Life review

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The term life review, or flashback before death, refers to a phenomenon widely reported as occurring during near-death experiences,[1] in which a person rapidly sees much or the totality of their life history. It is also widely believed to happen to each dying person in general. Life review is often described by people claiming to have experienced this phenomenon as "having their life flash before their eyes".

The life review phenomenon is discussed in some detail by researchers of psychology such as Raymond Moody, Kenneth Ring, and Barbara Rommer, who tried to prove the afterlife through the phenomenon. Skeptics consider such experiences to be hallucinations or false memories.

The phenomenon also refers to a widely-used trope in fiction, film, and television where a recap montage of a character's life is shown in a sequence before that character's death.[2]

Claimed effects[]

The effect of a life review is claimed to be a "strongly transformative experience" based on subjective anecdotal evidences. People who claim to have experienced the phenomenon describe the experience as an "extremely unpleasant from the perspective of the unhappiness they had inflicted on others, including feelings they had never dreamed of as resulting, and equally pleasant from the perspective of the good feeling they had brought to others' lives, extending to the littlest forgotten details."[3][4] The occurrence of this experience, like all subjective experiences, cannot yet be scientifically tested. However, modern psychology and sociology traditionally infer subjective experiences from objective observable behaviors – such as brain activity, trustworthy testimonies, or surveys.

In fiction[]

Life review, or My Life Flashed Before My Eyes, also refers to a widely-used trope in fiction, film, and television where a recap montage of a character's life is shown in a sequence before that character's death.[2]

In films[]

  • In Armageddon when Harry detonates the bomb, images of his daughter and wife briefly flash on the screen.
  • In Vanilla Sky, David experiences this when jumping off a building.
  • In Train to Busan, after being infected with the zombie virus, Seok-woo has a flashback of himself holding his daughter as a baby and he smiles then jumps off the train seconds before fully transforming into the undead.
  • In American Beauty, After Lester Burnham is shot, he narrates through a series of important life events.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Donnelly, Laura (2017-01-29). "Your life really does flash before your eyes before you die, study suggests". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
  2. ^ a b "My Life Flashed Before My Eyes".
  3. ^ Fox, Anneliese. "NDE Impact on Grief & Loss".
  4. ^ All is Everything, Everything is One. Accessed 2011-02-06.
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