Great post from enki. Balanced, clear, informative.
You are again making the mistake of concluding what death is, even before investigating it. If we begin with the conclusion that 'death is the end'....then any clue about it through anecdote will only mean "Well...it can't really be death can it?"....which is a circular way of approaching it.
Doctors and investigators have confirmed that many of the NDE patients had indeed been dead in medical terms, and later came back alive for whatever reason. The patients have also seen and heard many activities and conversations during the time they were dead.....which have been confirmed.
My point is that, if we assume that NDE's are only due to some activity in the brain, then there is no way of ever investigating the phenomenon at all.
Double blind tests cannot be the only way of establishing real experiences...because such trials are not possible in all cases.
Cessation of the heartbeat and loss of blood circulation can be described as clinical death.
However it might be instructive to note Sam Parnia's take on this subject.(Sam Parnia who has conducted extensive research into NDEs)
The overall goal of the AWARE Study is to study the processes that take place in the brain and also the cognitive and mental processes in people who have had a cardiac arrest and have therefore by definition died for a period of time.
As you probably realised from my lecture at Goldsmiths, the evidence is now suggesting that mental and cognitive processes may continue for a period of time after a death has started. This of course makes sense when we understand the process of death better, which is that it is essentially a global stroke of the brain. Therefore like any stroke process one would not expect the entity of mind / consciousness to be lost immediately.
http://forum.mind-energy.net/skeptiko-podcast/1458-aware-update-dr-parnia.htmlA person who has experienced a genuine NDE(e.g. whilst having a a cardiac arrest) has almost certainly gone through three main stages
1) Consciousness in the moments before the brain activity flatlines
2) The period when brain activity flatlines
3) Consciousness in the moments following No 2
This whole event is a process, and there is no evidence that NDEs are even or only a phenomenon related to No 2.
For me, I would require substantive evidence in the following areas:
1) There would have to be convincing evidence that either a)the brain plays no part in the whole NDE experience or b) the brain is simply the receiver of the NDE experiences.
2) It could be demonstrated exactly where, when and how the 'afterlife' world communicates with the physical body.
3) Experimental evidence would be produced which demonstrates such communication, and which is capable of falsification.
4) There would have to be objective, clear and convincing evidence of identical NDE experiences as the norm.
In response to these:
I have seen no evidence whatsoever that confirms No 1.
I have seen no evidence whatsoever that confirms no 2.
Any attempts at no 3 have so far produced negative or inclusive results.
As for no 4, There is a large body of evidence which clearly suggests that such experiences are not at all identical. Even general traits, such as out of body experiences or feelings of peace, seem to be dependent on cultural influences. Out of 11 non western studies, involving 7 countries, only China and Japan seemed to show feelings of peace during an NDE. OBEs were absent from studies in Zambia and the Congo,
As far as veridical NDE research goes, two areas have dominated.
1) The retrospective, which depends on the quality and accuracy of the data revealed in a subsequent investigation of the near death episode. This is, by its very nature, anecdotal. Unfortunately many instances are open to wide interpretation and even the best of these instances are hotly debated on both sides of this debate(e.g. Pam Reynolds, Maria's shoe). Unfortunately anecdotal evidence does not sit well with scientific method.
2) The prospective field study. There have been at least six such studies where perceptual targets have been used(mainly visual). Unfortunately, so far, these studies have been disappointing. No researcher has produced anything but negative results, including the latest extensive Aware study.
I think that it is interesting that in an exchange of emails with Bruce Greyson in 2006, NDE researcher, Professor Kenneth Ring said this:
There is so much anecdotal evidence that suggests(experiencers) can. at least sometime, perceive veridically during their NDEs ....but isn't it true that in all this time, there hasn't been a single case of a veridical perception reported by an NDEr under controlled conditions? I mean, thirty years later, it's still a null class(as far as I know). Yes, excuses, excuses-I know. But, really, wouldn't you have suspected more than a few cases at least by now??..
All this, of course, does not mean that your take on NDEs is wrong. You are quite entitled to your beliefs. All it means is that there is a lack of any significant evidence in the study of NDEs which suggests that you are right.
