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.
Speaking of us humans, could an individual with a low IQ still be a genius? The answer to this question is yes.
While that sounds rather impossible, it does exist. Such people are called idiot-savants. I have a video on one such individual. He was the inspiration for the movie “Rain Man.” Kim Peek can read a page from a book in eleven seconds, and remember every word. He has committed nine thousand books to memory. He has a broken brain, the right and left hemispheres of his brain are not connected as our brains are connected. Here is a quote about his brain:
The following day, Neuroradiologist Dr. Pratik Mukherjee will use Diffusion Tensor Imaging, a ground-breaking way of mapping how the brain functions, to look inside Kim’s head. This reveals that the two halves of his brain are not joined in the normal manner, a condition known as agenesis of the Corpus Callosum.
Dr. Pratik Mukherjee: “The fibers that should have made this connection are traveling in different, peculiar directions.” Has the way Kim’s brain rewired itself to compensate for the missing Corpus Callosum account for his incredible memory?
When I read about individuals like Kim I have to wonder how a broken brain can in some ways be able to do things a whole brain can not do.
While main stream science still believes the brain creates the individual, I do not. Having been out of my body I know that I am not the product of my brain. During my near death experience I learned I existed before this body I now control, and I will live after this body has died.
Since Kim’s brain does not allow him full control of his body, he (his mind/spirit) connects more to the spirit world than does ours. Allowing him to access some of the unlimited aspects of that dimension. Kim seems to be able to access any knowledge asked of him.
Edgar Cayce had similar talents, but, unlike Kim, needed to go into a trance to provide the knowledge.
There is a Hall of Records in the spirit world that contains all the knowledge of the universe. It is easy to access in spirit form, but near impossible to access while in physical form.
There has been no physical memory discovered in the brain, no thoughts, no emotions, or any other aspects of the mind. The brain is only the interface between mind/spirit and the body.
I think we can learn more by studying damaged and broken brains than we can by studying whole brains. Identical multiple births, and even conjoined twins raised in the same environment by the same parents, sharing the same DNA, do not have the same personality. All people are unique individuals and do not get their personalities from their brain. They were, who they were, before the body they control was formed.
The definition of idiot-savant is: “Psychiatry — a mentally defective person with an exceptional skill or talent in a special field, as a highly developed ability to play music or to solve complex mathematical problems mentally at great speed.”
Out of body experiences, and near death experiences indicate we are separate entities from our brain and body. Research and documented veridical near death experiences show good evidence that we will remain alive and well after the death of the body.
The brain has been studied by researchers for over 100 years looking for consciousness. I know I am conscious, aware of myself, and my surroundings. I believe my consciousness would need to have, and use memory, thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and maybe other things yet unknown. But, brain research has revealed no such physical memory, thoughts, beliefs, or emotions. How can this be when some researchers believe the brain is responsible for creating consciousness, and without the brain, consciousness would not be possible. What if they are mistaken, it just might be the reason for them not finding consciousness in the brain.
I believe I am not only conscious, but consciousness itself. “I” (me, myself) being something greater than the brain and body. Now there must be evidence for this, and I will provide it later in this writing. In order to study this “I” that we call ourselves, we need to determine exactly what this “I” is as close as possible. One way to do this is by the process of elimination. Those things that can be eliminated without eliminating “I” will allow us to focus closer on the “I.” “I” being mine or your consciousness.
Earlier we said consciousness would need to have, and use memory, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. Now would “I” be lost if any of these parts of consciousness were lost or changed. I don’t think so because many have lost their memory, even severely, as in amnesia, but retain their “I.” They still know they are themselves. The same with other parts of consciousness. Thoughts, beliefs, and emotions can change, and even be forgotten without loss of the “I.” These are the parts and tools of consciousness: memory, thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and maybe other parts yet unknown. We (being consciouness) use these tools to gain knowledge and understanding of the world around us enabling us to live, and survive. However, these tools are not us. We (“I”) are still greater than the tools of consciousness we have learned to use.
To bring this into better focus, think of being in a room full of people. No one in that room will have any difficultly in ascertaining themselves from the others. They may have forgotten their own name, what they are doing there, where they came from and most anything else, but they will still know “I” am, and can easily distinguish themselves from the others. They may even be mentally ill, and believe they are God, but they will still be able to conclusively distinguish themselves from the others. I have never heard, or read of a single case where someone lost his/her “I,” and confused themselves with people standing nearby. Everyone knows “I am” and “you are” even if they don’t know anything else about themselves or about others. This is a critical understanding for learning about yourself.
Now consciousness is unique for each person, like snowflakes, no two are exactly alike, even identical multiple births don’t have the same consciousness. They may look alike, but they don’t act, and think alike. So if consciousness is a product of the brain, why don’t identical babies have identical consciousness’. Another thing about consciousness is, no one can see it, it remains invisible to the human eye. We can’t measure it either, how big, how much does it weight, what color is it, are all unanswered questions.
From what I can understand brain research is all about brain activity. The brain activity is studied with many different machines in many different ways. But what is brain activity? Is it consciousness, or only the footprint of consciousness, the end result of having an active consciousness, and not consciousness itself. No one can tell from just looking at brain activity what is happening. Is the activity a thought, an emotion, or just a dream? No one knows what is taking place merely by looking at brain activity. Now the brain may be artificially stimulated in a certain area, or areas, and the person the brain belongs to may see a light, or a scene, or something else. It is therefor thought that this part of the brain controls whatever the patient saw. But is this true. This has been called Brain Mapping, and it is far from being accurate.
Consciousness is not produced by the brain, but is a separate invisible entity that controls the brain and body. An entity that separates at death to continue living without the brain and body. This entity has been called by many names: psyche, mind, consciousness, soul, and spirit are some of the names or labels put on the “director” of the brain and body. I have decided to call this entity “the director” because this word has less emotional baggage than some of the other words that could be used. The director being the “I” that still stands after the parts of consciousness (aka the director) that have been deemed changable were eliminated. We have discovered the “I” and it is us. The “I” that is the essential you, the essence of your being.
Now the brain did not produce/create the director. We know this through the phenomenon of Near Death Experiences, and the research being done on Near Death Experiences by many universities in the United States and abroad. If you are not sure what a near death experience is then you may want to read A NDE, what is it? Those reading only news, and other media accounts of the experience may be surprised to find out what the experience really contains.
One near death experience account stands out from the rest due to its thorough and rigorous documentation. That account was the surgery of Pam Reynolds. There is no need to explain as the video linked here will tell about the details of the surgery. You will see the surgeon that perfomed the surgery validate Pam’s experience as she tells it.
The next link will be a broad one, it links a lot of the research that has been done on near death experiences. There are about 100 sub-links available from the first link. You may not have the time to follow all the links, and read all the material, but this first link can be a source of material on near death experiences for those interested in further study. This link explains veridical NDEs, and examines skeptical arguments.
Now we will set up a small outline model of how the director, (conscious “I”) and the brain/body interact to allow us to enjoy a physical experience here on planet earth. During most near death experiences the experiencer relates how he exited his body through the top of the head. Later to reenter the body in the same manner. So we will begin at that point before the body is exited.
The director controls the body through the brain. The director receives signals from the brain. These signals originate in the five senses of the body as well as the network of nerves. The brain is like a central information clearing house. The director decides what area of the brain receives what signals. The director “programs” these areas for receiving and sending, so appropriate actions may be taken in response to the incoming signals. The director (conscious “I”) uses the tools of thought to do this programming. Emotions provide the thoughts with intensity, and duration as well as polarity. As long as the brain/body are healthy things go along swimmingly. But the task of the director is large, and complicated. There is much to go wrong. Imbalances, drugs, diseases, trauma, poisons, etc., can, and do affect the health and stability of the brain/body. When the brain/body is sick, drugged, or damaged the signals can become erratic and unstable, causing missed or scrambled incoming signals and inappropriate response signals. The director will try to fix or compensate for these problems. In the case of a stroke that paralyses a limb, the director will try to relocate the area of control so with exercise the brain/body can regain control of the limb. Without a director this would not be possible. At no time is the director (the invisible consciouness “I”) harmed or damaged in any way by the illnesses, and trauma of the brain/body. When the damage to the brain/body is great enough to ensure death the director will exit out of the top of the brain/body and look down upon the clinically dead body it once inhabited as happens in the typical near death experience.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was urged by his family to seek psychiatric evaluation. His insistence the human voice could be sent great distances through a wire caused them concern over his mental health.
If Bell’s family had seen a television set in operation they would have really been surprised. This form of transmitting and receiving data without wires was yet to be discovered.
Alexander Graham Bell, and his family would have believed the television set was the source of the pictures it presented. That the images were stored somewhere within the TV and different groups shown when the position of the “channel knob” was adjusted. Bell might even have removed the cover to look for them, trying to discover how the thing worked. But, no matter how hard or long he examined the television he would not have found the images and sounds produced stored within it.
Science has a similar problem with the human brain. The body is only a “tool of communication” for your spiritual consciousness (the real you) to use while exploring the physical realm. No matter how hard or long scientists look in the brain for things like consciousness, memory, mind, personality, dreams, NDEs, OBEs, etc. they will not be found. The brain is not the source of these life’s events. There is no proof that the NDE, or any other event for that matter, originates within the brain. Nothing has been found stored there. Stimulating the brain at different points to produce different events doesn’t prove any of those events are stored within the brain. Just as adjusting (stimulating) the “channel knob” on a TV doesn’t prove the images it produces are stored within the TV.
Albert Einstein was one of the most intelligent and prolific contributors to the field of science in the twentieth-century. His brain was donated to science for studies of how he acquired such great intelligence. But researchers found that Einstein’s brain was smaller than normal and contained nothing unusual. It did, however, contain a larger number of synapses, a minute space between a nerve cell and another nerve cell, a muscle cell, etc., through which nerve impulses are transmitted from one to the other. He had more “connections” than the average person, more “channels” for his spiritual energy to use. The more you use your brain, the more synapses you will develop.
Scientists are looking for a biologically-based trigger to explain the NDE and other spiritual events. They often say; “We know it is there, we just haven’t found it yet.” The truth is, they don’t know it’s there. Obviously, in order to know it’s there, it would need to be found. So, without any biological evidence whatsoever, some scientists continue to publicly declare NDEs biological. This behaviour is unfair to Near Death Experiencers, characterizing them as witless, while passing misinformation about NDEs to the general public.
The search for a biological basis of spiritual events has been going on for more than a hundred years without any results. I wonder how many more years will pass before science realizes the brain is not the source of mankind. The brain did not create humanity.
So, if you’ve had a Near Death Experience and someone tells you it’s just a local brain thing, be sure to ask them for proof. There is no evidence NDEs originate in the brain. Then explain to them there is considerable proof the NDE doesn’t originate in the brain. That it happens independent of brain and body during clinical death. An example of this proof is shown in FAQ #05 and continued in FAQ #12. There are more examples of this proof on site; hundreds of examples in the Near Death literature; and thousands of them in the broader field of metaphysics.
However, this site was not created to post arguments on the reality of NDEs. Its purpose is teaching the significance of Love as demonstrated by the Near Death Experience. When one reaches the state of unconditional Love (in the presence of the Light) they achieve their highest point of wisdom and understanding. It is known no organ (brain) of the body creates individual consciousness, any more than a child creates its parents. They know because they’re in the presence of the Creator, the Light of Love that permeates all things, called by many names, but best described by the word Love.
NDEs prove there is meaning and purpose to life. That all individuals are responsible for their spiritual growth, and accountable for their thoughts and deeds. Perfect justice is achieved through perfect Love — what you do to others returns to you. Positive deeds return Love; negative deeds return “challenges” for spiritual growth. “You will reap whatsoever you sow.”
In summary: There is no proof that Near Death Experiences, or any other experiences, originate within the brain. While there is proof that NDEs happen independently of the brain and body during clinical death. Therefor scientists, and/or anyone else, have no reason to say Near Death Experiences are biological in nature. NDEs are exactly as the experiencers describe them, real spiritual events.
P.S. It might correctly be asked what proof is there of the “spiritual consciousness (the real you)” talked about in the fourth paragraph above. The answer is: the existence of spiritual consciousness is evidenced by that which remains alive and gathers information during the clinical death of the brain and body. The second part of the argument proves the first. For more information go to FAQ 18.
The brain seems to be the key to understanding our spiritual nature. There are currently two very different models on how the brain works and its importance to consciousness.
The scientific brain model endows the brain with creative powers. It creates human personality and is responsible for logic, decisions, thoughts, emotions, and memory, as well as movement of the body. In other words we are our brain and will cease to exist when the brain ceases to function.
The spiritual model of the brain is very different. Here the brain is merely an interface between the spiritual self and the body. When the body dies the spiritual self continues to live.
Which model is real, or closer to being the correct model. I think we can find the answer by reading the material published by the proponents of each model.
The scientific model proponents claim we are all physical, that spiritual ideas are nonsense, but they can not show even the tinest bit of physical evidence. Where is the physical memory? If all our experience is recorded as memory in the brain, that storage area would be huge and very easy to pinpoint. Now, where does cognitive thinking take place, and where are the emotions located? Attempts at answering these questions lie in “brain mapping.” But if you read the various studies about where things take place in the brain you will quickly notice a lack of consistency. There was an excellent study on Brain Mapping at UCLA. This study will help you to understand the inconsistencies. Our brains are not hard-wired. When the brain is damaged in one area, another area can take over the function that was lost. This indicates some intelligence higher than the brain directing its functions. Either the brain has a brain or that director is our spiritual selves.
On the spiritual side, many studies are now being done by qualified research scientists. These studies show consciousness survives the death of the brain. There is real solid evidence in these studies. I will not point them all out, but will show one or two.
My intention here is to challenge you to read the studies and make up your own mind as to whether you are the creation of a body organ or something greater.
I am a believer because I experienced the spiritual world. I hope you will want to know about our spiritual nature enough to read everything you can find on the subject.
