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Near death experiences

Are near death experiences real?

  • Yes! They definitely exist!

    Votes: 13 41.9%
  • No! It's impossible.

    Votes: 7 22.6%
  • I don't know. Maybe they are, maybe not.

    Votes: 11 35.5%

  • Total voters
    31

G.Armour

You know you want to.
Jan 11, 2010
4,533
306
Georgia
So I had a friend who almost died, came extremely close to it. He claims to have seen a" bright light" and had an out of body experience. He also claims that he stayed away from the light and that's the reason he is still here. Now, my question to you guys is, do you think they exist or is it just a hallucination or what do you think it is?
 
So I had a friend who almost died, came extremely close to it. He claims to have seen a" bright light" and had an out of body experience. He also claims that he stayed away from the light and that's the reason he is still here. Now, my question to you guys is, do you think they exist or is it just a hallucination or what do you think it is?

Great thread idea, G.Armour.
 
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Upvote 0
The existance of NDE's is a difficult question to answer.

Maybe they do exist and maybe they don't. The odd thing about them is that most people who have near death experiences seem to describe it in the same terms. If the people who experienced this were all from the same part of the world then that might help explain the phenomenom. Problem is, at least according to the research I've read, that many of the respondants are from different parts of the world with different cultures, different religions, and different levels of education.
 
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Maybe it's true. Let say that It would be nice if it were, as it means that there would be something to look forward to after kicking the bucket. That said, there are often interesting side effects to the things human brains to in the process of self preservation or repairing itself. I suspect that a severely stressed or dying brain will not be firing properly and could quite easily generate some very realistic yet extremely odd hallucinations. Sadly we don't understand the mechanics of the brain with enough detail to know the answer to that yet.
 
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I think that when people have strong beliefs it influences their subconscious. Maybe the light people see if the idea of heaven that they believe in. I'm no psychologist or authority on the matter at all. I just wanted to share what I went through in my near death experience (in the medical sense).

One interesting aspect of NDEs is the customized visions the person has, depending on their culture and/or religion.

Moslems see the Prophet and things related to how they're taught what is in the afterlife, Christians or those raised in a mostly Christian culture, see Jesus, Jews see Woody Allen and/or Shecky Greene. :D

Etc.
 
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One interesting aspect of NDEs is the customized visions the person has, depending on their culture and/or religion.

Moslems see the Prophet and things related to how they're taught what is in the afterlife, Christians or those raised in a mostly Christian culture, see Jesus, Jews see Woody Allen and/or Shecky Greene. :D

Etc.
Woody Allen? Are you sure that was heaven? :p

I remember reading a book called "Sympathy for the Devil" a while back which painted an interesting concept of heaven. In it, heaven wasn't a place as much as it was a ton of different places tailored to each cultures particular ideas of what it should be. God on the other hand was portrayed as a single entity which enjoyed splitting his time between the different heavens and loved dressing the part when he was in any one of them (he was particularly fond of valhalla and drinking with the Vikings).

Now that's an NDE I wouldn't mind experiencing.
 
Upvote 0
I suggest everyone read this article:

Dimethyltryptamine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's a natural chemical released every night when we sleep.

Some say this is released during "near-death" experiences.

The challenge here is that some doctors have reported patients in operating theatres who talk about out-of-body experiences during NDE's in high risk operations. The descriptions they provide of what happened during the operations can sometimes be uncanny.

If the person were under the influence of a hallucinagen, how could they accurately describe the scene around then and the words/actions of the people trying to save their life?

I can see how the drug may effect what someone believes they experience under some circumstances but I have real trouble believing that they could experience an OBE and watch the specific actions of the people around them.
 
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I can see how the drug may effect what someone believes they experience under some circumstances but I have real trouble believing that they could experience an OBE and watch the specific actions of the people around them.

Why?

Hallucinating people are not hallucinating 100% of their environment. They walk around, sit, talk, eat, etc. The delusions, visual, auditory and olfactory, are only a portion of their input, the rest being what and who is around them.
 
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Why?

Hallucinating people are not hallucinating 100% of their environment. They walk around, sit, talk, eat, etc. The delusions, visual, auditory and olfactory, are only a portion of their input, the rest being what and who is around them.

But if you're on an operating table in the midst of open heart surgery it's unlikely that you're gonna walk around the operating theatre watching the surgeons and nurses in action! :p From some of the accounts I've read it seems like some individuals during an OBE can tell you about the power cord that the doctor almost tripped over, or the surgeon with roaming hands fondling the nurses hiney.

Here are examples of what I mean:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Reynolds_(singer)
Who Have More Out-of-Body Near-Death Experiences?Atheists, Catholics, or Muslims? | Psychology Today
 
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My point of what hallucinating people do when up and around is to illustrate what the mind and body are capable of whether hallucinating or not.

Under general anesthesia a portion of the person's central nervous system is rendered inactive. There is a lot left and a lot to be aware of, inside the person's mind/brain as well as in the outside world, including the immediate world of the OR.
 
Upvote 0
My point of what hallucinating people do when up and around is to illustrate what the mind and body are capable of whether hallucinating or not.

Under general anesthesia a portion of the person's central nervous system is rendered inactive. There is a lot left and a lot to be aware of, inside the person's mind/brain as well as in the outside world, including the immediate world of the OR.

It's most definitely a possibility! My challenge is that most of us learned long ago that in dream states we can hardly remember anything after waking up. How do these people remember specific and very subtle details?

To be honest I've wondered the same about what I jokingly describe as nocturnal visits. I've had dreams over the years about my deceased father and brother that I can remember in exact and specific detail... days, months, and years after the dream. What took place in the normal dream I had last night... I haven't a clue. See what I mean? It's just odd to me that in specific circumstances we can remember details while unconscious and other times can't remember a thing. That's why I suspect there is more to it than what modern psychologists and psychiatrists seem to think.
 
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I remember reading somewhere (don't quote me on that, I don't have the source), that near death experiences were simply the mind playing tricks on you, like many have said already.

For example, the loss of peripheral vision can be caused by extreme fear (or a huge adrenalin rush). You know what it's called? Tunnel vision. What a coincidence.

I also remember reading that "seeing your life in fast forward" right before you die (or seeing dead people) is your memory screwing up.

I think that's where the answer is. ;)
 
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Memories take the path of least resistance to the forefront of our conscious mind.

Painful memories will encounter the most resistance, and will often gather distortions/disguises on their way to our remembering them via sleep. Those and good memories and mixes of both are dreams.

The Operating Room anecdotal stories are interesting, and I have a few of those, including one from an emergency situation, but those stories are all tempered by the fact that I know it all took place inside of my skull, in my brain, which survived and lived to tell about it.

I do remain open about it, but again, tempered also by too many disappointing investigations into supposed credible experiences; anybody can talk and write and swear up and down about anything they say they experienced.

But, it's still an interesting subject to me. ;)
 
Upvote 0
It's most definitely a possibility! My challenge is that most of us learned long ago that in dream states we can hardly remember anything after waking up. How do these people remember specific and very subtle details?

To be honest I've wondered the same about what I jokingly describe as nocturnal visits. I've had dreams over the years about my deceased father and brother that I can remember in exact and specific detail... days, months, and years after the dream. What took place in the normal dream I had last night... I haven't a clue. See what I mean? It's just odd to me that in specific circumstances we can remember details while unconscious and other times can't remember a thing. That's why I suspect there is more to it than what modern psychologists and psychiatrists seem to think.

It's funny you mentioned that, because the DMT also is what makes it very hard to remember dreams =P
 
Upvote 0
Near death experiences are just people's brain synapses firing, or oxygen deprivation, or any other number of biological functions/processes that play tricks on the brain as it looms closer to imminent death.

There is nothing supernatural / spiritual / strange about it. All can be explained by science, and if we can't explain it now, we will explain it eventually.

So I guess my answer is "Impossible" then of the three options.
 
Upvote 0
Near death experiences are just people's brain synapses firing, or oxygen deprivation, or any other number of biological functions/processes that play tricks on the brain as it looms closer to imminent death.

There is nothing supernatural / spiritual / strange about it. All can be explained by science, and if we can't explain it now, we will explain it eventually.

So I guess my answer is "Impossible" then of the three options.


That's definitely a viable explanation.. They talk about that in this article which is decent but long..

Decoding The Mystery Of Near-Death Experiences : NPR
 
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