Near Death Experiences

[PandaPirate]

I like to approach my non Christianity from a logical/scientific angle. So the idea of near death experiences intrigue me. Most NDE's as they call them are positive experiences. Even the vast majority of atheist NDE's are postive(which if are real shoots down the theory that only Christians go to Heaven) However there are some negative NDE's where the subjects think they have gone to hell. In fact there is one fundie doctor named Maurice Rawlings who wrote a book claiming that a number of his patients died momentarely on his operating table who claimed they went to hell. This sort of scares the s**t out of me, because it flies in the face of my rationality. I know they could be just making it up. Especially because they are fundies. Are any of you folks out there familiar with his work and would be kind enough to reassure me that it's crap? Or have have any other scientific data to put my mind at rest? I am a recent deconvert so I am still pretty fragile, especially when it comes to thoughts of hell.

If you fuck with the brain, you get things that are not real.

 

LSD, narcotics, other hallucinogens, trauma, hypotension, seizures, direct stimulation and tumors all cause the brain to "malfunction." We tend to try and "fill in the blanks" when things like that happen, much like an optical illusion, and our experiences, memories and expectations color the abnormal functioning.

 

IOW, garbage in, garbage out.

 

We're a victim of our brain chemicals. So, what is reality?

[Shyone]

We're a victim of our brain chemicals. So, what is reality?

Excellent question!

 

I remember a saying that I thought was relevent. Let's see if I can find it:

 

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Philip K. Dick

[PandaPirate]

We're a victim of our brain chemicals. So, what is reality?

Excellent question!

 

I remember a saying that I thought was relevent. Let's see if I can find it:

 

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Philip K. Dick

 

Unless you whack yourself

On another note, have you read about the experiences of the amazonian Indians when they drink Ayahuasca?

[Shyone]

We're a victim of our brain chemicals. So, what is reality?

Excellent question!

 

I remember a saying that I thought was relevent. Let's see if I can find it:

 

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Philip K. Dick

 

Unless you whack yourself

On another note, have you read about the experiences of the amazonian Indians when they drink Ayahuasca?

Remotely. I'd like to try it and see if God will reveal himself. Or herself.

[PandaPirate]

We're a victim of our brain chemicals. So, what is reality?

Excellent question!

 

I remember a saying that I thought was relevent. Let's see if I can find it:

 

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Philip K. Dick

 

Unless you whack yourself

On another note, have you read about the experiences of the amazonian Indians when they drink Ayahuasca?

Remotely. I'd like to try it and see if God will reveal himself. Or herself.

 

I read this very bizarre book by an anthropolgist, Jeremy Narby, called DNA and the Origins of Knowledge. You should check it out. Made me want to try Ayahuasca.

[oddbird1963]

Thomas Metzinger's book "The Ego Tunnel" might be a good exploration of NDE's and how they are invoked by means other than chemicals or oxygen deprivation. I believe the author describes in that book how others have used strong magnetic fields to induce NDE experiences.

 

To answer PandaPirates question, "We're a victim of our brain chemicals. So, what is reality? " with a humble opinion, I would say that we are not victims of our brain chemicals until those brain chemicals are interfered with somehow.

 

I believe we are comprised of our brain chemicals. We wouldn't have a reality without brain chemicals.

 

I think that brain altering chemicals, nde's and lucid dreams teach us to maintain a healthy skepticism about what we see and believe. They teach us to have a healthy skepticism about the extreme claims that people make about religious and other experiences.

 

It would probably help to listen to what people like James Randi have to say about what people, with good intentions or bad, want to put over on us.

[Guest end3]

On thing that interested me about NDE's was a story on a web browser homepage not too long ago that had several people draw pictures representative of their NDE's. To my recollection, even the children's pictures were somewhat consistant with the older people's pictures.