Life After Death: The Evidence

[Karhoof]

Good article by Jerry Adler on an upcoming book by Dinesh D'Souza.

 

On a spring day last year, three months after the death of my younger son, Max, I opened my front door and saw a butterfly resting on the steps—an Eastern tiger swallowtail, I later determined, a species native to the Northeast but not one I remembered seeing before in the middle of Brooklyn. The date stuck in my mind because, as it happens, it was also my birthday. The butterfly, with its otherworldly beauty and silence, is, of course, a common metaphor for the soul. Its emergence from entombment as a chrysalis may have inspired ideas about human resurrection. In the newsletter of the Compassionate Friends, a support group for bereaved parents, the sudden appearance of butterflies (and birds, cloud formations, and particular songs on the radio) is sometimes cited as evidence of communication from beyond the grave. So let me be clear about where I stand: not only do I not believe it, but I can't understand why anyone would take comfort from it. I would hate to think of Max, with his fierce intelligence and tenacity, reduced to sending mute signals by way of insects.

 

 

I was put in mind of this by reading a new book by Dinesh D'Souza, provocatively titled Life After Death: The Evidence, and I can't help wondering what D'Souza, a well-known conservative political commentator starting a second career as a Christian apologist, would make of my experience.

 

Article here:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/220296?GT1=43002

[Jedah]

Nothing but fluff from an idiot who doesn't understand that arguments from consequence\benefits do not actually prove anything about reality.

 

The AWARE study will be the only thing relevant in his entire book. And you can probably get a better idea of what it is by reading articles on it online.

[Shyone]

Nothing but fluff from an idiot who doesn't understand that arguments from consequence\benefits do not actually prove anything about reality.

 

The AWARE study will be the only thing relevant in his entire book. And you can probably get a better idea of what it is by reading articles on it online.

We should be wary of placing too much emphasis on this study. Given that the study is being done to "prove" the existence of NDE, and the majority of those involved in the study are Christians, I would not be surprized to have some "pious fraud" done to twist the evidence.

 

I realize that there are safeguards in many of the studies, but are they sufficient to prevent data tampering?

 

Unfortunately, I will only be able to believe the studies are being conducted honestly as long as there is no evidence of disembodied souls floating around the ICU or operating room.

[Neon Genesis]

I thought the case was already closed on NDEs being purely psychological a long time ago?

[Guest I Love Dog]

I suppose it depends what you call "life" after death.

 

I've thought about this most of my life and I arrived at the conclusion that yes, there IS life after death, but not in the supernatural/spiritual way that religious people think it is.

 

When any life form on planet Earth dies and decomposes into its chemicals/elements, the remains are taken up by another life form and it's in this way that all life forms live on, as part of another life form.

 

The ocean beds and topsoil on Earth are made up of vegetable and animal matter from millions of life forms and as these are taken up life forms live on.

 

If my elements are taken up by worms and a bird eats one of those worms, then I become part of that bird. If tree roots take up my elements and a koala eats some of the leaves from that tree then I become part of the koala.

 

This is how life has always been on planet Earth. So, life after death? Yes, indeed, part we become part of another life form and live on in that way.

[florduh]

I thought the case was already closed on NDEs being purely psychological a long time ago?

Yes, it was. People just keep writing books about it like they do for Young Earth Creationism.

[Jedah]

I thought the case was already closed on NDEs being purely psychological a long time ago?

 

Sort of. You can't actually "prove" that an NDE experience is false since it is really an unfalsifiable claim.

 

What DID happen, to put it simply, was that NDE felt the slash of Occam's Razor. Without going into to much technical details:

 

1 . We know the experience NDE'rs had can be caused by a certain chemical unbalance\reaction in the brain.

2 . We know it is very possible for the brain to go through this chemical reaction when near death.

 

So which is more likely:

 

A ) NDE is an illusion caused by the unique neural reactions that a dying brain goes through.

B ) MAGIC WOOO MAGIC UNICORNS GHOSTS MAGIC EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT NEUROSCIENCE IS WRONG BECAUSE MAAAAAAGIIIIIIICCCC

[Sexton Blake]

NDE's were produced using a machine. Oxygen starvation will sometimes work too. Some people think they are special so they cannot just die. Others think they are really special and a god who creates whole universes takes a personal interest in them.

[nightflight]

The idea of a spirit or soul that survives the death of the body is, ironically, an un-Biblical concept. its an import from Greek philosophy and Egyptian and Babylonian religion.