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Title: Near-death experiences are real and we have the proof, say scientists
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URL Source: http://www.newsmonster.co.uk/parano ... -the-proof-say-scientists.html
Published: Nov 17, 2008
Author: Written by Danny Penman
Post Date: 2008-11-17 17:53:29 by gengis gandhi
Keywords: None
Views: 197
Comments: 11
Near-death experiences are real and we have the proof, say scientists Written by Danny Penman Jeanette Atkinson is surprisingly relaxed about the time she died and went to the edge of heaven. “I do not want to die again in the near future because I still have too much to do,” she says. “But I have no fear of death. “People see the pain and suffering of dying and equate that with death - but they’re not the same. Death is the progression of life.” Jeanette, a 43-year-old student nurse from Eastbourne, had a near-death experience in 1979 when she was just 18-years-old. It was triggered when a blood clot in her leg broke up into seven pieces and clogged the main vessels in her lungs, starving her body of oxygen. The doctors were certain that she would die. She did – but then returned to tell the tale. “The first thing I noticed was that the world changed,” says Jeanette. “The light became softer but clearer. Suddenly there was no pain. All I could see was my body from the chest downwards and I noticed that the time was 9:00pm. “In an instant I found myself looking at the ceiling. It was only a few inches away. I remember thinking it was about time they cleaned the dust from the striplights! “I then went on a little journey around the ward and along the corridor to see what the nurses were up to. One was writing on a notepad. It never occurred to me that I was dying. It was a lovely experience and very, very serene.” Jeanette then began the journey that many others before her have reported – being drawn into a long dark tunnel suffused with light. “Everything went fuzzy,” she says. “I found myself being drawn into a tunnel shaped like a corkscrew. “All I wanted to do was reach the beautiful lights at the bottom. The longing was so powerful but so gentle. I knew I desperately wanted to be there. But then a voice bellowed at me: ‘Come on you silly old cow it’s not your time yet!’ “I then shot back into my body – it’s all a little unclear – all I can say is that I remember seeing the clock again and it was 9:20pm. The next thing I was aware of was waking up a few days later, surrounded by equipment and feeling terrible. Later on I realised that the voice I’d heard was my grandmother’s. She’d died when I was three years old.” For decades near-death experiences like Jeanette’s have been written off as delusions by scientists. They are dismissed as no more than the last twitches of a dying brain. Modern science has no place for mysticism and the paranormal. But now a group of British researchers are challenging the scientific establishment by launching a major study into near-death experiences. They hope to settle once and for all the question of whether there truly is life after death. “We now have the technology and scientific knowledge to begin exploring the ultimate question,” says Dr Sam Parnia, leader of the research team at London’s Hammersmith Hospital. “To be honest, I started off as a sceptic but having weighed up all the evidence I now think that there is something going on. “It’s not possible to talk in terms of ‘life after death’. In scientific terms we can only say that there is now evidence that consciousness may carry on after clinical death. Our work will prove one way or the other whether a form of consciousness carries on after the body and brain has died.” Several scientific studies have suggested that the mind – or ‘soul’ - lives on after the body has died and the brain ceased to function. One study published in the prestigious Lancet medical journal found that one in ten cardiac arrest survivors experienced emotions, visions or lucid thoughts while they were clinically dead. In medical terms they were “flatliners” or unconscious with no signs of brain activity, pulse or breathing. About one in four people who have a near-death experience also have a much more profound – and sometimes disturbing – experience such as watching doctors try and resuscitate their bodies. These ‘out-of-body experiences’ often include seeing a bright light, traveling down a tunnel, seeing their dead body from above, and meeting deceased relatives. Research in America has uncovered even more bizarre results. Blind people who underwent near-death experiences were able to see whilst they were ‘dead’ – even those who had been blind from birth. They did not experience perfect vision, often it was out of focus or hazy, as if they were seeing the world for the first time through a thin mist. But the vision was sufficiently clear for them to watch doctors trying to resuscitate their clinically dead bodies. Dr Parnia has previously studied near-death experiences. Two years ago his work was published in the prestigious medical journal Resuscitation. Dr Parnia’s team rigorously interviewed 63 cardiac arrest patients and discovered that seven had memories of their brief period of ‘death’, although only four passed the Grayson scale, the strict medical criteria for assessing near-death experiences. These four recounted feelings of peace and joy, they lost awareness of their own bodies, time speeded up, they saw a bright light and entered another world, encountered a mystical being and faced a “point of no return”. According to modern medicine all of these patients were effectively dead. Their brains had shut down and no thoughts or feelings were possible. There was certainly no possibility of the complex brain activity required for dreaming or hallucinating. Dr Parnia’s initial trial was especially rigorous - he wanted to confound his critics before they could muster their arguments. To rule out the possibility that near-death experiences resulted from hallucinations after the brain had collapsed through lack of oxygen, he rigorously monitored the concentrations of the vital gas in the patients’ blood. Crucially, none of those who underwent the experiences had low levels of oxygen. He was also able to rule out claims that unusual combinations of drugs were to blame because the resuscitation procedure was the same in every case, regardless of whether they had a near-death experience or not. “Arch sceptics will always attack our work,” says Dr Parnia. “I’m content with that. That’s how science progresses. What is clear is that something profound is happening. The mind – the thing that is ‘you’ – your ‘soul’ if you will - carries on after conventional science says it should have drifted into nothingness.” Dr Parnia says that every near-death experience is subtly different but that they all share eight or nine key features, whatever the nationality, culture or religion of the patient. These include intense feelings of calmness, traveling down a long dark tunnel, being drawn into an intense loving light, seeing your dead body from above, and meeting long-deceased relatives or friends. A few experience a brief form of ‘hell’ where they are drawn, petrified, into a dark swirling well of bitterness, hatred and fear. There are cultural differences in these experiences. Tribal people may report paddling in a canoe down a long dark river for three days towards the sun, for example, rather than floating down a tunnel towards the light. The experience, whatever the cultural differences, usually have a deep and long lasting effect. It often leaves behind a legacy of profound spirituality and removes the fear of death. “The worst thing is coming back from the dead,” says Patrick Tierney, who had a near-death experience following a cardiac arrest in 1991. “If dying is anything like the experience I had then it’s not a problem. Patrick was rushed to hospital in July 1991 following a heart attack. He survived the initial attack and within hours was chatting with his family at the bedside. “I was talking to my wife and eldest boy when I felt a little pinch in my chest,” says Patrick. “The next thing I knew I was travelling down a corridor in a medieval looking house. I was astounded. It was very real and lucid. I thought to myself ‘what the hell’s going on?’. “I came to a fork in the corridor and I knew that I had to make a decision. One branch was a dark and sinister looking hole. The other was brightly lit and appeared friendly in some way, so I floated down that one.” Patrick then found himself in a form of ‘heaven’. He was in front of a beautifully lit landscape bordered with a waist-high white picket fence. He was instantly calmed and soothed by a beautiful translucent light. He then became aware of his parents, who were behind the white fence, smiling broadly at him. Strangely, they were in their thirties despite the fact that they had both died in their seventies. “I moved towards a gate in the fence but my father gave me a look that I knew meant ‘don’t come through the gate’, so I didn’t. No words passed between us. I then found myself moving backwards through the corridor but this time it was very disturbing. “Greeny-grey gargoyle-like figures were staring at me from the roof,” says Patrick. “One, with a face like an evil goat, began to move towards me. All of the warmth and cosiness left and I was terrified. A moment later I saw the face of an angel - it was a nurse from the hospital. It turned out I’d had a cardiac arrest.” Cardiac arrest survivors like Patrick are tailor-made for Dr Parnia’s study. Scientists know that within seconds of the heart stopping the brain has shut down completely. The patient is effectively dead and there is no chance of dreams or hallucinations mimicking a near-death experience. As soon as a patient slips into a cardiac arrest, Dr Parnia’s team will swing into action. The first priority will be to get the patient’s heart beating again. Equipment used during the resuscitation will have symbols placed on top of it in such a way that they can only be seen from above. Other symbols will be placed around the patient’s body. Surviving patients will then be gently quizzed about their experiences when they regain consciousness. Those that claim to have left their bodies will be questioned in more detail to see if they can identify the symbols. Dr Parnia has designed the experiments to be bullet-proof. He is only too keenly aware that critics will tear his work apart if he leaves even the slightest doubt about the rigour of his team’s efforts. It will also destroy his career as a scientist. Even the exact experimental details are shrouded in secrecy. “We can’t run the risk of prejudicing the experiment,” says Dr Parnia. “I won’t even know some of the details. We have a researcher who will be hiding the symbols on the equipment. Somebody else will be doing the interviews with the patients. It’s what’s known as a double-blind trial. It prevents scientists from unconsciously altering the results of their experiments.” Other scientists acknowledge Dr Parnia’s formidable reputation and the care he takes over his experiments but are still sceptical about his aims. Dr Susan Blackmore, who has herself had a near-death experience but since written it off as a delusion, says such experiences “probably result from random firings in the brain.” “I think that people have near-death experiences not when they are flatlining but when they are drifting into or out of consciousness,” she says. “Having said that, I’m curious to know the results. If they are positive then they could change the world.” Because of the implications of his work – and the potential for ridicule from his fellow scientists - Dr Parnia is being very cautious in the claims he is making for the study. He is not trying to prove that we all die and go to heaven. He is instead trying to find out whether the mind continues to function after the brain has effectively died, or at least ceased to function. If the mind does continue after the brain has died then this will prove, by default, that the ‘soul’ is independent of the body. Dr Parnia will have proved that the mind – in essence, the soul – continues to live after the body has died. “It comes back to the question of whether the mind or consciousness is produced by the brain,” says Dr Parnia. “If we can prove that the mind is produced by the brain then I don't think that there is anything after we die. If the brain dies then we die. It’s final and irreversible.” “If, on the contrary, the brain is like an intermediary which manifests the mind, like a television will act as an intermediary to manifest radio waves into a picture or a sound, then we should be able to show that the mind is still there after the brain is clinically dead. That will be a significant discovery.” But all of the theories and questions posed by scientists are academic to those who have had a near-death experience. They know the answers. “There is no doubt in my mind that there’s life after death because I’ve seen the other side,” says Jeanette. “I don’t believe in a benevolent God. I’ve seen too much suffering for that but I’m very spiritual. “I saw my daughter suffer for four years with cancer. She died when she was only 17. I know she has gone to a better place.”
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#1. To: gengis gandhi (#0)
My father told me when he had his quintuple bypass Eric Cartman tried to take his heart and replace it with a baked potato.
Turtle's secret Indian name is Two Stuck Dogs.
My little sister had a very similar experience.
Where's your birth certificate Barack ?
Eric Cartman is an evil little bastard. That being said...if anyone is interested in listening to Dannion Brinkley tomorrow night on Healing With The Masters (7pm EST, 4pm Pacific), click on the link below to get connected. http://instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=4207548
21 minutes here. Also, the entire front half of my brain was destroyed in the accident. I have no activity/functionality in either side - temporal, parietal or frontal lobes. I have severe brain malaysia and scarring. Just last week another neurologist examined my CT, MRI, MRA and EEG results and asked if he could do further testing because there has to be something wrong with the results of my tests. As the others have said it is not possible for those to be accurate results. I just smiled and said sure, just let me know when you want to set up the tests.
If you don't mind me asking: compare yourself to John Graziano, the young Marine who was rendered a vegetable by Nick Hogan in a car crash. How close did you come to being where he is??
check www.hemi-sync.com for technology that activates full hemispheres of the brain and other dormant regions, retrains, activates, etc. very cool. also, www.monroeinstitute.org
if a people will not prosecute officials who subvert and violate the constitution, then the constitution has no authority over officials. Gengis Gandhi, Troubled Genius
I have only read a few articles about Graziano and I am not aware of his current condition. All I can say is I went down on my Harley at about 15 MPH. I was making a left turn and had just started to accelerate when some vehicle (they didn't stop) came through the cross street red light and swerved into my lane. All I remember his hitting the throttle trying to away from him and hitting some gravel on the freeway overpass. That was April 2, 2002. From that point on I knew nothing. My wife told me that I was in coma for about a month and when I came out of the coma I was like a newborn child. I knew nothing, recognized nothing and she said after numerous tests and exams by doctors from several facilities in Denver, Dallas and Bakersfield she was told I would never be anything but a "vegetable". The first week of July, 2002 she was informed that CIGNA insurance decided that there was no hope and they were no longer going to pay for hospital care or any possible rehab and that I would be moved to the state hospital. Not only was the entire front half of my brain destroyed I also developed massive blood clots in my legs and my lungs and some sort of severe staff infection infected the back part of my brain. During that first week of July she said the doctors were talking about taking one and perhaps both of my legs because the clots were so severe. They told her than they were going to wait because surgery at that time ran a high risk of causing my death because I was so unstable. On July 6th, I "passed away" and for 21 minutes there was nothing and didn't even try to keep me on life support. My wife tells me that after they had given up that my heart and lungs started on their own and that it was about 3 hours later after I had been moved back to IC that I opened my eyes and asked "where the hell are we?" She came over and started crying and began asking me who she was. I told her she was my wife. She then asked me if I knew her name and I said "Penny". I can somewhat remember doing this and that I had tubes all over and was being "intibated " and had no idea where I was. All I remember for what turned out to be the rest of the day is numerous doctors coming in and asking me questions and examining me and the sleeping. I guess it was the following day when I opened my eyes again after resting and told my wife what I had experienced, saw and heard. At that time she didn't tell me what had happened. I didn't learn about that for almost a week. After a few days of rest doctors, therapists etc came in and started asking me strange questions and giving me what I thought was weird tests. Things like saying 8 numbers and then asking me to repeat them. Somehow I did far better than expected. I did learn that after about a week that my wife was told I would never walk again, talk in complete sentences again and would never be able to work at any type of job. Let's just say they were wrong. On July 15th I asked to be wheeled over to the parallel bars in the therapy room and to be unstrapped from the wheelchair. At first they didn't want to and tried to discourage me but I insisted. When they did this, I grabbed on to the bars, pulled myself up and held on while I slowly walked from one end to the other, turned and walked back. This shocked the therapists and next thing I know, two doctors are there asking me to do it again. On July 17th they had a big party where many of the doctors, nurses and others in the hospital came to see me, tell me they were going to let me go home and several of them told me I was a true miracle. With help from my wife after the party I walked out to our car and she drove us home. I was scheduled to undergo therapy for 3-6 months everyday at a place called Rehab without Walls. After 1 week there I was told I shouldn't be there, that there really wasn't anything they could do for me because I appeared to be completely normal (whatever that is). I tried to get doctors to release me to go back to work and they wouldn't do it. I finally found one doctor who even though he said my records indicated I shouldn't even be talking with him found no reason that I could not return to work. August 19th, 2002, I went back to my job as an Oracle DBA. Over the next month the doctors at the neurological center had my driver's license suspended twice trying to keep me from returning to work. They insisted that I continue therapy. I just took the driving and written tests each time and got my license back. Do I remember having an out of body? Yes. I remember standing/floating and a bright light and my grandmother who had passed away in 1977 being next to me saying "not yet, it is too soon, Penny needs you, it is too soon". I was in no pain and very comfortable. Next thing that happened I heard what I know now was HIM speaking to me... "GO BACK, YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE YET, I HAVE THINGS FOR YOU TO DO, GO BACK". The next thing I knew I was opening my eyes and asking my wife "where the hell are we". Since then the Lord has repeatedly confirmed to myself and my entire family that HE did speak to me and that he in fact does have things for me to do. I have had numerous pastors and others suggest that I should document all that has happened and perhaps have a book published. All I can say is that I am greatful that the Lord blessed me in such a way that when asked "do you believe" I answer "no, I don't believe - I know!" I have to get ready for work. There is much, much more and perhaps if you are interested I can post a few more things. Again there are a few negatives resulting from the accidnet. I have no sense of smell and have no, zero, zilch supressors which is why I can lose my temper or become sad in less than a second. Off to work. God Bless. Dale
Amazing story, Dale, and totally consistent with everything that I've read about NearDeathExperiences. My Descent into Death (A Second Chance at Life) by Howard Storm is the most fascinating NDE account that I've ever read, in that his soul was attacked by creatures from the dark side. But a voice came to him, "Pray to God." He thought, "Why? What a stupid idea. That doesn't work. What a cop-out..." Then the voice said it again, "Pray to God." It was much more definite the second time. As an avowed atheist, Storm couldn't really remember much about praying so he managed a jumble of 'churchly' sayings, "Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. For purple mountain majesty, mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. Deliver us from evil. One nation under God. God Bless America." It was enough to back them off, and let his soul go on to the beautiful place that you went, and where he also was told that he couldn't stay, since there was more for him to do back on earth.
very cool. sounds like when you died you had a non physical tune up that resulted in your miracle.
if a people will not prosecute officials who subvert and violate the constitution, then the constitution has no authority over officials. Gengis Gandhi, Troubled Genius
Well, I've never said I don't believe or I don't accept and my wife always pops me when I tell others that if anybody should have been put in the elevator, had the basement button pushed and told to have a nice summer, it was me. As I mentioned previously my blessing had been constantly reaffirmed by the Lord. The first one which was quite let's say a shock came about when after I was out of Barrows neurological center for about two weeks my wife wanted to take me back and introduce all the nurses and doctors since I only got to know a very few of them. We went one evening and as soon as we walked in one of the nurses came up and asked my wife to come and talk with a lady standing against the wall. We learned that her 23 year old son, Brent, had been in his 3rd motorcycle accident and he had to have major surgery on the on the side of his brain. The doctors told his mother like they told my wife that he would never recover because the injury was so severe and because the extent of the surgery. They said he would require constant care the rest of his life and that he would be paralyzed on his right side. My wife went over and began talking with her and pointed at me and then called me over and explained to her that the doctors said the same thing about me but that our faith in the Lord proved the doctors wrong and that several had said that I was without a doubt a true miracle. She looked up and then asked us if we would go into his room and "talk at him". She said since the accident and the surgery performed the previous week that he wasn't aware of anything and only responded to some types of pain. Of course my wife said we would go and we were in there for roughly two hours. He was in one of the fishnet beds. I yelled at him and would touch his arm but he never really responded. My wife did the same and still nothing. A couple of the nurses were in there and they were the ones who were assigned t0 help take care of him. About the last 15 minutes we were there they had taken him out of the bed and strapped him into a wheelchair (which somewhat unnerved me - deja vu I guess) and began massaging his legs and flexing them. I was told it was to help reduce the chance of blood clots. As my wife and I got up to leave we turned to say goodbye to his mother and then we heard "Shake, not know, phone number, call, be friend, shake" and he had stuck his left hand out very weakly about a foot off his legs. Evidently this was the first thing he had said since the accident except for occasional moaning and such. I looked at my wife and his mom and turned back to him and went to grab his left hand. Just before I touched his hand I had what the doctors call some kinda of "synapsis misfire" - something caused by the extensive brain damage I have. Next thing I knew I was holding on to the side of the bed and my wife was holding my arm and I was feeling very sick. I had no idea what happened and I was frightened because it was the first time I had anything like that. I looked at my wife and told her we needed to leave before I "puked" and she held my arm as we began to walk out. One of the nurses asked if I need a wheelchair and just as I started to answer her we heard "But shake, be friend, call" and I turned around and he had put his left hand back out. I was sick feeling and wasn't sure what to do and looked at his mom and she kinda shook her head yes with a pleading type look so I turned and grabbed his hand. Just as I touched his hand I had another "synapsis misfire" and went into a foggy state I guess is the best way to explain it. Just as that happened something pushed my face toward his as I bent over and then I was shocked by what I said as was everybody else in the room. I put my nose maybe an inch from his and said "No, if you have faith in the Lord, he will help you to use your right hand. I will not shake your left hand because the Lord has told me to tell you to use your right hand". Needless to say I jerked back trying to figure out why I would do something so dumb and looked at my wife for some kind of answer or help. She grabbed me and we started to turn away toward then door when his mother and one of the nurses said something very loud. We turned to look at them and noticed that Brent had stuck out his right hand. Not very strong, really just limp but he had lifted his arm and sort of stuck it out. I was spaced out and just reached over, grabbed his hand and then turned to leave and virtually ran to the door. His mother caught my wife as she came after me and asked if we would come back and see him now and then. My wife told her yes we would do that. I didn't hear the conversation because I was already going out the rehab door. My wife drove us home (I was too sick and shaken) and she told me what she had promised Brent's mom. I didn't really care right then because I thought for sure I was hallucinating or something else had gone wrong. Needless to say over the next 3 weeks we went back to see him almost every day and as time went by he somewhat began talking (not in complete sentences) and began to recognize us when we came into his room. At the end of the 3rd week we tried to explain to him that we were going to be gone for two weeks on vacation to visit relatives in Nevada. I wasn't really sure if he understood what we told him but as we turned to walk out he said very loud "Please don't forget about me". We went back and hugged him and talked with him and told him we wouldn't forget about him ever. We came back after 9 days (a couple of days early) because all we could talk about what Brent and wanted to go back to the hospital to see him and his family. We didn't even stop at the house to unload our luggage and stuff but instead went straight to Barrows. We got out of the car and walked in the back gate into the yard area where we saw his mother talking to one of the nurses and Brent was sitting up strapped in a wheelchair. As I walked up to him he looked up at me and said in a very firm and loud voice "Hey Dale, how's it going?" Needless to say the wife and I were shocked. He then stuck out his right and to shake and when I grabbed it he had a firm, normal grip. Just then his mother saw us and came over and began hugging us and saying how she knew we had helped him and that they were going to let him go home the next day, right side 95% normal and completely that he was as we could see completely coherent. I just looked at her, smiled and said I don't have that kind of power, it is the Lord and I pointed upward and she yes, she knew, she knew. We spent the afternoon with him and his mother and over the next 8 weeks visited him on a regular basis at his mother's house. The doctors and nurses at Barrows said it was another miracle and that there was no way he should have recovered like he did. I just smiled at them and said, "well, I guess he had the same doctor I had - you know who I am talking about". This was just one 6 similar type things we have been blessed to witness, two of them with family members. Needless to say, I don't say "I believe - I tell others I know!". And like I said before, there have been negatives because of my injuries. I have no sense of smell, food will taste different each day and many days I will not be able to taste anything. Also, because I no longer have what the doctors call "suppresors" it is very easy and quick for me to either lose my temper and become angry or become extremely sad but fortunately, it usually only lasts a few minutes. If anybody has any doubt all I can say is I would reconsider. In fact two close friends who we ride with were agnostic and now both of them atend services with us. DB
What an inspiring story.. Thanks for posting it.
~ Your failure to be informed, does not make me a wacko.
#2. To: gengis gandhi (#0)
#3. To: gengis gandhi (#0)
#4. To: gengis gandhi (#0)
#5. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#4)
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#6. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#4)
#7. To: X-15 (#5)
#8. To: bush_is_a_moonie. all (#7)
All I can say is that I am grateful that the Lord blessed me in such a way that when asked "do you believe" I answer "no, I don't believe - I know!"
#9. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#7)
#10. To: lodwick (#8)
#11. To: bush_is_a_moonie (#10)
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