[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Near-death experiences are real and we have the proof, say scientists 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.”
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 7.
#4. To: gengis gandhi (#0)
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??
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
#8. To: bush_is_a_moonie. all (#7)
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.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
[Register]
|
||