Psychology Addict # 57 | Memories From The After Life.
Emmanuel Francis, a 41 year-old man, remembers “flying around and following his own body” as the nurses rushed him into the lift on the way to the intensive care unit, as he’d suffered a chest crisis and stopped breathing. Similarly, Charlotte, subsequent to a heart attack, recalls looking over her own shoulder and watching the flatline in the heart rate monitor from the hospital bed. Her heart had stopped working ref.
NDEs - Near Death Experiences
The technical term for this sort of transcendental experience is NDE, which stands for Near Death Experience. Such accounts have been among us for thousands of years and they are not exclusive to particular cultural backgrounds or age groups ref.. There are accounts of NDEs in the works of Plato ref., among Swiss survivors of a mountaineering disaster in the 19th century. And, as for recent decades, in the reports of 8 million Americans who participated in a 1980’s survey that investigated this phenomenon ref.. Children are not spared either Ref., among the growing body of research done into NDEs a particularly compelling one is that carried out on a 7 year-old girl who nearly drowned in a community swimming pool ref.
the first memory she had of her near-drowning was "being in the water." She stated, "I was dead. Then I was in a tunnel. It was dark and I was scared. I couldn't walk." A woman named Elizabeth appeared, and the tunnel became bright”.
There exists a wide range of explanations for these experiences. Some argue they are the product of hallucinations, others say they are simply made up, and still others embrace them as evidence for the existence of the afterlife. For the past 20 years, however, researchers began to approach NDEs with a less prejudiced view and now acknowledge that they are not fabricated, but that actually, they do occur ref..
Dr. Sam Parnia and his colleagues from the Institute of Psychiatry in London are among these researchers. And, in an attempt to further the understanding into NDEs they conducted a study with cardiac arrest survivors from the emergency unit of Southampton General Hospital, throughout a period of 1 year. Specifically, they wanted to look into the frequency and causes of it.
The reason why these specific set of patients were chosen to take part in the study is the fact they undergo similar resuscitative procedures. But first and foremost, these patients display most of the criteria (2 out 3) necessary to pronounce an individual dead. Namely, the absence of both spontaneous respiratory effort and cardiac output. Further, the third criterion, in such cases, is usually displayed in the clinical setting as brainstem activity is lost, and that is fixed dilated pupils ref..
The Study
63 patients survived the cardiac arrest that year, in the aforementioned hospital. All of them were then asked an open question about whether they had any memory from the period during which they were unconscious. Please note that, no specific questions about NDEs were mentioned. Also, I hasten to add that every single one of these patients obtained a 10/10 score in the Mini Mental State Test. This rules out the possibility of patients presenting confused mental states ref..
✰ 56 patients reported having no memory whatsoever.
✰ 7 patients reported having memories, BUT according to the Greyson NDE scale only 4 (6.3%) met the requirements to classify their experience as an NDE.
Fun fact: 2 out of the 3 patients who failed meeting the Greyson criteria reported feeling harmony and seeing deceased relatives. Still, these were not enough to reach the scores required by the Greyson scale (above 7) ref..
Memories from The After Life
Only one of the four patients reported seeing a mystical being✶. Out of the four, he was the only one who regarded himself as Catholic and pagan. The other male and two females described themselves as non-practicing Christians. All these patients recalled having sensed a point of no return✶ and two of them claimed having seen deceased relatives✶, lost awareness of their bodies✶ and felt time had speeded up✶.
✶Features of the Greyson Scale.
None of these individuals described their experience as traumatic or upsetting ref.. Quite the opposite, NDEs are consistently described as positive and are linked to long-term beneficial psychological effects and life changes ref.. The little girl I mentioned before exclaimed: “it feels good to talk about it” as well as “heaven was fun” (p. 960) ref.. As for Emmanuel and Charlotte, the former reflected that after his NDE he nurtures more his spirituality than his physical body, while the latter began to be more mindful of the present moment alongside her son and husband ref..
What Are NDEs All About?
So, as I was saying … there exists many explanations for the occurrence of NDEs. They’ve sprung up mostly over the past 40 years together with the advent of intensive care medicine ref..
Then, is there really an afterlife? The great psychologist William James reflected on the existence of a collective consciousness around one-hundred years ago, “it’s a larger reservoir of consciousness”, he proposed. Further explaining that it is manifested in the minds of every single individual, and it remains intact after the physical body is no more ref..
Other psychologists argue that an NDE is rather a psychological reaction to the understanding that death is near ref.. And then, there are the suggestions involving physiological and pharmacological cerebral mediators. Namely, cerebral anoxia (when the brain is completely deprived of oxygen), hallucinogenic agents ref., and more recently “a burst of electrical activity in the first 30 seconds after cardiac arrest/death” (p. 67) ref..
Nevertheless, Dr. Parnias’ study demonstrated that the participants who had memories from the period they were unconscious actually had higher oxygen levels than those who reported no NDEs ref.. A possible indication that they had a better oxygenation during the resuscitative process. Would this then indicate that NDEs occur just as individuals are regaining consciousness? EEG data during fainting shows memories retrieved from such interim (that of regaining consciousness) are rather confusional ref., while those of NDEs are anything but.
What about hallucinations? The favourite go-to answer for the infinite queries surrounding NDEs.
Unconsciousness is a state which occurs when the ability to maintain an awareness of self and environment is lost.
Here is when I begin to scratch my head. See, Dr. Parnia’s research data demonstrates that the individuals who took part in his study experienced NDEs during a period of unconsciousness. Yet, they narrated clear, well-structured and easily retrieved memories ref., which goes against aspects of confusional hallucinations ref.. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that while recalling NDEs the displayed patterns of brain waves are similar to those seen in the retrieving of real-event memories ref.. I suppose this weakens the whole hallucination argument even further.
But, how to have memories from a period of unconsciousness? From a period when brain structures which underlie memory and subjective experiences are so severely impaired? After all, in a cardiac arrest there is a rapid loss of brainstem activity, and cortical functions ref.. In other words, functions that underpin the formation of memories and conscious experiences are down (due to either reduced or complete deprivation of oxygen supply to the brain). If anything, it would be expected these individuals would recall no such events, or any for that matter! Just like the other 56 people who also took part in the study.
But they did.
The findings on which we mostly focused our discussion here reveals that NDEs are rather rare in cardiac arrest cases ref.. The number of patients who experienced the phenomenon in this study is much too small to draw significant conclusions and extrapolate them to the wider population. Still, in a different study researchers set out to interview survivors of cardiac arrests in 10 different hospitals throughout 24 months. Out of 344 patients 12% reported having memories from when they were unconscious, just like the ones from Southampton hospital ref..
✰ Is this enough to indicate that conscious awareness can exist in the absence of brain function? ✰ Is there more to dying than generally believed? ✰ Is there a possibility that, when deceased, we are aware that we are not of our bodies anymore?
It’s stated in a 2017 paper Ref.:
the other [patient] had a verifiable period of conscious awareness lasting ~ 3 – 5 min. during CA/standstill
Around 3 minutes of conscious awareness during a period of no cardiac output is a long time 😐
It might be that awareness and cognitive experiences in relation to death/dying are more prevalent than generally discussed and accepted. It might be that people are conscious and aware during their cardiac arrest, but when asked about it most of them simply don’t remember Ref.. Perhaps, just like people who don’t remember their dreams? - Please, allow me to add a second question mark here:(?)
Dr. Parnia puts forward that these results and many others (see for example, (Schwaninger, J. et al. (2002)) obtained from studies on conscious awareness during cardiac arrest could support the view that the mind is a separate, independent entity that is interconnected with, but not produced by the brain ref..
I wonder.
Reference List:
A near-death experience in a 7-year-old child.
A Prospective Analysis of Near-Death Experiences in Cardiac Arrest Patients.
Near-death experiences in a pediatric population. A preliminary report.
New age in the old world: Plato’s account of a near-death experience.
Understanding the cognitive experience of death and the near-death experience.
My dear reader,
Thank you very much for taking the time to read my writings, my queries, my reflections. You truly make me feel grateful❣
Today I will leave you with the first few lines of the Tao Te Ching's chapter 25. Have a great day! 😊
That was very good. Very interesting. It's awesome that these things (things that are associated with spirit and the supernatural) are finally being studied scientifically. It's really hard to say definitively what happens when a person dies or what causes NDE's or what they mean. As you pointed out there are so many different theories out there and different ways of interpreting the evidence/data. Some people believe that when a person dies, DMT is released in the brain at a higher dose than normal, or possibly that the same dose is released but not broken down by the MAO enzyme. That could fall into the hallucination theory and explain the cases where individuals perceive other beings or Angel's ??? Another "big ol" question mark on that one lol.
That question that you put forward at the end about the mind possibly existing as separate from the body is very interesting. I'm sure I'll be thinking about that for a while.
Well done!
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I am so pleased to hear you found this post interesting. I was particularly looking forward to your feedback. Throughout my readings I did come across the parallels between the effects of DMT and NDE experiences. I separated a bunch of studies to look into later on. My understanding of DMT is minimum, only recently I learnt that it's a serotonergic compound. But, yeah, from what you observe here it would add to the hallucination hypotheses. But, can hallucinations occurs when cortical activities are down? 😣
Questions, questions and more questions? :)
As for my last query: "the mind possibly existing as separate from the body". Well, the comment you left me all those months contributed that too! If your thoughts about it yield some writings, please do share them with us here on the platform @leaky20.
Bye bye for now :D
I wish you two and the doggies a lovely weekend!
Best :)
I just remembered a random tid bit of information. A few years back I listened to an audio book called "Spook" science tackles the afterlife. In a researcher discussed searching for the "soul." They actually weighed humans as they were dying (with their consent) in a special chamber that I completely forget what it's called lol. But it's rare and super sensitive, evening factoring the weight of evaporating water from a human through breathing and sweating and such. Anyway, they found that at death a person loses a tiny amount of weight - like in the micro or nano gram range or something. The researchers discussed the possibility of that being the soul leaving the body. It's all speculation of course but it's something to think about in terms of the relating to the mind as being separate from the body. Anyway, it was pretty fringe science, but interesting nonetheless
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No wonder why the book is called Spook!:O
I feel like I am swimming in questions and materials to cover :P
Thank you for this additional piece of info @leaky20 :D
I just thought if something. Netflix recently released a movie called "The Discovery" which is about the afterlife. I just finished it last night. Im not sure if you have netflix or not but if you do, the movie is quite good. It's the type of movie where at times you're like "okay this is sort of boring." But then it all comes together at the end and you're like "Damn! That was soooo good. I should have paid more attention throughout. I should re-watch it."
You know. One of those type of movies. Haha. But it's an interesting theory of the afterlife.
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I've just checked to see if it's available on our Netflix, and it is!
I began to watch the trailer (good actors!) but didn't want to spoil the story. It's booked for tonight at 20:00 o'clock :P Movie night! My husband said yes to it too :D
Thank you @leaky20!
Nice. Let me know what you and your husband thought of it - liked or disliked :)
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I will! I will message you about it tomorrow afternoon ;)
Hey @leaky20,
I'd like to let you know my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed last night's movie. The story-line, the acting and setting. I also found the soundtrack quite enthralling. haunting even, at times.
Generally, I am not a big fan of Netflix production movies but this one is a surprising exception! Intriguing( and disturbing) take on the afterlife topic.
Thank you very much for the recommendation :)
Have a great afternoon.
I'm glad that you both enjoyed it. I tend to often feel similarly about Netflix movies. They are usually - "meh" 😐
They remind me of Canadian made films - not great hahaha.
I thought this one was pretty good though. Interesting idea and raised some challenging philosophical questions as well. It made me think a little bit.
Have a good day :)
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I have an aunt who claims to have gone through near death experience when she was lying on bed. Just like the catholic patient who was lone to claim NDE in the above-mentioned experiment, my aunt is a religious person. I think their belief system has a major impact in them associating some situations to out of the earth experiences!
Hello there @sathyasankar :)
Thank you so much for the re-esteem and for taking the time to share your aunt's experience here with us. I do agree with you, individual's belief systems definitely weigh in the kind of mystical of transcendental experiences they go through.
But, please note that NDEs are not to be confused with OBEs. While the latter can happen spontaneously, during bed time or the middle of the night (which seems to be the case of your aunt's experience); the latter needs to necessarily involve a near-death experience (they are prompt by an accident, heart attack and so forth).
I, myself, have had an spontaneous OBE. During bed time. I wrote about it before here on Steemit. I found rather frightening! 😅
Thank you once again.
All the best to you and your aunt!
OOO..reading them giving me good goosebumps..it's kind of fantassy work where we able to see and feel some amazing things
Ahahaha same here @steemflow! Some of these accounts give me goosebumps too! Glad to hear I'm not alone :D
Thank you for stopping by!
We have in India called "Garrur Purana" which gives an in-depth analysis of the life after death . And how the soul goes through different phases...infact it was scary too....I had few chapter and quite intrigued till I get distracted with my dad health...hopefully I will read it completelly
Oh! Thank you for informing me about the Garrur Purana. I have noted down in my diary. I will include it in my list of material to read :)
Thanks for the warning too. I confess I am a little bit of a sacred cat :P
I wish your dad a speedy recovery.
All the best to you two.
Thanks.....let me know how you feel if you completed before.....it is scary btw..that what I heard
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Woah, that's an article that's full of implications! Makes me wonder about the connection between NDEs and the reports of similar experiences with DMT, which the brain is reported to release in high quantities when we die. Or what about the spirit? Or the mind (which I'm pretty sure science inadequately defines as brain activity)? WOW. Thank you for this amazing work!
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Hello there @naturalmedicine :)
What a privilege to have you come around to support my work and take the tie to leave such an insightful comment! You're spot on! The implications of these findings are numerous, and immensely overwhelming (to say the least.)
I am still in the processes of investigating DMT. I understand that there are various parallels between its effects and the features of the NDE phenomenon. Still, I do not have sufficient knowledge to formulate an argument that go towards that direction. Well, not yet. I am still puzzled by the fact that NDEs take place during periods when cortical activities are down. So ... here we come to your observation about the spirit ... what about it? All possibilities must be taken into account.
I was interested in your observation about science regarding the mind as a result of brain activity as an inadequate one. That has been my understanding for my entire adult life. And here I am facing research results that challenge that! :)
Thank you for your kind words. I am so pleased you found this work interesting. I am very sorry I am too late to enter the challenge. Next time! ;)
I wish you a wonderful weekend ahead.
Best,
Abigail
To me, this research points at the need for a much deeper definition and recognition for the mind. Maybe even the spirit. Neither of which are covered in science because modern science is such a new thing with such a shallow understanding of the world.
This is the start of a scientific look into the afterlife! That's exciting to me.
I'm a bit of a mystic myself, and believe in the existence of a spirit. My science type friends are always wanting sources so I can defend my ideas, and obviously they don't exist. Somehow you can't look at the spirit world with a microscope and take pictures of it. Maybe they're worlds that won't ever mix -the spirit world and the science world- but your post here shows me a little glimmer of hope.
-@nateonsteemit
😊 So nice to hear this! I think there must be flexibility from both sides (scientific and spiritual). For the sake of clarification and deeper understanding forces should be joined rather than polarized. Who knows, it might bring us all a sense of meaning and purpose :) The world seems to be in great need it it.
Oh my gosh, you're SO right!
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While reading through this, I remembered a movie I saw sometimes ago about Egyptian gods. They so much believe in afterlife that they have a god named "anubis" that they believed to lead people through the journey to afterlife.
Personally, I do believe the possibility of life existing after this life (though it isn't purely within the areas of observable science), not as the Egyptians believe though. Even the holy book (Bible) made mention of it
Though some people's account of their NDE and afterlife vary.
On a humorous note; imagine someone "dying" for five minutes and coming back with a 9hour story of afterlife 😃😃
Nice piece as usual Abbey. Much love from Nigeria
Ow Sammi ❤, how is it that you never fail to be supportive, add new information to our discussions, and this time make me laugh out loud with:
😂 Well, why not? One of the features of the Greyson Scale is that time speeds up! ahahaha
Thank you for teaching me about Anubis. How wonderful! A good that leads people through the after life :) I do have great interests in different kind of mythologies. Thank you also for adding here that the after life is mentioned in the Catholic faith!
Much love to you all the way from Portugal my dear :*
Oh I was just thinking about this (well, some of this) in response to a recent comment on my last post - are we all somehow connected? Just as a forest, which looks to humans like a bunch of individual trees and some non-tree plants strewn about, is interconnected through the soil (at the very least), we humans are interconnected by - what? Is it a larger reservoir of consciousness as William James claims? Is it the ineffable TAO? We 21st century humans (and long before now) think we stand alone and go about with our cockcrows and screwdrivers and test tubes trying to pin down this and that. Perhaps world peace will come when humans learn to go with the flow. I'm calling it "the flow" for today.
Thank you for your, as always, very intriguing post.
Hello dear @owasco 😃
What a coincidence, right? :) That you've been also reflecting aspects of this topic.
Your forest analogy is so beautiful. And your question about what bridges humans is philosophical. According to Buddhism what connects us all together, what makes us all one is: suffering. It's moving right? And also truthful. Catholicism claims it's our faith in God. Personally, I find this a dangerous idea because of its separatist essence. My favorite one is the proposition of Taoism, which claims that it is the TAO "the mother of all under heaven" that unite us with another and nature itself 😊 It's gorgeous.
During my entire adult life I have followed the rationale that the mind results from neuronal mechanisms. Coming across these studies has shaken me a little. I must admit. It is a good thing to be challenged. To venture new domains :)
Thank you very much for sharing your insightful thoughts here with us and for supporting my work with your kind, encouraging words (also, thank you for the re-esteem).
Have a great weekend!
All the best,
Abigail
Brave of you, dear Abigail, to explore this question. At its heart, the proposition that
So many questions are raised by this discussion. Not just what happens after death, but, are the criteria for establishing death valid? What's really going on when a person is in a 'vegetative state', or 'brain dead'? Is there consciousness and we just don't understand it? Can't reach it? What are the implications for medical treatment, and organ transplantion?
Also, is consciousness an exclusively human trait? That will open a hornet's nest when it comes to the question of animal rights...raises issues of sentience, and suffering.
Wow, this is going to take hours of looking up the references--and still there will be at the end questions.
I don't know if science is equipped, or ever will be equipped to answer these questions. Oh, and as I'm writing, I think of AI. Can AI have consciousness?
You have really opened a topic here that has endless possibilities.
I am impressed, as always, by your research and balanced treatment.
Thank you for ending with the quote from Lao-tzu. Very nice place to rest my mind before going to sleep. Yes, it is bedtime and I think I will look up the Tao Te Ching instead of the other references tonight. That will bring me pleasant dreams.
Can't tell you how impressed I am by the quality of your thought. Always an experience.
With Respect, and Great Affection
Your New York friend,
AG
@agmoore ❤ 😊,
You do understand me. I first came across these (and many others) studies last April. I felt I had the following two options: 1) to put it to rest or, 2) to gather some courage and look into them. It is not easy to come across findings that shake and challenge the ideas that lay the foundations of one's work and beliefs. For my entire adult life I have followed the concept that, first and foremost, we are a product of our synaptic activities. Oh boy ... :)
This rigid thinking of mine makes it really difficult for me to grasp the notion that conscious awareness may be a separate, independent entity. How can that be? I must revisit the works of William James and Maurice Bucke. This time I must read them with more attention and respect.
The BrainEx study is very intriguing! No global electrical activity, no higher-order brain function. But yeah ... that is all ok if consciousness is a brain activity outcome. As for the questioning of animal conscious awareness. Well ... quoting one of the articles you directed me to :
It is disappointing that this is something still doubted nowadays! Please! As Darwin himself explained, the difference (in capacity and abilities) between us and non-human animals is in "degree, not in kind".
Thank you for sharing those links with me my dear 😊
As for AI. I don't even know where to start there. But that is because of my very limited understanding about it. Whenever the discussion of AI is brought up, what first springs in my thoughts is: sense of morality. But, bear with me: if, external consciousness exists in some sort of collective reservoir, as William James puts it, does all this indicate that all it needs to interact with beings is a system like that found in our brains?
Well, so can robots with systems whose capacity can capture and manifest it can be created? There are already mini brains being grown in labs... freaky right?
I have nothing but questions and more questions my dear friend! I am sorry for the much too long reply. I have a feeling I ended up rambling a little.
At least we have the Tao Te Ching ;)
Your body dies.
There is no danger.
Much love to you always!
Thank you so much my dear friend for your infinite support and encouragement!
You are a very special person :*
I was so ready for this discussion, my dear Abigail😇. Some time ago I thought of writing about consciousness, and began to research the topic. But I don't have your rich background, your fund of knowledge to draw on. So I put the research aside (not away...I'll be back to it). And then you wrote this. Ah...thank you.
Your perspective is more courageous than mine, because many people relegate NDE to the sphere of religion, and religion can take us down some strange paths. But you handle it so well. Your approach is reasonable and scientific, and yet it allows the possibility that science perhaps cannot provide (at least not yet) answers.
Darwin's quote is quite striking:
" the difference (in capacity and abilities) between us and non-human animals is in 'degree, not in kind'.
This goes to the heart of a wider issue than animal cognition. It entails, by logical implication, a discussion about human worth, also. Does extremely limited capacity...say, profound cognitive disability... suggest less worth? How do we measure the worth of a life?
Really complicated. Time for the Tao Te Ching...which was a wonderful companion last night.
Thank you for the positive influence 🌈 you have on my life, on my thought. You bring such value to this small space on the platform. It's amazing.
With great respect, great regard and affection 💛,
Your friend from across the sea,
AG
This has definitely made me smile @agmoore2 😃
I look forward to reading the outcome of your research. I am interested in your reflections and propositions about this most intriguing topic! :)
I wish you a wonderful weekend. Filled with tranquility and warmth.
Bye ye for now.
Lots of love to you always! :*
Well, that post didn't really inspire me to write anything.(very unusual)
It's me, not you..lol.
On a more positive note, you then became my muse for a flippant Friday..!
Enjoy!
NO WAY! 😍 Reg & Dereck! ❤
Ow ... I am laughing so hard right now. But also with a warm feeling in my heart! It's funny how just the two of us will understand this!
Oh my God ... so many funny memories 😂 Although, not so funny when I remember Christophe's death. Still find difficult to come to terms with that. Maybe he had an NDE 😂
It looks like what goes around, comes around. I have said this before. But, really, it was the other person :P
Thanks for making me laugh!
Wishing you guys a great weekend.
Silly Saturday!
Yayyyyy!!
https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/tara-gp-ramping-it-up-no-frogs-required
Christophe was a mercy killing, tbh....RIP.
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😲 My goodness!! An entire cake! Thank you :)
It's a good thing the weekend is virtually here. You see, I only eat desserts on the weekends 😏
hey you !! Glad to see you back writing awesome content..as always :) :)
Oh! @mcfarhat 😊❤ my dearest! How wonderful to see you here. Thank you for making me smile with your comment. You know how to find me! Right?
Much love to the family <3
It is not to clear to me what I should think about that. I am actually totally puzzled (maybe because of the time).
My rationalism prevents me from taking NDE's too seriously. This is however something we heard once in a while. Moreover, according to the vast amount of references you pointed out, this seems to be a vast topic of research to which I may potentially pay more attention. Nevertheless, the findings are as questionable as my brain at the beginning of the reading (in other words, I do not know what to think... again) :)
Same here :)
I need to do some further research into the possible connections between NDEs and DMT (a hallucinogenic compound that is speculated to be released in the brain at higher levels in the occurence of death). This might be an answer to the burst of activity seen in the brain soon (30s) after cardiac arrest.
The body of research into NDEs is growing and this is a phenomenon that is beginning to be addressed more seriously by psychiatrists and psychologists. Due to the vast amount of implications it raises. For children and adults alike.
But, I admit I am with you here. I am not happy to just embrace these findings quite yet. I need to see more. Much, much more evidence to support the claims put forward by Dr. Parnia, Dr. Morse and their respective teams. Just to name a few.
Thank you for stopping by @lemouth. I truly appreciate your readership and feedback.
I wish you a great week ahead :D
And with a correct statistical treatment (including meaningful error bars). This is what I want to see more. About 50 individuals jsut dop not mean anything, IMO. :)
It is always my pleasure to pass by and read your texts (this changes my mind from physics ;) ).
The room of the little one is basically done (still waiting for the last pieces to be delivered and I will finalize) ^^
Oh ... how wonderful! Congrats for almost finishing this project. He must be over the moon :D
You guys have lovely night.
Bye bye for now :)
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Also a greatly discussed topic upon the philosophical realms… in munich a certain Prof. Dr. Godehard Brüntrup has experienced a near death experience himself and now talks about it.
but there is much more interesting literature in this kind of direction, or by people exploring consciousness in general. Robert/ Bob Monroe was one of the first people to actually exlore out of body experiences which probably are in some way linked to this kind of experience- also an interesting read even though it may be considered a little esoteric and hard to "accept" with our analytical minds.
Hey @dinadine,
Thank you for this lovely comment. Personally, I am struggling to embrace the findings of these studies :) Either way, I don't refrain from looking into it. So, thank you for the material you've mentioned here! I appreciate it.
All the best to you,
Abigail
Wow! What an interesting read @abigail-dantes. I really liked how you discussed such controversial topic, kept the mystery alive and never actually came to a conclusion on what we don't know. I was really intrigued by the memory formation due to low oxygen conditions point. I don't see why this could not happen. Majority of memory loss is because of cells dying - the ischemic death. However, not all neurons may die at once. At least in transient anoxic conditions, there are some neurons in hippocampus which may stay alive. And, they even show some LTP (a process also involved in memory formation) under such conditions (Hsu and Huamg, 1997). Moreover, we see brain waves decay a few seconds to minutes after cardiac death. However, these are mass recordings of many neurons. It's likely that there some below sensitivity activity might persist in isolated clusters. I don't know, but it would be interesting to look at studies using an invasive array of electrodes to record time after death (at least in animals). I don't know if such studies exist it would be cool if they did. But I think this is the line of inquiry that should follow.
However, there was this interesting study published this year. In this study, the researcher tried to restore the brain of slaughtered animals hours after their death. And they seem to get a good amount of it back online. I think there is more going on in the brain after death than we know as of now. What we are witnessing in NDE might be arising from that underappreciated brain activity post-death. (Or I don't know should we be really calling it death)
@scienceblocks! I am so pleased you've found this post interesting. And thank you for being sensitive enough to notice the treatment I gave to the topic :)
Your insight into memory formation during anoxic conditions as well as your observation on an appropriate line of inquiry to explore this further have fascinated me. I have read your comment several times now. Thank you for taking the time to highlight to me the LTP process, and for providing clarification about possible isolated clusters which activity may go unrecorded. Your comment has really excited me because it did answer a few bugging questions. Thank you so very much!
I will certainly follow the link to those studies you pointed out here!
I am familiar with the study on restoring brain activity in slaughtered animals :). I feel there is a lot to be looked into. And like you said should we even be calling it death anymore ... very intriguing indeed! All the implications that would bring with it ...
Thank you once again my dearest, for always contributing to building up my understanding of things.
All the best :)
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I have been reading on NDEs and OBEs since years as this is something which intrigues me a lot and what I have come to an understanding is that a lot of people who go through it also experience their own conditioning of mind. People see lights also on the other side in different ways also based on their religions and culture. But the recent studies what I came through really blew me off, I am still trying to understand that part of it also. Normally people who are going through these experiences are sometimes shown what the other side wants you to see. The construct of the false light where we are all trapped in the Matrix and the experiences are given to us from the other side based on what they want us to see.
If you are into this reading, do read on Massacre of the Angels, I am not sure if you would get it online as it is a classified one. In this book the Author who from Childhood thought was a pyschic was being manipulated all the time, until he wanted to break through when he reached higher levels of consciousness and he was not able to do that and it brought in a lot of dark side to him.
Cameron Day also talks about the construct of the false white light which majorly people experience at the pass over or NDE stage.
People who have had higher level of consciousness have also experienced a lot of turmoil and disturbances in the NDEs, cause they have consciously chosen not to get into the white light trap so they kind of see very jinxed up and dark energies at this stage.
Omg all of this blows me off, but personally I tool feel we are all so trapped up in the Matrix and living in this hologram where we think we are the masters of our lives but all the time we are manipulated.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article, thank you for sharing.
Thank you @nainaztengra :), for you insightful comment. I feel just like you! It is an overwhelming topic inst' it? Intriguing and perhaps even a little frightening :| Also, thank you for suggesting and introducing me to the readings you mentioned here. I will see if I can find them on the web!
All the best to you,
Abigail
Fantastic blog bro about life and momories.
This reminds me of when people take some drugs, some mushrooms, some things, and they end up seeing the same things at the same time. There can be ten or more people in the same place. So, it can be very interesting when they all claim to see and hear the same things. It would be one thing for each person to see different things. But when they all say they saw the same things, then you got to wonder why and how.