Materialism, the currently dominant belief system in the West, declares that all that exists, including consciousness, is based in physical matter. So from the materialist perspective the notion of an "afterlife" -- a conscious existence apart from the physical body and brain -- makes no sense at all. But as the history of science has repeatedly demonstrated, one should never be too dogmatic about what does or doesn't make sense.

 

Research into the so-called afterlife is multifaceted. It includes scientific (nonreligious) inquiry into various classes of evidence suggesting that what we call our "being" -- our mind, consciousness, "soul" or "essence" -- does exist independently of the physical body and brain, and that it makes periodic excursions into biological incarnation. These fields of inquiry include the near-death experience (NDE), the out-of-body experience (OBE), reincarnation studies, between-lives studies, meditation studies, and various modes of veridical communication with the deceased. 

 

Though quantum physics may provide a bridge between materialist science and advanced consciousness research, to date there is no generally accepted theoretical framework for these studies within the Western worldview. But empirical science (the gathering and organizing of observations and evidence) precedes theory, so first things first.