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From time immemorial, the world’s religious and spiritual traditions have wrestled with the perennial question, “Is there life after death?” A question inseparable from whether consciousness itself survives bodily death. Today, we may be living in a time of growing convergence between science, philosophy, and theology on this very mystery. Over the past fifty years, research into Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) has challenged long-held materialist assumptions that consciousness is merely a product of the brain. Since the mid-1970s, increasingly robust, data-driven studies from around the globe have suggested an alternative “idealist” model in which the brain functions not as the producer of consciousness but rather as a transmitter or filter of consciousness, much like a radio transmits but does not generate radio waves. If credible, this model not only provides a more coherent account of NDE phenomena, but also offers empirical support for the possibility of an afterlife, that has until now, been confined to theological speculation. The growing body of evidence that NDEs may be ontologically “real” rather than hallucinatory owes much to the development of modern resuscitation technologies (such as CPR and defibrillators) beginning in the 1960s. Moreover, cross-cultural and historical analyses reveal a striking consistency in reported features of NDEs across civilizations, religions, and cultures, spanning ancient societies and medieval Christian death-bed visions to Indigenous traditions across Africa and Oceania, as well as among the spiritual-but-not-religious in modern secular contexts. While these experiences are often described as “ineffable,” the differences in reported details appear largely shaped by the religious, cultural, and social frameworks of the experiencer; a phenomenon known as constructivism. At the same time, religious and spiritual traditions have grappled with NDE reports that diverge from traditional or doctrinal expectations of the afterlife. This would be an unexpected phenomenon if NDEs were merely hallucinatory. The fact that they do not conform to personal religious expectations, but rather challenge them in ways that are near-universal across time and culture is compelling. Since 2012, researchers have also noted undeniable parallels in the reduction of brainwave activity during deep states of meditation and psychedelic-assisted therapies that produce similar (though less intense) experiences for those who report NDEs after a time of clinical death when their brainwave activity had flatlined. As with deep states of meditation, psychedelics—often termed entheogens (“God-revealing”) for their capacity to occasion profound spiritual insight—can induce experiences similar to NDEs, including “ego dissolution,” transcendent unity, and perceived encounters with the Divine. These parallels may be explained, in part, by the temporary quieting of key quadrants of the brain (especially the default mode network), potentially allowing consciousness to expand beyond the limits of the brain toward dimensions of reality inaccessible to ordinary waking awareness. Here again, Idealist models of consciousness may offer the most coherent explanatory framework. Near-Death Experiences, deep states of meditation, and psychedelic therapies have demonstrated a remarkable ability to produce enduring life-enhancing changes: reduced anxiety and depression, diminished fear of death, heightened reverence for the sacredness of life, deeper spiritual connection with the world, a universal ethic of peace, and a conviction of the universal primacy of love at the heart of the world’s spiritual heritages.