Neuroscientist Has a Near-Death Experience

reply to post by 0bserver1


Thank you for posting those videos. This gentlemen is very gentile and eloquent. His explanation of the non-locality of consciousness is among the most simple and elegant I have heard or read...and his views on consciousness being the primary force of the universe - as opposed to a side effect - slots a lot of my questions into a new perspective that I can deal with. I would recommend any members reading this thread to take the time out to have a look.

Having had a near death experience involving seeing an exquisitly beautiful angel and having experienced this feeling of pure love on other occasions, it's hard to put into words. In fact the words to describe it in this realm do not exist. Nothing comes close.

NDE's aside, to me, the brain itself is an absolutely astonishing and complex miracle of sorts in and of itself. Humans, even the smartest ones, are nowhere near being capable of creating something as mindbogglingly complex as the human brain with its hundreds of millions of neurotransmitters etc..., let alone the human body. How can people believe that this has all happened by chance or without a highly advanced designer and intelligence behind it. It has all been so perfectly made, everthing all around us. The sun is perfectly placed in our solar system, not too close, not too far. Our nightly light, the moon, the oceans, the tides, our food sources, the forests and woods, the very air we breath. Miracles they are, all around us, how can an intellegent and loving source not be behind it. This is what the scientists spend a lifetime studying, the miracles of creation, that are already there, already in existence for them to study.

We ourselves are miraculous beings, that we even exist at all, in all our complexity is almost beyond comprehension. Children, many of them, understand this wonder of creation. They, the little ones, often ask the right questions when they are small. As we grow older, the wonder of it all is beaten out of us. But it is still there, that knowing, that we are part of a grand universe, a mysterious world. Some things truly are a mystery and probably will remain so, until we reach the other side.

reply to post by batgirl

Your post is very true. Especially the part about children. Once they realize that everyone will not accept it, they stop talking about it, or thinking about it, and eventually, believing in anything.

Hi i am only new i think i am up to six posts but as i have had three near death experiences i really want to comment i was going to wait and do my own thread on the subject . But here goes i am going to try to be brief the first one at about the age of 7 to 9 years things were so bad at home i was in bed and willed myself to die something in me just said thats enough of this horrible place ,the room began to spin first couple of seconds i suppose like when you faint? not a nice dizzy, then a woman came towards me through like a tunnel of light and she said no you have to stay youre special (i really didnt like saying that because everyones special) but i tell it as it happened there was emense love from her though i didnt know her at all .So i went to sleep, i guess, after that. The next near death at about 14 i fell out the back of a small sort of moving van on the highway i had been hitchiking and when we stopped for petrol i stupidly got in the back anyway down the road the driver fell asleep i think and must of ran off the road the back roller door flew open in rushed the wind i was flying through the air next was a video movie of what i had done so far in life which the main feeling was i had not done enough . I was pretty mangled lots of skin off and eighteen stiches to head. Next near death at about 28 i was fishing on the beach at night with friends i became dizzy but very quick i fell down passed out i had had a brain hemmorage,this time, i came to while still out to it. What i saw was blackness and began crawling to an edge i was at the edge but would not look over it. Was it a hole a pit? I would not look over the edge. Then came to properly ,could barely walk, uncoordinated, massive headache ,friends helped me to hospital close by .The statistics on anurisum brain bleed are one third die instantly one third badly brain damaged one third make it through ok .I was lucky i made it. there is maybe more detail i could add but i am trying to get this out there before it goes cold probably made spelling mistakes ect. So to sum up first one, angel? second, life movie? third dont know pit to hell? tunnell to heaven? funny in the third iwas crawling was that because i was un coordinated and couldnt walk? thats it .

Hopefully one day science can truely explain just what is going on here. Until then, well, its good to hope for something, but its best to (at least pretend that) this life matters and your legacy is what you are working for, not candy in heaven.

As for me...I keep an open mind. I don't dismiss, but until there is something solid, well, its pointless to overthink things. What I do know is life is too short to be dwelling on when it ends. If there is cool stuff at the end, sweet, if not, well, at least I had a good time and make myself and others smile while here.

But ya, I don't buy into the whole just some odd chemical reactions going on after death...I have had unusual experiences that force me to contemplate existance and that we may not be fully sure of whats going on here.

What is the matrix

My wife's grandfather died a couple of months after his wife (my wife's grandmother) died. While in the hospital, and fully conscious, he said more than once that his wife was in the room waiting for him. He said that he knew that she was dead and that she couldn't really be there but he saw her there anyway. He wasn't afraid or anything like he was seeing a ghost or something, he just said that she was there waiting for him.

My sister-in-law (my wife's sister) is a nurse and she and some of her co-workers have said that this is actually somewhat common in their experience. She says that people who are on their deathbed, but still fully alert and conscious, often say that they can see dead relatives or friends in the room even though they know they are dead and shouldn't be there.

Although it is impossible to come up with undeniable proof, I have no doubt that there is something after this mortal life we are currently experiencing.

reply to post by Kandinsky


Didn't have a near death experience, but I had an experience that sounds similar. After a relative of mine died, I started praying a lot. You could sort of call this moment when I cam to understand that I, as an entity, exist. Before then it was sort of just auto pilot through life.

Anyway, I got my answer from God....I guess.

I fell asleep and had a dream about 2 weeks after the funeral. Maybe it was a dream. Not really sure. I awoke in none-existence. A state I cannot really describe. No eyes, no mouth, no ears, no body, no feeling. Pure, unabridged, consciousness. And it was as if all was dark and nothingness. Like I was looking as a misty ether that was me. Existing and perpetually seeing my own nonexistence. This contradiction fractured my mind and made me want to cry out loud in terror, but there was no mouth for which to do so. Suddenly however, a light appeared. But it was not light. It was like a light you can only see in your mind. And from that came the words "I am who I am, you are who you are, we all are who we all are". Very quickly after the light exploded, and as it reached the ether, it burned myself back into existence. A feeling I cannot quite explain. But imagine as if you felt, physically, the act of energy becoming mass. The act of the very fabric of existence compiling itself into a form. I got my body back, feeling, mouth, eyes, etc etc. And I braced from the coming into existence, not sure what the hell was going on. Then I fell out of the dream. Sort of like a kind of fainting. And awoke in a sudden gasp of air and terror. I was about a foot above my bed or something. I presume because I had flung myself into the air from the shock. I wasn't floating or any sort of paranormal stuff. I just was falling. And I hit my bed. So I pretty much just cried and prayed in fear and trembling before the Lord.

There is a sort of "mental scar" from the experience. Since then I can generate a similar feeling like that of what I experienced as I was "coming to form" in the dream. This feeling restores me to a state of calm peacefulness in times of stress, focuses my mind, and prepares me for a struggle. Perhaps some Shield of faith or something. People on this form report a similar ability. The call it the Indian Chakra or something. I am not sure what it is. But it definable makes me feel like I'm invincible and strong.

I've always felt that NDE's are warnings or that "second chance" we all need. It's almost like God shows you Paradise or Hell and it's up to you to take that and change your life. I've always said that I think we are greater than we make ourselves out to be. I mean, sure there are some idiotic people out there, but we are much more than we seem. We indeed do have souls. I've seen the life sucked out of a loved one as he died on a bed in front of me. I gave him a hug and I knew right there his soul was on his way through the next stage of being. I don't know, that's just my opinion, and I'm entitled to it.

This might be a little off topic...because I didn't die, but I did have a very strange experience. I was driving on a busy, speedy freeway, and I was going very fast. Something happened, and I realized I going to crash when I could see ahead and there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. There was little I could do. I remember thinking "there is no way I can survive this".

Then, suddenly, it was like "I" was somehow sitting on my right shoulder, watching my body as it tried to save my life. I was so calm and it all struck me as a curiosity, at everything I was doing. Like watching a ballgame while eating popcorn, lol. "Oh, she's turned on the flashers, that's good. Ah, letting all the windows down so she can have more visibility, and blowing the horn for others to see there is a problem, look at her go!"

It was like that. When the car was safely stopped, poof, I was back.

Later, after I got home, and still sometimes now, I try to think....what was that? Actually, I think it was such a high anxiety level that I momentarily had a dissociative experience. A calming chemical kicked in......
But then I wonder, why not have the calming chemicals (which we do have), and make the sturggle from within the body instead of out? Why experience the sensation that I was "watching" myself? I was obviously present within my body, because "it" was engaging in such a struggle. Yet, I saw it from a distance. I saw my feet on the pedals, and junk. Yet, whatever the other "I" was, it never left the car.

The brain protects us in all manner of ways. I wish we understood it better.

reply to post by yourmaker


This empty space. Was it blacker then any black you can imagine, a black void or was it light or have some type of colors?

reply to post by tallcool1


That is interesting.

reply to post by Gorman91


After my grandfather died I had some similiar experiences but without the light or interaction. In this case I was awoken out of a deep sleep. However, what I was awoke to was not the reality I fell asleep into, but a blackness or darkness that seemed empty or void of color. What awoke me was a strong presence. I knew the presence was there but had no awareness of anything else. In this situation there were six other people sleeping beside me on both sides inside a tent. The presence wasso strong it frightened me and I somehow jumped over all the people and started running away from that presence I felt. I ran about 25 yards when I jumped down trying to hide. That is when I rejoined the reality I knew and everything started coming back in to its right place. Before that, i was in some type of emptiness. A dark darker then blackness, a place void of what we know. At the same time I was able to move my body in the physical world but my consciousness was in a different place. Very strange. That happened to me about three times in three different places with one thing being the same. The awaking from a presence being there and that feeling of awakening in a different dimension. The last time it happened I told it to leave me alone and it never happened again. Atleast not like that.

Maybe the brain in different stages of development reacts differently to near death such as childs brain sees mostly angels seems to be comman and teenagers brain reacts differently as well .Adults brain reacts differently again .This is one conclusion to my experiences. It would be interesting to know if this pattern shows up in peoples experiences . For children (a loving angel ) is this the brain soothing protecting the selfish gene self preservation .This is looking at the issue from a head only not from heart. Looking at this issue from the heart with feeling it makes me think there is more i had always believed in god or a creater of some kind of a higher source my child experience funny it was a woman who soothed me as the abuse at home came from a male. so god isnt a man lol. I have been married about six years in that time my husband has been trying to wear my faith down insisting that theres no god and when we die thats it there is no more. I had a lot to say about near death just feel a little jumbled at the moment and cant articulate exactly what i wanted to say .Two ways to look at it from the head only or involve the heart .

Thanks for posting this mate. If I never heard about near-death experiences I'd probably be an atheist to be honest.

Looking at NDEs scientifically there's the whole '___' thing, but it can't explain why so many people can describe, accurately, everything happening around them at the time of their death.

From what I've read from NDE experiences there are a few themes that reappear constantly:

1) 'God' is real but he's quite different from that described in religious books
3) We're here to learn lessons and to further our growth
2) Reincarnation is real
4) Ultimately, the only thing that really matters is 'love'

I'd sooner listen to someone who's experienced an NDE than someone consumed by religion and all that entails.

Great thread. cheers

Originally posted by planetdevildog
reply to post by yourmaker

 

This empty space. Was it blacker then any black you can imagine, a black void or was it light or have some type of colors?

This will sound very weird, it sounds even weird to myself when I try to recollect it,
It was like a light blue haze if I had to call it anything which coincided with the beyond freezing feeling.
The cold feeling was like ice x infinity and everywhere at once.
Like I was a ghost. Now that I think about it..

reply to post by Internet Explorer


Why would you trust an NDEer more? Mary, at Fatima, did not tell us that all religions are paths to God or that reincarnation was real but rather to pray for the lost. The miracle was witnessed by 70,000 people, not all believers. Have you ever thought that some people become religious precisely because of a sacred experience?

reply to post by planetdevildog


hmm.

Seems interesting, but it could be a sudden disconnect from consciousness, causing you to fall into a dream while awake. Not saying it's not paranormal or anything. Just saying it could have an actual medical cause.

For myself, there was this one instant where perhaps something like what you were talking about happened. I was getting a hair cut by my dad, and all of the sudden it was like I fell out of my body. Must have been for a brief few seconds, but it was like I was no longer me, but something watching me, and myself going on it's merry way like nothing happened. But it was strange, because without me, my body began getting angry and aggressive to stupid things for those brief few seconds I was out of it. It was my body I was watching, and my body was perfectly conscious. I was simply no longer in control. It was like auto pilot....a mean auto pilot. Whatever it was, it was only for like 3 or so seconds, and I quickly fell back into my body and took control.

Strangest thing ever. But for myself, I don't necessarily think that was paranormal. Compared to the other experience I mentioned, it seemed purely medical. Perhaps a split second extreme case of deja vu, or something else.

Similarly, an event a few years after than involved something that could only possibly have been either a seizure, but it felt like some sort of attempted possession. A violent event at midnight about a year ago where it literally felt like something was biting into me, trying to invade "myself". This is the only event where something violent involving weird out of body experiences like this occurred. It was very strange. I knew that whatever was doing it, was not from this reality. And it was not a nice thing, whatever it was. Even so, undeniably, this event could be easily called a seizure. The first, and only, in my entire life. Not saying that event wasn't paranormal. I'm simply saying if I was a doctor I would diagnose it as a seizure in all likelihood.

It's led me to suspect that when these things do happen to people, they manifest themselves in this reality as simple medical events we call seizures, or comas, or etc etc. This does not make all such medical cases paranormal. It simply means that you cannot prove it beyond anything other than what can be medically observed.

Even so, it does make you scared I suspect. It makes me scared. And all together, unless I suddenly start suffering from seizures every week, I'm not going to consider it as anything in need of treatment. However for you, should you experience it again, and it comes again and again, do not be afraid to seek medical treatment. We really have no way of knowing if it is purely medical and your mind makes it into something spiritual, or if it is actually a genuine spiritual event with a medical designated term occurring as a result.

Either way, always keep in mind your health.

Interesting thread. NDE's have always fascinated me ever since I first came across them. I think there's more than meets the eye and I think it isn't as simple as explaining it away as simple biological processes.

reply to post by h4y6d2e


Could you name a few of these forums? I searched, but got lost in a few forums with terrible layout. Thank you!

reply to post by ladyinwaiting
Hiya Lady, your account is something I can relate to as it's happened to me. I came round a bend, hit a patch of clay from a farm, and lost the wheels. In split seconds, I'd steered into the skid, pumped the brakes and steered away from a wall. It was like the ghost of Ayrton Senna took over and somehow compensated for the reckless driving that caused it!

For fear of being off-topic, your comment of 'What was that?' reminded me of something that happened a couple of weeks ago. Driving back from work, traffic was slow outside of a hospital and two kids were standing at a crossing waiting for the lights. As I approached slowly (20mph), for some reason I hit the brakes and one of the kids stepped out and crossed simultaneously. I shouted at her that the lights hadn't changed and she was oblivious. The reason it stuck in my mind was that I braked for no apparent reason and she would have been hit if I hadn't.

In these respective incidents, it was bound to be our own subconscious instincts taking over that we've later 'mystified.' This makes sense but, at the same time, isn't there a nagging idea that something slightly unusual also happened?! My mind keeps re-living the girl crossing as it doesn't make intuitive sense even though I can explain it rationally - dissonance.

@ Gorman, Tallcool1 and Internet Explorer et al - thanks for your comments and stories. I don't think there is any harm in speculating from personal experience or from the evidence out there. Even if anecdotal, there's *something* in the stories that suggests something more to life.

@ elg3cko - if you search "medical forums nurses hospice ghosts" or "medical forums nurses hospice NDE" you can find some good ghost stories and a small number of NDE accounts.