Question: What is the final argument proving Near Death Experiences are real and spiritual life continues after death of the body?Answer: Not sure there will be a final argument soon. But will try to present positions and come up with one anyway. So as not to repeat a lot of material already available on this site, I suggest the following four pages be read first. The final argument will begin where they leave off.
The Brain Thing. FAQ 18. FAQ 19. Pam's NDE.
If you become lost clicking around, just remember this page is FAQ 20.
Don't forget to read lots of the Near Death Experiences, they are the real teachers.
The Consciousness Question. Is consciousness (mind, psyche, spirit) biological in nature, ceasing to exist at the moment of death, or is it spiritual in nature, continuing to exist after death, perhaps for eternity? That is the question.
This is no trivial question, its answer will have far-reaching consequences in all areas of our society.
The Argument for Biological. Man has evolved from lower primates, his brain has undergone a series of upgrades in the process, and consciousness (or expanded consciousness) is one of those upgrades. All memory, thinking, and motor skills are stored in the brain. The interaction of perceived data (senses) with the stored data produces thinking consciousness. When the brain dies all consciousness dies with it.
Brain stimulation is used to show proof of this and to map the brain. The main stimulates fall into two catagories: mechanical, usually mild electric currents, and chemical, usually the drug Ketamine.
Areas of the brain which control hearing, sight, motor functions and many other functions have been determined. Even the area of memory storage for faces, various other memories, and various other events have been shown.
Recently a spiritual area has been discovered in the brain. When stimulated angels, God, bright lights, etc. have been triggered. It is said stimulating this area produces Out-of-Body Experiences and Near Death Experiences proving spiritual things are just another biological function of the brain's memories. It is also interesting to know that the drug Ketamine produces OBEs and NDEs also.
In conclusion: brain stimulation shows that consciousness is biological.
Rebuttal of Argument for Biological. The notion that man evolved from lower primates is theory. This theory is not complete, it doesn't explain where matter and energy came from in the beginning. There are missing links, gaps of missing time, as well as some contradictions of thought among its disciples. At this time the theory seems to be stalling out for lack of new data. There is no hard proof here of man's beginnings.
Mapping areas of the brain to functions is completely subjective. There are no consciousness cells, no memory cells, no cognitive cells, no optic translation cells, no audio translation cells, nor any other cells that can be determined to contain anything more or less than the cells surrounding them. There are no biologically defined areas of memory or functions found in the brain. There exists no biological proof that anything is stored within the brain. Stimulation, and subsequent function or event, is not proof that the function or event is stored within the brain anymore than changing channels on a television proves the picture is stored in the television. In order to prove storage, the function or event must be found biologically (physically) present within the brain and this physical presence collaborated by other researchers.
Some brain researchers claim that Ketamine induces Near Death Experiences. This is not true, of course, perhaps some fragments similar to NDEs, but certainly not the real experience. One need only to read the real experiences and compare them with the posted Ketamine experience to see the difference.
In conclusion: there is no hard evidence, proof, nor validation of the theory that consciousness is biological.
The Argument for Spiritual. Near Death Experiences show us that man's consciousness is separate from his brain and body, therefor consciousness is spiritual.
Here we need only to prove that consciousness survives clinical death. To begin, we have the first-hand, eye-witness accounts of thousands of Near Death Experiencers. But that may not be considered proof in scientific circles.
So it will be the scientists themselves that provide us the proof. More than one Doctor/Researcher, working in more than one location has discovered that the consciousness of man continues to live after clinical death. This is good science, the way it is supposed to work. Collaboration of more researchers will be a certainty in the future.
In conclusion: the scientific method has been used to prove that consciousness lives after clinical death, therefore consciousness is spiritual.
Rebuttal of Argument for Spiritual.
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No rebuttal for spiritual consciousness is offered, because of the large amount of real proof that man is spiritual in nature. If the reader disagrees with this and can offer real proof to the contrary I will post it above. No theories please.
The Near Death Experience. The NDE is the most important topic of this century. When it is fully realized that man is spiritual, vast changes will take place in our society. We will know that we were created by a higher intelligence who loves us very much and wants us to love each other. By learning to love we can participate in an expanded knowledge of ourselves, we can know we are light, love and perfection. We are as God created us, and God don't make junk.
