Near-Death Experiences
It has often been assumed that experiences in relation to death are likely hallucinations or illusions, occurring either before the heart stops or after the heart has been successfully restarted, but not an experience corresponding with ‘real’ events when the heart isn’t beating. In this case, consciousness and awareness appeared to occur during a 3-minute period when there was no heartbeat. This is paradoxical, since the brain typically ceases functioning within 20-30 seconds of the heart stopping and doesn’t resume again until the heart has been restarted. Furthermore, the detailed recollections of visual awareness in this case were consistent with verified events. ~ American physician Sam Parnia
Near-death experiences afford insight into mind-body monism. A study of 140 survivors of cardiac arrest found numerous instances of awareness while their body was non-functional, yet they had “explicit recall of actual events related to their resuscitation. One had a verifiable period of conscious awareness during which time cerebral function was not expected.”
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In 1983, David Bennett was chief engineer on Aloha, a research vessel. One night off the California coast he and his crew tried to outrun a storm in an inflatable boat. They didn’t make it. About a mile from shore their boat capsized.
Tossed into the chilly Pacific, Bennett’s life vest was faulty. He sank, and his lungs filled with water. Bennett remembers feeling total bliss, saturated in pure love.
That love was permeating my being and actually transforming me. As I got closer, I was in awe of this light; it was infinite. It looked like millions upon millions of fragments, and they were all dancing and interacting together. They were breathing, expanding and contracting, and working in unison. ~ David Bennett
Then Bennett was told that it was not his time. After 18 minutes underwater, Bennett popped to the surface. His crewmates, floating on the water, were shocked to see him. Bennett survived and became a spiritual activist.
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Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro underwent surgery to deliver a healthy newborn. Moments later, she stopped breathing.
Doctors spent 3 hours trying to revive her. She had no heartbeat for 45 minutes. (Brain activity was not being measured.) Then she revived. She said she felt as if floating down a tunnel until “a force” turned her back.
I was chosen to be here. ~ Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro
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Near-death-experiences seem to be regularly triggered by a sense of detachment from the physical body and end when returning to one’s body. ~ Belgian psychologist Charlotte Martial
While obes are common in near-death experiences, the most frequent report (80%) is a feeling of peacefulness. Shuffling off the mortal coil provides the emotive experience of enlightenment: detached contentment.
Correspondent with closure approaching death, brain activity surges with a coherent harmony of waves that typifies transcendence during meditation.
The mammalian brain can paradoxically generate neural correlates of heightened conscious processing at near-death. ~ Mongolian neurobiologist Jimo Borjigin et al
The most common aftereffect of having a near-death experience is a renewed sense of purpose and meaning in life.
People who have had out-of-body experiences feel less fear of death. Experiencing materiality as a mirage fosters a proper perspective for living.
