Life in B Flat(Science and Spirituality): near-death experiences

Showing posts with label near-death experiences. Show all posts

Saturday, December 13, 2014

NDE Researcher Dr. Jeffrey Long M.D. Refutes Materialist explanations for Near-death Experiences.

In Skeptiko podcast number 99, Dr. Jeffrey Long Takes On Critics of, Evidence of the Afterlife, near-death experience researcher Dr. Jeffrey Long M.D. is interviewed about his research by Alex Tsakiris. During the podcast, Dr. Long refutes several materialist explanations for near-death experiences. I have added these refutations to my post Materialist explanations of NDEs fail to explain the phenomenon.

In the interview Dr. Long explains why NDEs cannot be explained by

REM intrusions
Hallucinations
Brain chemicals such as Ketamine, DMT, etc.
Religious expectations
Cultural expectations
Hearing during resuscitation
Brain activity during CPR
Partial anesthesia
Misuse of anecdotes
Selective reporting

Here are Dr. Long's explanations:

Near-death experiences cannot be caused by REM intrusions, Hallucinations, or Brain chemicals such as Ketamine, DMT, etc, because those phenomena do not produce visions of people most of whom are dead, and REM intrusions and Hallucinations do not produce the same type of changes in the life of the experiencer that NDEs produce.

The percentage of time that people encounter deceased relatives is extremely high. It was actually 96% in the NDERF study and only 4% of near-death experiencers met beings who were alive at the time of the near-death experience. That’s actually corroborated by another major scholarly study which found it was 95% of the time that they encountered beings they knew from their earthly life that were deceased.
The important thing is that any other experience of altered consciousness that we experience on earth, dreams, hallucinations, drug experiences, you name it; all of these other types of experiences of altered consciousness, a vastly higher percentage of people are going to be alive at the time of their experience.
You're going to remember the banker that you did business with that day or your family member you said hi to as you were walking into the house. This is what's in the forefront of consciousness. So for people to so consistently encounter deceased relatives is very, very strong evidence that they are, indeed, in an unearthly realm and it certainly points to evidence of an afterlife.
...
People in general, all other hallucinatory events, dreams, all other temporary, transient, even pathological alterations of consciousness are essentially never going to result in that high a percentage of people experiencing them going on and have those types of profound life changes that we see in near-death experiencers.
And moreover, what you see in the life changes of near-death experiencers is markedly consistent. In other words, it’s not just that they have life changes; it’s the consistency of those life changes. The substantial majority, if not overwhelming majority of near-death experiencers believe that there's an afterlife. They believe that there's a God. They no longer fear death. They're less materialistic. They value loving relationships more. The list goes on and on. I consistently observed, not only in the NDERF study but from scores of prior scholarly studies of this phenomenon over 30 years.

NDEs cannot be caused by religious or cultural expectations because children who are too young to have religious or cultural expectations have NDEs that contain the same elements as the NDEs of older children and adults.

A really interesting part of the study that I did was looking at children age 5 and under. In fact, their average age was 3-1/2 years old. These are children so young that to them, death is an abstraction. They don’t understand it. They can't conceptualize it. They’ve almost never heard about near-death experiences; have no preconceived notions about that. They certainly have far less cultural influence, both in terms of religion or anything else that could even potentially modify the near-death experience at that tender young age.
And yet looking at these same 33 elements of near-death experience that I did in other parts of this study, I found absolutely no statistical difference in their percentage of occurrence in very young children as compared to older children and adults. So no question about that.
That almost single-handedly shoots down the skeptical argument that near-death experiences are due to pre-existing beliefs or cultural influences. We’re not seeing a shred of evidence that corroborates that at all. In fact, that finding is actually corroborated with another major scholarly researcher who actually reviewed over 30 years of near-death experience research and came up with the same conclusion.

NDEs cannot be caused by hearing during resuscitation because many people who have NDEs have accurate perceptions of locations that are too far away to perceive with their normal senses.

Yet there are dozens of these out-of-body perceptions during near-death experiences where they can hear and see events far, far removed from their physical body, often in completely different rooms, geographically far away, where any possible physical sensory awareness should be absolutely impossible.
And yet when they make these very remote out-of-body experience observations, their accuracy is absolutely the same – about 96% — as the observations of events going on around their physical body. So no doubt about that.
...
In fact, it's often the case that they’ll make out-of-body observations of events right around their physical body during the NDE, and then as part of the same experience, make out-of-body observations far removed from their physical body. Absolutely no difference in what they're describing.

NDEs cannot be caused by brain activity during CPR because CPR patients report confusion and amnesia while NDErs report lucid experiences. NDEs often begin before CPR is administered and the quality of consciousness and the pattern of events in NDEs does not change once CPR is started. Also, if consciousness in NDEs is caused by CPR, the patients should remember the pain of compressions and cracked ribs that sometimes occur during CPR, but NDErs do not feel the pain from CPR.

When you talk to the patients who have actually survived CPR, one thing that is very, very obvious is that the substantial majority of them are confused or amnesic, even when they're successfully recovered. They may be amnesic for the period of time following their successful resuscitation or even for events prior to the time of their cardiac arrest.
...
If you read even a few near-death experiences, you immediately realize that there’s essentially none of them that talk about episodes of confusion or altered mental status when they just don’t understand what’s going on. You really don’t see that at all.
Again, for near-death experiences, they're highly lucid, organized events. In fact, in the survey we did, we found 76% of people having a near-death experience said their level of consciousness and alertness during the NDE was actually greater than their earthly, everyday life. So again, getting back to statistics, that’s 3/4 and a substantial majority of the remaining 24% still had at least a level of consciousness and alertness equal to their earthly, everyday life.
So for that to be the statistics that you consistently see during near-death experiences and balance that with a substantial majority of people being confused around the time of their successful resuscitation from CPR, you really have to come away with the conclusion that even if there’s blood flow to the brain induced by CPR, it's a life-saving maneuver. By no means is that correlated with clear consciousness and certainly nowhere near the level of consciousness and alertness with near-death experiences. You just don’t see that.
But also, in addition to that, note that the substantial majority of people that have a near-death experience and have an out-of-body experience associated with cardiac arrest, are actually seeing their physical body well prior to the time that CPR is initiated. Once CPR is initiated, you don’t see any alteration in the flow of the near-death experience, suggesting that whatever blood flow might be going back to the brain is affecting the content, modifying it at all, in any way.
...
When there’s a cardiac arrest, the out-of-body observations that are often described during these near-death experiences certainly correlates to a time prior to CPR being initiated, and prior to a time there should be no possibility of a conscious, lucid, organized experience. And yet that’s exactly what happens.
I'll tell you another thing, too, is if you were doing CPR and that were accounting for memory, I would tell you that you would hear a lot more from near-death experiencers. They would talk about their remembrance of the pain of the chest compressions.
Alex, that’s a fairly painful procedure. It often breaks ribs and hurts. And yet, even when you have a patient who had a cardiac arrest and had a near-death experience, essentially never do you hear them describing as part of their near-death experience the pain of chest compressions.
...
And if their consciousness was really returning during CPR, wouldn't near-death experiencers not have out-of-body perceptions but describe their perceptions from within their physical body? And yet you don’t see that with near-death experiences.
So in other words, if you started CPR and they had a near-death experience and suddenly they started to have some consciousness, you’d expect that instead of having the out-of-body experience where their consciousness is apart from their body, their consciousness would be within their body. You just don’t see that.

NDEs cannot be explained by partial anesthesia because a partial anesthesia experience is not at all like an NDE.

Rather than the type of coherent NDEs you read here, anesthetic-awareness results in a totally different experience.
...
Those who experience anesthetic-awareness often report very unpleasant, painful and frightening experiences. Unlike NDEs which are predominately visual experiences, this partial awakening during anesthesia more often involves brief and fragmented experiences that may involve hearing but usually not vision.
... you just don’t have near-death experiences that are predominately hearing but no vision.
...when we talked about near-death experiences under general anesthesia, out of 33 elements of near-death experience, we compared between NDEs under general anesthesia and all types of causes of near-death experience, and in 32 out of 33 elements studied there was no statistical difference between the two groups.
Now, virtually anybody in the science or medical field would say, “Well, that pretty much nails it down that these two experiences are basically the same, with at most, minor differences between the two of them.

NDEs cannot be explained as the misuse of anecdotes:

... the NDERF study that I presented in the book is certainly vastly beyond anecdotal evidence. We actually studied 1,300 near-death experiences. It’s certainly not just a limited number of case reports. And you're right, our modern questionnaire is over 150 questions, so no doubt we have the depth of analysis, as well. And most of the research that’s published in the book was based on surveying over 600 near-death experiencers that filled out the most recent version of the questionnaire.
Let me start out with sort of a basic scientific overview, and that is what’s real is consistently observed. So we've observed evidence of the afterlife and near-death experience is not only in the vast number of near-death experiences studied in tremendous depth in my own study, but all my major findings are corroborated by scores of prior scholarly studies. We're way beyond what could reasonably be called anecdotal. We're really in very hard-core evidence based on my work and the work of many others.

NDEs cannot be explained by selective reporting:

What we did with our NDERF study is we studied every single person who had a near-death experience. In other words, they nearly died and they had an experience.
In addition to that, we used the most validated research tool in near-death experience research, and that’s called the NDE scale. So we analyzed every single person that had such an account. In fact, we post every single near-death experience on the website for the people who give us permission, which is over 95%. So we not only have a very valid, comprehensive look at near-death experience because of the numbers, but in addition to that we share that with the world, so everybody else can see the data set that we’re seeing, too.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Why doesn't everyone who survives a near fatal illness or injury have a near-death experience?

Many people who lose consciousness when they are seriously injured or ill say that during the time they were unconscious, they were visiting the afterlife. These experiences are called near-death experiences and they represent strong evidence of life after death. None of the materialist explanations for near-death experiences can explain the anomalies associated with the phenomena. But there are many people who are seriously injured or ill and lose consciousness who do not have an NDE. Why is that? There are a few possible explanations for this:

Memories of NDEs may not initially be stored in the brain because the brain is not active, for example, during cardiac arrest. When the patient regains consciousness he might not remember his experiences in the afterlife because the brain normally functions to filter out memories that are in the spirit mind. This is why we don't remember that we were spirits before we were born. Only those people who have some type of brain damage that creates a leak in the filter will be able to remember their out-of-body experiences. That may be why many NDErs also report an increased frequency of psychic experiences after their NDE.
Many NDEs involve spirits guiding the experiencer on a tour of the afterlife and include meetings with deceased relatives. That implies some planning by the spirits so the guides and deceased relatives are available to host the experiencer. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that some NDEs are organized on the spirit side.

There are several reasons an NDE might not be organized for someone:
- One reason for being given an NDE is that it would allow the experiencer to learn spiritual truths and then come back and tell the rest of us what it is like in the afterlife. However, not everyone who suffers cardiac arrest would make a good spiritual messenger so such individuals might not be selected to have an NDE.
- Some people might need to be a materialist atheist to learn the lessons they have incarnated here to learn. Being given an NDE might interfere with their spiritual growth.
- Some NDErs seem to be given their NDE because their life is not on the right track and they need spiritual guidance in order for them to get from life what they came here to learn. So, some people might not be given NDEs if their life is already on the right track.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Anomalous Characteristics of Near-death Experiences

Below is a list of anomalies that occur during near-death experiences. None of the materialist attempts to explain these and other NDE anomalies can actually explain them, and ESP or veridical perceptions that occur during an NDE are best explained as out-of-the-body consciousness.

Anomalous Characteristics of Near-death Experiences

Enhanced consciousness such as realer-than-real detail, 360 degree vision, and colors not seen before.
Blind people see during NDEs. (Hogan)
Memories of NDEs are more detailed than normal memories.
Visions of deceased people, sometimes deceased people the experiencer had never met or seen pictures of. (Hogan)
A life review where the experiencer feels how he affected other people from their point of view.
Veridical (verifiable) perceptions where the experiencer perceived something when their brain was not functioning, and or perceived something that they could not have perceived with their normal senses even if they were conscious.
NDEs have been experienced by people not close to death.
"Lucid consciousness, well-structured thought processes, and clear reasoning" (Beauregard), calmness and tranquility (near-death.com), when their medical condition should cause confusion and amnesia, disorientation and fear.
Spiritual transformation.
NDEs involve a subjectively conscious experience while the experiencer is objectively unconscious. Hallucinations almost always occur when the subject is awake and conscious. (near-death.com)
NDEs occur more often during flat EEGs and not during abnormal EEGs. (Hogan)
"NDEs are remarkably consistent across virtually all experiencers regardless of age, nationality, religious background, and all other demographics", including atheists. (Hogan)
"Many parts of the brain must be coherent for lucid experiences to occur yet NDEs occur when there is no EEG activity." (Hogan)
NDErs experience "heightened awareness, attention, and memory at a time when consciousness and memory formation are not expected to be functioning" and "only confusional and paranoid thinking... should occur" (Hogan)
"In some cases, a third party has observed visionary figures seen by the experiencers" (Tymn)
Healthy people attending the dying sometimes share in the NDE. (Facco and Christian)
Because of the way the brain is wired, it cannot produce an NDE. (Alexander)
Many NDEs occur during anesthesia when the patient should be unconscious. (Long)
"The most important objection to the adequacy of all ... reductionistic hypotheses is that mental clarity, vivid sensory imagery, a clear memory of the experience, and a conviction that the experience seemed more real than ordinary consciousness are the norm for NDEs. They occur even in conditions of drastically altered cerebral physiology under which the production theory would deem consciousness impossible. (Greyson)

Sources

Chapter 2 in "Your Eternal Self by R. Craig Hogan, Ph.D.
Debunking the NDE Debunkers by Michael Tymn (Summary of the above chapter.)
Irreducible Mind and the NDE Michael Prescott discusses chapter 6 of the book "Irreducible Mind" by Edward F. Kelly, Emily Williams Kelly, et al.
Near-death experiences between science and prejudice by Enrico Facco and Christian. (2012) Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 6:209. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00209
Near death, explained Near death, explained By Mario Beauregard at Salon.com, Saturday, Apr 21, 2012
Cosmological Implications of Near-Death Experiences by Bruce Greyson, Journal of Cosmology, 2011, Vol. 14.
Scientific theories of the near-death experience at near-death.com
Dr. Eben Alexander, neurosurgeon, near-death experiencer.
NDE Researcher Dr. Jeffrey Long M.D. Refutes Materialist explanations for Near-death Experiences.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Near-death Experiences and Afterlife Phenomena

Recently I have learned of some beliefs about near-death experiences and afterlife phenomena which I disagree with. In this post, I provide information to support my own beliefs on these issues.

ESP or veridical perceptions that occur during an NDE are best explained by out-of-the-body consciousness.
ESP is not produced by the brain.
None of the materialist explanations can explain any of the many anomalous characterisitcs of NDEs such as how people are conscious when their brain is not functioning.
There are multiple independent forms of evidence which show that mind does not require matter for its existence.
There is ample evidence that memory can be stored outside the brain.
Consciousness, mind, or spirit is required for matter to exist.
Scientists are fallible. Alternative sources of truth exist.
Experiencers may be harmed by misinformation about afterlife phenomena especially if it comes from medical personnel.
References

ESP or veridical perceptions that occur during an NDE are best explained by out-of-the-body consciousness.

During a near-death experience, sometimes people with no brain activity perceive something happening around them or they may perceive something they could not perceive with their normal senses even if they were conscious such as a vision of the operating room looking down from the ceiling, or a vision of a distant location. When the events in these perceptions can be verified as true, they are called veridical perceptions. These veridical perceptions are best explained by out-of-the-body consciousness. Some people may call these perceptions ESP, but they are still best explained as out-of-the-body consciousness.

Many NDEs occur during cardiac arrest. Residual brain activity is not sufficient to explain memories or conscious experiences that occur during cardiac arrest. And cardiac arrest causes amnesia and confusion shortly before and after the event.

Some people may suggest an abnormal brain state during the onset or recovery from cardiac arrest may produce clairvoyant visions of events that occur during cardiac arrest. If this is true, the clairvoyance must still be due to out-of-the-body consciousness. The same argument by which NDE researchers conclude that the lucid conscious experience of the NDE cannot be explained by it occuring before or after cardiac arrest can be used to conclude that clairvoyance occurring at the onset or recovery from cardiac arrest must be due to out-of-the-body consciousness. That argument is that the brain activity that occurs at the onset to, or recovery from, cardiac arrest is not capable of supporting lucid consciousness or memories. Any lucid conscious memories, such as those characteristic of NDEs, that occur anytime from the onset to cardiac arrest through the recovery from cardiac arrest, whether psychic or mundane, must be due to out-of-the-body consciousness.

In other words, if anyone is going to suggest that an abnormal brain state induced by cardiac arrest is responsible for producing ESP, that ESP must be due to consciousness existing out-of-the-body because the abnormal brain states that occur at the onset, duration, and ending of cardiac arrest are not capable of producing memories or supporting the lucid consciousness that is experienced during an NDE. At other times than the onset, duration, or ending of cardiac arrest, the brain is functioning normally and there is no abnormal brain state that might be attributed to the production of ESP. If ESP can produce conscious experiences that do not require the brain, then ESP must be due to out-of-the-body consciousness. In fact, in a subsequent section it will be shown that the best explanation for all forms of ESP is that ESP is not produced by the brain but is a capability of non-physical consciousness. In consideration of this and of all the evidence (below) that the mind can exist separate from the brain, the best explanation for veridical perceptions during NDEs is the spirit leaving the body and retaining memory of the event.

No physiological explanation can fully explain NDEs. Nothing that produces an abnormal brain state that can produce ESP, such as natural brain chemicals, or states of relaxation can produce experiences like NDEs. So it is not credible that veridical perceptions in NDEs could be caused by abnormal brain states that are known to cause ESP.

In most abnormal states the experiencer knows he is hallucinating or experiencing clairvoyance, but NDErs consistently say their experience is real. Those states in which hallucinations are mistaken for reality do not share significant characteristics with NDEs. Those states in which ESP is mistaken for out-of-body experiences involve hypnosis, self-hypnosis, or some type of induction technique. However NDEs are not induced, they are spontaneous, and they are not caused by anything remotely like hypnotic induction such as religious expectations, or cultural expectations.

Joe McMoneagle is a highly regarded parapsychologist, a remote viewer, and a near-death experiencer, and his statements on the subject indicate he believes that NDEs show that the afterlife is real. NDEs demonstrate, he says, "..that consciousness continues, and you don't really cease to exist as an individual..."

Back To Contents

ESP is not produced by the brain.

There is ample proof that ESP is real. However it is not possible for ESP to be caused by the brain because none of the laws of physics, including quantum entanglement, can explain how the brain might produce ESP. And in the case of telepathy, the unique structures in one brain will be meaningless to another brain. The existence of ESP is consistent with and mutually reinforcing to many other lines of reasoning that lead to the conclusions that consciousness is not produced by the brain and that consciousness can exist separate from the body.

No physical mechanism in the brain has been demonstrated to cause ESP. ESP has been shown not to be limited by time and distance. ESP can reach into the past and future and is just as strong over short distances as it is for long distances. None of the known laws of physics can explain this. It has been hypothesized that quantum entanglement could explain ESP, because when two particles are entangled, determining a property of one particle will also determine a property of the other instantly, independent of distance between the two particles. However, quantum entanglement can not be the mechanism by which ESP occurs because for entanglement to occur, there has to be some mechanism by which entanglement is established. In lab experiments on entanglement, the entangled particles are created deliberately at the same time in the same location and then separated to demonstrate entanglement effects. While entanglement can occur in biological systems, as is seen in photosynthesis, in a biological system like photosynthesis, a mechanism for establishing entanglement is easy to explain because it occurs in a very small region at a specific time. However in the case of ESP, there is no mechanism by which entanglement between objects at separate locations could be established to produce forms of ESP such as telepathy and clairvoyance. Microtubules in brain cells have been proposed, by Stuart Hammeroff, as a mechanism for producing consciousness. It has also been proposed that quantum entanglement in that system could explain ESP, but again there is no way entanglement could be established between separate individuals.

Furthermore, even if there were some way to entangle a physical structure in one brain with, for example in the case of telepathy, a structure in another brain, there would be no correspondence between the meaning of those two structures to the consciousness of the individuals. The patterns in one person's brain will not make sense to any another person's brain. The pattens of neurons in the brain develop differently in each person according to their genetics and environment, and those patterns change over time due to neuroplasticity. The meaning of a physical structure or pattern in the brain of one person will be unintelligible to another person. Entangling two structures in different brains would not be able to convey any meaning to either person. Therefore, telepathy cannot be produced by the brain by means of quantum entanglement or any other physical means. The very existence of telepathy, therefore, is evidence that ESP is not produced by the brain, and also that consciousness is not produced by the brain i.e. that conscious is non-physical.

There are also several other independent lines of reasoning that lead to the conclusion that consciousness is non-physical and not-produced by the brain. One of these lines of reasoning, for example, is based on the fact that that consciousness is a subjective phenomena that cannot be measured objectively and therefore cannot be produced by physical processes since all physical processes are, in principle, measurable. The only way to know what is in the mind of another person is through ESP, such as telepathy, or telempathy, both of which are themselves subjective and unmeasurable by any objective physical means. Since consciousness is subjective and non-physical and cannot be measured by any physical process, ESP which can perceive aspects of another consciousness, must also be non-physical, and cannot be the result of any physical process in the brain.

People who believe that ESP is produced by the brain believe that some quantum effect must cause ESP because ESP is independent of time and distance. But there is a much better explanation for ESP that also explains why ESP is independent of time and distance. That explanation is the filter model of the brain. According to the filter model, consciousness is not physical and the brain does not produce consciousness but only filters it. The filter model explains all the facts that are explained by the production model such as the correlation between mental states and brain states, and the loss of functions due to brain injury. But the filter model also explains ESP and why it is not dependent on time and distance. According to the filter model, ESP is the means by which non-physical consciousness naturally interacts with its environment and because consciousness is non-physical it is not subject to the laws of physics or limited by physical parameters such as time and distance. The filter model also explains acquired savant syndrome where brain injury causes new talents to be uncovered and why brain injury sometimes result in development of ESP. These two effects are caused by brain injury that is like a hole in the filter that allows new aspects of consciousness to pass through it. The filter model explains loss of function injuries, such as amnesia, as being like a clog in the filter. The filter model also explains the unfiltered consciousness experienced by NDErs that includes veridical perceptions, 360 degree vision and colors not seen while in the body.

Philosopher Chris Carter believes consciousness is not produced by the brain and that the brain transmits consciousness. Parapsychologists who do not believe in survival have to explain afterlife phenomena as the result of ESP produced in the brain of a living person. Chris Carter's work demonstrates that those theories are pseudo-science.

Back To Contents

None of the materialist explanations can explain any of the many anomalous characterisitcs of NDEs such as how people are conscious when their brain is not functioning.

All of the materialist attempts to explain NDEs fail to explain any of the many anomalous characteristics of NDEs. NDEs cannot be explained by a lack of oxygen, a dying brain, hallucinations, religious expectations, cultural expectations, hearing about medical procedures after the fact, brain dysfunction, retinal dysfunction causing an image of a tunnel, brain chemicals such as ketamine, endogenous opioids, neurotransmitter imbalances, or hallucinogens including DMT, REM intrusions, epilepsy or seizures, psychopathology, unique personality traits, residual brain activity during unconsciousness, the experience occurring before or after brain activity stopped, evolutionary adaptation, depersonalization, memory of birth, medication, defense against dying, or partial anesthesia.

Dr. Eben Alexander is a neurosurgeon who experienced an NDE and he believes NDEs are are genuine afterlife experiences and that because of the way the brain is wired NDEs cannot be produced by the brain. He said, "...consciousness outside of the brain is a fact. It’s an established fact."

NDErs report their experiences seem more real than real, and memories of near-death experiences are more detailed than normal memories. This is the complete opposite of what you would expect from the fact of severely reduced or zero brain function during the NDE. NDEs due to cardiac arrest cannot be explained by residual brain activity during cardiac arrest or by having occurred before or after cardiac arrest. This demonstrates that NDEs involve a state of consciousness that is independent of the brain.

"The most important objection to the adequacy of all ... reductionistic hypotheses is that mental clarity, vivid sensory imagery, a clear memory of the experience, and a conviction that the experience seemed more real than ordinary consciousness are the norm for NDEs. They occur even in conditions of drastically altered cerebral physiology under which the production theory would deem consciousness impossible.
- Bruce Greyson

A listener to a radio interview with NDE researcher Dr. Sam Parnia paraphrased his statements, "We now routinely overcome death, and the people he’s studying are 'like astronauts – we send them out to explore this other dimension' – they are going to the other side, and they’re able to tell us what they’ve experienced on the other side of death"

Interview of NDE Researcher Dr. Pim van Lommel

Interview with NDE researcher Dr. Melvin Morse.

Back To Contents

There are multiple independent forms of evidence which show that mind does not require matter for its existence.

Evidence for the Afterlife.

Mediumship
Near-death experiences, veridical near-death experiences, and shared near-death experiences.
Death-bed visions and shared death-bed visions.
Apparitions and multiple witness apparitions.
Children who remember past lives including those with an unusual type of birth mark on their body where an injury was sustained in the previous live.

Neither ESP nor Super-psi can explain the evidence for the afterlife.

The evidence for the afterlife cannot be explained as super-psi.
- Guy Lyon Playfair, William Roll, and Ian Stevenson all thought some poltergeist phenomenon were caused by spirits. They knew about unconscious PK but thougth survival was a better explanation when the phenomenon did not depend on the presence of a single individual.
- Drop-in communicators demonstrate spirits have initiative and problem solving ability.
- Cross-correspondences demonstrate spirits have initiative and are able to plan complex projects.
- Others (see above link).
The Mediumship of Mrs. Piper
- Certain characteristics of spirit communication vary with the spirit independently of the medium or the sitter. This is evidence that mediumship is due to communication with spirits and not a form of unconscious ESP. Some of these characteristics were: the speed at which the spirit learned to communicate, the spirit's skill at communicating once they learned to communicate, ability to communicate names. Many more of these characteristics are explained at the link.
Philosopher Chris Carter's work demonstrates that super-psi is pseudo-science. In an interview on SubversiveThinking.blogspot.com he says:

In my work I present the evidence that provides a prima facie case for survival; demonstrate that alternative explanations, to the extent that they are testable, have been proven false; and then argue that to the extent these alternative explanations are not testable (such as elaborate fraud scenarios, or super-ESP) they are pseudo-scientific excuses for refusing to accept an otherwise straightforward inference from the evidence.
Mediums live with afterlife phenomena every day. They know all the fine details that do not get published in books and parapsychological studies. Many also experience other forms of ESP and they can tell the difference between spirit communication and ESP. Mediums say they perceive and communicate with spirits. They are the foremost experts in spirit communication and there are no better qualified experts on ESP and survival.

The Cosmological Argument for a transcendent designer of the universe or multiverse shows that the universe or multiverse was designed by a mind that existed before there was any matter or even space itself. Our universe is so finely tuned to support life that it seems to have been designed. This was accepted by astronomers and cosmologists and caused them to invent multiverse theories. However in those theories the multiverse would have to be fine tuned so it doesn't really solve the problem. The conclusion is that a mind capable of design existed before any matter existed. This argument is so convincing to astronomers it converted many materialists to believers including astronomer Fred Hoyle. Albert Einstein also believed the universe was designed, as did Charles Darwin.

Materialism Cannot Explain Consciousness

Max Planck (Nobel Prize for Physics)

Erwin Schrödinger (Nobel Prize for Physics)

Back To Contents

There is ample evidence that memory can be stored outside the brain.

The facts of this have been covered above. Veridical perceptions that occur during NDEs, the evidence that NDErs are conscious when their brain is not functioning, all the evidence that mind does not require matter for its existence, and all the evidence for the afterlife all demonstrate that memory can be stored outside brain.

Back To Contents

Consciousness, mind, or spirit is required for matter to exist.

Those who believe that mind requires a brain to exist, such as parapsychologists who mistakenly believe that ESP is produced by the brain are confounded by the results of quantum mechanics that show consciousness is required for matter to exist. You can't have any matter or any brain without consciousness first. In order to avoid this problem they may postulate an undeveloped awareness existed to bring matter into being. However if the facts are understood correctly, that, as shown above, that mind does not require matter for its existence, then there is no reason to postulate anything as unparsimonious as undeveloped awareness. In fact the founders of quantum mechanics , Max Planck (Nobel Prize for Physics) and Erwin Schrödinger (Nobel Prize for Physics), did not believe in undeveloped awareness, they understood that consciousness, mind, spirit was what caused matter to come into being.

Another reason that undeveloped awareness is an unnecessary complication is that the cosmological argument demonstrates that the universe was designed by a mind. So there already exists a mind that could cause the matter of the universe to come into existence.

Back To Contents

Scientists are fallible. Alternative sources of truth exist.

Scientists are fallible.

Science is not a licensed profession. And scientist are not the only people who have the ability to discern truth. In fact, perceptual bias is a chronic problem that may cause Dr. Scientist to misjudge things that Joe Sixpack can assess objectively.

I have long suspected that within the parapsychological community there is some prejudice against afterlife phenomena. Parapsycholoigst Dr. Carlos Alvarado confirmed my suspicion in an interview published at aspsi.org. The interview does not seem to be on the internet currently, but the link was: http://www.aspsi.org/feat/life_after/tymn/a076mt-a-Dr_Carlos_S_Alvarado_interview.php

Dr. Alvarado said:

For many workers in the field, survival research is not a main interest. To some extent this is academics as usual. People specialize in some areas and develop interests due to personality traits, life experiences, training, and employment opportunities, and parapsychology is no exception. Then there are concerns such as getting tenure and the belief that the area has many methodological difficulties. However, I believe that in some cases there is more than this. In some circles it is more “respectable” to conduct ESP experiments than working with survival-related phenomena such as apparitions or mediumship. I still remember how the director of a parapsychology unit within an university, wanting to keep a conservative image, discouraged students from pursuing topics such as apparitions for dissertation research.

Because of this prejudice, one may be justifiably suspicious of the views of those parapsychologists who may deny the genuineness of afterlife phenomena and claim they may be caused by ESP.

Some people may try to excuse this prejudice as being due to ignorance. However ignorance is not an excuse for prejudice, it is a cause of prejudice. And I am less concerned with the feelings of parapsychologists and other pseudo-skeptics than I am concerned for the well being of experiencers that may be harmed by this prejudice. No persecuted minority ever won the rights and respect they deserve without fighting for them. And in our society, experiencers of afterlife phenomena are a persecuted minority. And this is one reason I am writing this post. To explain the seriousness of misinformation about afterlife phenomena, and the harm caused by claims that afterlife phenomena are due to ESP.

It is unfortunate that in addition to the pseudo-skeptics who refuse to recognize the validity of any paranormal phenomena and who are preventing some sectors of society from accepting the evidence for the afterlife, there are also some parapsychologists who are muddying the waters with claims that ESP is the cause of afterlife phenomena. These parapsychologists ought to know from their own experience when someone from outside their field who is dreadfully ignorant about ESP publishes some pseudo-skeptical nonsense, how it creates unnecessary distractions for them because they have to constantly refute the same old canards. Yet the same parapsychologists are creating confusion and spreading misinformation and causing distractions for genuine afterlife researchers, such as those studying NDEs, and they are hindering the progress of the spread of the truth of the afterlife throughout society. Whether some parapsychologists do this intentionally to create greater appreciation for the capabilities of ESP and magnify the importance of their chosen field of study at the price of discrediting survival research, or because they are blinded by perceptual bias, it is harmful to individuals and society as will explained in a subsequent section.

Alternative sources of truth exist.

When deciding the best explanation for a phenomenon, the beliefs of experiencers must be considered. They are there on the spot. There is no one more qualified to asses their experiences than they are. NDErs consistently say their experiences are real and that is a strong argument in favor of the reality of their experiences. As shown above, none of the known causes of hallucinations or ESP can explain NDEs.

The opinions of non-scientist experts should also be given due weight. The expertise of mediums is shown above in the links to different forms of mediumship. Mediums live with afterlife phenomena every day. They know all the fine details that do not get published in books and parapsychological studies. Many mediums also experience other forms of ESP and they can tell the difference between spirit communication and ESP. Mediums say they perceive and communicate with spirits. They are the foremost experts in spirit communication and there are no better qualified experts on ESP and survival of consciousness.

Back To Contents

Experiencers may be harmed by misinformation about afterlife phenomena especially if it comes from medical personnel.

Misinformation about afterlife phenomena is harmful to experiencers like NDErs, people who experience spirit contact, and those suffering from grief. Misinformation published in medical journals can be particularly harmful. An NDEr who wakes up and starts to tell about her experience and is told, "it wasn't real it was just clairvoyance" will be harmed by that misinformation. Research shows that if the first person a near-death experiencer tells about her experience does not accept it as real, then it affects how she copes with it. She may keep it inside and not share it with other people. Feeling the need to keep secret something as awesome and life changing as a visit to heaven and meeting God can be painful. Sharing her experience with others is healthy for her and it also helps other people to learn about the afterlife.

Mediums, like George Anderson, who during childhood are taken for psychiatric evaluation because they see spirits, are harmed if they are told their veridical perceptions are just ESP.

It is very important for medical personnel to understand these experiences are real.

I've seen many times the good mediumship can do. Even some parapsychologists acknowledge it may be therapeutic for those suffering from grief. I have been there at many Spiritualist church services where a grieving mother is given relief from the unimaginable distress caused by the loss of her child, when a medium brings through a communication from her child that shows her the child has not really died but is with Grandma in another realm.

I've been involved in helping people experiencing spirit contact, children and adults, understand and cope with their experiences. I know the harm and confusion that misinformation about life after death causes. It is psychologically damaging for a person who is having these experiences, who may be ostracized at school, or who may have family members who thinks she is either crazy or satanic to be told her experiences are not real. When a person is having contact with spirits and she is getting veridical information and she exhibits no dysfunctions associated with mental illness, she needs accurate information about afterlife phenomena. Parapsychologists who should know better but won't admit the reality of spirits are part of the problem not part of the solution.

Lastly, what could be more important to humanity than to know the universe was created and designed by an intelligence and that each human consciousness survives death?

The Harm Caused by Pseudoskepticism

Back To Contents

References:

Back To Contents

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Update to "Evidence That God Exists: People Who Have Near Death Experiences Meet God."

I have updated an earlier post, Evidence That God Exists: People Who Have Near Death Experiences Meet God., with the following:

In this video from an IANDS conference, Jessica Haynes discusses her near-death experience. She says that she had died and after reviewing her life she wanted to come back and live her life better. Unfortunately, she was dead and she was told, "You can't get back you don't have a body to get back to". But she insisted, repeatedly. So they took her to talk to God who enabled her to come back. She describes her experience of God as, "Pure love.", and "The most loving light you could imagine." He tells her "I am all, I created everything." The part where she describes this is from 10:30 to 15:00.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Notable Near-death Experiencers Believe In Life After Death.

I have updated my web page Eminent Researchers to contain entries on the notable researchers listed below. These individuals are the best qualified experts to determine if near-death experiences represent out-of-the-body consciousness because they have all had an NDE and they also have some other qualification or area of expertise that gives authority to their opinion on the subject. All of them believe that near-death experiences represent out-of-the-body consciousness.

Joe McMoneagle was a military remote viewer and is a very talented psychic who is highly regarded by parapsychologists for his psychic abilities and who has also had a near-death experience. Because of his experience as a military remote viewer and talented psychic, he is highly qualified to determine whether veridical NDEs are due to out-of-the body consciousness or ESP. McMoneagle believes near-death experiences represent out-of-the-body consciousness and that consciousness and our existence as an individual continues after the body dies.

Dr Eben Alexander is a neurosurgeon who had an NDE. He believes, based on his knowledge of neuroscience, that his NDE could not be explained by any physiological means and his experience is proof of life after death.

Carl Jung was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. He had a near-death experience and believed it was a real phenomenon and that consciousness continues to have an existence beyond space and time.

The updates to Eminent Researchers include the following text:

Joe McMoneagle
Joe McMoneagle worked for the US military as a remote viewer and he was involved in the research and development that led to the US military's remote viewing program. Joe also had a near-death experience which convinced him that death does not end consciousness and we continue to exist as an individual after death. The following excerpt from an interview with Jeff Rense shows his views on NDEs:

JOE: One of the things that does occur somewhere in that six month period [after an NDE], you reach a bottom point in that depression where you suddenly realize that, well since you know that consciousness continues, and you don't really cease to exist as an individual, there's no real reason to be depressed about where you are.

Dr. Eben Alexander
Dr. Eben Alexander is a neurosurgeon who had a near-death experience during which he visited the afterlife. After his experience, he investigated how the brain is wired to see if he could find a physiological explanation for his NDE. Alexander concluded that his experience could only be explained if consciousness does not require the brain for its existence. He also concluded that biological explanations such as abnormal CO₂ and oxygen levels or abnormal brain chemicals like DMT or ketamine could not explain his experience. He said that before his NDE he believed Neuroscience could explain how the brain produced consciousness, but after the NDE he understood that "mind and consciousness are independent of the brain". This is extremely significant coming from a neurosurgeon who combines what he knows about Neuroscience and what he learned from his own near-death experience. Dr. Alexander states, "consciousness outside of the brain is a fact. It's an established fact."

Carl Jung
From Wikipedia

Carl Gustav Jung (26 July 1875 - 6 June 1961), often referred to as C. G. Jung, was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of extroversion and introversion; archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, philosophy, archeology, anthropology, literature, and related fields.

Carl Junk believed in ESP, synchronicities, ... that his near-death experience, when his consciousness left his body, was a real objective phenomenon, and that consciousness continues to have an existence beyond space and time.

This excerpt from near-death.com quotes Jung writing that his NDE, when his consciousness left his body, was real. The source of the excerpt has a full description of Jung's
experience in his own words.

I would never have imagined that any such experience was possible. It was not a product of imagination. The visions and experiences were utterly real; there was nothing subjective about them; they all had a quality of absolute objectivity.

This excerpt from thesethingsinside.wordpress.com quotes Jung writing that some forms of ESP are real and that consciousness is not dependent on space and time which he says means life continues to exist beyond space and time.

... we know that there are these peculiar faculties of the psyche - that it isn't entirely confined to space and time. You can have dreams or visions of the future. You can see around corners and such things. Only ignorants deny these facts. It's quite evident that they do exist and have existed always. Now these facts show that the psyche - in part, at least - is not dependent on these confinements. And then what? When the psyche is not under that obligation to live in time and space alone - and obviously, it doesn't - then to that extent, the psyche is not submitted to those laws and that means a practical continuation of life of a sort of psychical existence beyond time and space.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Shared Near-death Experiences from Nderf.org Part IV

This is Part IV, the last of a series of posts about shared near-death experiences published at Nderf.org. Nderf.org is a web site run by near-death experience researcher Dr. Jeff Long M.D. and Jody Long. The site has a web page on Exceptional NDE Accounts. Below are two more accounts of shared near-death experiences from that page.

Darlene K's NDE 2948:

Darlene had a near-death experience which she shared with her cousin Lucy. They met a group of people who were expecting Lucy and Darlene observed Lucy's life review. Darlene was told she wasn't supposed to be there and returned to her body.

I was asleep. Then I was floating above my body. I observed the shine on my hanging copper pot and the pretty colors of my quilt. I watched my body but I don't recall seeing Mom in the room with me at that time. I floated up to the ceiling.

Lucy entered the room with the bright rays of sun through the window. She had no body, like me. We greeted each other happily and played, spinning and twirling in the air. It was fun.

When we stopped, she took me up through a dark tunnel with an intense light at the top. When we arrived, there was no top or bottom. There was nothing there but love. It was pure love. Intense love. Everything was okay. Everyone there was okay. They were all happy, loving beings. They were expecting Lucy. They talked with her and laughed with her. I watched them and felt the love all around me. They reviewed Lucy's past. Suddenly, I felt a being communicate, "You're not supposed to be here."

After her near-death experience, Darlene learned that Lucy had died that morning. During her NDE, Darlene felt she was more conscious and alert than normal and she experienced heightened colors and smells. She believed her experience was real. When she reached the light she said about it, "the totality of life was love and happiness". She described it as "endless in scope". She felt, "intense love, joy, happiness, and sympathy (for Lucy). I had the most incredible peaceful feeling that I've ever had in my life."
Meg A's NDE 903:

Meg had a rare hellish NDE after she was severely injured a car crash. She descended to a lower realm with the driver of the car. The driver remained there, but Meg returned to her body and recovered from her injuries. When she regained consciousness she learned that the driver of the car had died. If you want to read more about this near-death experience click on the link above. While it is different from many other NDE's I have written about, it is consistent with what I have written elsewhere about the afterlife. For perspective on this experience, see my posts on:

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Shared Near-death Experiences from Nderf.org Part III

This is Part III of a series of posts about shared near-death experiences published at Nderf.org. Nderf.org is a web site run by near-death experience researcher Dr. Jeff Long M.D. and Jody Long. The site has a web page on Exceptional NDE Accounts. Below are three more accounts of shared near-death experiences from that page.

Douglas T NDE 3334:

Douglas had a near-death experience during a heart attack. At the same time, two hundred miles away, unknown to Douglas, his grandfather was also having a heart attack.

There was no tunnel of light that I hear some much about, it was just an expanse of white light. Off in the distance to my right was what appeared to be the shadow of a large oak tree with a large group of people standing under it. As I got closer the this group I recognized the people standing in the front of the group as my grandmother, my great uncle Glenn, my great aunt Lala, my great aunt Wanda her husband Lee, a woman that was like a grandmother to my sister and me and then a group of people that I thought I knew but at that time I couldn't put names to their faces. I tried to speak to them but all they would say to me is "We're not waiting for you go home". I spoke to most of these people and everyone said the same thing "We're not waiting for you go home". Then the last thing I remember from that side was my grandfather's voice, I did not see him I just heard his voice say "Your the luckiest boy I know". Then three days later I awoke in the hospital with my Mother and Sister standing over my bed. My Mother says that my first question was about the play I was working on at the time and my second question was about my Grandfather. The Doctors told her not to tell me right away that he had died two days earlier so as not to put me in shock.

During his near death experience Douglas met a group of his deceased relatives but they told him that they were not gathered waiting for him. Then he heard the voice of his grandfather whom he thought was still alive. When Douglas woke up three days later in the hospital, he learned that his grandfather had died two days earlier.

Douglas felt his near-death experience was real. It was as if he was seeing and talking to people as he normally did, but he felt more conscious and alert. He described his sight and hearing as clearer than they normally were. He felt joy, love, and the absence of stress. During his near-death experience, Douglas met deceased relatives he had never seen before. After his NDE, Douglas could identify them in photographs.
Erika R NDE 6354:

Erika was eleven weeks pregnant when she had a near-death experience. It occurred when she lost consciousness while she was being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance because of an asthma attack.

Then I was moving through this purple light. Although it was dark, I wasn't afraid. I then entered pure white light. I have a hard time explaining how and what I felt, because there is no words I can find to describe how beautiful, loving and peaceful it was. It was like I was surrounded in warm, loving wings of light. I have never felt anything close to this, before or after, this experience. I heard a little boy's voice say ,"Mommy, don't leave me." (I thought it was my 7 year old son...who asked me if I was going to die as I was leaving my house with the EMTs).

Later, after the birth of her unborn son she recognized this voice as belonging to him. Her NDE continued:

I did not want to leave where I was; I have never felt so good. Then I saw my Mother-in-law, who died 4 months before. She told me that I didn't belong there-that I had to go back.

Next thing I remember I am looking down at the EMTs and Paramedics as they're wheeling my body from the ambulance into the hospital. Then I am behind my Mother who is talking to doctors in the ER about what was happening with me.

I regained consciousness off and on for a few hours until I was put into a medication-induced coma. I woke up sometime on Monday, connected to a ventilator and many other devices that were keeping me alive, including an insulin pump.

During her near-death experience, Erika felt her senses were sharper than normal. She described her experience "not dream like". She believed it was real. During her near-death experience, Erika felt love, peace, contentment, and happiness. She observed her mother talking to doctors in another part of the hospital. After Erika recovered, she verified this had occurred when she was unconscious. After her son, whom she was pregnant with during her NDE, was born, Erika recognized his voice as the child she heard during her near-death experience.

The little boy I heard was my son, who I was pregnant with at the time. About a year ago we were in his bedroom, and I left to do something in another part of the house. He chased after me saying, "Mommy, don't leave me!" There was NO doubt anymore that I heard him during my experience.

The memories of her NDE are more detailed than other memories from the same time of her life, she describes them as the strongest memories she has. She wrote, "What is waiting for us after we leave our body is so magnificent. Pure love. I am not afraid to die.". Since her NDE Erika has developed telepathy and clairvoyance.
Karen vDK NDEs 6359:

Karen had two near-death experiences. The first occurred during surgery for internal bleeding caused by a previous operation for endometriosis. During her NDE, she met her grandmother at a "gate". Karen returned to her body but her grandmother remained.

I was aware of a hugely intense feeling of love and compassion. I travelled through a kind of tunnel. Time didn't exist, and I found myself at a "gate," together with three figures. One of them, I recognized as my grandmother—whom I knew was alive at that time. The other two were other kinds of beings, human-like, but I couldn't identify them. The feeling of harmony, love, and goodness was overwhelming. At one point we were "told" we weren't allowed to pass yet and had to "go back." It wasn't communicated in words, exactly, though. We were both reluctant. I "went back," but my grandmother stayed.

The next day Karen's husband told her that her grandmother had suffered a stroke and was in very serious condition.

Karen's second NDE occurred three weeks later during an operation to save a kidney that was blocked by her previous operation. In her second NDE, Karen met her grandmother by the same gate. Again, Karen returned but this time her grandmother passed through the gate.

I remember traveling through time and space, until I came to the gate. I vividly remember how intensely I was looking forward to it. My grandmother was still there. Words were not exactly spoken—it was more a communication of "knowing." It was in a totally different dimension. The two beings were there, too. The light was blindingly beautiful and all-encompassing. It's difficult to find words, but, as I seek them in my memories, tears are in my eyes. Then suddenly they let me know "It is not your turn yet." I remember vividly how I reached out for my grandmother, and her "energy" touched me and became a sort of lacy string of light. She went through the gate and—still with this tremendous feeling of love—the beings sent me back.

Karen regained consciousness four days later and was told that her grandmother had died on the day of Karen's kidney surgery. During her NDE, Karen felt more conscious and alert than normal. She felt overwhelming love, harmony, and oneness with everything. After her experience, she understood that love is an important part of our existence. She wrote, "Love is the answer to everything." Karen also finds that she is now more tolerant in her relationships. She believes her experience was real.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Shared Near-death Experiences from Nderf.org Part II

This is Part II of a series of posts about shared near-death experiences archived at Nderf.org. Nderf.org is a web site run by near-death experience researcher Dr. Jeff Long M.D. and Jody Long. The site has a web page on Exceptional NDE Accounts. Below are three more accounts of shared near-death experiences from that page.

Denise NDE 5122:
Denise had a severe case of pleurisy which caused her to lose consciousness and have a near-death experience. When her neighbor came to check on her and tried to rouse her she came back into her body.

In a fraction of a moment, everything around me melted away.

I was surrounded by a mass of solid glowing white. My eyes caught a girl to my right side. She was probably 19 or 20. Shorter than my 5'8 stature she starred up at me. She asked where we were. I had no clue. She proceeded to tell me she'd been driving home from work and didn't understand how she was now standing beside me. I revealed likewise, that I had been in my sons bunk bed and had no recollection of moving. In front of us a man appeared and approached us. The best I can describe his face/features is: brown curly hair to the nap of his neck, liquid brown eyes, ... and a delicate mustache under a pronounced nose. ... I asked him where we were. He smiled, nodded, and said, "the best way to describe this is, you are in a form of limbo. ... He smiled with every ounce of unconditional love and compassion that I will never properly explain ...

Gesturing he told me to walk forward and I would see what I would call "a mirror". ... Moving into the direction, before me was a liquid pool of white, yet, it also appeared to be a mirror. ... I was an array of beautiful moving, shimmering, vibrating, colors. He came closer and said, "do you understand now?" I realized I was pure energy, spirit, and part of a flowing consciousness; while still remaining 'Denise'. At that moment he shared his name, "John". ... The following is a reiteration of his words. "Everyone has choices. Everyone has free will. How this interacts in your life, and death, and with others, is all by choice. ... I need to tell you, your neighbor is entering your home. She will find you. You will be going back." With these last words still ringing in my ears, I was sucked like a vacuum back into my body.

Eight years later Denise was sightseeing at a cathedral and a man, asking her to walk with him, led her to a stained glass window. The design in the stained glass window contained a rendering of the apostle John which looked exactly like man from her NDE. She described what happened next:

Yes it is my dear. He was an apostle on earth and he was called smiling John. You needed to see this. You needed to remember and know that it happened." I stood there shaking my head in a yes motion and turned to look at the little man. He was gone. No where in sight.

During her NDE Denise felt more conscious and alert than she normally did, and she communicated with others telepathically. Since her NDE, she can communicate with "the other side". She believes her experience was real.
Joanie S NDE 5271: Joanie went into convulsions during a pregnancy and was thrown out of her body. During her NDE she saw a past life replayed where the woman who was currently her grandmother was with her in that life too.

The convulsions tightened every part of my body and I felt like I was bouncing off the gurney, until I convulsed out of my body, and was looking down at my body as it continued to convulse. I floated up to the ceiling, while looking at the body below. Both the doctor and the nurse were checking it (me). I was pulled back through the ceiling tiles and into a tunnel, to a place of cloudy space. The cloudy area materialized into a large marble room with marble doors and a "being" at the center. I'll refer to this person as "the Grim Reaper," who was cloaked in a dark cloth, covering all parts. The Grim Reaper pointed (indicating to me to choose a door). But before I could choose, a door opened and I had already gone through it. I found myself in what I now think of as a previous life. I smelled smoke from a fire I was near, and saw others around me. I looked into another woman's eyes, and I knew her immediately as the woman I called my grandmother in this life. I knew then that our lives had "danced" around each other since time began. She was once my mother and once my sister. She was my aunt, and several times my cousin. The life that was being shown to me now was during a prehistoric time, when we lived winters by a creek cave, and summers we had a camp in the woods where we foraged. Looking down, I realized I had a child in my arms, and the woman I had known in so many lives was chatting with me, telling me to cover the child to keep it warm. Then she was showing me how to tie the wraps around me to carry the child while we collected wood.

Joanie had another NDE several years later when she was in surgery for an ectopic pregnancy. During this NDE she saw the unborn child she was losing. The child told her not to worry because she would be back soon. Two weeks after returning from the hospital Joanie's sister-in-law gave birth to a child that Joanie recognized as the child she had lost.

Joanie felt her experiences, including sensations such as touch, sights, sounds, smells were real. She felt as aware and conscious as always. Near the time of her grandmother's death, her grandmother called her by other names and Joanie felt her grandmother did this because she was remembering Joanie from previous lives.
Paul's NDE:
During the Vietnam war, Paul and a fellow soldier, Pete, were both shot. They left their bodies and shared Paul's NDE. Only Paul survived. During the NDE, Pete told Paul he was going to visit his mother to say good by.

The next thing I knew I was viewing the scene from about sixteen feet above my body. I saw that my body had been hit several times in the right leg and once in the left. I was convinced that I was going to bleed to death and felt tremendous sorrow that I'd never see my wife and our unborn baby. My sadness was joined by a growing confusion and curiosity. So, this is death? I thought. No pain! No fear! How weird, I don’t feel any different. I still can think. I stared at my body and wondered what was coming next. My buddy, Pete was lying next to my body. I was shocked to see a mist leave from his head, which instantly turned into an exact duplicate of his body. I noticed that his spirit or new body was whole and glowed a bit. (His physical body below was missing his hand and part of his forearm due to being hit by the same sniper.) Pete looked dazed and I called to him. He immediately flew to join me and we discussed what was going to happen from that point. We noticed that a young black medic had discovered our bodies. First he checked Pete and then me. He began working on my body and Pete commented that he guessed that meant he was dead, but that I probably still had a chance. He reached out and shook my hand and said, "I want to thank you for being a good friend and for trying to save my life. I don’t know why, but I just get this sense that I am not staying here. I am going someplace I’ve been before. It feels like home. I know this sounds crazy, but I think it’s not your time to go yet. I think I’ll try to say goodbye to my mom now, but you go on and have a groovy life and if your kid is a boy name him after me. OK?" I said, "You got it Pete!" I reached over to give him a pat on the back, but he vanished in a blink of light. I watched several soldiers below help carry me away from the scene while the medic continued to work on me. I was filled with a yearning to be with my young wife and my unborn child. Suddenly, I was slammed back into my body, as if I fell from forty feet above.

Later Paul went to visit Pete's mother. She had told Paul of a visitation by Pete's spirit the day he died. Pete had a spirit child with him who he was helping prepare to incarnate. Years later Pete's mother recognized Paul's child as the spirit who had been with her son during his visitation.

Paul describe the effects of his NDE this way:

If everyone could do the same, I know that there would never be another war!

Friday, August 16, 2013

Shared Near-death Experiences from Nderf.org Part I

Nderf.org is a web site run by near-death experience researcher Dr. Jeff Long M.D. and Jody Long. The site has a web page on Exceptional NDE Accounts. Below are three accounts of shared near-death experiences from that page.

G Ryan's NDE 992: Greg and two friends fell when a balcony collapsed while they were filming of a movie. Greg was severly injured and his friend Charlie was killed. Before the medics arrived and began to revive him, Greg and Charlie shared an out-of-body experience.

It was like, I blinked. My eyes were suddenly open, but my position had changed, I was now up high, I looked around me and found that I was on the balcony. I wasn’t flying, or floating, I was just crouching there on the edge looking down at myself, watching Shane remove the spike from my chest, he was shouting, but It was silent, no noise what so ever.

...

My sight was not… human. It was fragmented, although I could see perfectly, if not better, it was not the sight I’d had previously, and everything glowed in a silvery way.

...

Then something caught my eye. Something or someone was coming along the balcony just behind Jo. It was Charlie.

I quickly looked down at his body. He was clearly dead. His head was precariously placed away from his shoulders. I looked back at Charlie. He was looking blank, but he had tears in his eyes. He sat down and dangled his legs on the over the broken ledge of the balcony just on the other side of the frantic Jo. He looked down at himself. “Charlie?” I asked, not knowing if he would hear me. He looked up sharply.

...

He stood up, as did I, and we walked to each other.

...

The NDE included veridical events and since the event Greg reports experiencing psychic perceptions. Greg felt the exerience was real, "not at all" dreamlike and he felt he was totally alert through out the entire experience.
David L NDE 3990: David wrecked the car he was driving and was severely injured. During his NDE he had an out of body experiece during which he communicated with is passenger who was also out of his body. While out of his body, David also visited his brother. He tried to communicate with his brother during that time but thought he had failed. Later, after he recovered he found out that at the time he was trying to communicate with his brother, his brother had a preminition that something had happened to David. This experience convinced him that he really had died during his NDE even though previously he had been an atheist.

Then a voice up, in front, and to my right said, "Fear not. Do not be afraid." My uneasy feeling went away as I asked, "Who are you?" The voice answered, "Just call me father." In the center of my being I heard, "Christ." Then before me there was images. Fuzzy and dark like the scene of the car below my friend and I. But these images were all around me 360 degrees of vision in a circle that curved up and away like a bowl.

I watched as a section of the image became brighter and clear. I could see myself at the age of two. Like a corridor of images stacked one in front of the other running away and up. As the bright area like a flash light was moving from the center in front of me to the left, I watched as the corridors of images showed my life at three, four, five, six and so on till the bright area got to the three o'clock position to my right.

Then suddenly, I was standing in my mother's bedroom. The dog woke up and I said, "Hampton, it is OK." Then the voice up, in back, and to my right asked, "Is this not your mother." I said, "Yes" Then my vision was turned to the right where I would see through my younger brother's door. The voice asked, "Is this not your brother?" I said, "Yes"

Then in the blink of an eye, I was 12 miles away. Outside my older brother's apartment. Looking down through the concrete floor of the second story, and looking through the steel security door of his apartment, I could see my brother reaching out to open the apartment door. Beside him was a shadowy figure. The voice up, behind me, and to the right said, "Is this not your other brother." Thinking that I could talk to the dog, and that my brother is awake, I started to say, "Charles. Get me out of this.. Charles. Get me out of this."

The voice again said in a monotone voice, "Is this not your other brother?" Again, I said, "Charles. Get me out of this." Then the voice said in a fainter voice, "Is this not your other brother?" I said, "Yes" Then again in the blink of an eye I was taken 15 miles away to my father's apartment. Where I was hovering in the parking lot, looking through his apartment door, looking at him sitting on the couch reading the newspaper. I was looking through the news paper at this face when I wondered where his wife was. I was told that she is in the bedroom. Then I was asked, "Is this not your father?" I said, "Yes"

David felt he was more alert than normal during the entire NDE. He later confirmed what he saw his mother, father, and brothers doing during his NDE. On several occasions since his near-death experience David has felt sensations similar to his NDE a couple of days before people close to the family have died and once he felt the presence of discarnate people who talked to him during in NDE.
William M NDE 4269: William fell asleep while driving. He was severely injured and his girlfriend was killed. They rose out of their bodies together are were met by ethereal beings emanating love and compassion beyond anything he had ever experienced. He communicated with them and with his girlfriend telepathically. They took his girlfriend higher while William went back into his body.

Then I was aware that we were out of our bodies & quickly flying up toward space, holding hands. We flew straight up for a minute or so when we started to see a park or countryside-like landscape. It seemed to be in twilight, sort of dark, but we could see trees, bushes, etc. Suddenly, we were intercepted by 4 creatures. They seemed about ten feet in height & were invisible, but we could see a vague humanoid outline (my best description would be like the invisibility effect in the movie "predator" which I saw some years later. Two flanked each of us and began to gently separate us. They overwhelmed us with a feeling of the highest love & compassion that was well beyond anything we could experience on earth. A divine love. We therefore had no resistance to their effort. I recall feeling sort of like a baby in mother's arms, but it's hard to accurately describe. Two of them moved her upward toward the distant landscape & two moved me back downward. I felt so much love, peace, & comfort, that I wanted to protest & say "no, please let me stay here", but hearing inwardly (without ears) or psychically that I could not stay. Next, I could see my car, in flames, from maybe about a quarter mile up above. I felt a sensation of falling, & awakened in the car.

During his NDE William experienced normal consciousness while out of his body but when he returned to it he drifted in and out of consciousness. While out of his body he was able to see the landscape which he was later able to verify. He feels the experience was real and that the afterlife is real.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

An "Electrical Surge" in a Dying Brain Cannot Explain the Near-death Experience. Why you should ignore claims that attempt to discredit evidence for the afterlife. Don't let the psuedoskeptics waste your time or mislead you. Part II

This is Part II of this series of posts. Part I exposes the flaws in an article in Esquire that incorrectly called into question the validity of the near-death experience reported by Dr. Eben Alexander in his book Heaven Is Real: A Doctor’s Experience With the Afterlife.

There are many independent forms of empirical evidence for the afterlife and ESP. Unfortuantely, there are also many cases of pseudoskeptics misleading the public about this evidence as I have documented on my web page on Skeptical Misdirection. The evidence for the afterlife and ESP is so strong that pseudoskeptics have to resort to misleading tactics in their efforts to discredit it.

There have been a number of stories in the news about recent research showing an "electrical surge" in the brains of rats in the first 30 seconds after they experience cardiac arrest. It has been incorrectly claimed that a similar phenomenon could be the cause of near-death experiences in humans. A surge of electrical activity has been known to occur in brains of humans close to the moment of death as well as in humans experiencing cardiac arrest, so this story about rats is not anything new. (The preceeding two links include their own refutation of the "electrical surge" explanation for near-death experiences and are well worth looking at.) There are several reasons a surge of electrical activity in the brain cannot account for near-death experiences. A surge of electrical activity cannot explain:

Veridical (verifiable) near-death experiencess where the experiencer is aware of what is happening at a location he could not perceive with his normal senses even if he was conscious.
Shared near-death experiences where more than one person is close to death and they share the same near-death experience.
Shared near-death experiences where one person is close to death and one or more people around him share his near-death experience.
Near-death experiences that occur when the experiencer is not suffering cardiac arrest and is not physiologically close to death.
Near-death experiences where the subject experiences cardiac arrest for much longer than the surge of electrical activity lasts and the experiencer can report veridical information long after the surge of electrical activity ends.
Near-death experiences that occur when it is known that the experiencer's EEG shows no brain activity.

Also see: All of the materialist explanations for near-death experiences fail to explain the phenomenon.

Examples and References

Veridical near-death experiencess where the experiencer is aware of what is happening at a location he could not perceive with his normal senses even if he was conscious.

deathisanillusion.com

While Maria's body was being worked on by the medical staff she experienced leaving her body. She floated upwards some 4 stories and came out onto the roof of the hospital. There on the ledge of the roof she saw an old sneaker with a worn little toe and one lace tucked under the heel. When the resuscitation procedure had proved successful Maria came to and was quite preoccupied with her vision of the sneaker. ... She managed to persuade the social worker Kim Clark to go check and directed her to a window from which the shoe could be seen when leaning out. ... Clark easily found the correct window and there, indeed, lay the sneaker on the ledge with the worn little toe and the lace tucked under the heel just as Maria had described it.

(Because this case is well known, many false claims have been made by pseudoskeptics in attempts to debunk this case. None of the attempts stand up to close scrutiny.)
Shared near-death experiences where more than one person is close to death and they share the same near-death experience.
near-death.com

We saw that the sparkling lights were tiny, transparent bubbles that drifted in the air and sparkled on the grass. We realized that each tiny sparkle was a soul. To me, the valley appeared to be Heaven, but at the same time I knew that James and Rashad were seeing it differently. James saw it as the Gulf of Souls. Rashad saw it as Nirvana, and somehow we knew all this without speaking. The light began gathering at the far end of the valley, and slowly, out of the mist, a pure white being began to materialize. I saw an angel with a strong, bright face, but not like you'd usually imagine. She was closer to a strong, Viking Valkyrie. I knew she was the special angel that watches over the women of my family, and I perceived her name to be Hellena. James saw this same being as his late father, a career Naval officer, in a white dress uniform. Rashad perceived the being to be the Enlightened One, or Buddha.
Shared near-death experiences where one person is close to death and one or more people around him share his near-death experience.

See the example below.
Near-death experiences that occur when the experiencer is not suffering cardiac arrest and is not physiologically close to death.

near-death.com

Then I saw this incredible white spinning light appear on his left shoulder as he was falling over toward me in his chair. I thought, "My God! I can see his soul leaving his body! Maybe it was an angel who had come for him!"

In any event, the light was so beautiful and lovely, that I stood up without thinking and thought, "Take me! I'll go and he can stay!" I so desperately wanted to go into that light and be with it. Suddenly, I was having a NDE with Phillip in a space that I can only describe as heaven. It was simply a pure whiteness of light just like in the movies. No visuals at all. Just white light everywhere.

Then, I was back in my body. Phillip sat straight up and was back in his body. He was muttering that he guessed he just couldn't die.
Near-death experiences where the subject experiences cardiac arrest for much longer than the surge of electrical activity lasts and the experiencer can report veridical information long after the surge of electrical activity ends.

Cosmological Implications of Near-Death Experiences by Bruce Greyson Journal of Cosmology, 2011, Vol. 14.

However, unconsciousness produced by cardiac arrest characteristically leaves patients amnesic and confused for events immediately preceding and following these episodes (Aminoff et al., 1988; Parnia & Fenwick, 2002; van Lommel et al., 2001). Furthermore, a substantial number of NDEs contain apparent time "anchors" in the form of verifiable reports of events occurring during the period of insult itself. For example, a cardiac-arrest victim described by van Lommel et al. (2001) had been discovered lying in a meadow 30 minutes or more prior to his arrival at the emergency room, comatose and cyanotic, and yet days later, having recovered, he was able to describe accurately various circumstances occurring in conjunction with the ensuing resuscitation procedures in the hospital.
Near-death experiences that occur when it is known that the experiencer's EEG shows no brain activity.

Pam Reynolds Near-death experience at near-death.com

This operation, nicknamed "standstill" by the doctors who perform it, required that Pam's body temperature be lowered to 60 degrees, her heartbeat and breathing stopped, her brain waves flattened, and the blood drained from her head. In everyday terms, she was put to death. After removing the aneurysm, she was restored to life. During the time that Pam was in standstill, she experienced a NDE. Her remarkably detailed veridical out-of-body observations during her surgery were later verified to be very accurate. This case is considered to be one of the strongest cases of veridical evidence in NDE research because of her ability to describe the unique surgical instruments and procedures used and her ability to describe in detail these events while she was clinically and brain dead.
...

When all of Pam's vital signs were stopped, the doctor turned on a surgical saw and began to cut through Pam's skull. While this was going on, Pam reported that she felt herself "pop" outside her body and hover above the operating table. Then she watched the doctors working on her lifeless body for awhile. From her out-of-body position, she observed the doctor sawing into her skull with what looked to her like an electric toothbrush. Pam heard and reported later what the nurses in the operating room had said and exactly what was happening during the operation. At this time, every monitor attached to Pam's body registered "no life" whatsoever. At some point, Pam's consciousness floated out of the operating room and traveled down a tunnel which had a light at the end of it where her deceased relatives and friends were waiting including her long-dead grandmother. Pam's NDE ended when her deceased uncle led her back to her body for her to reentered it. Pam compared the feeling of reentering her dead body to "plunging into a pool of ice." The following is Pam Reynolds' account of her NDE in her own words.

(Because this case is well known, many false claims have been made by pseudoskeptics in attempts to debunk this case. None of the attempts stand up to close scrutiny.)

Pages

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Monday, June 23, 2014

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Friday, April 25, 2014

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Joe McMoneagle

Dr. Eben Alexander

Carl Jung

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Monday, August 19, 2013

Friday, August 16, 2013

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Examples and References

Translate

Subscribe To

Did you know...

About Me

Recommended Articles From My Website

Recommended Articles from this Blog

Recommended Subjects

Free E-Books

Recommended Blogs

Labels

Blog Archive

RSS/Atom Reader

Followers

Eminent Researchers