The relationship between science and near death experiences is bitter-sweet. In the 60’s main stream science began to take a wrong turn down the dead-end street of materialism. In the 70’s, researchers like Dr. Raymond Moody, and Elisabeth Keubler-Ross were studying the subject of death and dying in hospitals.
What Moody, and Keubler-Ross researched were events called near death experiences. So named by Dr. Moody. While these experiences were not new, the large number of people experiencing them were new. Due to better methods of resuscitation doctors were reviving more patients that died on the operating tables. Patients that told the doctors they went out of their body and watched the resuscitation of their clinically dead bodies. Fortunately not all doctors dismissed the “stories” of their patient’s near death experiences as dreaming or hallucinating, and so research began in earnest.
Over 30 years later a dozen universities both here and abroad are engaged in near death experience research. There is now a large amount of data from this research that shows human consciousness lives on after the death of the brain and body.
This research represents a serious challenge to main stream science’s belief in materialism. This research shows that materialism is not the only game in town, it shows man is spiritual by nature.
So our world consists of a least two known dimensions: the spiritual and the physical. I don’t think this is news to most people. Spirituality has always played a large role in our society.
But ever since science opted for materialism, or natural explanations for all events, and actions in our Universe, there has been a growing disagreement between spirituality and science.
Now I believe that the solid evidence of man’s spirituality should end this conflict forever. Both science and spirituality can have their rightful places in our society.
Near death experiences just don’t seem to fit into any of the patterns of religion or science. Most experiencers are neither religious nor scientific minded in their approach to life after their near death experience. Maybe there could be a way to integrate religion and science into a higher more complete discipline using principles learned from near death experiences.
Below you can find some links to the research showing consciousness continues to live after the death of the brain and body. Since this blog is mainly devoted to showing the reality of near death experiences more links can be found there.
Q and A — 28
© 2009, Lekatt. All rights reserved.
