Quote:
Originally Posted by Brutha  The can hallucinate afterwards that they had certain experiences.
It's quite easy to create false memory's in people (easy to get into a trance and full of narcotics) like this.
At the moment I don't think that we have proof in either way. |
There are certain key differences between NDEs and drug-induced hallucinations which are fairly well-documented.
One of them is that drug-induced hallucinations are poorly remembered; they are something like dreams. They were vivid at the time they were occurring; after you come out of it, memory of the details fade rapidly.
NDEs, however, are extremely well-remembered; patients not only recall them, but recall them in great detail, and recall them more or less permanently.
However, I acknowledge your point about more evidence being needed. In the current ongoing phase of Fenwick's research, he has had the walls of some hospital emergency wards painted with large, striking, distinctive, unusual pictures in bold pictures.
The idea is that unconscious patients (eg those who have just had a bad accident or massive heart attack) are regularly wheeled into these wards in a hurry, for emergency treatment. Surgery etc is done, and then the unconscious patient is wheeled out while still unconscious.
If any of these patients survives and subsequently reports having an NDE, he will be questioned as to the details of the experience.
If the patient says, "Oh, I floated out of my body and I was obviously in some kind of hospital area. However, it was really weird! I saw red hippotamuses and blue aeroplanes painted on the hospital walls" -
and the walls were indeed painted like that, then this is evidence that the patient's consciousness managed to perceive its physical surroudings, even though his brain was dead at the time and his eyes were closed.
I am waiting for the result of fenwick's research. However it could be a long wait because;
(a) the patient doesn't always survive
(b) NDEs are rare occurrences
(c) not all NDErs perceive their physical surroundings (some go straight to the dark tunnel with the white light at the end)