My hypothesis on life after death... Part 1 - NDE

[JimmyJam87]

Introduction

It is a question that mankind has asked since the dawn of time, "Do we live on after we die?" Millions of people over thousands of years have believed in some form of afterlife existence be it Heaven or Hell.

I will present my hypothesis with both arguments for and against life after death and it is up to you the reader to judge for yourself if there is such a thing as life after death.

I was so afraid of dying at one time but detailed research into the subject has really helped to ease that fear that I once had. I hope my hypothesis on the subject will make people think and ease people's fear of dying.

I will discuss various different topics regarding life after death in the next couple of weeks starting with this post.

NDE - Near Death Experience
For thousands of years people of all walks of life have reported and documented the NDE. The NDE itself is a truelly amazing phenomena which could offer some clues in how we would exist if there was no "oblivion" when we die. People's individual experiences differ but they report common themes such as a light in a tunnel, seeing deceased relatives and pets etc.

The skeptics argument with the NDE is that is a product of the dying brain. Is that surely possible when a person who has experienced an NDE has satisfied the medical criteria to be brain dead? How can a person who is brain dead and has seemingly lost every cognitive function recall such a profound experience?

There are two possible explanations:

1) The indvidual has genuinly been to the great beyond

or

2) The brain is so keen on living it makes a wonderful, glorious experience to ease the body into death.

My question is why would our brain's go to so much effort when we know death is seconds away?

The one case I have personally studied is that of Pam Reynolds. A simple Internet search on Pam Reynolds will explain all...

The following is taken from a very good site: Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife which I highly recommend to anybody.

Dr. Fenwick, a neuropsychiatrist and the leading authority in Britain concerning NDEs describes the state of the brain during a NDE:

"The brain isn't functioning. It's not there. It's destroyed. It's abnormal. But, yet, it can produce these very clear experiences ... an unconscious state is when the brain ceases to function. For example, if you faint, you fall to the floor, you don't know what's happening and the brain isn't working. The memory systems are particularly sensitive to unconsciousness. So, you won't remember anything. But, yet, after one of these experiences [a NDE], you come out with clear, lucid memories ... This is a real puzzle for science. I have not yet seen any good scientific explanation which can explain that fact."

A skeptical viewpoint on this is maybe it is some part of the brain is still active when your brain dead that doctors who devote their whole studies to the brain are yet to discover. The brain itself is such an amazing organ and it is very true that there are things we could only dream of knowing about the brain.
The fact that so many people experience the NDE might point to the brain giving off a "last hoorah" so to speak to ease our dying moments. Maybe humans have evolved to such an extent that the NDE has been hard programmed into our brain to ease our fear of dying.
At this current moment there is no hard empirical evidence IMO to support these claims. It seems there is more evidence to support the case of life after death then the fact that it is a mere flutter of the dying brain.

The final skeptical argument that is commonly brought up with NDEs is "how come everybody does not experience an NDE when they are near death?"

The possible answers may be:

• The individual's sub-concious may of blocked the experience
• They may of genuinly not remembered the experience. I mean they say everybody has at least one dream at night during their sleep but do you always remember them...?

My conclusion on the NDE:

• How come many accounted NDEs show that a clinically dead person can describe events that were going on in their immediate environment?
• NDEs are dependant on the person alone
• Alot of people who have experienced an NDE show no fear of death and often depression as they "did not want to come back"

Your comments please....

[Old Soul]

How come many accounted NDEs show that a clinically dead person can describe events that were going on in their immediate environment?

That has always puzzled me as well, if the person is dead...... flatline dead
they should not be able to see or be aware of anything going in arround them, be it hospital or whatever.....

I believe in NDE's , never had one but i believe there is something to it!!!

[Mato Kinze]

I think there will always be people who wish to understand the "how" more than the "why".

To me, that is the true debate here. The "scientific" explanation is the how. The Spiritual explanation is the why. The two are not mutually exclusive, no matter what "rational scientists" may want to say. Just because you can see "how" something happens, doesn't explain the "why".

I always feel so sorry for those who only want to know the how and completely disregard the why. It seems like such an unfulfilling state of being.

[allenupl]

This discussion raises one of the most important issues regarding NDEs. Can they be explained physiologically?

The best analysis I have seen of the many "scientific" theories that attempt to explain NDEs is on a DVD that has a presentation by Dr. Bruce Greyson (from the University of Virginia Medical School) titled “T3-Explanatory Models of NDEs.” It can be obtained from the following website: http://www.iands.org/conferences/200..._presentations
Unfortunately this presentation, from an international conference in 2006 at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, is not available as a transcript. It can only be viewed on DVD (or as an audio file but then you don't see the slides which are important).

This is on the website of the International Association for Near-Death Studies at http://www.iands.org, one of the most credible sources for information on the topic of NDEs. They also feature some interesting published papers under the Research tab on that site outlining current research, particularly the two written by Dr. Peter Fenwick (quoted above) and Dr. Pim Van Lommel, at http://www.iands.org/research/important_studies.

I think it would be safe to say that many medical professionals, but not all, who have seriously studied the research – and it is extensive – no longer dismiss this phenomenon as hallucinations, intense dreams, or caused by physiological or pharmacological factors.

I am a member of the above association because I am interested in the topic. To join is inexpensive, and they keep you up-to-date with the latest NDE research along with e-mails of experiencer accounts every month.
Allen