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Molecular Physicist Visualised The Process of Dying | David Glowacki

Essentia Foundation | June 3, 2026



If you want to know more about Numadelic VR: https://www.numadeliclabs.org/ David Glowacki is a cross-disciplinary researcher and artist who founded the ‘Intangible Realities Laboratory’ (IRL) in Spain, focusing on open-source research at the immersive frontiers of technology and science. One of Glowacki’s projects at IRL has been to translate his own near-death experience into an intersubjective VR experience.

A 2020 study showed that the VR phenomenology Glowacki constructed induced peak mystical-type experiences similar to near-death and psychedelic experiences. In this conversation with Hans Busstra, Glowacki explains how his VR work induces mystical-type experiences and how it led him to develop fascinating new visual metaphors for non-duality.

Central to Glowacki’s VR experience is the notion that our material bodies are mental models—models that may be more accurately visualized as energy. In doing so, Glowacki creates an aesthetic effect at the intersection of physics and spirituality, which conveys the fundamentally unbounded, non-local, and omnipresent nature of who we are.

David Glowacki’s personal website: https://glow-wacky.com/
Intangible Realities Lab: https://www.intangiblerealitieslab.org

Scientific publications on Glowacki’s VR phenomenology:

Vidal, J., Andreu, C. I., Wrzesien, M., Colombo, D., Wall, J., Glowacki, D. R., Hardy, J. L., & Cebolla, A. (2025). Inducing selflessness through a numadelic virtual reality experience: A preliminary study. Virtual Reality, 30(1), 30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-025-01293-z

D. R. Glowacki, M. D. Wonnacott, R. Freire, B. R. Glowacki, E. M. Gale, J. E. Pike, T. de Haan, M. Chatziapostolou, O. Metatla, “Isness: Using Multi-Person VR to Design Peak Mystical-Type Experiences Comparable to Psychedelics”, Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.00940

0:00 Introduction
03:28 David on the near-death experience that led to the VR experience he created
09:02 The darkness is full of light
17:40 Matter is just frozen light
23:53 Analysing means “cutting up”: what science kills in this process
27:49 The spiritual definition of energy vs. the physics definition of energy
32:24 What is model fluidity and why is it important?
35:29 Comparing VR near-death experiences with psychedelic experiences
41:59 The difference between VR and psychedelics
47:25 Technology and transcendence
53:15 Is the numadelic experience already used in therapeutic settings?
1:01:26 Balancing oneness and separateness
1:06:18 Final words

© 2026 Essentia Foundation. All rights on interview content reserved.

Written by Essentia Foundation

Comments

This post currently has 31 comments.

  1. @winjoda

    June 3, 2026 at 4:10 am

    I’m 1/3 of the way through and worried they aren’t going to tell us how to access the VR experience! I have had a similar experience (through meditation instead of NDE), and would love to know how they truly compare. I’ve never been able to communicate the profound experiences and this would be just so incredible to dip my toe in his own experience.

  2. @pattoneill2402

    June 3, 2026 at 4:10 am

    I love the way David's understanding of quantum mechanics is enhancing his understanding of his own consciousness.This is a fascinating time when quantum physics is merging with metaphysics. I have been studying this for years from the view of a metaphysician, as well as studying quantum physics (without the math!!). The compatibility of the two fields is amazing.

  3. @ChrisStolpy

    June 3, 2026 at 4:10 am

    Wowwwww .." if you are infinity ..what's there to do , explore all the ways to be infinitely finite."….
    ….. Wow ……there it is.. lol there's the awnser to the age ol question…bingo

  4. @Themirrorpoint-t1i

    June 3, 2026 at 4:10 am

    In ordinary physics, darkness is usually defined as the absence of visible light, not something that contains light. However, regions that appear dark can still contain invisible electromagnetic radiation, quantum fields, or other forms of energy that humans do not directly see.

    In physics, energy is usually bounded within specific systems, but questions about the universe as a whole are more complicated. Whether total energy of the universe is finite, zero, or even well-defined is a deeper cosmological question without a simple settled answer. Physical theories sometimes produce infinities mathematically, but these do not usually correspond to accessible infinite energy in the real world.

  5. @nicky640

    June 3, 2026 at 4:10 am

    15:30 how to…
    Because matter is captured movement. It magnetically keeps the energy flow contained. Light/energy is also movement/vibration. Destroy the magnetic bonds to release the captured light, like friction creating fire.

  6. @manikandanm2780

    June 3, 2026 at 4:10 am

    "In fact, there is no darkness in existence. What we perceive as darkness occurs when energy is absent or withheld, and no light is reflected. Darkness is not an independent reality; it is simply the absence of visible light."

  7. @MarthaEllen88

    June 3, 2026 at 4:10 am

    11:51 just before this timestamp starting to talk about darkness or the void as 'ull of light'. This is so interesting. I have had a sudden shocking 'viewing the void' experience as part of meditation, preceded by a 'Central bright light' experience. But viewing the void…. Although it was black and 'nothing there', I could also see it extending off into infinity…. As you see space portrayed in sci fi films.. as if 'lit'. I have wondered if this 'flip' into strange experiences as my brain was very quiet was mimicking death experiences. I wonder if I have viewed through mediation what happens when one dies.

  8. @sigma-signifier

    June 3, 2026 at 4:10 am

    "Everything is in fact energy…" and all energy are in fact frequencies. Therefore, all matter is energy and all energy are frequencies. E=mc^2, E=hf and f=mc^/2 have all the same meanings.

  9. @IrelandDiaspora

    June 3, 2026 at 4:10 am

    What if the brain is just a navigation aid , the heart is the engine, but what if the mind is in your DNA and remains with your body until every speck of DNA is eliminated and decomposed .😮
    I'm gonna get cremated if at all possible . Peace to all 🕊️🕊️

  10. @KathyCervino

    June 3, 2026 at 4:10 am

    You can see in the use of his hands, he is an artist, a creator. This is what we are called to become. That coupled with the science brain 🧠 has created an energy being that understands the universe. AI should be used to create beauty rather than to track us to make money for the elite who can never understand the purpose of life.

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