Near Death Experiences.. a question

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

So we've all read about the people who saw the light, the tunnel, the loved ones.. and absolutely 100% believed that they were experiencing something real. And we've all read the medical explanation for it. I'm just curious if anyone has heard/read or experienced a vivid NDE and come away thinking, "damn the brain is an amazing thing". As opposed to "OMG there is something beyond death!"

 

[thestrangequark]

I did. When I was twelve I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. My blood sugar was so high by the time that I got to the emergency room that I had stopped breathing (one of the things diabetic ketoacidosis does is increase the amount of carbon dioxide in your blood, causing you to hyperventilate to try to expel the excess). My heartbeat was erratic and stopped a few times.

I experienced the bright light, along with the distinct feeling of hovering around the hospital room, a sense of well-being, and an overwhelming smell of freshly baking bread. It was a very real and profound experience for me, especially at that age. Still, I never thought it was supernatural or had anything to do with an afterlife. I thought it was fascinating, and it was one of the things that first got me really interested in brain science.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ Wow, that's fascinating. And, I'm glad that you survived it and thrived!

I won't be able to accept these types of experiences as anything other than normal brain function until there's concrete evidence. Say, someone floats out of their body and reads the words on the top shelf. Apparently, some hospital as done that test but no one has correctly read the words so far.

Mr Awe

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Thanks for that TSQ! I've been wondering if I had such an experience myself if I would see it as the brain or if I would become a convert. I think people who find it a fascinating but not real experience don't end up talking about and writing about it so most stories you hear focus on it being proof of life beyond death.

 

[thestrangequark]

^I think that's true, and though I don't share their views, I can understand how this kind of experience can be such a strong motivator for belief in the supernatural. It felt very real; there was nothing at all dreamlike about it. The scent of baking bread even seemed to linger, and a few times throughout my teen years I dreamed about dying and that smell was always a part of the dream.

It seemed so real that I'd imagine anyone with an even slightly fantasy-prone personality would be unable to attribute it to anything but the supernatural. However, researchers can recreate these exact experiences in individuals both by direct electrical stimulation of the brain and by pharmacological stimulation. The evidence is pretty clear that the experience is the brain doing its (amazing) thing.

 

[Shanndee]

I have a question. Do you think that your young age may have played a role in your perception? I mean, since you were 12, open to all possibilities, and perhaps not yet "afraid" of the possibility of death...is it possible this let you respond with "wow, the brain is a wonderful thing"

I guess I wonder if older individuals become set in a belief system, and then when they realize that life is fleeting they reach for the possibility of an afterlife reunited with loved ones...

Just curious.

 

[thestrangequark]

^I would guess (though I have no idea if this is actually true), that the exact opposite would be the norm. Kids are more prone to belief in fantasy and make believe than adults, and have less-developed critical thinking skills. Usually people don't question the beliefs they were raised with until at least their teenage years. I think for people of faith who have these experiences, the experience confirms their beliefs, whatever their age. I was skeptical from a very young age, on the other hand. Both my parents were believers, but I was already strongly agnostic by the age of 9 and atheist by 14 or so. I just don't seem to have much going on in the god center of my brain (if I even have one). I didn't have any beliefs to confirm, and was disinclined to attribute any experience to magic when there was likely a perfectly good natural explanation. However, if this had happened to me a few years earlier...when I was 7 and still believed in Santa Claus, maybe it would have had a different effect on me. In a humorous tangent (at least to me): I've never really thought about it before, but I'm pretty sure I started doubting the existence of god before I doubted the existence of Santa!

At 12, although I doubt I had the same comprehension of the brief and fleeting nature of life, I was old enough to understand the permanence of death, and I was very afraid of dying, partly because I didn't think an afterlife was very likely.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I've never really thought about it before, but I'm pretty sure I started doubting the existence of god before I doubted the existence of Santa!

God doesn't leave you presents every Christmas. There's more empirical evidence in support of Santa.

When's the last time God took a bite out of a mince pie to prove he's been visiting?

 

[thestrangequark]

^A bite out of the mince pie is all you got? Not only did Santa devour the milk and cookies at our house, he left sooty footprints on the floor in front of the fireplace, and didn't bother to keep his reindeers' jingle bells quiet, nor to muffle their hoofbeats when they landed on our roof in the middle of the night. (Yes, my parents were so awesome that my dad would climb on the roof in the middle of the night in winter to stomp around and jingle bells over our bedroom!)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I have never had a near-death experience. I've had times when I thought I was going to die, but that's a whole different ball o'wax.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I have never had a near-death experience. I've had times when I thought I was going to die, but that's a whole different ball o'wax.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I once had a very powerful dream that (if I were my old self) I would consider not so much a near-death experience as an out-of-body experience where I saw my limp body while slowly pacing around the room, hearing everything including the radio which was switched on at this time. On reflection, I very quickly put it to a combination of sleep paralysis (my first ever attack of that) and severe jet lag following a long-haul flight from the antipodes.

I have since had very similar experiences during moments of sleep paralysis, where I am aware of my breathing stopping. However, I have usually reasoned during these attacks that I was not after all "dying" and that after a minute or so my autonomic system would eventually get its act together and I would eventually snap out of it. Which, fortunately for me, I do.

Sleep paralysis attacks have been far, far less frequent now.

 

[Qutluch]

I was walking along the river in the winter once and I fell in and was sucked under by the current. I was able to grab a root and hang on for a few minutes until my dad pulled me out. We were a couple of miles in the woods, and it was pretty scary. I remember seeing a lot of brightness and "stars" when I was in the river, but I do not remember thinking it was God. I just assumed I was in shock or something...

However, My mom and I were in the car (long before seatbelt laws) and she had a sudden feeling (what she felt was from god) for me to put on my seatbelt and maybe a mile later we were hit by a drunk driver...

 

[Mary Ann]

^I would guess (though I have no idea if this is actually true), that the exact opposite would be the norm. Kids are more prone to belief in fantasy and make believe than adults, and have less-developed critical thinking skills. Usually people don't question the beliefs they were raised with until at least their teenage years. I think for people of faith who have these experiences, the experience confirms their beliefs, whatever their age.

I think this nails it. I was raised in a very strict Roman Catholic household, and if I'd had the same experience as you at that age there's no doubt I would have thought any bright light was the road to heaven (or hell, because, man, did I have a fear of going to hell as a kid. That's no way to raise a kid IMO, but that's for another thread).