A recent comparison of near-death experiences (NDEs) occurring with life-threatening events leadi... more A recent comparison of near-death experiences (NDEs) occurring with life-threatening events leading to coma to " NDE-like " experiences occurring with non-life-threatening events showed no significant difference in intensity or content between the two experiences, suggesting that neither the apparent proximity to death nor the specific physiological or psychological factors present influence quality or " depth " of such experiences. This study directly contradicts previous findings of significantly more enhanced perception of light and enhanced cognitive powers in near-death experiencers (NDErs) very close to death compared to those not in danger of dying. We argue that findings of the recent study are more valid due to more appropriate methodology. The general assumption has been that NDEs result from some physical cause that brings people close to death, but such explanations are problematic. An adequate scientific explanation of NDEs needs to be complete, accounting for all aspects of all NDEs. The commonality among NDEs occurring in a wide range of conditions suggests that there is a common underlying " proximate cause " to all NDEs. The proximate cause could be physiological, for example, a common brain circuit in a particular brain region, or non-physiological, for example, the separation of consciousness as an autonomous entity from the physical body. We argue that the latter hypothesis has greater explanatory power, although it posits elements beyond the current physicalist paradigm. Which explanation of NDEs is correct will be resolved only with further scientific investigation.
We propose that the "mind" is an energetic, spatially extended, nonmaterial entity that is united... more We propose that the "mind" is an energetic, spatially extended, nonmaterial entity that is united with the brain and body. The mind is a separate entity having the character of a structured energy field, which can interact with physical processes including brain neurons. The nonmaterial mind is also the seat of conscious experience. The mind interacts directly with cortical neurons, probably via electrical interaction, resulting in both subjective phenomenal experience and causal influence on neurological processes. All cognitive faculties reside in the mind but ordinarily need the brain's neural activity for conscious awareness. When brain structures are damaged, mental faculties dependent on them are partially or totally impaired. The main evidence for this view are phenomena from near-death experience and various neurological phenomena, in particular phantom limbs. This theory solves the "hard problem" of how phenomenal experience can arise from physical brain activity: conscious experience depends on a second entity with physical attributes-the conscious mind-which interacts with the brain to produce phenomenal experience. Experiences of qualia, such as redness, are an effect in the mind resulting from electrical activity in specific regions of the brain. The unity of consciousness results from the unity of the mind's "field of consciousness": phenomenal states are unified in the mind as subject. Causal closure of the physical is maintained but the domain of "the physical" must necessarily be expanded. Mind is a fundamental entity, a new dimension of reality.
The AWARE study has two objectives, (1) to examine the incidence of awareness and the variety of ... more The AWARE study has two objectives, (1) to examine the incidence of awareness and the variety of mental experiences during cardiac arrest (CA) resuscitation, and (2) to develop a methodology to test the accuracy of reports of visual and auditory perception during CA. The study began in 2008 and, over the first four years, examined 2,060 patients from 15 hospitals in the UK, the US and Austria.
This book is like a collection of precious jewels that have been sorted out and set into differen... more This book is like a collection of precious jewels that have been sorted out and set into different sections of a display case, showing different levels of brilliance and color, different degrees of uniqueness and beauty. As such, the book is a valuable catalog of important cases of paranormal phenomena from near-death experiences (NDEs) that have been investigated, confirmed, and documented by researchers over the years. To the two of us, many of these jewels are old, familiar friends. In our study of NDEs over the past years, we have come across many of these jewels in our reading together as interesting, even fascinating, cases of para-normal phenomena. They are familiar friends because we have studied and pondered them, replayed them in our minds, argued about them, and written about them. We first encountered several of these jewels in Raymond Moody's book, Life After Life. They included the basic features of NDEs: the feeling of peace, the separation from the physical body, the sense of hyperreality, meeting deceased loved ones, encountering a great being of light, having a "life review" of the events of one's life, returning to one's body, and later finding corroboration of aspects of the experience by oneself or from others. These last jewels— the perceptions and other information the near-death experiencer (NDEr) received during the experience that were later confirmed by other witnesses— were of the greatest interest to us because they suggested that these experiences are not only subjectively but also objectively real, that NDEs are, in fact, a taste of what it is like to die and, therefore, they suggest that the self does not die when the physical body dies. A few years after Moody's book, we came across two additional jewels of this type in George Ritchie's book, Return From Tomorrow. In his NDE, Ritchie experienced being out of his body, flying eastward across the frozen plains of east Texas at night in December. He flew over a large river and
A recent comparison of near-death experiences (NDEs) occurring with life-threatening events leadi... more A recent comparison of near-death experiences (NDEs) occurring with life-threatening events leading to coma to " NDE-like " experiences occurring with non-life-threatening events showed no significant difference in intensity or content between the two experiences, suggesting that neither the apparent proximity to death nor the specific physiological or psychological factors present influence quality or " depth " of such experiences. This study directly contradicts previous findings of significantly more enhanced perception of light and enhanced cognitive powers in near-death experiencers (NDErs) very close to death compared to those not in danger of dying. We argue that findings of the recent study are more valid due to more appropriate methodology. The general assumption has been that NDEs result from some physical cause that brings people close to death, but such explanations are problematic. An adequate scientific explanation of NDEs needs to be complete, accounting for all aspects of all NDEs. The commonality among NDEs occurring in a wide range of conditions suggests that there is a common underlying " proximate cause " to all NDEs. The proximate cause could be physiological, for example, a common brain circuit in a particular brain region, or non-physiological, for example, the separation of consciousness as an autonomous entity from the physical body. We argue that the latter hypothesis has greater explanatory power, although it posits elements beyond the current physicalist paradigm. Which explanation of NDEs is correct will be resolved only with further scientific investigation.
We propose that the "mind" is an energetic, spatially extended, nonmaterial entity that is united... more We propose that the "mind" is an energetic, spatially extended, nonmaterial entity that is united with the brain and body. The mind is a separate entity having the character of a structured energy field, which can interact with physical processes including brain neurons. The nonmaterial mind is also the seat of conscious experience. The mind interacts directly with cortical neurons, probably via electrical interaction, resulting in both subjective phenomenal experience and causal influence on neurological processes. All cognitive faculties reside in the mind but ordinarily need the brain's neural activity for conscious awareness. When brain structures are damaged, mental faculties dependent on them are partially or totally impaired. The main evidence for this view are phenomena from near-death experience and various neurological phenomena, in particular phantom limbs. This theory solves the "hard problem" of how phenomenal experience can arise from physical brain activity: conscious experience depends on a second entity with physical attributes-the conscious mind-which interacts with the brain to produce phenomenal experience. Experiences of qualia, such as redness, are an effect in the mind resulting from electrical activity in specific regions of the brain. The unity of consciousness results from the unity of the mind's "field of consciousness": phenomenal states are unified in the mind as subject. Causal closure of the physical is maintained but the domain of "the physical" must necessarily be expanded. Mind is a fundamental entity, a new dimension of reality.
The AWARE study has two objectives, (1) to examine the incidence of awareness and the variety of ... more The AWARE study has two objectives, (1) to examine the incidence of awareness and the variety of mental experiences during cardiac arrest (CA) resuscitation, and (2) to develop a methodology to test the accuracy of reports of visual and auditory perception during CA. The study began in 2008 and, over the first four years, examined 2,060 patients from 15 hospitals in the UK, the US and Austria.
This book is like a collection of precious jewels that have been sorted out and set into differen... more This book is like a collection of precious jewels that have been sorted out and set into different sections of a display case, showing different levels of brilliance and color, different degrees of uniqueness and beauty. As such, the book is a valuable catalog of important cases of paranormal phenomena from near-death experiences (NDEs) that have been investigated, confirmed, and documented by researchers over the years. To the two of us, many of these jewels are old, familiar friends. In our study of NDEs over the past years, we have come across many of these jewels in our reading together as interesting, even fascinating, cases of para-normal phenomena. They are familiar friends because we have studied and pondered them, replayed them in our minds, argued about them, and written about them. We first encountered several of these jewels in Raymond Moody's book, Life After Life. They included the basic features of NDEs: the feeling of peace, the separation from the physical body, the sense of hyperreality, meeting deceased loved ones, encountering a great being of light, having a "life review" of the events of one's life, returning to one's body, and later finding corroboration of aspects of the experience by oneself or from others. These last jewels— the perceptions and other information the near-death experiencer (NDEr) received during the experience that were later confirmed by other witnesses— were of the greatest interest to us because they suggested that these experiences are not only subjectively but also objectively real, that NDEs are, in fact, a taste of what it is like to die and, therefore, they suggest that the self does not die when the physical body dies. A few years after Moody's book, we came across two additional jewels of this type in George Ritchie's book, Return From Tomorrow. In his NDE, Ritchie experienced being out of his body, flying eastward across the frozen plains of east Texas at night in December. He flew over a large river and
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