
The Popularity of Near-Death Experience - breitling
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-popularity-of-near-death-experience/#!
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tribune
The eternal human obsession with death explains our intense interest in the
experiences that come as close to it as possible. I also think it's obvious
that, even if death "feels like" something, these experiences are probably
nothing like it. There's a huge difference between rotting in the ground and
having your heart stop for a minute.

One of my relatives had a near-death experience quite a long time ago. While
he was unconscious, he says he met Jesus, who offered him the choice to rise
to Heaven then and there, or stay behind with his children. He chose the
latter and (somewhat miraculously, actually) recovered and is still alive
today. It probably goes without saying that he's a devout Christian. Now, I
don't believe he actually met Jesus, but I do believe that's what he
experienced. It's interesting, and somewhat comforting, that the brain can
have these intensely emotional and personally meaningful experiences in the
moments before death. Maybe his "choice" even had some bearing on his
recovery.

~~~
remir
I read an account of a near-death experience a couple of years ago from an
atheist man. When he "died", he went out of his body and saw Jesus in the room
with him. He asked Jesus if he was real, or just an illusion/dream.

The image of Jesus then transformed into a ball of light. This ball of light
communicated to the man that it initially appeared as Jesus because the man
had a Christian upbringing and was familiar with the character of Jesus. It
was essentially to make him feel more at ease.

~~~
everdev
But how confusing that we might bring our human thought processes to an after
life where we'd need to see Jesus to make us feel comfortable. Wouldn't it
make more sense for an afterlife to be so different from our human experience
that it's almost undescribable?

I'd like to think that young children who pass away aren't trapped in an
adolescent mindset after death. Growing up in heaven is equally unbelievable.

Instead I think it's highly probably that these near death experiences are
more similar to deep meditation where we explore our innermost selves.

~~~
remir
If I remember correctly, the man said that he eventually went to another
"realm" or "dimension" that was beyond words, but that he needed a sort of
transition between the two level of consciousness. It's probably similar to
how deep sea divers cannot go to the surface too rapidly.

~~~
mvid
Deep sea divers can’t come up too rapidly because the nitrogen will cause
their blood to boil, not for any mental reason.

~~~
remir
That was just an analogy to illustrate the idea of transition.

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jerf
"(And given the centrality of Christianity in all this, where are the return
reports from hell?)"

Well, that's easy; five seconds with Google with the obvious search will
answer that question. (Intended as a comment on how deep the article actually
grapples with the problem, not as endorsement of anything that search may pull
up.)

~~~
orionblastar
Look up Our Lady of Fatima.

[http://www.fatima.org/essentials/facts/hell.asp](http://www.fatima.org/essentials/facts/hell.asp)

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irrational
The strangest NDE I've heard of was a woman in Seattle who had been totally
blind from birth. During her NDE she could see, but she had no concept of how
to "see". She reported that it took her awhile to understand what she was
seeing, how to understand and distinguish colors, that that blob was a person
and she now knew what people looked like, etc. After her NDE she was still
totally blind (of course) but was able to describe things that only a sighted
person could know. Freaky.

~~~
dTal
[http://www.skepticforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=25568](http://www.skepticforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=25568)

~~~
irrational
Interesting, but the skeptic's argument seems to boil down to: the authors and
the person that experienced the NDE were religious, therefore this doesn't
need to be taken seriously.

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c3534l
I remember hearing about a study where they placed placards on top of cabinets
and such in the operating room. When a person said they had a near-death
experience during surgery and saw themselves from above, the experimenters
asked them what the letter was on the placard. Not surprisingly patients
didn't know.

~~~
ggg9990
Not sure why that study needed to be done, as it proved nothing. You can
imagine yourself from above without actually having a camera 8 feet over your
head.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
Can you imagine how interesting the results would've been if they HAD known
the letter? A lot of scientific studies seem stupid, sometimes they have
unexpected results.

~~~
c3534l
It's also super cheap to do as far as medical studies go.

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mirimir
I once ate 10 mg LSD by accident. It was a dilution error. The peak lasted ~10
hr. At some point, I saw the top of my head. But hey, maybe it was just an
hallucination ;)

~~~
montyf
That reminds me of this thread where user chinacat describes taking a
thumbprint. He calls it a "beyond death experience". Very interesting stuff
and I recommend reading his posts.

[https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1...](https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1427364)

Also, reading about a few NDEs, they sound quite similar to a DMT trip, and
they seem to have similar effects in terms of how a person completely changes
afterwards. The range of possible conscious experiences is really something
extraordinary and most humans only ever experience a miniscule fraction of it.

~~~
LambdaComplex
The username "chinacat" is quite possibly a reference to the Grateful Dead
song "China Cat Sunflower"

(Which is probably irrelevant, but some may find it interesting)

~~~
mirimir
As long as we're talking LSD-related music, one of my favorites is Tool's
"Rosetta Stoned".

~~~
LambdaComplex
I'm mostly a blues/rock guy, but for LSD-related stuff, I'd probably go with
Shpongle. Star Shpongled Banner is probably my favorite song by them

~~~
mirimir
Oh yeah, Shpongle! Simon Posford and Raja Ram. Dancing to them in Amsterdam
was my first exposure to trance. Also Younger Brother. And damn, Bassnectar!
Plus An-ten-nae, PANTyRAiD and other trance and acid crunk.

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gumby
I have unfortunately experienced actual "almost died" and experienced none of
this. I wonder if it's due to my lack of religious training?

~~~
everdev
Yes, or more in line with it not being a real phenomenon. Instead it might be
possible that certain blood loss or panic induces an almost meditative state
and that those occur more often when close to death. Tons of people have had
similar experiences meditating, taking hallucinagens or on vision quests. My
guess is that those experiences are related in some way rather than our souls
not sure if they're really dead or not.

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peter303
Maybe its some calming experience created by Nature to make it easier to
accept death. All creatures die.

~~~
IntronExon
How would that evolve, when the only selection pressure would be just before
death? What would be the reproductive advantage? Wouldn’t such a system
ultimately be an energy cost, reducing fitness?

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IntronExon
The real issue is the term, “Near Death” which is probably even less
meaningful than “Near Pregnant.”

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dinoleif
It's worth pointing out that the notion of "near death experiences" is not
Biblical.

These are modern, Western fantasies superimposed on Christianity.

~~~
Mikeb85
Mystical experiences have always been a part of Christianity and Judaism. It's
only modern Protestantism which has done away with them...

~~~
dinoleif
I think we agree, but I think you misinterpreted what I said. "Mystical
experiences" isn't the problem. It's that the things commonly described in
"near death experiences" are overtly contradictory with Judeo-Christian
teaching about the afterlife.

~~~
Mikeb85
There isn't a lot of agreement on what the 'afterlife' is in Christianity, and
Judaism has a different idea altogether.

To traditional Christians (Orthodox and Catholic), it involves the soul
departing the body, experiencing a good, bad or in between afterlife, then the
resurrection of the dead where they're reunited with their body at the end of
the world to either live in paradise or be chucked into a fiery lake. Some
mystics also describe a period where the soul wanders or is 'lost', and
various traditional prayers support such theories. There's also the concepts
of Hades/Sheol, Abraham's bosom, toll-houses or purgatory, and so on. Quite a
bit of room for experiences roughly equivalent to some near-death experiences.

To most evangelicals, it's an instantaneous journey to heaven/hell.
Protestants range from more traditional beliefs to soul-sleep to instant
judgement.

For Jews, it's more of a nebulous existence in Sheol (roughly equivalent to
the Greek Hades), which isn't particularly great nor horrible.

And then of course, the possibility that what every religion describes is
allegorical and not literal.

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maxxxxx
My dogs get near death experiences almost every day if the food is slightly
late.

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anonemouse145
1) Hacker News?

2) You can reliably induce near death experiences with high g-forces and
drugs, for instance the experiences commonly happen to fighter pilots during
training when they are subjected to high g forces in training.

The reason for the white light and tunnel and floating above your body, is
that's how the brain shuts down due to loss of blood. We know this now. No
need to speculate. "Hell" is a less common motif, because that's a less common
brain state under those circumstances.

Next mystery, please.

~~~
babygoat
The brain shutting down due to loss of blood is the same as dying. That tells
us nothing about why it is experienced as such.

