Near Death Experiences

[Lucas88]

@Lucas88 has done a lot of research into near death experiences and maybe he can share some more interesting information on this topic.

I first discovered near-death experiences in the late 2000s when I stumbled across a documentary on the subject. Needless to say, I found the phenomenon fascinating. Since then I've read various books on NDEs and watched presentations by NDE researchers and regard NDEs as convincing evidence for the post-mortem survival of consciousness.

I'm familiar with the works of Kenneth Ring, Pim van Lommel and various other big names in this field, but my preferred NDE researcher has always been Dr. Jeffrey Long, a very sober medical expert from Houma, Louisiana who wrote a book called Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences, founded NDERF, and presents the evidence in a particularly cogent way.

Here is a video in which Jeffrey Long presents his nine lines of evidence for the veracity of NDEs:



An overview of the nine lines of evidence:

1. Crystal-clear consciousness - The majority of NDE'rs experience a level of consciousness and lucidity greater than usual despite having no cardiac output and a flat EEG

2. Realistic OBE observations - Almost half of NDE'rs also observe the scene of their death from a vantage point outside of their physical body and are later able to recount what they saw with a high degree of accuracy in 97.6% of instances, a phenomenon which some researchers call veridical perception

3. Visual NDEs in the blind - The contents of NDEs do not differ even in those who are blind since birth

4. NDEs under anaesthesia - NDEs still happen even when one has a cardiac arrest and is under anaesthesia at the same time

5. Perfect playback: Life review - A subset of NDE'rs experience a lucid and coherent review of their life events from birth until death, a complex form of cognitive activity which shouldn't be possible with cardiac arrest and a flat EEG

6. Meeting deceased loved ones - Many NDE'rs encounter deceased loved ones, including in some cases those who the NDE'r didn't know were already dead at the time of their NDE

7. NDEs in children - NDE content is identical in children age 5 or less

8. Worldwide consistency - NDE content is strikingly similar in all cultures

9. Changed lives - In the majority of cases the NDE had significant and long-lasting transformative effects on the experciencer

Dr. Long argues that these nine lines of evidence converge on the conclusion that NDEs are indeed a real phenomenon and offer a glimpse into an afterlife beyond this physical reality.

Not surprisingly, atheists generally don't want to admit any evidence in favor of the veracity of NDEs because the veracity of NDEs, if proven true, would completely invalidate their materialist worldview. Furthermore, many atheists harbor a visceral suspicion towards anything that resembles religion. Some of them try to argue that NDEs are merely hallucinations of a dying brain. However, their skeptical explanation doesn't account for all of the phenomena reported in many NDEs such as crystal-clear consciousness despite a flat EEG, realistic OBE observations, perfect playback life reviews, the striking consistency of experiences, etc.

Curiously, many religious people such as fundamentalist Christians tend not to be too interested in NDEs either. I suppose that this is because during NDEs people often experience things that don't conform to biblical dogma. Many Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and even atheists experience highly positive NDEs. These are people who, according to Christianity, are supposed to be going to hell. Lol!

What do I think? For me, it isn't a question of religion vs. atheism—ideologies that place limits upon reality, including the various "holy books" and religious dogmas, are manmade. Rather it is a question of whether an expanded reality exists beyond our immediate material reality and if so what. The reality in which we currently live might be simply a creation of a higher reality into which our consciousness temporarily incarnates in order to have certain kinds of experiences and evolve. It's conceivable that the physical world could be an immersive simulation of sorts generated from a more fundamental layer of reality which we are able to glimpse during NDEs and other peak experiences and which we in our limited colloquial language term "spiritual" or "supernatural".

Given the complementary evidence of past-life memories in children provided by Dr. Ian Stevenson, Jim Tucker and others, I tend to interpret the NDE world as a kind of intermediary non-physical plane between physical incarnations rather than any kind of permanent heaven realm as some religions conceive.

[yick]

Before my mother passed away two years ago, a visitor who she didn't recognise would come and it was a spiritual visitor that only she could see. I now reckon it was one of her ancestors that makes up part of her DNA - we might go back to knowing personally our great grandparents if we are lucky but most of us don't - we have millions of people who make up all of us. Someone told me that if you go back 1000 years, every European has a family link to another European and if you go back 1500 years - everyone is related! It does not matter who it is. Anyway, this visitor scared my mum but after that one visit when she asked my dad to stay with her - she was fine with the visitor (who came again...) after that.

On the day before she died - she had something called the 'Lazarus effect' she was still lucid and she wasn't on any medication though she was on her last legs but she came around and managed to speak to my dad and be with him for her last moments on earth and she saw her father who had come for her - she said - I can see dad and he is coming to take me with him - and that is exactly what happened a few hours later.

None of this has anything to do with 'religion' it is something that is far bigger and far more profound than religion which is in every culture like you have both said - the Welsh and the Incas both believed in an afterlife that was basically the same - that your spirit went into the middle of the earth and there was peace, tranquillity with lots to eat - it is amazing how many cultures are able to define their version of afterlife in such depth and these beliefs are thousands of years before Jesus Christ.

Not only do I believe in an afterlife but also believe that not only will I meet my mother again but all the ancestors who make up me and that they all have an invested interest in my wellbeing. Of course there is free will and if I want to take smack then they can't stop me but if you listen closely enough, they're always giving you advice and you don't have to have anything to do with a church or a temple to talk to them.

[jamesbond]

This is a good interview with Dr. Jeffrey Long where he discusses all aspects of near death experiences.