Near death experiences explained

In many cultures and among many in the new age movement NDE's are regarded
as a life altering spiritual experience.
Also it is regarded as evidence that there is a life after death.
But however according to recent discoveries in the realm of neurology, there may
be a more down to earth explanation for these seemingly mystical experiences.

According to researchers like Susan Blackmore and Karl Jansen NDE's may be explained
by chemical or neurological processes in the brain.
As pointed out by Jansen an NDE experience can actually be duplicated, using an anesthetic known as
ketamine.

There is also a condition known as cerebral anoxia.
This is caused by oxygen deprivation to the brain and can result in sensory distortion or hallucinations.
In addition to this there are some hallucinogenic substances that can also cause NDE's and out of body
experiences.

One chemical known to do this is a substance known as '___'.
According to one author of a book on this, it acts on the pineal gland which traditionally has been
regarded as the seat of the soul.
By acting on this organ it can produce the mystical sensation of an NDE.
Even encounters with alien beings
and angels.
'___' is found in some plants and it is also produced by the brain.
So here might lie the explanation for alien abductions and visions of angels.
For further info regarding this check out the links below.


www.near-death.com...

www.iamshaman.com...

www.rickstrassman.com/dmt/

Sorry, had one and it is not even close to what I've read on '___' experiences. I was in control the whole time and actually just kind of "sat in space" for a little while thinking "well now what?" while I looked at a couple distant blue tinged stars. I even cussed my self out for dying. I felt like I had a robe on (I know it sounds cliche), but I felt different in that my ego was starting to be stripped away and my rational and true self was being allowed to emerge...a much more confident and noble feeling. Yep, someone showed up, not Jesus or even an angel, but someone who had a feel of like a Greek philosopher who was disappointed in my wasted potential...yet wasn't angry. No grand feelings of love or brilliant light with my NDE. The final thing I saw was the seeing of a book, what I like to kind of call a "hyper-space book" in that it didn't look as real as what had been going on so far, but represented something. As I looked at the book, I feel as though I'm being pulled closer to it and then it stretches or mirrors itself into space all the way to both my right and left (the stars are still in the background). I feel a brief embrace like being absorbed and stretched through that "line of all knowledge"...then I'm pulled back out, rotated to my right and sent back towards this glow that reminds me of Earth's atmosphere if you see it from Space Shuttle pictures. Then I'm back in my body.

I think my problem I have with Blackmore is she is a tad arrogant and seems to just blanket statement phenomenon, not that she's wrong, but she takes that extra leap in her conclusions that I don't quite agree with. To me I don't agree that she "duplicates" NDEs...she gets something close, and even if it was identical does that mean that it's not "real"? (I believe she thinks they are real experiences also). Quantum physics and consciousness studies really have opened my mind that my mind may not be that lump of an organ in my head. And that possibly it is a structure through which the mind operates...I may be a slave to some of it's functions and desires, but after my NDE, I could sense that when freed of it and my ego...there was a "true reality" waiting.

I love science, but science sometimes limits itself in new frontiers. Everyone has some theory one year and then a new one shows up (astronomy and cosmology are two huge wafflers). If my brain is made of quanta, then how in the world do they organize themselves while popping in and out of existance? Who is the observer that is collapsing the uncertainty principle? Not that I want to hide behind quantum physics, but I think there is something more going on. The experiment I would like to see, if it was possible, is test people that had their penal gland removed or somehow "turned off" and see if an NDE still happens.

I think the study of why we have these experiences is interesting since nature promotes successful organs. So why does the brain/penal gland create or send us to these places? Why do we all share similar NDEs, yet have dreams that are quite varied? Is the NDE fantasy just there to keep us in line so we don't commit suicide after we realize there isn't any meaning to life. Does nature have some intelligence that is just using us for it's own needs and doesn't want us to give up functioning so it evolved a penal gland? Ah, my NDE has at least turned off all these maddening questions...I feel there is something reductionist science is missing.

i have a friend who took '___''s and he couldn't open his eyes for two hours.

Originally posted by Boogie
I think my problem I have with Blackmore is she is a tad arrogant and seems to just blanket statement phenomenon, not that she's wrong, but she takes that extra leap in her conclusions that I don't quite agree with.

I completely agree! I dislike that woman.

I had a near death experience, but it was much different than what most people describe.

Explain NDE's via chemicals? NOPE! NO way! Not that there are not chemical changes in the brain during these happenings, most likely true but that does not explain the visions reported by people.

Question! If you know that a NDE is only a chemical reaction in your head, will your brain still bother to release the chems because the subcon knows it wont help you?

Aliens are part of a physical world. What do you think crashed in roswell. They are bound by the rules of physics.

Only jesus can defie physics.

I have had one and nobody can tell me what it was I know. I can not prove it but I dont need to, to those of us that have had them and those who havent will never understand anyway.

Originally posted by Thinker
Aliens are part of a physical world. What do you think crashed in roswell. They are bound by the rules of physics.

Only jesus can defie physics.

I'm skeptical about the encounters and abductions by aliens
that so many people have reported.
The fact that many of these occur when people are in bed,
when they are either asleep or about to, makes me question the reality of the whole thing.
Have any of these abductions occured when they were at work,shopping for groceries, or driving on the freeway?

As for Roswell again here I question this also.
The evidence here is strictly anecdotal.
No alien bodies, no artifacts and no other type of evidence.
Only eyewitness testimonies which may be questionable.

As for Jesus defying physics well there's even less evidence for this.
The only thing that supports the miracles attributed to him
are of course biblical references which per se are not believable.
Unless there are other documented evidence to back it up.

I don't know about abductions in the grocery store, but many people have "missing time" while driving on the freeway.

Originally posted by TPL
Question! If you know that a NDE is only a chemical reaction in your head, will your brain still bother to release the chems because the subcon knows it wont help you?

Possibly.
Why? Perhaps to provide relief from pain or the fear of death. The human body is a marvelous mechanism that
we still do not know totally.
And the brain is the most mysterious of all organisms.
It produces endorphins that helps us feel better and it 's
known to do other things that we don't totally understand.

Yes, the body does infact produce '___' naturally and push it into the brain when you die. You can make '___' from your lawn.

Blessings,
Mikromarius

Their are scientist who discovered that maybe the soul is not in the brain but in each cell of our body. This is really amazing if this is true. I will try to find the story and post it there.

I thought this post was "NDEs explained" Yogi! Where is your info on why we have NDEs?



Ok not to be a jerk, but I thought I'd rib ya a little on that. I personally think there is more going on than a chemical release, since I think the mind or "real" consciousness doesn't live in the brain. But that is my (and even some scientists) belief and not fact, but I also think Blackmore is just defining a brain action, and not a reason as to what NDEs are.

To play along as the scientist, I think the body fabricates these NDEs to fool the body from ultimately ceasing function. I don't think it is a farewell gift of the brain chemicals to fool us...that seems more illogical to me more than anything. Endorphins are used to keep us from going into shock and dying, not to just be nice. So NDEs I would think would have to serve a biological function to maintain the body. Maybe it tries a last gasp effort to either repair or reset itself while we watch the NDE movie in the hallucinogenic theater.

As devil's advocate: Why is there '___' in us at all? Why the need for "otherwordly" experiences? My big problem with the chemical answer is 1) Why the life review? This serves no biological purpose that I can think of. 2) How are people able to see outside their bodies? 3) Why do a few have hellish experiences? That seems counter productive to helping the body survive. 4) Why are some people reportedly given a choice to go to the light or return to their body? 5) If '___' is the culprit, then why aren't more people saying they saw the greys on the other side, or these elves, or many of the other commonly reported '___' visions...and vice versa why don't most '___' takers report going to heaven? 6) Finally, and probably the strangest reason is why do I feel that I just won't cease to exist...why doesn't evolution just tell me straight up that I have a limited amount of time and to do what needs to be done.


I feel that there is much much more to our consciousness than what we try to pigeon-hole with today's science. If evolution is just about building a better biological mouse trap then what logical goal is it trying to attain? Why is there life? Why did the universe evolve life if life is to cease to exist...why waste the time on all these games of reproduction and survival of the fittest when no one wins and everything must die permanately? I think there is something more awaiting us...

My friend once told me that when he was little he fell and cracked his head open (he still has the scar). He went to the hospital to get stiches and when he was lying on a bed in the hospital he said he saw himself lying on the bed and something red and something white pulling him in different directions and then suddently he went back to his body.

Here's a sample of a great book on '___'. '___' The Spirit Molecule