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Near Death Experiences, Real Glimpses of Afterlife

The Jury is in. After more than 35 years of research by top scientists, the studies all point to consciousness living beyond the death of the brain and body. Incredible as it may sound, we now have solid evidence of an afterlife.

A few of the scientists that have been researching near death experiences over the past thirty-five years include:
Dr. Raymond Moody,
Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross,
Dr. Melvin Morse,
Dr. Jeffrey Long,
Dr. Peter Fenwick,
Dr. Bruce Greyson,
Dr. Sam Parnia,
Dr. Michael Sabom,
Dr. Pim Van Lommel,
and many, many others have joined them in researching near death experiences over the years. All of the near-death research points in the direction of an afterlife. The research is being done at dozens of universities here in the states and abroard. The research has been published in scientific journals. Many books have been written by these researchers. They are available from Amazon.com. I highly recommend: “Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience,” by Dr. Pim van Lommel.

There are an estimated 10 million near death experiencers in the U.S. alone. So why is this not front page news in all the newspapers and magazines, and why do main stream scientists continue to teach and hold to the old theories that the brain produces consciousness when all the research shows that consciousness is non-local (a separate entity) and is not produced by the brain?

The clash between the new research, showing consciousness continues to live after the death of the brain and body, and the old theories that assume consciousness is produced by the brain and dies when the brain dies, has been going on for a long time. So it is now time to examine the facts of the debate.

The New Research.

The new research shows that a percentage of the people that die during surgery, and are brought back to life, can accurately describe what happened during the time they were clinically dead. They can accurately describe the surgeon and staff, what they said, and what they did to their clinically dead body while being out of their body in a position above their body near the ceiling. Even if the patient was blind or deaf before the surgery, they can still hear and see all the activity going on around their dead body. Some of them are able to see for the first time in their life. This is called veridical near death experiences. The accuracy of the surgery patient’s account is verified by the surgeon and staff performing the procedure. To date there are thousands of these verified NDEs published in the reseach. They are solid, clear evidence that our consciousness continues to live after the death of our bodies.

Registered nurse has a near death experience.
The Pam Reynolds surgery.
An emergency room nurse tells about an NDE.

The Old Theories.

On the other side of the debate is the theory that the brain produces our consciousness which is dependent upon the brain, and therefor dies when the brain dies. This remains only a theory because no one has found evidence of memory, thoughts, beliefs, and other attributes of consciousness physically present anywhere in the brain.

I understand there are basically three ways scientists can examine the brain, and the only thing they can measure related to consciousness in the brain comes from the brain activity.

1. By stimulating part of the brain with electical or chemical probes. This will usually result in the person who owns the brain seeing, feeling, and/or hearing some kind of an event. From this the assumption is made that the brain contains that event at that location. But this is not evidence, only theory, an assumption. Probing a TV tuner at different locations will show you different channels, but no one believes the channels with pictures and sound are located in the TV. The event triggered by the probes could be just as well non-local, since brain activity has not been shown to be generated by the brain. Scientists can’t show proof brain activity is coming from the brain, it could be a non-local consciousness feeding activity to the brain instead.

2. In this method is seen a reverse of the first one. A subject is asked to do, or the think of something, and brain activity is measured to see which part of the brain “lights up” when this event or activity is performed. Again this is not proof of the event or activity residing in that part of the brain. These procedures, 1, and 2, are sometimes called brain mapping. This so-called “brain mapping” has not been very accurate.

3. Brain damage. What can we learn from brain damage. Many scientists believe the brain to be hard-wired like some machine. If this is true, which it isn’t, then a stroke that causes a leg or arm to be paralyzed due to brain damage could never be used again. But we know through physical therapy many times full use of the arm or leg can be restored. If our consciousness is non-local and uses the brain as an interface to the body, then it can be explained why brain damage can be reversed without restoring the damaged part of the brain. If the part of the brain controlling a function is damaged, then your non-local consciousness can move that function to an undamaged part of the brain. However, a relearning process is necessary for the function to be restored. The Magic Brain.

Science doctrine is full of contradictions. One is assuming everything is material, without knowing everything. Two is assuming that personal experiences are unreliable, when it is obvious that personal experiences are the only kind of experience there is, and our only interface with the physical world. Three is assuming theories are more than educated guesses or they are backed up by facts. If they were factual, they would not be theories, they would be evidence.

So why is the new research not widely accepted.

The usually reasons is that us humans are not quick to change. We like our comfort zones and giving them up is not an easy thing. Then there are vested interests. Government and university funded research that would no longer be needed. There would also be a lot of theories that would need to be upgraded or replaced by the new knowledge. But I think the biggest reason is that spirituality would have to be acknowledged. Along with spirituality comes a huge amount of questions with little or no answers. This may be upsetting to the number of atheists among the scientific community, because while an afterlife doesn’t prove the existence of a higher intelligence, it does strongly suggest one. It would be a hard thing to acknowledge spirituality after years of teaching materialism.

But the advantages are many. There would now be meaning, purpose, and hope in all our lives. The fear of death would be diminished or gone entirely, along with the fear of life. Kindness would be taught again in all schools, including love one another. The world would improve if all knew physical life was not the end. Stress, anxiety, and anger would be reduced. Everyone would understand the law of attraction, and know that however they treat others would be returned to them. They would understand they are responsible for the deeds they do and the thoughts, beliefs they hold would determine the quality of their life in both the physical and spiritual. The world would not be perfect, but certainly improved. I hope it will happen sooner than you think.

Theories

Suppose a friend gave you a picture puzzle. One of those 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles in a plain box. No picture on the cover to show what the puzzle would look like when assembled. Would you accept the task of putting the pieces together? How would you go about assembling it?

You would know, or at least believe, that the box contained all the pieces necessary for complete assembly, and none that were not necessary. So you would likely spread the pieces onto a large table and start gathering pieces with similar colors into groups. A logical and rational approach. Then try to assemble each group, and later assemble the groups to produce the completed picture.

The realities of life are not like putting a picture puzzle together. We don’t know how many pieces there are, neither do we know what pieces belong, and what pieces don’t belong when we attempt to answer the great questions of life. Where did the Universe come from, and ultimately, where did life come from? Do we have a creator, or was it all an accident of nature? What is nature? Does our lives have any purpose or meaning?

We use theories to help us understand the answers to the great questions of life. Theories are possibilities, part fact, and part opinion. Here is one of many definitions of theories from a dictionary.

A well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena.

Sounds good on the surface, but how well substantiated can the beginning of life be, or the beginning of the Universe? There were no observers present, nor any way to research the beginnings. It is true to say theories may contain certain facts, but theories are not facts, they are possibilities. We dig up primate fossils, that is a fact. But there is no complete chain of primate fossils verifying the decent of man. That is theory. So theories are really some fact, and a lot of opinion, or imagination about what those facts mean, and how they fit into the puzzle of life.

Concerning the picture puzzle mentioned earlier, would a theory have helped assemble this puzzle? If the facts (pieces) were mostly blue in color, a theory (possibility) might be the picture is water, or sky, or has a blue background. Now would a theory help solve this picture puzzle? No. Theories do not help in solving the problems of life. They only deceive us into thinking we have a solution, which is false. In order to form a theory, we must use our imagination to fill in the spaces not in evidence from the facts. It is at this point that theories become a liability, a stumbling block to finding future facts.

Consider the theory of materialism, which states that all things in the world can be explained by natural occurrences. When applied to consciousness we have “Mental processes are physical processes in the brain.” If mental processes are physical processes then why do we call them mental processes? Are they not mental? We talk about mental health, and mental illnesses, as well as we talk about physical health, and physical illnesses. If the brain is physical exactly what is mental?

We have a real mystery of life here. The theory is that the brain creates consciousness, our consciousness, so it follows logically that the brain creates you and I. That would make us less than the brain, otherwise the brain would be capable of creating something greater than itself. If we are less than the brain how can we ever know how it functions, how can the lesser master the greater, all research will fail.

The theory of materialism does not adequately explain consciousness, it is rather a huge stumbling block in the research of consciousness which is now showing that consciousness is not a product of the brain. Near death experience research is showing that consciousness is separate from the brain and continues to live after the brain and body dies. But this materialism theory, held by mainstream science, is blocking the acceptance of these newly observed, and researched facts disputing the materialism theory.

The material facts are an active brain produces electrical activity. This activity can be measured by different machines in different parts of the brain. That’s it for the facts. The rest is theory. There is no evidence the electrical activity of the brain is consciousness. In light of the new research this activity is only the footprint of consciousness, the result of consciousness, and not consciousness in and of itself. The results of brain mapping, vary from individual to individual. Even the brain implants use only the electrical activity of the brain, not specific thoughts. There has never been any physical evidence of thoughts, memory, emotions, or consciousness found in the human brain.

Research on near death experiences are now being done in more than a dozen universities here and abroad. Most of the research has been published in accredited journals of science. The research is showing consciousness is separate from the brain, and continues to live after the brain and body are clinically dead. When applying these new facts it becomes obvious why we talk about mental and physical activities as separate entities. It is because they are separate entities.

There is more to life than materialism and research has shown solid evidence of it. Many people call it the spiritual dimension. The one thing I hope you remember from this writing is to put theories in their proper place as possibilities and not look upon them as facts. I will add links to a couple of videos to show more of the research in a visual format.

This is the video of the Pam Reynolds surgery. This video is researcher Dr. Bruce Greyson speaking at the UN.

Q & A – 18 Can NDEs be Duplicated?

Question: Can NDEs be duplicated by Scientists under controlled laboratory conditions?

Answer: Yes and No. As of this writing I know of no studies or experiments that have produced a full-blown Near Death Experience. By that, I mean an experience that contains a discussion between the Experiencer and a “Spirit Being” as to whether or not the Experiencer will continue living their physical life. Usually this consists of a statement from the Spirit Being telling the Experiencer “you must go back and finish your life.” Absence of this “life” discussion excludes the experience from being labeled a near death experience, in my opinion. However, it does not exclude it from being a real spiritual event. When Dr. Raymond Moody coined the phrase “near death experience” it was appropriate for his time, but now the phrase is being applied to sports teams and companies when they come close to losing either the game or a lot of money. This phrase no longer serves its intended purpose. Some researchers are now using the phrase “Clinical Death Experience” which more aptly fits the real event.

Near (Clinical) Death Experiences are only a small part of the very large field of spiritual experiences. But a very important part, since they show evidence life continues after death. Other spiritual experiences include Out-of-Body experiences, Pre-Birth experiences, Lucid Dream experiences, Death Bed Visions, Psychic experiences, After Death Communications, Spiritual Healings, experiencing the Oneness of all things, feeling surrounded by the Creator’s unconditional Love, and experiencing spiritual justice and morality through insights into life. If one studies spiritual experiences, it soon becomes apparent these experiences all thread into the fabric of the Greater Spiritual Reality that is our real beginnings, our real home.

Keeping in mind that Near (Clinical) Death Experiences happen when the body ceases to function (dies), we can examine scientific claims of duplication. There are three basic types of these claims to duplicate NDEs that I am aware of:

The use of mind/body altering drugs.
Stressing the body to the point of collapse, as in the Navy Airmen gravity testing by centrifuge.
Stimulation of the brain by electical, laser, chemical or other means.

The first method is discussed fully in a previous “frequently asked questions” concerning
Ketamine and can be applied to any other drug as well.

The second method invokes stress, disorientation, interference with normal body functions, and even trauma in some cases. Too much stress, or too many G-forces will cause the subject to die clinically and thus have a death experience or some elements of one.

The third method, brain stimulation, begs the question that consciousness is biological and a product of the brain. However, there is no biological proof that memory or consciousness exists in the brain, or, is a product of the brain, see the Brain Thing for further explanation.

So, while some of these “drug and body stress” experiments have produced certain “elements” found in the NDE, and it is understandable that they would. There is no biological argument for science just because they can give drugs, or apply gravitation forces to the body that stop the blood flow to the brain, which then causes a person to experience some “elements” of the NDE. Heart attacks do the same thing. It is just a difference of method, fortunately the centrifuge or drugs can be stopped quickly, a heart attack usually can not. None of these G-Force stresses or drugs have actually duplicated a full-blown NDE.

The only way science could (might) produce a real NDE is to take the subject into clinical death. I saw an account of this on television (A&E). A patient’s body temperature was lowered to 60 degrees and the heart stopped so surgery could be done on a brain aneurism. All the blood was drained from the patient’s body effectively bringing her body into clinical death. At which point she left her body, looked down upon it, and observed the instruments being used in the operation. When she was revived, more than an hour later, she described the instruments used, and the surgery in detail. The surgeon was amazed, he believed her due to the accurate account she gave. She was certain the experience was real and spiritual. She had the experience independent of her clinically dead body. Her brain showed no activity on the EEG, nor any brain stem activity. She had been clinically dead for almost two hours.

The paragraph below is a quote of the same event from an anonymous writer in the NDE newsgroup. It has more detail than mine, so I thought it would interest readers.

“Such is the case of Pam Reynolds who is quite well known in the NDE community. She was having surgery performed to remove an aneurism from her brain. Her body was cooled to below 60 degrees F. and all of the blood was drained from her brain. Her EEG and brain stem response showed no activity, the definition of brain death in many states. During all of this, she reported rising from her body and seeing the operation performed below her. She also reported contact with “The Light” and many of her deceased relatives. Remember, she had no brain activity whatsoever. Even hallucinations register brain activity. It is interesting that upon recovering she recounted accurately many details of her operation, including conversations heard and a description of the surgical instruments. It has been postulated by a NDE skeptic, that Pam overheard the sounds in the room and generated a “mental map” of things around her. What the skeptic failed to acknowledge though is that instruments were inserted into Pam’s ears that generated clicks to measure brain stem response. Her brain stem response throughout the surgery was inactive. If conversations were heard, her brain stem response should have registered them.”

So, yes and no: Yes, science could (might) produce a NDE if the conditions (clinical death) for having one were met. But, no, these scientific experiments have not shown NDEs are biological in nature. There is no research showing memory and/or consciousness is biological. Think about it. Memory of all the events in our life would have to be huge. Yet, brain cells are all alike, if biological memory were there it should be easy to see some changes or coloration differences in the memory held cells.

According to Pam, she was present, above her body, viewing the whole surgical operation, her consciousness, memory, personality; her whole individuality intact. She proved this with an accurate, detailed description of the instruments, conversation, and procedures used during the surgery. At the same time science, using scientific monitoring instruments, was proving that her body was dead. No brain response, no heart response, no response of any kind. Obviously, the brain nor any other organ of the body was needed to sustain her life, and this account is just one example of the hundreds that exist in the NDE literature.

I believe this is as conclusive as proof gets. Clear, solid proof that man is a spiritual “being” inhabiting a physical body. I hope that in the future, scientists and others concerned with NDEs will consider this preponderance of evidence before telling the general public, or experiencers that NDEs are just biological events. In that manner humankind can benefit from this “knowledge of self” in many ways, and get on with its spiritual growth.

P.S.: Skeptics need to show proof of two things. First, they need to show proof, tangible, physical evidence of consciousness, and memory existing within the physical brain, and that this evidence can be collaborated by their peers. Second, they need to prove how this physical consciousness can remain alive and capable of gathering information of the body’s surroundings while the body is in a state of clinical death, showing no brain or heart or respiratory response of any kind, in order to promote their belief that humankind is wholly biological with no future beyond death.

Finally: In the interest of truth, let the skeptics present their biological proof, or forever cease calling Near (Clinical) Death Experiences some sort of biological misfire. I personally don’t expect this proof to ever be forthcoming. Ironically, it is science that has proved man will live beyond physical death. Science has finally validated the spiritual nature of man.

Eternally: All people hold within themselves the perfect light of their Creator. Skeptics, believers, and experiencers alike share the common bond of their Creator’s Love. There are no cracks to slip through, the program is perfect, individual souls struggling to affirm their identity, to extend the love they feel within while trying to balance the contradictions of physical dualism. Near Death Experiences remind us that we are safe, secure, and eternal in our Creator’s Love. We are One.

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