Another Story Of Death Denied


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I've seen people die. Most of the time their eyes are closed. They didn't see anything. They imagined it.

if he had died,he wouldn't be doing an interview.

There are many that believe that it's the physical world that is the illusion, and there are far too many documented cases of "near-death" and "life-after-death" experiences for me to discount this man's account as a fabrication.

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There are many that believe that it's the physical world that is the illusion, and there are far too many documented cases of "near-death" and "life-after-death" experiences for me to discount this man's account as a fabrication.

It's not a fabrication. His mind believes what it believes. I would not discount that in the least.

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One of the difficulties I have with this is not disbelieving what he says but on understanding some of the medical aspects of death. Firstly in many countries death is measured by the heart stopping and not one when there is no more brain activity. Now if the heart stops then the brain becomes starved of oxygen and after a few minutes it will irreversibly start to die. If the person is then revived then they are likely to have brain damage. Shortly before the brain starts shutting down the body produces a large amount of endorphines (morphine like substances) and the person then gets a feeling of euphoria (feeling of joy and well being). It is possible to have hallucinations during this period.

Now the issue I have is that people who experience such things usually do so within the context of the beliefs in which are prevelent within the society they come from. Hence Christian societies have Christian experiences. Bhuddists have Bhuddist experiences, Muslims have Muslim experineces, Other faiths have other faith experinces.

Now I am not saying that all near death experiences are false or even that these people are lying or misguided but I am saying there are medical understandings as to why they may occur.

If pressed for an opinion on this I would go with each to their own point of view. Although it may sound like I have made up my mind I actually remain open minded on the topic.

Edited by Pete
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I've seen people die. Most of the time their eyes are closed. They didn't see anything. They imagined it.

There is some data indicating DMT to be responsible or partially responsible for NDE's, which presents some interesting questions as well as interesting ideas. It can, to no small degree, be used to induce "spiritual experiences" in people. Experiences no different than any other "spiritual experiences" a person believes themselves to have experienced. It is for this reason Ayahuasca and other entheogens are so common in spiritual use, the users literally believed themselves to be having spiritual experiences on it. We know now it is just neurochemistry at play. The same can be said for all "spiritual experience". It's all in your head. It's all in my head. It's useful so make use of it. It just becomes detrimental when you lose the ability to separate what is in your head from what is actually happening. Which seems to be the very basis of modern religion. Imagination is good, imagination is useful. I use it myself. Just don't convince yourself what you're imagining is real.

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Ye...es. I wouldn't draw any conclusions from it. After all, the one thing we know for sure about people who report these experiences is - they didn't actually die.

On the other hand, if our last seconds of consciousness involve pleasant illusions, that's absolutely fine by me.

Dr Livingston, the 19th century explorer, described an African culture who considered it kindest to attach the ears of criminals who were going to be decapitated to a springy sapling. When the head was cut off the springy sapling would fling the head into the air. The idea was that the criminal's last sensation would be of happily flying off into the beyond.

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