I remember reading Raymond Moody’s book “Life After Life” as a kid. Since then I've read about other people who claim to have had near death experiences. Amazing tales abound of people, who having "died" (or nearly died) on the operating table or in accidents, are resuscitated and able to relate amazing accounts of how, generally speaking they walked down a sort of tunnel of bright light, many experiencing great peace, some having a life-review, and sometimes being told that their time was not up, and that they should go back, or words to that effect.
Sometimes this message is given to them by loved ones gone before or by beings clothed in light, all of which fuels, or confirms, a belief in life hereafter. Allegedly about 3% of Americans claim to have had such an experience. This is not too dissimilar to the percentage who believes they have been abducted by aliens. I must say I find it all a bit hard to believe.
What "being dead" actually means isn't that simple either. It is when the heart stops, or the brain becomes incapable of further thought or activity, or when cell decay commences and all electrical and chemical activity ceases?. It doesn't all happen at once and parts of us may be “dead” whilst others are still alive. Some NDEs have even been reported when the individual was not anywhere near death (for example, when fainting) which points to a physical and not supernatural experience.
The broad similarity of the experiences recounted suggests that, when the brain is in the process of shutting down, perhaps under highly traumatised circumstances, certain reactions occur. Under such conditions the ability to filter and make sense of information may become compromised, or stop working altogether. Imagine if certain parts of the brain continue to try to function whilst others stop. Mix in with that potential surges in adrenalin and other chemicals at such a traumatic time and, perhaps unavoidably, the experiences and memories are going to be very much out of the ordinary.
Many people also have very fixed beliefs in the afterlife and its format. Should we be surprised then that sometimes these beliefs surface at times like this, perhaps when the brain (the individual) most expects them to become manifest? Is it surprising that those who expect to meet up with the loved ones, in fact experience meeting up with them? Likewise, those perhaps expecting to be met by angels, then experience these “beings of light”.
Our memories may also play a part here too. There is the well-known saying “my life flashed before me”, normally uttered as a reaction to some life-threatening event. Perhaps there is some part of our brain which, at these critical moments, pushes these memories to the fore; thereby explaining the meeting of deceased loved ones and the "life review" during the NDE ".
Given its incredible complexity and power, the psychological impact of experiencing one’s brain partly or even totally shutting down during a near death event (or even when thinking one is nigh) may give rise to all sorts of unavoidable dream-like or hallucinatory experiences that when combined, trigger the NDE. However, whilst the brain is quite possibly the most complicated, sophisticated product of evolution, it is an organ and its workings should have natural explanations. Just because we cannot yet fully understand all its working, does not mean we should fill those gaps with supernatural assumptions.
I suspect the explanation for these undoubtedly powerful, sometimes life-changing experiences lies deep within our minds. The brain’s extraordinary power to shape our perceptions and to fire our imaginations in ways we do not yet fully understand is more likely than not, to be the basis for these supernatural and paranormal experiences. It would be wonderful to know that upon death some essence of consciousness is to be magically spirited away, down a tunnel of light to some other plane where it is going to be greeted by the spirits of loved ones gone before and where everything will be alright.
Irrespective of how tempting this is though, we may once again be at risk of letting our imaginations run away with ourselves.......
No comments:
Post a Comment