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This blog is more than an account of Near Death Experiences. It ponders in detail the tough questions of life. Who are you, and why are you here in this physical world? What happens when you die, and is there a judgment? However, most anything could appear here. This is not a news blog, archived posts are just as relevant as new posts. Check the boxes at the top of the page for the Contents, Contact, Forum and other links.

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Quest for Truth

How It All Began

I was working for the Georgia Department of Corrections in 1982 as a Correctional Officer. I worked a constant seven day shift rotation and this week was on the 12:00am to 8:00am shift. It was in December on a cold brisk morning that I punched my time card and headed for home. I was looking forward to this morning, as I had planned a hunting trip on the ninety eight acre farm, bordering the Chattahoochee River, my family and I lived on.

I arrived home and gathered my gear trying to get as early a start as I could. My wife had already left for work as most people do who have normal working hours. I usually called her when I was going hunting, but being in a hurry on this particular morning I didn’t. I had about a two mile hike to my tree stand and arrived there around 10:15am.

My stand was about 20 feet high on the front side facing a thick patch of pines. The back side faced the river below and dropped off to huge boulders in the river below. I tied off my rifle to be pulled up after my climb to the top and began my upward ascent. I reached the top and positioned myself to pull my rifle up. Then without warning I heard a snap!

I would later return to this site many times to reflect on my life. On one visit with a friend I measured the distance from the top of the stand down to the boulder I landed on. Eighty feet! As I began my fall to the river below I could see the river coming up fast. I knew this was the end for me and although it was just seconds before impact, it was as though I was in slow motion!

So many thoughts raced through my mind. My wife, my daughter, my family, and no one knows where I am! Would I ever be found? Then, darkness! How long this darkness lasted I don’t know. Then something wonderful happened! I felt myself leaving my body! I was floating a few feet in the air above the river! I looked on my body with mixed feelings. I was bleeding from my mouth, nose, ears, and saw a trickle of blood underneath me on the boulder.

As I was reflecting on the state of my body I felt a pulling and began to rise very fast! I was traveling at a high rate of speed upwards through the atmosphere! As I left the atmosphere I looked back and could see the earth! Such a beautiful sight! It was so brilliantly lit! As I looked ahead I could see the planets! I thought to myself this cannot be! Where is Jesus? I was never told anything like this could or would happen when I died! Faster, and faster the speed was increasing!

I saw other star systems and galaxies as I raced onward! I entered what seemed to be a hole of some sort! It was long and dark. However around me I saw streaks of light made up of every color in the spectrum! I saw a faint light growing brighter and brighter in the distance up ahead. As I entered the light I felt it all through my being. I was not afraid anymore! Then all of a sudden I was standing before a massive set of steps! They led up to what seemed to be a bridge or walk of some kind.

In the distance I saw a sight so magnificent and astounding! A city made up of what seemed to be glass or crystal. The lights were of many colors that radiated from it. Never have I seen such a sight! I began walking toward the city in a daze of unbelief! So many questions raced through my mind. I had to know where I was. What was happening to me? I reached the front of the city and saw a double door that looked to be about thirty feet or so in height and width! It shined as if it was polished! As I stood there wandering the doors began to open. I took a step back and looked inside. I could see what appeared to be people walking about on the inside, much like they do in a mall here on earth. These people though were dressed very different! For one thing they all seemed to be dressed in some sort of robes with hoods! I entered through the doors in amazement at what I was seeing! The inside was massive! It seemed to be square in shape, with a balcony all around that led down to different levels! I walked up and looked downward over the balcony. It seemed to go on forever!

As I looked up, I saw many passing by me, yet no one seemed to notice me! Then as one was approaching me he suddenly stopped! He slowly raised his head and I could see his face! He appeared to be human form in every respect but one! His eyes! No pupils! Yet they seemed to change colors in shades of blue! His hair was snow white! I wanted to speak but before I could he turned and pointed to a long hallway! Though we never spoke I knew I was to go down this hallway.

Then as if nothing had ever happened, he continued on. I knew I had to as well. Something beckoning me forward. I walked a long walk down to the end of this hallway. I did not turn to the right or the left. I knew somehow that my questions were about to be answered! Again I saw before me a massive double door. It seemed to be of some type of metal whether gold or not I could not tell. Suddenly the doors opened! I heard a voice though not as we speak, but from inside of me it seemed, say enter!

I did as I was told and the doors shut suddenly behind me! I was afraid for the first time! Total darkness! Total silence! Then after a space of time the length of which I could not determine, a bright light began to glow in the room! Brighter and brighter it became! It was somewhat above me and in front of me. I tried to look but was almost blinded from it! I held my hands up in front of me and could make out the appearance of a figure setting on some type of seat!

Then without warning it happened! “What have you done with your life?” The voice penetrated my very being! I had no answer! Then to my right I saw what seemed to be like a movie, and I was in it! I saw my mother giving me birth, my childhood and friends! I saw everything from my youth up! I saw everything I had ever done before my eyes! As my life played out before my very eyes I tried to think of good things I had done. I was raised in church and had been very active in church functions, yet as I pondered on this I saw a man in his car that had ran out of gas. I had stopped and given him a lift to a local store about a year ago.

I had bought him some gas as he had no money and helped him get on his way! I thought to my self, why am I seeing this? The voice was loud and clear. You took no thought to help this soul and asked nothing in return! These actions are the essence of good! I saw all the people I had hurt as well and was shown how my actions had set in motion the actions of others! I was stunned! I had never thought of my life having an effect on the actions that friends, family, and others I had met would take! I saw the results of all I had done! I was not pleased at all!

I looked on until the events came to an end. Indeed I had done so little with my life! I had been selfish and cruel in so many ways! I was truly sorry I had done so little. Then again loud and clear I heard the voice speak again. “You must return!” I did not want to return though. I was content to stay and longed to stay even after the things I had seen and heard. I have so many questions, I replied, things I need to know I don’t understand.

“You must return and help others to change by changing your life! Physicians will want to perform surgery on you. Do not let this happen! If you do you will never walk again! You will be visited by one who will bring you answers to the questions you have. When I call you will come again! You will recover from all that has happened if you do these things. Look and see what lies ahead!”

I turned and saw the earth in a turmoil! Wars and death, terrible sights! Cities fell and new ones were built! I saw the United States and a volcano exploding covering many cities in darkness! I looked on and saw the collapse of our government as we know it. People killing for food and water, horrible sights! I saw what seemed to be a giant explosion in the earth’s atmosphere and much land was destroyed! I looked on and saw a new type of people, younger and of a peaceful nature. The cities were few that were left, but these people seemed to be content. It is time for you to go, I heard again! But I wanted to see more!

Then the doors opened and I felt myself almost being carried down the hallway. I passed through the doors of the city and felt myself shooting through this hole I had came through! Faster I went unable to stop! I entered the atmosphere of earth and saw the river below. I saw my body still lying there motionless! Then it was like an electric shock so tremendous I felt my body jump! I opened my eyes and saw the trees above and the skyline. Then Oh God the pain! I was struggling for every breath, choking on my own blood!

I managed to roll onto my stomach the pain was all I could bare! I looked at the sky and saw the sun was lower than I remembered. I looked at my watch. It was 5:30! My only thoughts were how could I get help. I noticed my rifle was not far from me, still attached to the rope I had tied around my waist. I began pulling it toward me. I managed to grab hold of the barrel and pulled it up to me. I fired a shot about every ten minutes hoping someone would come. It was getting late and I knew I would not make it much longer, so I began crawling on my stomach, pulling myself with the stock of my rifle.

I managed to crawl up a trail that ran down to the river. I crawled and crawled the pain was so great I passed out many times. Through thick brush and briar patches I crawled. I wanted to give up I was so tired and in so much pain. I knew though I had to make it at least to where I could be found I hoped! I looked out in front of me and saw the road I lived on through the trees. I could hear sounds in the distance! Yes thank you God I thought to myself! I finally found myself at the road and began a feeble cry for help. I was to exhausted though and just lay there in the road.

My father inlaw was returning from work and found me laying in the road! It’s all right I heard him say, help is on the way. That was the last I remembered until I saw the lights inside the ER. A doctor stood at my feet. Can you feel this he said? Feel what I asked? He had been sticking my feet and legs. I was paralyzed! We can not help you here son, he said. We are sending you by ambulance to a hospital that can handle your injuries. Whether from the pain or medication I was out like a light.

The next afternoon I awoke to find two doctors standing at the foot of my hospital bed. They introduced themselves as my attending physicians and proceeded to explain to me I must undergo surgery at once. The bones in my back that were broke, were putting pressure on my spinal nerve causing paralysis. Then I heard the warning I had heard before! “Do not let them perform surgery, or you will never walk again!” I understood completely, but knew they would not. I told them I must see my wife and daughter first! My wife arrived with my daughter shortly after the doctors visit. I told her what they had said.

She advised me I must realize they were doing what was necessary to help me! I did not know how to tell her what I had experienced! I tried to tell her it was my belief that I should not be operated on. Although she disagreed, she honored my wishes. When the doctors returned and I told them of my decision, they were very upset! I listened to lecture after lecture! OK, one of them said, if you never want to walk again that’s up to you! Then they left. That night I lay upon my bed and wept sorely. Was I insane? What was I doing? A light began to fill my room. “You will be well!” I heard a voice say. Then it was gone!

I composed myself and dosed off to sleep. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months. Then one morning I felt a tingling in my feet! I was over come with joy! I told the nurse I wanted to get up and walk! She stared at me and said, we’ll see, we’ll see. I knew I was healed without a doubt! The nurse put a call into my doctor and the next morning he stopped by. “So you think you can walk?” he said. “Yes,” I replied! “Well we will see.”

A few hours later I was taken down to the Physical Therapy room. They carried me by bed down and raised me up to a vertical position. The nurse helped me in front of a set of parallel bars. I gripped the bars and placed my feet firmly on the floor. One step! Two steps, “my God he’s walking” the nurse said to the nurse who had brought me down!

The next few days was hard. I took many trips to Physical Therapy, and had numerous x-rays done per my doctors orders! My wife and family were all amazed, yet I knew! I had been told! The rest had to be true as well! My doctor was more amazed when he found no bones pressing on my spinal nerve! I use his quote: “This is not normal!” “It seems a higher power has done for you what we were going to try and correct with surgery!” “I have never seen anything like this before!”

Since that day my life has changed and I have been able to help others in ways I never dreamed. I wanted to share this with all, as it is what has led me onward in My Quest for Truth!

Ricky D. Randolph

© 2010, Lekatt. All rights reserved.

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Morse Response to Skeptics

Dr. Melvin Morse, M.D., is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington. He has studied near-death experiences in children for 15 years and is the author of several books on the subject.

He, like a lot of other near death researchers, got started when he was present as a patient of his had a near death experience. Below is a short video of Dr. Morse that I wholeheartedly agree with, skeptics do not read the material, nor can they offer any reasonable explanations for near death experiences.

© 2009 – 2014, Lekatt. All rights reserved.

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Collage of Near Death Experiences

(This post is made up of quotes from many near death experiences, an interesting “crash course” on what NDEs are all about. I hope you will enjoy it.)

I heard the words, “Remember, pray without ceasing. Play. Love. Laugh. Live for the joy of it. Have fun. Happiness is holy. The purpose of life is joy. Savor fully the loveliness of each experience. Self-awareness is the prayer of the heart. To pray without ceasing is to play. Play with the joyful abandon of the child, absorbed in the delight of each moment. Let go of obligation and duty. Live for the pure joy of being.”

There is only one truly significant work to do in life, and that is love; to love nature, to love people, to love animals, to love creation itself, just because it is. To serve God’s creation with a warm and loving hand of generosity and compassion – that is the only meaningful existence.

We were conceived in love spiritually, and love is the center of our beings. It is the energy of our souls, the spark of our divine nature. Being made of love, we cleave to it and seek it in all that we do. When we do not have it, or when we have lost it, we grieve. Its presence or absence colors our every action. It is life. It is happiness. It is salvation itself.

There is power in our thoughts. We create our own surroundings by the thoughts we think. Physically, this may take a period of time, but spiritually it is instantaneous. If we understood the power of our thoughts, we would guard them more closely. If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. In our thoughts and words we create our own weaknesses and our own strengths. Our limitations and joys begin in our own hearts.

There is no difference between scrubbing floors and praying, between balancing your checkbook and praising God. It’s all the same energy from the same Source. The only difference is how we choose to manifest that energy at any given moment in time and space.

Suddenly I was in the presence of a Being of Light. I could not see the face, could communicate, but not in words or pictures even; in some connection of Oneness. I experience that connection in meditation frequently, but I cannot explain it very precisely. It is beyond words and other kinds of experiences. The emotions are always enhanced. I feel joy so deep that my whole self leaps with gratitude; I feel peace; I feel awe and belonging. I did not have a specific life review, but felt everything about me and my life was known, understood and not judged. I was profoundly loved.

Thoughts have come to me in a situational way over the last nine months, that have caused me great surprise. These gems are coming from my lips! I knew them because God taught me them years ago. I just wasn’t listening is all.

Like, we are not placed here to be the paper upon which others poop, we are here for each other, but not to be used by one another. We truly need each other at times, but need the wisdom to know when to leave one alone when they want to be with their other friend, God! We have no right to take away their relationship with their God.

We must recognize that bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. But we are not the judge, if we want something we must go after it. Give it all we have and let life be a surprise to us instead of us trying to surprise it! When I look back on my childhood, I do so with great pleasure. It was the grandest time of my life! Looking back on it, It was a constant surprise! Every day some great adventure occurred.

Each day regardless of the situation, you learn a lesson, you may not like the lesson, but it is one you need to learn.

I was then out of body, so light, so free, so content to just be. Everyone was so upset, so desperate to help me, I didn’t need help I was fine and so happy, more happier than I ever felt. At peace with the feeling of acceptance and love. It was more overpowering than anything I ever felt. I then realized I knew things, it is all so simple, people made things so difficult, it didn’t have to be. What really caught my interest is knowing why we can’t use all of our potential, wow, what an eye opener, we have knowledge of this side with us all the time in our head but to live here and learn what we must to grow in understanding of emotional pain, physical pain, complete loneliness, complete helplessness, that part of us is asleep for as long as our heart is beating. When our heart stops our complete knowledge returns. Everyone who dies sees and hears what they need for their crossover to be as calmly accepted to them as possible, wait there is more I want to remember, then I am so cold, oh no I am back, I hurt, I want to go back. I was given CPR I had no pulse or heartbeat. This is the hardest school I could ever go to, I am not finished, there is more I have to do, more I have to learn, it will be harder now, knowing where I could be.

The being of light showed me that all that was really important in life was the love we felt, the loving acts we preformed, the loving words we spoke, the loving thoughts we held. All that was made, said, done, or even thought without love was undone. It didn’t matter. It simply did no longer exist. Love was all that was really important, only love was real. Everything we did lovingly was supposed to be. It was okay. It was good.

And the love we’d felt during our lives was all that was left when everything else, everything perishable in life, had vanished.

I hope that y’all enjoy them.

Bless each of you and may your days and nights be filled with peace, joy and contentment.

to help, to heal, to love — D.

© 2009, Lekatt. All rights reserved.

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Q & A – 28 Is there Proof that NDEs are Real?

Question: I need more proof that NDEs are real, do you have any more evidence?

Answer: Yes, there is a lot more evidence. The paper below was written by EtepongeNekoKun whom has done a lot of research into near death experiences. He has a channel on “You Tube” and a “Blog.” Check out his work, it is great stuff.

Near Death Experiences / Out Of Body Experiences:
An Indepth Examination of Veridical Evidence and The Rebuttal of Common Skeptical Explanations.

Veridical Perception and Veridical Information gained during Near Death Experiences / Out Of Body Experiences, even during a flat EEG where brain and heart activity had ceased, and even in cases of persons born blind:

There are a number of well documented cases of people having near death experiences / out of body experiences, even during a flat EEG where brain and heart activity had ceased, returning with factual information which they had no prior knowledge of, and numerous cases in which the experiencers returned to life with information unavailable to them at the time of death.

These include being able to accurately tell the doctors what they were doing while they were clinically dead, what clothes they wore, what procedures and instruments they used, and any conversations being said, including accurate blow by blow accounts of their own resuscitation from a bird’s eye point of view, the whole of which can later be checked and verified to be true.

Often times they also describe what was happening out in the hallway, who was sitting in the waiting room, what was happening on the other side of the building, and conversations being said at these same locations, all while they were clinically dead elsewhere. The events witnessed, heard, and experienced, later being verified to be true. Even obscure objects on the roof have been seen and verified.

There are also accounts of experiencers meeting deceased relatives during an NDE that the person did not know was dead, such as a relative or a friend, and finding out that they were really deceased after the fact, and learning information from them that they could not have otherwise known.

There are many accounts of children and adult NDErs learning about relatives and siblings who had died before their own birth that they never met or were never told about, etc.

Also, people who have been blind since birth have been able to accurately perceive visual surroundings during their experience. Many people have also been informed of knowledge far beyond their personal capacity. Etc.

The most convincing aspect of these, is that many of them were recounted, recorded, and documented IMMEDIATELY or VERY SOON after the patient regained consciousness to the doctors, nurses, staff, and family members, not long after the fact.

Interestingly, there have in fact been Successful Experiments in actually testing Veridical NDEs…

–Many doctors, nurses, medical staff, paramedics, and family members have been interviewed by NDE Researchers to obtain cross-referenced verifiable information between the stories of the patients concerning their Veridical NDEs and the cross-referenced experiences of the medical staff involved with them.–Dr. Michael Sabom did a study on over 57 cardiac patients who had clinically died and were brought back, 32 of whom had experienced Veridical OBEs and had described in great detail their own resusitations during cardiac arrest, and 25 of whom had not experienced an OBE during their cardiac arrest. He had two groups, the experiencers who saw in their OBEs and the non-experiencers who did not, describe their resusitations. To his suprise, 80% of the non-experiencers made serious mistakes. On the other hand, all of the experiencers did not make a single mistake.

According to PMH Atwater in her book “The Complete Idiots Guide To Near-Death Experiences” regarding Dr. Michael Sabom’s Research Study…

“Experiencers even correctly detailed readings on medical machines that were not in their line of vision, and described other circumstances they should not otherwise have been able to know.”

–Dr. Pim Van Lommel did a more indepth study with 344 cardiac patients independently of Dr. Michael Sabom with similar results. They made sure that their subjects could be verified as flatlined during the experiences.–Dr. Kenneth Ring did a study on Veridical NDEs of 31 persons who were born blind and found that they could veridically “see” events while their OBE unfolded the same way sighted people’s do.

I’d like to add that Dr. Michael Sabom and Dr. Pim Van Lommel and Dr. Kenneth Ring’s Research were published in PEER REVIEWED Science Journals.

Here is an excellent list of arguments in favor of the phenomenon by IANDS…

–Once a person’s brainwaves have ceased, indicating that all mental activity has stopped — perceiving, thinking, and remembering — how do we explain their accurate perception of events going on around their “deceased” body (both sight and sound), and their accurate reporting of events taking place even at significant distances from their clinically-dead body?–If we regard experiencers’ perceptions of dead relatives as just imaginary “wishful thinking”, how can we explain their accurate description of relatives previously unknown to them, yet later verified by living relatives and by civil documents?

–If the spiritual component of the near-death experience could be explained away as just an extension of the person’s pre-existing belief system, why have confirmed atheists come back after their NDE convinced there is a God? And why have religious believers returned from their NDE with un-orthodox changes to their prior dogmas?

Excerpt from Wikipedia’s Article on NDEs…

“As An Afterlife Experience…Some see the NDE as an afterlife experience. They believe that the NDE cannot be completely explained by physiological or or psychological causes, and that consciousness can function independently of brain activity (Rivas, 2003).

Many NDE-accounts seem to include elements which, according to several theorists, can only be explained by an out-of-body consciousness.

A majority of individuals who experience an NDE see it as a verification of the existence of an afterlife (Kelly, 2001). This includes those with agnostic/atheist inclinations before the experience.

As Greyson notes: ‘No one physiological or psychological model by itself explains all the common features of NDE. The paradoxical occurrence of heightened, lucid awareness and logical thought processes during a period of impaired cerebral perfusion raises particular perplexing questions for our current understanding of consciousness and its relation to brain function. A clear sensorium and complex perceptual processes during a period of apparent clinical death challenge the concept that consciousness is localized exclusively in the brain.’ (Greyson, 2001)

Research on NDEs occurring in the blind have also hinted that consciousness survives bodily death.

NDE’s can also lead to long-lasting spiritual effects (as evidenced by the many studies which confirm the experience as having taken place during clinical death).”

OBE Specific Research:

–The Monroe Institute’s OBE Experiments.–Charles Tart’s OBE Experiment of having an experienced OBEr accurately read a five-digit number from an unreachable/unseeable location. 100,000 to 1 chance accuracy.

–Robert Morris’ OBE Experiments with Keith Harary who reported accurately on sitters, letters, and positions, in a sealed laboratory 20 yards away.

–Clinical testing of OBEs – in which strain gauges were triggered at a distance, apparently by the test subject’s roving presence, and in which an animal reacted consistently as if the subject were in the room when he was reportedly having an OBE while asleep in the next room.

–The US Government’s 20 year long Program “Stargate” on Remote Viewing which had a number of amazing positive veridical results with Remote Viewers, as well as a number of misses.

What do the Skeptics on the otherhand have to say about NDEs? Let’s be fair now.

Skeptic Argument # 1: Dying Brain Theory

The Dying Brain Theory states that upon clinical death the brain is slowly starved of oxygen and creates a vivid hallucination that is later remembered as an NDE.

This theory in truth falls very short of the cold hard medical facts of what happens to the brain after cardiac arrest occurs and when clinical death sets in, and is likewise destroyed by the well documented Veridical Aspects of the NDE Phenomenon itself that are never adequately dealt with as a whole.

In total refutation of the “Dying Brain Theory” the cold hard medical facts are that when a person’s heart stops they lose total consciousness within seconds. The loss of consciousness is complete and there are no memories of the event. EEG and brain stem monitors show no brain activity while in this state. There is no gag reflex, no pupil response, no brain activity whatsoever. They are dead. The brain cannot produce images in this state, and even if it could, you wouldn’t remember them.

Multiple medical doctors including Peter Fenwick a respected neuropsychiatrist, Pim Van Lommel a cardiologist, Sam Parnia, Bruce Greyson, Ian Stevenson, Melvin Morse, Michael Sabom, and numerous others, will tell you the same thing.

“Simultaneous recording of heart rate and brain output show that within 11 seconds of the heart stopping, the brainwaves go flat. Now, if you read the literature on this, some skeptical people claim that in this state there is still brain activity, but, in fact, the data are against this in both animals and humans. The brain is not functioning, and you are not going to get your electrical activity back again until the heart restarts.” (Dr. Peter Fenwick)

Dr. Sam Parnia: “During cardiac arrest brainstem activity is rapidly lost. It should not be able to sustain such lucid processes or allow the formation of lasting memories.”

Pim Van Lommel’s well-known research study published in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, also notes that cerebral activity flatlines within 4 to 20 seconds of cardiac arrest.

“How could a clear consciousness outside one’s body be experienced at the moment that the brain no longer functions during a period of clinical death with flat EEG? . . . Furthermore, blind people have described veridical perception during out-of-body experiences at the time of this experience. NDE pushes at the limits of medical ideas about the range of human consciousness and the mind-brain relation. In our prospective study of patients that were clinically dead (flat EEG, showing no electrical activity in the cortex and loss of brain stem function evidenced by fixed dilated pupils and absence of the gag reflex) the patients report a clear consciousness, in which cognitive functioning, emotion, sense of identity, or memory from early childhood occurred, as well as perceptions from a position out and above their ‘dead’ body.” (Van Lommel, Van Wees, Meyers, Elfferich (2001). Near-Death Experience in Survivors of Cardiac Arrest: A Prospective Study in the Netherlands. Lancet.)

The Dying Brain Theory also doesn’t explain why only 18% of those who are brought back from clinical death experience an NDE, while the remaining 82% do not. Even under the exact same conditions.

“Our most striking finding was that Near-Death Experiences do not have a physical or medical root. After all, 100 per cent of the patients suffered a shortage of oxygen, 100 per cent were given morphine-like medications, 100 per cent were victims of severe stress, so those are plainly not the reasons why 18 per cent had Near-Death Experiences and 82 percent didn’t. If they had been triggered by any one of those things, everyone would have had Near-Death Experiences.” (Van Lommel 1995)

I’d like to clarify that even though only 18% of those who are brought back from clinical death experience an NDE (all under the same medical conditions), the LONGER one is clinically dead, the higher the chance of being brought back with an NDE. Those who were clinically dead longer than several minutes have a far higher chance of coming back with an NDE than those who were clinically dead for only a minute or two.

Skeptic Argument # 2: DMT Chemicals Causing NDEs

DMT does not account for the Veridical Elements of the NDE, nor the amazing structure of many NDEs, according to the book “DMT: The Spiritual Molecule,” it may act as an initial NDE trigger, but cannot make up for the entire experience, Veridical Elements and all, in addition to the pesky little fact that within 4 to 20 seconds of cardiac arrest, the brain waves go flat, and even if they were sufficient (which they are not), the brain cannot produce images in this state, and even if it could, you wouldn’t remember them.

Skeptic Argument # 3: Ketamine

The Skeptic Sources refering to the Drug Ketamine causing NDEs are referencing an old paper by Ketamine Researcher Dr. Karl Jansen, who has since totally changed his stance on Ketamine actually causing the experiences, and is now far more open to the metaphysical component of NDEs. His current hypothesis is that Ketamine and other triggers of NDEs/OBEs simply act as a “door to a space” rather than actually producing that space. He states that his findings now are more in line with other researchers in his field such as John Lilly and Stanislav Grof.

“I am no longer as opposed to spiritual explanations of these phenomena as this article would appear to suggest. Over the past two years (it is quite some time since I wrote it) I have moved more towards the views put forward by John Lilly and Stan Grof. Namely, that drugs and psychological disciplines such as meditation and yoga may render certain ‘states’ more accessible. The complication then becomes in defining just what we mean by ‘states’ and where they are located, if indeed location is an appropriate term at all. But the apparent emphasis on matter over mind contained within this particular article no longer accurately represents my attitudes. My forthcoming book ‘Ketamine’ will consider mystical issues from quite a different perspective, and will give a much stronger voice to those who see drugs as just another door to a space, and not as actually producing that space’.” (Dr. Karl Jansen)

Melvin Morse M.D. wrote an insightful article titled “The Right Temporal Lobe And Associated Limbic Lobe Structures As The Biological Interface With An Interconnected Universe” that is along these lines of thought.

Skeptic Argument # 4: The Navy Airmen Stress Tests

These are studies where they used Navy Airmen in G-Force stress tests that caused the blood in the heads of the individuals to drain, inducing a state of simulated clinical death, in which NDEs were reported. These do not conflict with the NDE Phenomenon, as the persons were essentially put into a state of simulated clinical death when the blood drained from their heads, and they had an NDE.

Again, like Pim Van Lommel’s findings, it only occured in 18% of individuals who underwent and came back from this state of simulated clinical death.

Skeptic Argument # 5: Susan Blackmore’s Critique Of “The Tunnel”

Regarding the Tunnel that people see during their NDEs, Susan Blackmore has theorized that the optic nerve causes a “Tunnel Effect” due to random neuron firings in the back of the eye to explain away the “Tunnel” that people see.

But a woman named Vicki who was born blind had her optic nerve severed in her incubator at birth, and she still visually saw a Tunnel during her NDE and OBE. And it happened awhile into the actual experience.

The fact is, The Tunnel can appear in front of them, to the side of them, up above them, even through a wall, soon after or long after their clinical death set in. And sometimes even not at all.

The Tunnel is truely a moot point concerning the overall NDE experience.

Skeptic Argument # 6: The Assertion That People Only See And Experience What They Already Believed

This is completely untrue. Atheists and Agnostics come back believing in a God. Many Christians come back believing in Reincarnation, that Other Religions are Valid Spiritual Paths, and other Unorthodox Hetrodox ideas. There are a number of cases of Hindus meeting Muhammed, Muslims meeting Buddha, Christians meeting a Figure of God other than Mainstream Christianity. (I know one Southern Baptist Christian who saw Shamanic Imagery in his NDE, and became a Shaman. I met another one who met a Demiurge Figure in Addition to a God Figure, which reflects Gnosticism.) A seven year old girl who was raised Christian saw deceased spirits of people waiting to be reborn (reincarnation) that goes against her belief system, etc. I know an Atheist who had a very profound NDE when she was a child, and she had been raised non-religious, and she had experienced God in a Panentheistic Context, that she was informed “All is One”, and she said that she became and identified and connected with everything during her NDE. Very much in line with Eastern Spiritual Thought.

Skeptic Argument # 7: Keith Augustine’s Anti-NDE Article (The Skeptic’s Trump Card)

Sources such as Keith Augustine’s article will prey upon the perceived weakness of certain NDEs, out of their full context, while ignoring alternative explainations and far better and far stronger NDE examples, in an attempt to bring all NDEs down. The “weird” NDEs he presents are without context, and his sources are usually Christian Fundamentalist Anti-NDE Books (Not Kidding), and short excerpts from Books of NDE Researchers, taken out of their full context and presented without the full explanation of the NDE Researchers who are presenting them. His alternative explanations of Veridical NDEs ignore pesky facts and additional and alternative information that he conveniently ignored to come to his conclusions. The bulk of his arguments against specific veridical cases, revolve largely around presenting totally unprovable unverifiable highly speculative “coulda-woulda-shouldas” regarding how they “could have seen/heard those things naturally” while ignoring well presented alternative explanations, the full context of the specific cases, and ignoring all of the known facts and circumstances surrounding the matter at hand that conflict with his hasty conclusions. His arguments often revolve around presenting a totally one-sided view of things, ignoring what the other side has to fully say regarding it, and comes up with his own conclusion without the full data being presented there. There are times where he partially or very briefly and shortly presents what the other side has to say, but certainly not all of it, as much of what he does not present is very damning to his side of the argument.

FIN

I’m planning on making another indepth article on this subject eventually to tackle more indepth skeptical arguments that I didn’t have time to tackle in this particular article, although I feel that the whole of what I did tackle in this particular article covers all of the main skeptical objections.

EtepongeNekoKun

“In July 1995 the CIA declassified, and approved for release, documents revealing its sponsorship in the 1970s of a program at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA, to determine whether such phenomena as remote viewing ‘might have any utility for intelligence collection.’ Thus began disclosure to the public of a two-decade-plus involvement of the intelligence community in the investigation of so-called parapsychological or psi phenomena. Presented here by the program’s Founder and first Director (1972 – 1985) is the early history of the program, including discussion of some of the first, now declassified, results that drove early interest.”

© 2007 – 2020, Lekatt. All rights reserved.

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