From 2015 to 2018, a study was conducted in which 12 advanced Buddhist meditators were asked to go into deep meditation.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6244634/ - Meditation-Induced Near-Death Experiences: a 3-Year Longitudinal Study)

In short;

It was a study to see if deep meditation could be used to study 'near-death experiences' (NDEs) - as it, of course, presents some challenges to 'being in the right place, at the right time' for those who wish to study real NDEs.

Anyway, it was not the study itself that caught my interest, but rather what was told by some of those who participated.

As one described;

"....During the death process, the mind of most people wants, or needs, to take on a bodily form. It doesn’t know what to do with itself otherwise. But there is really no need to take on a bodily form....."

...and from an other;

"......You can assume whatever bodily form most suits yours or others’ needs at that given time....."

...and...

"...All participants reported that the next phase (of the meditation) involved encounters with non-worldly realms and beings. More specifically, participants recounted that they experienced undesirable realms (referred to using terms such as 'hell', realms of 'torture', worlds where beings 'hang from ropes' and 'hungry ghost realms') .

Other realms comprised of humans and animals, as well as realms where the inhabitants were partially or fully composed of light (referred to using terms such as 'heavens', 'godly realms' and 'asura realms').

All participants (except one) also made reference to encounters with three other categories of non-worldly beings: recently deceased beings in the process of moving between worlds, demonic beings attempting to enter this or other realms, and liberated beings not bound to a given worldly or non-worldly realm. Regarding this latter group of liberated beings, all participants (except two) specifically reported that they met with their spiritual teacher (whether living or deceased), who supported and guided them during (and following) the NDE...."

All of the above may, of course, be due to the brain playing a trick upon us during meditation

- but -

This site is not about science, so;

Here we go !

People having so-called ‘near-death experiences’ - or - are in a state of deep meditation - or - even in connection with (religious) awakening. They all seems to talk about life after death as being at ‘a place' where there are no present of time.

Let's assume there is a hint of truth in this, and that we all return to a 'timeless dimension/place' when our physical life is over. However, instead of calling it 'heaven', 'paradise', 'hell', 'nirvana' or the 'astral-/spiritual world' (or whatever), let’s simply refer to it as a sort of 'semi-physical dimension'.

Semi-physical in the sense that it - in the absence of time - still seems to be a 'place'

where it is possible to have some perception of 'space', 'shapes' etc. 

No doubt that the above description from the meditators sounds both weird and perhaps even a bit scary (at least if someone, completely unprepared, experiences something like this in connection with deep meditation, NDT, or religious awakening etc). But the question is;

Is it really 'heaven', 'paradise', 'nirvana', 'hell', 'torture' etc - one is witnessing?

- or -

Could it simply be a matter of......
Logistic ?

***