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[Merged]Afterlife exists says top brain surgeon


Zeta Reticulum

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my experience with meningitis was much different. I was given last rights and died and had an outer body experience. I met Jesus and my guardian angel. I saw faces of relatives that I didn't know but knew they were relatives. Things were calm but very bright and He was very handsome and the bluest eyes I had ever seen. He held my hand and spoke to me telling me that I would be alright and that It wasn't my time. He asked what he could do for me and I asked him to turn the lights out. He laughed and said he would do that and that was all I could remember. I spent 7 hours in a coma after that.

Kristen

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If no lawyers report being in heaven during NDE's, that would be solid evidence for them being real encounters with the "other side", imo.

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Interestingly, such studies have found that people experience different NDEs due to their culture. Not all near-death just experience Jesus or God but another god or even relatives.

What evidence?

Been over this half a dozen times aswell. Just look back on this thread or the other one. Different cultures interpret many things from their own perspectives. Including simple simple conversations.

Edited by Seeker79
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Kindly point me towards the peer-reveiwed journal articles. I have full access to a fair amount.

Start here.

http://iands.org/publications/journal-of-near-death-studies.html

Besides that psychology, social sciences, and conciousness studies all obtain evidences through " anecdotes" it really the only way we can quantify internal experiences.

Edited by Seeker79
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I happened upon this earlier. Looks like I'd have to buy the articles; I don't think my institution would give me access to this particular journal. Nonetheless, I look into it a bit more. Thanks.

Besides that psychology, social sciences, and conciousness studies all obtain evidences through " anecdotes" it really the only way we can quantify internal experiences.

Psychology and other social science fields also involve both observational studies (cohort, case-control) and randomized controlled trials (the most rigorous study design). Studies involving "anecdotes" and case studies may be starting points for more rigorous research into a particular topic, but are not very scientific in and of themselves.

It is, in fact, possible to study internal experiences through experimental manipulation. It is possible to learn a great deal about childhood development in infants, who cannot speak, through experiments. Further, we can study moods and learning through fMRI, watching the brain "in action".

One might say that NDEs are anecdotal starting points for research into stimulating the brain experimentally to reproduce such experiences, but literature consisting solely of such anecdotes would not be scientific.

Edited by Cybele
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I happened upon this earlier. Looks like I'd have to buy the articles; I don't think my institution would give me access to this particular journal. Nonetheless, I look into it a bit more. Thanks.

Psychology and other social science fields also involve both observational studies (cohort, case-control) and randomized controlled trials (the most rigorous study design). Studies involving "anecdotes" and case studies may be starting points for more rigorous research into a particular topic, but are not very scientific in and of themselves.

It is, in fact, possible to study internal experiences through experimental manipulation. It is possible to learn a great deal about childhood development in infants, who cannot speak, through experiments. Further, we can study moods and learning through fMRI, watching the brain "in action".

One might say that NDEs are anecdotal starting points for research into stimulating the brain experimentally to reproduce such experiences, but literature consisting solely of such anecdotes would not be scientific.

Well sure.... But collecting data on NDEs that can be analyzed is defiantly a solid start to proper research. Thousands of experiencers have been interviewed. This is a form of observation. Its wrong to just say "oh well its all anecdotal"... It's not just "some" stories. Unfortunately... And fortunately it is unethical to bring someone to the brink of death or start doing unhelpful research when they are dieing, so experimentation can only be random. Mabey the AWARE study will have something to offer. I know there was one attempt to place pictures of letters faceing up at some ers and trauma rooms. We have a rough statistic of about how many people look down on themselves and their doctors during these events, and can make a rough prediction about how many people should guess the letter above chance. With enough data points it should be possible to evenchually tell with a decent amount of certainty if the OBE above the operating room portion of some of these experiences is occuring in real time or not. But it all starts with a solid statistical analysis of many many anecdotes. To write it off because it comes from people is ludecres and not at all the way REAL science operates.

Plural of anecdote does not make true, but the more plural it becomes the more likely it is.

Edited by Seeker79
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Typical meterialistic thinking dismisses consciousness as merely created by the biological process and brain activity. Once the body ceases to work, the illusion ceases to be created and the consciousness becomes no more. What I constantly see with skeptics is that they always talk about how religion is bad and psychics decieve people. Doing bad things like decieving people to think there is something more is the crime of the century however skeptics systimatically drive people to think of themselves as noting more than illusions. Why do skeptics place such a devine cherishment and respect for consciousnesss while at the same time it is merely an illusion. Skeptics say it's wrong for charlatan psychics to cause people more mental anguish while at the same time they dismiss the same consciouness by saying "what makes you so special, the universe is vastly bigger than you, you are just an organic smudge compared to the universe" How can skeptics be rightously moral when at the same time the morality they are upholding is merely an evolutionary byproduct that is no more significant that a well working eye

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I am not christian, but I believe in an afterlife. We have no clue how each of our lives will end, and even if our afterlife exists for the mere minutes as our brains shut down, that space of time in the physical world could be seen as infinite to the mind as it dies. Problem is, we can only see one side of this, the physical. MHO, don't taze me bro

Edited to add that I do believe in a soul and another form of consciousness, because there is just too much to a existence than can fit in one lifetime. Sure, it's a daydream and only backed up by anecdotes but it works for me.

Edited by thewild
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Plural of anecdote does not make true, but the more plural it becomes the more likely it is.

The more likely what is? No one doubts that people experience these things subjectively--the point of contention is on the interpretation. Do more anecdotal accounts of bigfoot or UFO sightings make bigfoot and aliens more likely to be real, or do they point to a common tendency in human thinking and biology? You can't control for confounding or test hypotheses when listening to stories.

Further, consider the possibility that people with NDEs who report things that don't match up with reality (aren't corroborated after the fact) are not talked about as much as those who do, because of course the former is not as interesting and doesn't attract publicity. By collecting accounts from people who want to share their stories (who will most likely have reported something "supernatural"), you are not getting an accurate picture, an unbiased sample, of all people with NDEs--you have self-selection bias.

And it is seems to me, from what I've read, that near death-like experiences can occur under the influence of certain drugs, such as ketamine. So although probably not ethically sound, I don't think it's true to say that one couldn't conduct experiments on this general subject.

A study like the one you mention would be interesting.

Edited by Cybele
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Seems to me for every person who desperately wants to believe in an afterlife, there is someone equally desperate to believe the opposite. I can understand the motivation of the former, but where is the reward for the latter position ?

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my experience with meningitis was much different. I was given last rights and died and had an outer body experience. I met Jesus and my guardian angel. I saw faces of relatives that I didn't know but knew they were relatives. Things were calm but very bright and He was very handsome and the bluest eyes I had ever seen. He held my hand and spoke to me telling me that I would be alright and that It wasn't my time. He asked what he could do for me and I asked him to turn the lights out. He laughed and said he would do that and that was all I could remember. I spent 7 hours in a coma after that.

Kristen

My sister claimed she had an out of body experience when she was having a difficult birth with her son.

She claimed she rose above her body and could see the doctor and nurses working on her.

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Seems to me for every person who desperately wants to believe in an afterlife, there is someone equally desperate to believe the opposite. I can understand the motivation of the former, but where is the reward for the latter position ?

A more content life free of extra worry over something they cannot control? Everybody dies at some point.

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Seems to me for every person who desperately wants to believe in an afterlife, there is someone equally desperate to believe the opposite. I can understand the motivation of the former, but where is the reward for the latter position ?

Should what you believe, be based on which theory is more rewarding?

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Should what you believe, be based on which theory is more rewarding?

Not at all, but it is all too clear to me that there are many people on these boards who are very resistant psychologically to the idea there may be a persistence beyond death. Explain that one to me. If I was 100% confident there was no afterlife, I wouldn't be wasting my valuable, limited ( it all ends, irrefutably, at death, remember) time arguing the toss with talk of hallucinations and chemical imbalances and whatever. Be assured, they don't want to argue about the possible existence of the Easter Bunny, but they are not retiring from this particular discussion. Why ? I reckon I know the answer, the old nagging doubt.....but of course it could all be part of a crusade for truth, a very selective crusade that doesn't seem to extend to say, the advertising industry, that has been bull******** people for ever.

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The more likely what is? No one doubts that people experience these things subjectively--the point of contention is on the interpretation. Do more anecdotal accounts of bigfoot or UFO sightings make bigfoot and aliens more likely to be real, or do they point to a common tendency in human thinking and biology? You can't control for confounding or test hypotheses when listening to stories.

Further, consider the possibility that people with NDEs who report things that don't match up with reality (aren't corroborated after the fact) are not talked about as much as those who do, because of course the former is not as interesting and doesn't attract publicity. By collecting accounts from people who want to share their stories (who will most likely have reported something "supernatural"), you are not getting an accurate picture, an unbiased sample, of all people with NDEs--you have self-selection bias.

And it is seems to me, from what I've read, that near death-like experiences can occur under the influence of certain drugs, such as ketamine. So although probably not ethically sound, I don't think it's true to say that one couldn't conduct experiments on this general subject.

A study like the one you mention would be interesting.

If 10,000 report a UFO sighting, or big foot, then yes.... Even if not true it is more likely to be before we know for sure.

NDEs/OBEs go back as far as recorded history and presumably prehistory. Millions and millions of people, not even counting the people who actually died and do not get to report what happened just before or during the process. In fact a big foot like creature actually did exist at one time.

http://m.io9.com/5875986/did-bigfoot-really-exist

( a long standing memory perhaps, from our homo erectus ancestors)

Another north America example is sasquach modern humans may have interacted with some sort of large Mamal weather it be a bear or some sort of giant sloth, or an actual ferrel or insane person. Most Likely the original inspiration. Oral traditions have a very long life. ( see islanders around Sumatra and how their ancient oral traditions protected them from the tsunami, or the dreaming songs in australia that are actually oral maps )

The point is to write it of as delusion or mass hysteria is silly. These are all eronius assumptions from skeptics unwilling to think critically or logically.

Just as skeptics think NDEs are explainable, so are their simplistic answers.

Drugs can induce and NDE---- very few in any full blown NDE experiences with all the elements come from drug inducement ketamine included, only a superficial resemblance. it would not matter any way. There is no question that NDEs occurre in an altered state of conciousness which fits perfectly with the brain as a receiver of conciousness rather than a producer view.

Varience in experiences ( one sees Buddha, one sees Jesus) ---- this is by far the easiest to explain. Actual scientific research ( just ignored) shows that people interprete everything from a culturally specific perspective. Any experience is going to be tainted by the goggles of the experiencer ( just ask a marriage counseler). It's prooven psychology ( sorry don't have site for you, but skeptics should agree, they often site this very phenomenon). Quite obviously experiences of a transcendent nature are going to have this same psychological effect. A journey into the spirit world is not going to be some ridged mechanical roller coaster ride that is the same for everyone like a Disney ride any more than a drive to the grocery store is. Take a drive to a different town. There will be many elements that are similar, but each drive is going to be a different experience. Go fishing, fewer elements will be the same, but some are, and each and every trip will be quite different, but you are still fishing.

The assumption that because an experience can be induced its now a hullucination---- a completely illogical assumption.... Silly even. See my previous posts on the matter.

One by one, the arguments skeptics use fall away.

The most evident is the materialistic premis/assumption. Even reductionism shows that it is false. The fact of the matter, and prooven by cold hard, repeatable science. Is that quantum mechanics shows that we are made up of things that are simply manifestations of a more fundamental immaterial reality. partice wave duality, the delayed choice quantum eraser, Josephson junction, quantum tunneling, etc etc etc. and that true randomness is built into the very fabric of reality thereby defeating determinism and makeing it possible for free will.

--- Mabey. If a fairly equal amount of people reported OBEs that doctors did not corroborate, then that would be something to look at. I can understand that they don't get as much attention, but the research just does not show very much if any of that, and the arguments supporting the skeptical view amount to little more than grasping at straws from a dying premis.

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How about this for immortality...

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, there is a finite amount of energy in the Universe. Therefore what makes me, me, will exist forever. Time can be portrayed as infinite, so hopefully what makes me, me will assemble again some time in the future, as per the blind watchmaker principle. Since I can only recollect what happens during consciousness, my memories will be lost (as a consequence of 'death') but my consciousness will be forever enduring as I live each 'episode' in my other respective 'lives'.

So a theory on immortality without mentioning God...

Yup, I don't listen to myself much either!

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How about this for immortality...

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, there is a finite amount of energy in the Universe. Therefore what makes me, me, will exist forever. Time can be portrayed as infinite, so hopefully what makes me, me will assemble again some time in the future, as per the blind watchmaker principle. Since I can only recollect what happens during consciousness, my memories will be lost (as a consequence of 'death') but my consciousness will be forever enduring as I live each 'episode' in my other respective 'lives'.

So a theory on immortality without mentioning God...

Yup, I don't listen to myself much either!

I understand that idea well Vox, but there are other more profound consequences of the blind watch maker and infinity. In the end logic dictates that the watch maker can no longer remain blind ;).

Edited by Seeker79
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.

Plural of anecdote does not make true, but the more plural it becomes the more likely it is.

Are you saying that if enough people say it ,it becomes true .seems you are lining yourself up with the likes of

William James (1842-1910) The father of modern Psychology "There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it." and Joseph Goebbels who said something similar

fullywired

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Are you saying that if enough people say it ,it becomes true .seems you are lining yourself up with the likes of

William James (1842-1910) The father of modern Psychology "There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it." and Joseph Goebbels who said something similar

fullywired

If I murder Somone and one person says they saw me do it. Or If 50 people saw me do it. Is it more or less LIKELY that I did it? Granted the 49 people could be parroting the 1st. Someone could have dressed up like me and did it, or they could just be suffering a mass delusion ( the standard answer implausible answer form skeptics these days it seems). All these things are possible, but the likely hood rests in that I probably did it despite your pet theory that Im a good person and could not possibly murder anyone.

The fact of the matter is that no one really doubts that NDEs occur, so annacdote argument is mute anyway. It's the nature of what is happening that is being debated.

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.

The fact of the matter is that no one really doubts that NDEs occur, so annacdote argument is mute anyway. It's the nature of what is happening that is being debated.

Exactly and what is happening can be induced chemically as demonstrated in the following article

"Near-death experiences can be produced using a drug called ketamine which blocks receptors in the brain for the neurotransmitter glutamate. All features of a classic near-death experience can be produced by the intravenous administration of 50 - 100 mg of ketamine. Ketamine is a short-acting, hallucinogenic, dissociative anesthetic related to phencyclidine. Both drugs are arylcyclohexylamines - they are not opioids and are not related to LSD. In contrast to PCP, ketamine is relatively safe, an uncontrolled drug in most countries, and remains in use as an anesthetic for children. Anesthetists attempt to prevent patients from having near-death experiences (so-called "emergence phenomena") by the co-administration of benzodiazepines and other sedative substances which produce "true" unconsciousness rather than dissociation.

Ketamine produces an altered state of consciousness that is very different from that of the "psychedelic" drugs such as LSD. It can produce all the features of the near-death experience, including travel through a dark tunnel into light, the conviction that one is dead, telepathic communion with God, visions, out-of-body experiences and mystical states. If given intravenously, it has a short action with an abrupt end. One ketamine user talked of "becoming a disembodied mind or soul, dying and going to another world." Childhood events may also be re-lived. The loss of contact with ordinary reality and the sense of participation in another reality are more pronounced and less easily resisted than is usually the case with LSD. The dissociative experiences often seem so genuine that users are not sure that they have not actually left their bodies.

Timothy Leary, a psychologist who experimented with LSD, described ketamine as "experiments in voluntary death." One ketamine user, who reported a classic near-death experience, stated: "I was convinced I was dead. I was floating above my body. I reviewed all of the events of my life and saw a lot of areas where I could have done better." The psychiatrist, Stanislav Grof, stated: "If you have a full-blown experience of ketamine, you can never believe there is death or that death can possibly influence who you are." Ketamine allows some patients to reason that "the strange, unexpected intensity and unfamiliar dimension of their experience means they must have died."

near-death.com/experiences/paranormal12.html

"The fact of the matter is that no one really doubts that NDEs occur,"

and how do you know what everyone really doubts or doesn't

fullywired

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Exactly and what is happening can be induced chemically as demonstrated in the following article

"Near-death experiences can be produced using a drug called ketamine which blocks receptors in the brain for the neurotransmitter glutamate. All features of a classic near-death experience can be produced by the intravenous administration of 50 - 100 mg of ketamine. Ketamine is a short-acting, hallucinogenic, dissociative anesthetic related to phencyclidine. Both drugs are arylcyclohexylamines - they are not opioids and are not related to LSD. In contrast to PCP, ketamine is relatively safe, an uncontrolled drug in most countries, and remains in use as an anesthetic for children. Anesthetists attempt to prevent patients from having near-death experiences (so-called "emergence phenomena") by the co-administration of benzodiazepines and other sedative substances which produce "true" unconsciousness rather than dissociation.

Ketamine produces an altered state of consciousness that is very different from that of the "psychedelic" drugs such as LSD. It can produce all the features of the near-death experience, including travel through a dark tunnel into light, the conviction that one is dead, telepathic communion with God, visions, out-of-body experiences and mystical states. If given intravenously, it has a short action with an abrupt end. One ketamine user talked of "becoming a disembodied mind or soul, dying and going to another world." Childhood events may also be re-lived. The loss of contact with ordinary reality and the sense of participation in another reality are more pronounced and less easily resisted than is usually the case with LSD. The dissociative experiences often seem so genuine that users are not sure that they have not actually left their bodies.

Timothy Leary, a psychologist who experimented with LSD, described ketamine as "experiments in voluntary death." One ketamine user, who reported a classic near-death experience, stated: "I was convinced I was dead. I was floating above my body. I reviewed all of the events of my life and saw a lot of areas where I could have done better." The psychiatrist, Stanislav Grof, stated: "If you have a full-blown experience of ketamine, you can never believe there is death or that death can possibly influence who you are." Ketamine allows some patients to reason that "the strange, unexpected intensity and unfamiliar dimension of their experience means they must have died."

near-death.com/experiences/paranormal12.html

"The fact of the matter is that no one really doubts that NDEs occur,"

and how do you know what everyone really doubts or doesn't

fullywired

Hahaha, Well given that there are volumes of books explaining it away, I think it's a fair bet that most people don't doubt that the experience is happening. You can if you want to. ;)

Have you read through the thread? I have addressed the ketamine example and the incredible illogical conclusions surrounded induced events at least half a dozen times in these NDE threads.... With zero challenges by the way.

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Hahaha, Well given that there are volumes of books explaining it away, I think it's a fair bet that most people don't doubt that the experience is happening. You can if you want to. ;)

Have you read through the thread? I have addressed the ketamine example and the incredible illogical conclusions surrounded induced events at least half a dozen times in these NDE threads.... With zero challenges by the way.

I am not disputing that people have undergone some kind of experience only the cause of it ,I object to the title near death experience ,when it is nothing of the kind and as I stated can be induced by drugs What are the "incredible illogical conclusions" you jumped to and dismissed No I haven't read through all the thread because this subject comes up at least once a month and there is nothing in the thread that hasn't been said lots of times over the years on here,The point is believers want to believe in an afterlife and nothing is going to stop them construing anything to convince themselves they are right

fullywired

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I am not disputing that people have undergone some kind of experience only the cause of it ,I object to the title near death experience ,when it is nothing of the kind and as I stated can be induced by drugs What are the "incredible illogical conclusions" you jumped to and dismissed No I haven't read through all the thread because this subject comes up at least once a month and there is nothing in the thread that hasn't been said lots of times over the years on here,The point is believers want to believe in an afterlife and nothing is going to stop them construing anything to convince themselves they are right

fullywired

Well then Mabey if you had you might be able to address my arguments directly instead of generally. The cause of the NDE/OBEs is obvious. Trauma and altered states of conciousness. I don't even need ketamine, I can do it with meditation. Ill post one of the arguments one more time just for you. It's vastly illogical to invalidate what an NDE is or isn't while you assume the conclusion.

---There is no such thing as a spiritual experience, because there is no such thing as spiritual----

This is not a logical argument.

Also any and all attempts to invalidate what an NDE is or isn't by sugesting that altering brain chemistry makes it purely a physical experience is a completely irrelevant argument. As I have stated for the umteenth time, this argument is purely assuming that the brain is a producer of conciousness while the typical spiritual inturpretation is the the brain is a receiver of it. any sort of monkeying with the brain will produce oddities wether a receiver or producer, so your ketamine example or any other induction method is not evidence for anything because it's evidence for both assumptions.

Furthermore, I have looked and looked, and there is not a single record of a ketamine experience nearly as elaborate and detailed as the stereo typical NDEs. At most superficial experiences. If you have an account please post it. I'd love to see it. Even DMT experiences have their own twist to them and do not really resemble the standard progression of NDEs

Furthermore x 2, the corolation between induceing an experience, then saying the experience doesn't exist in reality is ludacrress. A brain surgeon can probably make you experience your feet being hot, but that does not mean heat does not exist, it only means that a doctor can monkey with your preceptions. The natural state of the perception is not in question.

Every single argument skeptics have to invalidate the spiritual nature of NDEs/OBEs does not hold up to real scrutinty. It's mostly just shaking a stick at the moon.

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