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.
Mind, psyche, spirit, soul, are words used to describe the phenomenon of consciousness. It is our consciousness that determines our individuality. We are our consciousness. There is no good definition of consciousness, nor can it be shown where consciousness resides in body. Many think the brain produces the consciousness which is basically you. This would mean you have been created by your brain. But there is no proof of this, nor is there any physical proof of thoughts, beliefs, and emotions, residing in the brain. Brain activity is all science has to examine brain functions, and this activity has not been proved to be coming from the brain, or going to the brain as it is measured. Current near death research shows that consciousness and brain are two separate entities. That consciousness continues to live and function after the brain and body are clinically dead.
Consciousness has been thought to evolve with the evolution of the species, but this seems to be wrong. It is consciousness, or self-awareness that determines the boundaries of self. So how could life appear without boundaries of self. Then at the same time self is defined by consciousness, not-self is also defined. So if life evolved without consciousness it would not be able to determine itself from the world it lived in. How would it know what to eat as nourishment? It could eat itself and not be aware without consciousness to guide it. If this sounds strange it is because it is strange. It shows the lack of rational thought put into the beginning of life as taught by science.
Science also teaches it was a fortunate random mix of chemicals that started life. A primordial soup so to speak. But if the world was randomness at that stage of evolution then why didn’t the randomness quickly change, and destroy the early mixture of chemicals, and life with it soon after it had been created. There are far too many assumptions here to be believable for me. That random changes formed an ideal situation for life to begin, then ceased to be random so that the fragile beginning of life would have time to grow, and not be destroyed by the next wave of randomness.
The only rational belief, seems to be that life started with consciousness, so there never was any randomness involved in the creation of life, nor the creation of the universe. So where did this consciousness come from?
It would have to come from a greater consciousness. I want to try to make the word consciousness more personal, because it is personal. When you say “I am” you are defining your being, you are defining your self. This includes self-awareness, of both self and not self, it includes your individuality, as you know that you are you. This is very important, so stop, and think about what “I am” means to you. This is the eternal part of you, your core being, in the spiritual world. This is the part of you that never changes. In the physical world you may have many names, jobs, locations, visit many places, explore new territories, but you will still be the same “I am” in the spiritual world that you are right this moment. You may, in the physical world, have many deaths of the body, illnesses, beliefs, memories, or loss of memory, you may even become insane, but you will still be the same “I am” in the spiritual world that you are right this moment. This knowing of the “I am” is your connection to the greater consciousness. There may be times in your physical life that you connect with the greater consciousness. Spiritual experiences that you never forget.
So consciousness, your consciousness, comes from the greater consciousness. In the spiritual world all consciousnesses, or people, or individuals reside in the greater consciousness. You are part of the greater consciousness and it a part of you. That is why during a near death experience when you return to the greater consciousness all knowledge is available for you. You have only to question and the answer appears in thought.
The greater consciousness is sometimes called God, and no one knows where God came from, so it is generally accepted that God or the greater consciousness has always been, it has no beginning, no end.
Less than ten percent of the world population believes the brain somehow creates the personality and consciousness of the individual. That small group would mostly be part of the scientific community that also believes materialism, sometimes called naturalism, is the only aspect of the Universe. This belief eliminates all spiritual aspects of life saying spirituality is mythology, unprovable wishful thinking, and irrational nonsense. One of their main arguments for this belief is the observation when the brain is damaged the personality and consciousness are also damaged.
The purpose of this writing is to show they are wrong. That the mind/spirit is not damaged when the brain is damaged. That the mind/spirit is totally separate from the brain and can fully function without the brain.
First, I would like you to watch a video made by Jill Bolton Taylor, PhD, of her stroke. Notice how she talks about all aspects of her stroke.
If the brain creates and supports the mind, which is damaged when the brain is damaged, how is Jill able to understand and talk about her brain as it is being damaged. Would not the mind also be damaged along with the brain. Apparently not. So here we have an indication the mind and brain are not one, but are two separate entities. She begins to recognize everything as energy, total energy, she can’t determine the boundaries of her body. The physical/material world fading into energy, her brain being damaged more and more, yet her mind remains clear and logical, able to describe each moment of brain damage as it happens.
Jill’s description of her stroke is not unusual, there are many accounts of recovering stoke victims telling about feeling trapped inside bodies they can no longer control. Where nothing is wrong with their mind, where the mind is fully functional, and knows what is going on around them.
Doctors and nurses continue to stream in and out of my room. I cannot communicate with them. I cannot make my mouth form the words. The words are there in my brain but I cannot get them out. When the nurse talks to me I want to scream, “I’m here!” I am frustrated, but more than that, I am scared.
Cleo can not communicate, but she does understand and wants to communicate. She is locked in a body that doesn’t work for her, her mind is fine, the brain is damaged.
I have a close friend who had a stoke leaving him partially paralyzed on one side of his body and unable to talk. He repeats short sounds, usually “ok, ok” in response to everything said to him. He understands, but can’t answer except with these short sounds. He has been this way for several years.
However, his wife has this to say about him.
Yes, my husband will talk a normal speech pattern, when he talks in his sleep. Sometimes I can actually get a full conversation going, but when he is awake the speech is just a repeat of anything he hears, reads. For some reason all words, fazes come in a patter of three. It is like he runs into a brick wall. The spontaneous speech is what did not come back.
This is another brain problem, but not a mind problem. His mind is there, he understands, he just can’t make the body work as he once could.
We are spirit/energy/mind/soul/psyche, whatever you wish to call the essential “you” occupying a physical body for the purpose of learning about ourselves.
The following is a quote from a near death experience. The experiencer was in a car crash.
At some point I remember my intelligence/spirit being to the right of my body and above the car looking at about a 45 degree angle through the roof. I remember thinking “Is this all there is to death?” I remember looking at my body and thinking that “it” wasn’t me. My intelligence/spirit was me. I don’t remember any voices or white lights like I have read about. I just remember incredible peace and being in a completely logical state. I lost my identity with my body. I no longer identified with it. It was just flesh.
There are literally thousands of near death experiences posted on the Internet, there is no chance all these people are mistaken about what they experienced.
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.
It may take a few years for mainstream science to catch up with the research, but reality will win out in the long run.
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.
