicity scales and recent diary studies connect meaningful-coincidence reporting to creative activity, even when ideation-test scores do not always move. (PMC)

Practical aftercare: a field-tested playbook

1. Name the episode accurately. Use the Greyson Scale for NDE, MEQ-30 for mystical-type sessions, and sleep questionnaires for paralysis or false awakenings. Labels can calm fear and guide care. (PubMed)
2. Normalize the arc. Deathbed visions and ADCs are common in grief and often helpful. Clinicians should not pathologize by default. (PMC)
3. Build a gentle routine. Breath pacing, regulated sleep, and journaling help metabolize meaning.
4. Mind the body. Kundalini-type symptoms benefit from grounding, nutrition, and trauma-sensitive somatic work. Case literature supports careful differentials between spiritual emergence and psychosis. (PubMed)
5. Community matters. End-of-life teams, contemplative sanghas, and experiencer support groups reduce isolation and offer language for integration.
6. UAP-adjacent practice. If your path involves contact work, keep protocols humane and instrumented. Track state with psychometrics and physiology. Treat “meaning hits” like any data stream: log, compare, and share.

Claims taxonomy

Verified

• The Greyson NDE Scale is a reliable and valid instrument for identifying NDEs. (PubMed)
• Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences meet validated MEQ-30 criteria and show durable shifts in meaning and behavior in screened, supported cohorts. (PMC)
• Sleep paralysis occurs in a sizeable minority of people and is more common in students and psychiatric populations. (PMC)
• Temporo-parietal mechanisms can reproduce OBE-like phenomenology in clinical stimulation studies. (The Journal of Neuroscience)
• After-death communications are commonly reported in bereavement and are often experienced as helpful. (PMC)

Probable

• NDEs reduce fear of death and increase prosocial orientations over time for many experiencers. (UVA School of Medicine)
• The frequency of meaningful-coincidence reporting rises during creative engagement. Effects depend on the creativity measure used. (PMC)
• Kundalini-type awakenings represent a mixed clinical-spiritual category that can resolve with appropriate care. (PubMed)

Disputed

• The ontological status of perceived entities in NDEs, ADCs, psychedelics, OBEs, or UAP encounters. Mechanism and metaphysics remain open.

Legend

• Instant and permanent enlightenment from a single mantra or artifact. Valuable as mythic teaching, not as data.

Misidentification

• Some “visitations” are grief imagery or sleep-linked intrusions that feel fully real. Education reduces harm without erasing meaning. (PMC)

Hoax

• Claims of consumer gadgets that guarantee permanent “third-eye activation” without training or safety protocols.

Implications

• Clinical practice. Distress and growth travel together. Training clinicians to recognize spiritual emergence and to use validated scales will reduce unnecessary pathologizing and missed opportunities for healing. (PMC)
• Consciousness science. Exceptional experiences are not edge curiosities. They are stress tests that reveal model limits. NDEs and OBEs, in particular, challenge simple one-way brain-to-mind accounts and invite richer frameworks without abandoning rigor. (The Journal of Neuroscience)
• UAP research. Consciousness variables belong in the toolkit. If a fraction of contact events present informational content coupled to altered state profiles, then careful psychometrics, timing, and integration practices will improve data quality in the field.

Bottom line

Supernatural experiences are not a single thing. They range from the luminous to the frightening, from the clinically anchored to the culturally interpreted. Yet across categories the aftereffects often rhyme. People come away less afraid and more connected. They reorder their lives around what feels real and important. The data show these shifts on validated scales and, in some literature, on brain and behavior measures. Our job is to treat the episodes with the same fairness we give to any strong signal. Measure where we can, accept credible testimony where instruments do not reach, label speculation honestly, and build integration pathways that turn disruption into durable growth.

Editorial stance and UAP connection

UAPedia’s taxonomy embeds these topics inside a larger map that includes altered states, near-death experiences, and the “Oz Factor” as recurring human consciousness anomalies relevant to UAP contact. This article sits within that framework. For cross-discipline coherence we use consciousness science to illuminate reported shifts without demanding that all content reduces to brain-only accounts.

References

Greyson, B. (1983). The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, reliability, and validity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6854303/?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (PubMed)

Pehlivanova, M., & Greyson, B. (2021). Which NDE features are associated with reduced fear of death. University of Virginia. https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/wp-content/uploads/sites/360/2022/02/Which-near-death-experiences-are-assoiciated-with-reduced-fear-of-death_-Pehlivanova_-Greyson.pdf?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (UVA School of Medicine)

Parnia, S., et al. (2023). AWARE-II: Awareness during resuscitation. Resuscitation. https://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572%2823%2900216-2/abstract?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (Resuscitation Journal)

Barrett, F. S., Johnson, M. W., & Griffiths, R. R. (2015). Validation of the MEQ-30. Journal of Psychopharmacology. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5203697/?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (PMC)

MacLean, K. A., et al. (2011). Psilocybin increases openness. J. Psychopharmacology. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0269881111420188?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (SAGE Journals)

Griffiths, R. R., et al. (2006). Mystical-type experiences with psilocybin. Psychopharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16826400/?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (PubMed)

Piff, P. K., et al. (2015). Awe and prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25984788/?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (PubMed)

Bush, N. E., & Greyson, B. (2014). Distressing NDEs: The basics. Journal of Near-Death Studies. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6173534/?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (PMC)

Sharpless, B. A., & Barber, J. P. (2011). Lifetime prevalence of sleep paralysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3156892/?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (PMC)

Blanke, O., Arzy, S., et al. (2005). OBEs and temporo-parietal junction. Journal of Neuroscience. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/25/3/550?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (The Journal of Neuroscience)

De Ridder, D., et al. (2007). Out-of-body experience evoked by electrical stimulation. New England Journal of Medicine. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa070010?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (New England Journal of Medicine)

Rees, W. D. (1971). The hallucinations of widowhood. British Medical Journal. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1799198/?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (PMC)

Castelnovo, A., et al. (2015). Post-bereavement hallucinatory experiences. Journal of Affective Disorders. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032715301968?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (ScienceDirect)

Penberthy, J. K., et al. (2023). Encounters with deceased partners. University of Virginia. https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/wp-content/uploads/sites/360/2024/01/Penberthy2023_Description-and-impact-of-encounters-with-deceased-partners-or-spouses.pdf?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (UVA School of Medicine)

Greyson, B. (2012). The Physio-Kundalini Syndrome. University of Virginia. https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/wp-content/uploads/sites/360/2016/12/OTH16-Greyson.pdf?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (UVA School of Medicine)

Sharma, M., et al. (2022). Kundalini awakening presenting as psychosis. Cureus. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9460011/?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (PMC)

Suchandra, H. (2021). Kundalini-like experience as psychopathology. Asian Journal of Psychiatry. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1744388120311609?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (ScienceDirect)

Russo-Netzer, P., et al. (2023). Development of the Synchronicity Awareness Scale. Frontiers in Psychology. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9885050/?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (PMC)

Rominger, C., et al. (2024). Meaningful coincidences and creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02699931.2024.2349280?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (Taylor & Francis Online)

FREE Foundation. (2018). A report on Phase I & II of the experiencer study. https://agreaterreality.com/downloads/articles/Hernandez%2C%20Klimo%2C%20Shild%20-%20UFO%20Report.pdf?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (A Greater Reality)

Ariel School article. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_School_UFO_incident?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (Wikipedia)

Oz Factor overview. Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/oz-factor?utm_source=https://uapedia.ai (Encyclopedia.com)

SEO keywords

supernatural experiences aftereffects, near-death experience scale, MEQ-30 mystical experience, after-death communication prevalence, sleep paralysis and OBE, kundalini awakening integration, synchronicity scale, awe and prosocial behavior, UAP consciousness, Oz Factor, Ariel School telepathy, spiritual emergency care, higher states of consciousness, consciousness anomalies, experiencer integration