SKEPTIC'S
QUESTION: "If the 'I' does, in
fact, survive bodily death, I'd like to know
where the 'I' goes under general anesthesia.
Where does it go during sleep (for those of
us who don't recall dreams)? Where does the
'I' go in someone who is in a coma? And is the
'I' still the same, fundamental spirit, for
lack of a better term, if a stroke transforms
the personality into something totally different
from what it was like before that stroke? What
I'm trying to do is to separate the 'I' from
the brain - if it's in fact possible to do so.
Unless it's possible to do so, then clearly
the 'I' is annihilated at bodily death.
"I work
in a lab where we study human learning and memory
using functional MRI, and I spend a lot of time
studying the brain and trying to make sense
of the various pathways and chemical processes
at work. The more that I've learned, the more
that I've come to believe that who we are -
the 'I' - is an emergent property of the brain.
It's unique and unexpected, but at the same
time, it couldn't exist without the highly connectionistic
pillars of the brain.
"If you
ablate area 17 of the occipital lobe, you lose
vision.
Ablate
Broca's area, and you take out speech. If
you ablate the
temporal lobes, you take out morality. Ablate
the frontal lobe, and you radically transform
personality, volition, and so on. What devastates
this whole issue is that we know that the 'I'
is a function of the physiology and neurochemistry
of the brain, so when the brain dies, what can
possibly be left, aside from oblivion?
"I was
deeply alarmed to realize that damage to the
frontal cortex could produce a serial killer
like Jeffrey Dahmer.
C.S. Lewis might as well have been on drugs
when he said that each human has a sense of
morality which is God-given. Nonsense. Morality
is conditioned into the human organism, localized
to the temporal lobe (along with religious concepts
and abstractions), and mediated by the frontal
cortex of the brain. I was even more troubled
to reflect on the story of
Phineas Cage, who in a rail accident had
a piece of metal pierce his brain, and it caused
profound (negative) personality changes."
KEVIN
WILLIAMS, B.SC.: "So if I ablate pieces
of my television set, then I can distort the
picture or stop the sound. But that doesn't
mean the television set is the actual source
of the images it displays which we know it's
not." (Kevin
Williams)
DR. KENNETH RING: "These
are philosophical or metaphysical questions,
and they can't be answered definitively through
empirical research. However, on these questions,
I have found the writings of
Paul Brunton very helpful - he wrote many
books in the 30s, 40s and 50s, and they are
still available. These, however, are deep and
thorny questions, and a great many philosophical
perspectives are already extant from which to
explore them. Research of the NDE, however,
certainly suggests, but can never prove, that
there is an 'I' that is independent of the brain,
but whether it continues to survive intact after
death is a debatable matter." (Kenneth
Ring)
DR. JEFFERY LONG: "One
concern of NDE skeptics is the concept of a
dual physical and spiritual life presence, with
the spiritual presence surviving bodily death.
The physical presence is easily discernable,
while the spiritual presence is generally not
easily discernable. It is very helpful to personally
have a NDE or NDE-like experience to address
such concerns. For virtually all near-death
experiencers,
a NDE cures NDE disbelief. However, only
approximately 4% of the United States adult
population have a personal history of NDEs.
Others find they are opened to the possibility
of a dual physical/spiritual life presence through
other spiritually transformative life events.
"These
life experiences may include, but are not limited
to, markedly serendipitous events, other personal
paranormal experiences, and acceptance of other
people's accounts of their spiritually transformative
experiences. I personally believe that if such
spiritually transformative experiences are sincerely
sought, they are likely to be encountered. NDE
research is somewhat unique due to the subjective
nature of the experience. This subjectivity
precludes certain conventional scientific methods
of studying NDEs, such as replicating NDEs or
studying physical changes associated with the
experience.
"This
inability to study NDEs via certain accepted
methods of conventional scientific verification
results in the need for some element of faith
to accept the reality of NDEs. I think this
necessary element of faith is a problem for
many people in accepting the reality and significance
of NDEs. Mitigating against this concern is
the fact that NDEs are relatively common. Millions
of people have had NDEs. NDEs are quite varied,
but the
consistency of the NDE elements (OBE experience,
tunnel, light, meeting other beings, etc.) is
striking. There is no plausible biological
explanation of NDEs. There is no other human
experience so dramatic, shared by so many people,
and so relatively consistent in its elements.
The preceding suggests faith in the validity
of NDE accounts is the most reasonable conclusion
from the evidence." (Jeffery
Long)
DR. ROBERT JORDAN: "On
the issue of general anesthesia, some individuals
under general anesthesia are able to report
details of events occurring in the operating
room such as what music was playing and what
the operating room personnel said - often to
the embarrassment of those present. If nothing
can be recalled by the individual under general
anesthesia, this cannot be interpreted to mean
that the 'I' goes away. It may simply mean that
the person's ability to pay attention and to
remember has been short-circuited. I work with
alcoholics who black out and remember nothing
of their experience during the black out. Apparently,
when a person under acute intoxication blacks
out, the neural pathways in the
hippocampus and elsewhere, which are fundamental
to retaining memories, are not functioning.
Nevertheless, they are able to act and think
(too much!) like themselves during that period
about which they later have no recollection.
"My understanding
of the psychophysiological research on dreaming
is that everyone dreams whether they remember
the dream or not. Often, people who report that
they don't dream, recall dreams quite vividly
if they are awakened during
REM sleep.
"Where
does the 'I' go when we have no recollection
of the 'I?' This is a question with many possible
answers. One possible explanation is that the
'I' disappears into the non-'I'-ness, which
I believe is the deeper reality.
"I think
scientists, if we possess any sense of humility,
must acknowledge that science cannot provide
us with Ultimate Truth, only little hints of
understanding about how the Universe operates.
Scientists are appropriately taught that today's
comprehensive theory is merely tomorrow's special
case of an even more comprehensive theory. Personally,
I feel that I have learned more about what is
really true by meditating and thereby emptying
my mind of concepts, rather than by creating
theories or doing experiments." (Robert
Jordan)
DR. PMH ATWATER: "Neither
near-death research, nor any other type of scientific
inquiry, can address this question. I suggest
you turn to spiritual or religious sources for
clues. Actually, what you seek is not contained
within the providence of the mind, but only
through the heart." (P.M.H.
Atwater)
DR. STANISLAV GROF:
From the NDE video,
Life After Death,
Episode 8, Wellspring Media,
Dr. Stanislav Grof
had this to say about
consciousness:
"I had my training as a psychiatrist,
a physician and then as a Freudian analyst.
When I became interested in non-ordinary
states and started serving powerful
mystical experiences, also having some
myself, my first idea was that it (consciousness)
has to be hard-wired in the brain. I
spent quite a bit of time trying to
figure out how something like that is
possible.
"Today, I came to the conclusion that
it is not coming from the brain. In
that sense, it supports what
Aldous Huxley believed after he
had some powerful psychedelic experiences
and was trying to link them to the brain.
He came to the conclusion that maybe
the brain acts as a kind of reducing
valve that actually protects us from
too much cosmic input. So, I don't see,
for example, that experiences of archetypal
realms, heavens, paradises, experiences
of archetypal beings, such as deities,
demons from different cultures, that
people typically have in these states
that they can be somehow explained as
something that comes from the brain.
I don't think you can locate the source
of consciousness. I am quite sure it
is not in the brain not inside of the
skull.
"It actually, according to my experience,
would lie beyond time and space, so
it is not localizable. You actually
come to the source of consciousness
when you dissolve any categories that
imply separation, individuality, time,
space and so on. You just experience
it as a presence.
"People who have these experiences can
either perceive that source or they
can actually become the source, completely
dissolved and experience that source.
But such categories as time and space,
localization coordinates, are not relevant
for that experience. You actually have
a sense that the concepts of time and
space come from that place. They are
generated by that place; but, the cosmic
source itself, the cosmic consciousness
cannot be located certainly not in the
material world." (Stanislav
Grof)
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KEVIN
WILLIAMS, B.SC.: "From what Grof said
in the previous paragraph, changes to the reducing
valve function of the brain alters the way it
reduces the cosmic input to produce personality.
According to Grof, consciousness itself is not
changed by such things as drugs and NDEs. It
is personality that is changed because personality
is the product of the reducing valve feature
of the brain. As Grof theorizes, consciousness
may not even be produced by the brain, only
altered. Interestingly enough, reports of NDEs
involve the experiencer feeling as if they are
expanding into the universe after death. This
suggests that the brain actually restricts consciousness
to produce a personality. After brain death,
consciousness becomes unrestricted and the personality
becomes pure consciousness.
"Many
near-death experiences involve the experiencer's
consciousness expanding until it fills the entire
universe - even beyond. This experience has
been described as literally becoming the universe
by near-death experiencers. This aspect
found in NDEs agrees with the astrological concept
of the universe being an influence on our afterlife
sojourns. Here are some examples from NDEs to
demonstrate this:
"Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away
from the planet on this stream of life.
I saw the Earth fly away. The solar
system, in all its splendor, whizzed
by and disappeared. At faster than light
speed, I flew through the center
of the galaxy, absorbing more knowledge
as I went. I learned that this galaxy,
and all of the Universe, is bursting
with many different varieties of LIFE.
I saw many worlds. The good news is
that we are not alone in this Universe!
As I rode this stream of consciousness
through the center of the galaxy, the
stream was expanding in awesome fractal
waves of energy. The super clusters
of galaxies with all their ancient wisdom flew
by. At first I thought I was going somewhere;
actually traveling. But then I realized
that, as the stream was expanding, my
own consciousness was also expanding
to take in everything in the Universe!"
(Mellen-Thomas
Benedict)
"The stars seemed to fly past me so
rapidly that they formed a tunnel around
me. I began to sense awareness, knowledge.
The farther forward I was propelled
the more knowledge I received. My mind
felt like a sponge, growing and expanding
in size with each addition. The knowledge
came in single words and in whole idea
blocks. I just seemed to be able to
understand everything as it was being
soaked up or absorbed. I could feel
my mind expanding and absorbing and
each new piece of information somehow
seemed to belong. It was as if I had
known already but forgotten or mislaid
it, as if it were waiting here for me
to pick it up on my way by." (Virginia
Rivers)
"And in your life review you'll be the
universe and experience yourself in
what you call your lifetime and how
it affects the universe." (Thomas
Sawyer)
"I was involved in this tremendous pouring
forth of gratitude and joy and as that
was going inside me, this white light
began to infiltrate my consciousness.
It came into me. It seemed I went out
into it. I expanded into it as it came
into my field of consciousness." (Jayne
Smith)
"I am love; I am understanding; I am
compassion! My presence fills the room.
And now I feel my presence in every
room in the hospital. Even the tiniest
space in the hospital is filled with
this presence that is me. I sense myself
beyond the hospital, above the city,
even encompassing Earth. I am melting
into the universe. I am everywhere at
once." (Josiane
Antonette)
"You must be ready to accept the possibility
that there is a limitless range of awareness
for which we now have no words; that
awareness can expand beyond the range
of your ego, your self, your familiar
identity, beyond everything you have
learned, beyond your notions of space
and time, beyond the differences which
usually separate people from each other
and from the world around them." (Dr.
Timothy Leary)
"So you see, stage by stage we expand
into the planetary spheres, like light
that has been contained within a darkened
glass, when finally uncovered and released
goes out into the boundless universe.
The moral disposition we carry
over with us allows or prevents us from
moving on in a conscious manner. Seeing
how we expand toward the stars and planets
after death, it's no wonder we look
at the night sky in awe with feelings
of reverence and maybe even memories.
After death, we expand into heavenly
planetary realms. Our inward spirituality
allows us or prevents us from moving
on in a conscious manner. After this
experience with the planetary realms,
we fall asleep and the cosmic forces
act directly upon us preparing us for
the next earthly experience. Our cosmic
rest regenerates us and prepares us
for the time when the desire to reincarnate
starts to work on us. When that happens,
we begin the process of going back through
the planetary realms picking up what
we will need from each in order to fulfill
our purpose in the next Earth life."
(Rudolf
Steiner)
"I felt caught up in all of this to
the very depths of my being. I felt
myself expanding and expanding until
I thought, 'I'm going to burst!' The
moment I thought, 'I'm going to burst!',
I suddenly found myself alone, back
where this being had met me, and he
had gone." (Margaret
Tweddell)
After hovering around New York, Blackmore
floated back to her room in Oxford where
she became very small and entered her
body's toes. Then she grew very big,
as big as a planet at first, and then
she filled the solar system and
finally she became as large as the universe." (Dr.
Susan Blackmore)
|
"Dr.
Blackmore believes her NDE was only a product
of her brain much like a hallucination. If she
is correct, then NDEs are nothing more than
a mass hallucination. The problem with this
is that
dead brains do not hallucinate. And even
if they did, the brain cannot retain such unconscious
memories.
"The
paragraphs above suggest to me that personality
is likely a function of the brain and dies along
with brain death. But consciousness itself,
unrestricted by the brain, is everywhere and
nowhere in particular.
"Skeptics
often rely on
reductionism to prove that altered brain
function produces NDEs. But they may only be
defining the trigger in the brain that allows
consciousness to expand to produce a NDE. Using
an analogy, we can reduce a television set to
its basic components: circuits, tube, transistors
and wires. But we are unable to quantify the
television signals of the program, such as I
Love Lucy as opposed to Jay Leno, by examining
the individual components themselves. The television
signals of the program are not restricted to
the television set. They are located everywhere
in the airwaves as well. When a television is
turned on (the brain is functioning), the components
of the television processes the signal (the
brain alters consciousness) and creates a derivation
of the signal, a television program (personality).
"Scientific
evidence demonstrates that certain drugs can
produce hallucinations in the brain. Some scientists
theorize that the same process in the brain
that produces hallucinations, also produces
NDEs. But,
Dr. Peter Fenwick, a neuropsychiatrist and
the leading authority in Britain on NDEs, disagrees
with this theory. In the documentary, Into the
Unknown: Strange But True, Dr. Fenwick explains:
"The difficulty with those theories
is that when you create these wonderful
states by taking drugs, you're conscious.
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."
Dr. Fenwick describes the unconscious
state of the NDE:
"The brain isn't functioning. It's not
there. It's destroyed. It's abnormal.
But, yet, it can produce these very
clear experiences ... 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 (a NDE), 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."
(Peter
Fenwick)
|
"So it
appears that we may never know exactly what
a NDE is and what produces them, until science
can define exactly what consciousness is. We
may have a long way to go to learn this." (Kevin
Williams)
DR. SUSAN BLACKMORE:
"I think it is possible, in principle, to separate
the 'I' from the brain. The brain is a physical
object. The 'I' is a construction - a story
that a brain tells, a fantasy that it weaves
- an illusion of a real self who has consciousness
and free will. This fantasy is constructed all
the time we are awake and our brain is functioning
normally. We are trapped in this fantasy world
that seems to separate us from everything else.
Under anesthetic and near death this false sense
disintegrates because the brain can no longer
build the story, but usually it comes back again.
When we die, the story stops for good - except
in the minds of other people who knew us." (Susan
Blackmore)
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