Do you believe in near-death experiences?

[Awesome Possum]

^ I can't remember a time when I believed the assertion that humans had an afterlife and (other) animals didn't. It's always seemed self-evidently false, given that there's no aspect of the human psyche that doesn't have a counterpart elsewhere in the animal kingdom.

I was told when I was 5 and my dog died that it didn't get to go to Heaven. I thought that was massively unfair at that age.

Now I know the whole thing is a delusion shared by far too many people.

Still, if there was, I'd rather be with my pets than most people I know.

 

[Amaris]

Yeah. If you "imagine" it, then it is NOT real, is it?

And it's spelled hallucination.

My dad has Alzheimer's. He sometimes thinks I'm his sister or mother. He sometimes thinks he has to go to work, even though he's been retired for 12 years. He sometimes even hears things that no one has said; sometimes these things make him happy, sometimes they upset him. He has delusions and hallucinations, but that doesn't make them real. It's a result of his brain deteriorating.

The prospect of getting Alzheimer's terrifies me. I don't have very much in life, but I do have my wits, and I'd like to keep them.

 

[FlyingLemons]

Do I believe in NDEs?

No.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Yeah. If you "imagine" it, then it is NOT real, is it?

And it's spelled hallucination.

My dad has Alzheimer's. He sometimes thinks I'm his sister or mother. He sometimes thinks he has to go to work, even though he's been retired for 12 years. He sometimes even hears things that no one has said; sometimes these things make him happy, sometimes they upset him. He has delusions and hallucinations, but that doesn't make them real. It's a result of his brain deteriorating.

The prospect of getting Alzheimer's terrifies me. I don't have very much in life, but I do have my wits, and I'd like to keep them.

I had an older cousin who had just die a few weeks ago. If I ever got it and assuming at that point there is no cure, I'd kill myself before it got bad. I'd rather die as myself than something that looks like me. That said, I hope I never get it.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Several years ago I read an account of a Hindu person NDE which differed quite a bit to the average NDE of the average Westerner. I wish more research would be done on cultural difference as it probably goes to disprove NDEs as being a result of an afterlife (unless one is willing to believe in multiple heavens).

Edited to add - details on some Indian NDEs in the link below

http://www.near-death.com/hindu.html

Edited again to add a link to some Thai NDEs

http://www.shaktitechnology.com/bkknde.htm

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

^ I can't remember a time when I believed the assertion that humans had an afterlife and (other) animals didn't. It's always seemed self-evidently false, given that there's no aspect of the human psyche that doesn't have a counterpart elsewhere in the animal kingdom.

Same here. I have always believed that animals have souls even if they do not reason in the same way we do. I know some people here will be very dismissive of this, but I have even had the experience of being reassured in a vision by a deceased pet that I should not blame myself for what had happened (she was old and dying of kidney failure, so my parents had to put her to sleep) and that she was happy where she was.

I have experienced something akin to an NDE myself--though I have no verification of whether it was "simply" a vision or if I stopped breathing in my sleep. The power of the experience itself and the emotional state is like nothing I have ever experienced, awake or asleep, and I do dream quite a lot and retain the memory of many of my dreams, so I am quite aware of what my various "levels of consciousness" are like. That episode was one of a kind.

 

[{ Emilia }]

I have experienced something akin to an NDE myself--though I have no verification of whether it was "simply" a vision or if I stopped breathing in my sleep.

Eh, no offense but I'd call that a "dream". Dreams can feel real so what exactly made you think this specific instance was different?

 

[Sean Aaron]

The prospect of getting Alzheimer's terrifies me. I don't have very much in life, but I do have my wits, and I'd like to keep them.

My Grandmother is suffering from a form of senile dementia which means she is varying degrees of "there" and it's difficult to see when I visit since she's dramatically worse year-to-year. On the one hand I wouldn't want this to happen to me; on the other if it was happening to me I probably wouldn't know.

Contrast with motor-neuron disease where your mind is still intact, but you lose the ability to control your body - this would be a true hell.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I have experienced something akin to an NDE myself--though I have no verification of whether it was "simply" a vision or if I stopped breathing in my sleep.

Eh, no offense but I'd call that a "dream". Dreams can feel real so what exactly made you think this specific instance was different?

The physical shock when I woke up was very different from what I normally experience when waking from a dream--including waking from nightmares, hypnogogic/sleep-paralysis experiences, and lucid dreams, all of which I am well familiar with, and could have--though again, I can't confirm or deny it since I wasn't being monitored at the time--due to temporarily stopping breathing.

Dealing with the actual content of the vision would take up a huge post, not to mention being very personal, but certainly the waking-up was different.

 

[Amaris]

I had an older cousin who had just die a few weeks ago. If I ever got it and assuming at that point there is no cure, I'd kill myself before it got bad. I'd rather die as myself than something that looks like me. That said, I hope I never get it.

The prospect of getting Alzheimer's terrifies me. I don't have very much in life, but I do have my wits, and I'd like to keep them.

My Grandmother is suffering from a form of senile dementia which means she is varying degrees of "there" and it's difficult to see when I visit since she's dramatically worse year-to-year. On the one hand I wouldn't want this to happen to me; on the other if it was happening to me I probably wouldn't know.

Contrast with motor-neuron disease where your mind is still intact, but you lose the ability to control your body - this would be a true hell.

Dear sweet mercy, my condolences to the both of you. Any of that would be a living hell.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Dear sweet mercy, my condolences to the both of you. Any of that would be a living hell.

Although I appreciate it, I don't have to see her all the time like my mother and we weren't very close. She also seems comfortable and happy enough, but we're all hoping for a rapid conclusion.

My father's mother died when I was two of motor neuron disease (AMS as it's called in the States), but I have no memory of her.

 

[ITL]

Is a hullocination when you imagine greeting someone?