I'm referring to the ones where people actually see and hear words and actions that are taking place in the near vicinity while they seem to be outside of their body and 'dead'. In many cases, patients have these experiences on the operating table, and are even able to explain the things that they've seen and heard while they were disincorporated.
2007-03-16 07:28:16 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
PS - I'm not a religious nut --- or an anti-religious nut. LOL.
2007-03-16 07:29:14 · update #1
The anecdotal evidence for them is compelling as is the fact that both atheists and believers experience them- I don't believe the evidence suggests they are hallucinations. Why this is directed specifically at atheists I don't know- not all NDEs involve alleged encounters with "God".
2007-03-16 07:34:39 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Allot of strange things happen when there are changes in the brain. Blood slows down, oxygen is depleted and the brain behaves very differently.
Some people see things when they get knocked out. It is just a reaction to the brain. Some people have had memories of people they love appear, and then find out that the person doesn't even exist. Does that experience mean that they did exist and the person is living in a different reality or was part of a past life?
I don't believe it does, the brain acting up is the most likely scenario.
2007-03-16 14:34:36 · answer #2 · answered by ɹɐǝɟsuɐs Blessed Cheese Maker 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I saw a great bit on Penn and Teller where an engineer working with g-force centrifuges where they spin pilots around real fast. When going round really fast, eventually the pilots black out because the blood can't reach the brain any more.
Now, the interesting thing is that all these pilots tell stories that are EXACTLY like NDE people tell. Tunnel of light, out of body experience, the whole bit.
When shutting down, your brain will present you with some spectacular hallucinations it seems. Maybe some coping mechanism? Or 'brain panic'? Or just a byprocuct of the electrochemical factory shutting down.
2007-03-16 14:35:23 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Stories in which NDE persons "see" things on top of cupboards that they couldn't possibly have seen without actually floating have all turned out to be apocryphal or false. Neurologists have identified the region of the brain which can be stimulated to create the feeling of NDE, and it's supposed this region of the brain is triggered when the body is in trauma, near death. I'll try to track down the relevant article and post it later. It simply adjust the perspective of the individual. When you dream, for instance, do you see through your eyes, or do you see yourself as a character yourself? It seems to be a combination of the two.
So the answer to your question is, it's a recognized function of the brain.
2007-03-16 14:35:44 · answer #4 · answered by Bad Liberal 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'd guess that it's similar to a dream and actually occurs in the brief time either before brain activity stops or as it starts. Dreams seem to take a long time but actually only last a few seconds at most.
2007-03-16 14:34:15 · answer #5 · answered by Pirate AM™ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not sure "why" you addressed this to ATHEISTS. While it seems, (so far), that most people have some biological explanation, watching ER! & so on, I'm totally unconvinced that this is "always" the case. It isn't difficult to rationalize something not understood. It's also true, I believe, that some people "claim" experiences to get attention, however, I know, as fact, that what you've said does happen. & I have no need to "prove" it here.
2007-03-17 01:38:33 · answer #6 · answered by Valac Gypsy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Goes hand in hand with the Buddhist teachings on the "bardo" or in-between death and rebirth state where the mind starts journeying onward... many books on the subject available at major bookstores like Borders or Buddhist online bookstores like wisdompubs.org, snowlionpub.com and many others. Sogyal Rinpoche has a nice one out called "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying"... much discussion surrounding the bardo in that one...
_()_
2007-03-16 14:32:20 · answer #7 · answered by vinslave 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
"people actually see and hear words and actions that are taking place in the near vicinity".
OMG, it is actually happening to me right now! I can see some people nearby and I can hear what they are talking about. OMG!
Am I dead?!
2007-03-16 14:33:15 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Just because science cannot yet explain it, doesn't mean that it is religious in nature. Why would atheists have a problem with near-death experiences, anyway?
2007-03-16 14:31:59 · answer #9 · answered by Steven D 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hallucinations possibly combined with operational hearing and/or a knowledge of what an operating room looks like from watching ER.
2007-03-16 14:31:33 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 9⤊ 0⤋