I recently wrote and compiled together an indepth article on NDEs/OBEs that referances numerous valid sources backing me up...
(1) Veridical Perception during Near Death Experiences / Out Of Body Experiences during a flat EEG where brain and heart activity have ceased
There are numerous well documented cases of people having near death experiences / out of body experiences during a flat EEG where brain and heart activity have ceased, returning with factual information which they had no prior knowledge of, and numerous cases in which the experiencers returned to life with information unavailable to them at the time of death. These include being able to accurately tell the doctors what they were doing while they were clinically dead, what clothes they wore, and what procedures and instruments they used, including accurate blow by blow accounts of their own resuscitation from a bird's eye point of view, all of which is later verified to be true. Often times they also describe what was happening out in the hallway, who was sitting in the waiting room, and conversations being said at these same locations, all while they were clinically dead elsewhere, all of which is likewise later verified to be true. There are many cases of NDErs being able to accurately perceive objects, people, and situations, and hear conversations said there, far away from their body while clinically dead that are indeed later verified to be true.
There are also accounts of experiencers meeting deceased relatives during an NDE that the person did not yet know was dead, such as a relative or a friend, and finding out that they were in fact deceased after the fact, and learning information from them that they could not have otherwise known. There are many accounts of children NDErs learning about relatives and siblings who had died before their own birth that they never met or were never told about, etc. People who have been blind since birth being able to accurately perceive visual surroundings during their experience. Being informed of knowledge far beyond their personal capacity. Etc.
The most convincing aspect of these, is that many of them were recounted, recorded, and documented IMMEDIATELY after the patient regained consciousness to the doctors, nurses, staff, and family members, not long after the fact.
Interestingly, there have in fact been successful Experiments in actually testing Veridical NDEs...
* Many doctors, nurses, medical staff, paramedics, and family members have been interviewed by NDE Researchers to obtain cross-referanced verifiable information between the stories of the patients concerning their Veridical NDEs and the cross-referanced experiences of the medical staff involved with them.
* Dr. Michael Sabom did a study on over 57 cardiac patients who had clinically died and were brought back, 32 of whom had experienced Veridical OBEs and had described in great detail their own resusitations during cardiac arrest, and 25 of whom had not experienced an OBE during their cardiac arrest. He had two groups, the experiencers who saw in their OBEs and the non-experiencers who did not, describe their resusitations. To his suprise, 80% of the non-experiencers misdescribed the procedures. On the other hand, all of the experiencers did not make a single mistake.
* Dr. Kenneth Ring did a study on Veridical NDEs of 31 persons who were born blind and found that they could veridically "see" events while their OBE unfolded the same way sighted people's do. His book is called "Mind Sight".
I highly recommend watching the BBC Documentary on NDEs titled "The Day I Died"...
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...90757&q=nde - The Day I Died (BBC Video Documentary on NDEs)
"In the fall of 2003, The Learning Channel aired a non-copyright brand new British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) production about NDEs ... entitled The Day I Died. IANDS Board members were immediately and powerfully impressed with the quality of the 45-minute program. It showed two in-depth case studies of NDErs—one in the U.K., the other in the U.S.; depicted the two most recent prospective NDE research studies—one in the U.K., the other in the Netherlands; interviewed the most outstanding NDE researchers worldwide; presented both skeptical and "believer" perspectives; and reenacted the most compelling case of veridical (verifiably accurate) perception in an NDE during radical surgery for a brain aneurysm. The production was completely up-to-date and covered virtually everything an inquiring mind needed for an informed and balanced introduction to the phenomenon of NDEs. In short, most, if not all, Board members considered it the best NDE production made to date—very close to 'the ultimate NDE video'."
What do the Skeptics on the otherhand have to say about NDEs? Let's be fair now.
Skeptic Argument # 1: Dying Brain Theory When dealing with Near Death Experiences, most Skeptics will focus on the flawed "Dying Brain Theory" (which was dreamed up by a psychologist with no medical degrees and no medical credibility named Susan Blackmore) in order to explain the phenomenon, which states that upon clinical death the brain is slowly straved of oxygen and creates a vivid hallucination that is later remembered as an NDE. This theory in truth falls very short of the cold hard medical facts of what happens to the brain after cardiac arrest occurs and when clinical death sets in, and is likewise destroyed by the well documented Veridical Aspects of the NDE Phenomenon itself that the Skeptics never adaquetely deal with.
The same Skeptics who advocate the "Dying Brain Theory" will ignore conflicting facts and data of a Medical and Veridical NDE Nature that do not fit into their hasty skeptical conclusions. It should come as no suprise that most high profile Skeptics of NDEs are stage magicians or psychologists with no medical degrees and no medical credibility, whereas the leading figures in the Pro-NDE Field *ARE* highly credible Medicial Doctors who have worked in their medical fields for years. Most of whom have likewise worked first-hand with dying patients for years, another thing the Skeptics have not.
In total refution of the "Dying Brain Theory" the cold hard medical facts are that when a person's heart stops they lose total consciousness within seconds. The loss of consciousness is complete and there are no memories of the event. EEG and brain stem monitors show no brain activity while in this state. There is no gag reflex, no pupil response, no brain activity whatsoever. They are dead. The brain cannot produce images in this state, and even if it could, you couldn't remember them.
Multiple medical doctors including Peter Fenwick a respected neuropsychiatrist, Pim Van Lommel a cardiologist, Sam Parnia, Bruce Greyson, Ian Stevenson, Melvin Morse, Michael Sabom, and numerous others, will tell you the same thing.
"Simultaneous recording of heart rate and brain output show that within 11 seconds of the heart stopping, the brainwaves go flat. Now, if you read the literature on this, some skeptical people claim that in this state there is still brain activity, but, in fact, the data are against this in both animals and humans. The brain is not functioning, and you are not going to get your electrical activity back again until the heart restarts." (Dr. Peter Fenwick)
"In the NDE, you are unconscious. One of the things we know about brain function in unconsciousness, is that you cannot create images and if you do, you cannot remember them ... The brain isn't functioning. It's not there. It's destroyed. It's abnormal. But, yet, it can produce these very clear experiences [NDEs] ... an unconscious state is when the brain ceases to function. For example, if you faint, you fall to the floor, you don't know what's happening and the brain isn't working. The memory systems are particularly sensitive to unconsciousness. So, you won't remember anything. But, yet, after one of these experiences [NDEs], you come out with clear, lucid memories ... This is a real puzzle for science. I have not yet seen any good scientific explanation which can explain that fact." (Dr. Peter Fenwick)
Dr. Parnia: "During cardiac arrest brainstem activity is rapidly lost. It should not be able to sustain such lucid processes or allow the formation of lasting memories."
Pim Van Lommel's well-known research study published in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, also notes that cerebral activity flatlines within 4 to 20 seconds of cardiac arrest.
As cardiologist Dr. Pim Van Lommel remarked in his well known research article in The Lancet medical journal...
"How could a clear consciousness outside one's body be experienced at the moment that the brain no longer functions during a period of clinical death with flat EEG? . . . Furthermore, blind people have described veridical perception during out-of-body experiences at the time of this experience. NDE pushes at the limits of medical ideas about the range of human consciousness and the mind-brain relation. There is a theory that consciousness can be experienced independently from the normal body-linked waking consciousness. The current concept in medical science, however, states that consciousness is the product of the brain. Could the brain be a kind of receiver for consciousness and memories, functioning like a TV, radio or a mobile telephone? What you receive is not generated by the receiver, but rather electromagnetic informational waves (photons) that are always around you and are made visible or audible to you by the brain and your sense organs. In our prospective study of patients that were clinically dead (flat EEG, showing no electrical activity in the cortex, and loss of brain stem function evidenced by fixed dilated pupils and absence of the gag reflex), the patients report a clear consciousness, in which cognitive functioning, emotion, sense of identity, or memory from early childhood occurred, as well as perceptions from a position out and above their "dead" body."
Van Lommel, Van Wees, Meyers, Elfferich (2001). Near-Death Experience in Survivors of Cardiac Arrest: A Prospective Study in the Netherlands. Lancet.
http://profezie3m.altervista.org/archivio/TheLancet_NDE.htm
"About the Continuity of Our Consciousness" by Pim von Lommel
http://iands.org/research/vanLommel/vanLommel.php
The Dutch Study -
http://www.mikepettigrew.com/afterlife/html/dutch_study.html
http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/whoswho/vanLommel.htm - A great response by Pim Van Lommel against a Leading Skeptic regarding his research study.
The Dying Brain Theory also doesn't explain why only 18% of those who are brought back from clinical death experience an NDE, while the remaining 82% do not.
"Our most striking finding was that Near-Death Experiences do not have a physical or medical root. After all, 100 per cent of the patients suffered a shortage of oxygen, 100 per cent were given morphine-like medications, 100 per cent were victims of severe stress, so those are plainly not the reasons why 18 per cent had Near-Death Experiences and 82 per cent didn't. If they had been triggered by any one of those things, everyone would have had Near-Death Experiences." (Van Lommel 1995)
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/articles001.html - A Critique of Susan Blackmore's Dying Brain Hypothesis by Greg Stone (A complete and total rebuttal of the "Dying Brain Theory"
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Skeptic Argument # 2: Ketamine The Skeptic Sources refering to the Drug Ketamine causing NDEs are referancing an old paper by Ketamine Researcher Dr. Karl Jansen, who has since totally changed his stance on Ketamine actually causing the experiences, and is now a believer in the metaphysical component of NDEs (primarily due to the Veridical Perception that occurs during NDEs/OBEs, and the coherent structure and higher knowledge beyond the individual's capacity being imparted during NDEs), and that Ketamine and other triggers of NDEs/OBEs simply in his current hypothesis act as a "door to a space" rather than actually producing that space. He states that his findings now are more in line with other researchers in his field such as John Lilly and Stanislav Grof.
Quote:
"Dr. Jansen has the following to say about the journal article that follows:
'I am no longer as opposed to spritual explanations of these phenomena as this article would appear to suggest. Over the past two years (it is quite some time since I wrote it) I have moved more towards the views put forward by John Lilly and Stan Grof. Namely, that drugs and psychological disciplines such as meditation and yoga may render certain 'states' more accessible. The complication then becomes in defining just what we mean by 'states' and where they are located, if indeed location is an appropriate term at all. But the apparent emphasis on matter over mind contained within this particular article no longer accurately represents my attitudes. My forthcoming book 'Ketamine' will consider mystical issues from quite a different perspective, and will give a much stronger voice to those who see drugs as just another door to a space, and not as actually producing that space'."
Dr. Karl Jansen, Journal of Near Death Studies
Skeptic Argument # 3 The Navy Airmen Stress Tests These are studies where they used Navy Airmen in G-Force stress tests that caused the blood in the heads of the individuals to drain, inducing a state of simulated clinical death, in which NDEs were reported. These do not conflict with the NDE Phenomenon, as the persons were essentially put into a state of simulated clinical death when the blood drained from their heads, and they had an NDE. Again, like Pim Van Lommel's findings, it only occured in 18% of individuals who underwent and came back from this state of simulated clinical death.
Most importantly though are the Veridical Aspects of NDEs that Skeptics do not adaquetely deal with.
As a favorite Blogger of mine, Suspense Author Michael Prescott, points out in one of his Blog Posts about the Skeptics of NDEs and Veridical Perception during NDEs...
"Anyone who has seriously studied NDEs knows that the hypothesis of "hallucinations" does not begin to cover all the known (and well-documented) facts. Many NDEs involve out-of-body experiences in which the person observes what is going on in the operating room or hospital while he is clinically dead. These people report the details of the procedures that were followed and any mishaps that occurred - details that can be checked and confirmed by reviewing the record and interviewing the doctors, nurses, and paramedics. The most famous case of this type is the well-known "Pam Reynolds" case, but there are many others. Any serious book on NDEs - such as those by Kenneth Ring, Michael Sabom, and Melvin Morse - will include numerous examples.
To dismiss NDEs as hallucinations is simply to admit that one has not studied the subject in any depth. This is, unfortunately, typical of many skeptics, who begin with the assumption that paranormal experiences are impossible and then latch on to any plausible-sounding explanation, without doing the necessary homework.
Again, this explanation does not address the veridical perceptions reported by near-death experiencers while they were clinically dead - the fact that they can perceive what is going on around them, even when they are unconscious, with no measurable heart or brain activity. There is no doubt that certain 'aspects' of NDEs can be reproduced in the laboratory by various means, but the total experience has never been reproduced on demand." - (Michael Prescott)
(2) OBE Specific Research
* The Monroe Institute's OBE Experiments, Charles Tart's OBE Experiments of having an experienced OBEr accurately read a five-digit number from an unreachable/unseeable location, Robert Morris' OBE Experiments with Keith Harry who reported accurately on sitters, letters, and positions, in a sealed labrotory 20 yards away, several OBE Experiments where they used Infra-Red Lights to detect any subtle movement in an OBE projected area, the US Government's 20 year long OBE Program "Remote Viewing" which had amazing positive veridical results with OBErs.
Indepth Research Results of the US Government's 20 Year Veridical OBE Program "Remote Viewing", official CIA released documents ...
http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/Pages/CIA-InitiatedRV.html
Further Sources:
"Autoscopic Evidence: Dr. Charles Tart's Out-of-Body Experience Research"
http://www.near-death.com/tart.html
"Psychophysiological Study of Out-of-the-Body Experiences in a Selected Subject"
http://web.archive.org/web/20060215224439/...cles2.cfm?ID=31
Further Links:
http://www.near-death.com/evidence.html - 53 Items of Evidence for Survival Of Consciousness
The "Dying Brain Theory" of Skeptics has Severe Problems
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/articles001.html
"People See Verified Events While Out-Of-Body"
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence02.html
"People Born Blind Can See During a NDE", Dr. Kenneth Ring's NDE Research of the Blind.
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence03.html
Pam Reynold's NDE: (The Strongest Case of Veridical Evidence)
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence01.html
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...90757&q=nde - The Day I Died (BBC Video Documentary on NDEs)
http://www.geocities.com/wwu777us/Debunkin...l_Arguments.htm - Debunking Pseudo-Skeptical Arguments of Paranormal Debunkers
End Note:
It's clearly not an open-shut case like close-minded pseudo-skeptics always claim it is without doing their necessary homework.
