Near Death Experiences

I've always been fascinated by near-death experiences. I've listened to firesides and lectures about them, I've watched TV specials about them, and I've read articles about them. I've not read book after book. Few things interest me that intensely. But I've heard stories of medical workers who have talked to people who had just had near-death experiences, including one old woman who, upon reviving apparently spontaneously, said something like, "Well that was a hell of a thing!" That made me laugh. I've heard a couple of people relate their own experiences, poignant and deeply meaningful to them, something so real to them that they felt they'd be betraying God to deny its divinity. Those people don't all believe similarly, so their belief systems can't all be validated by it, but the common belief seems to be that there's a god of some sort, usually with messengers, and that god is infinite love and peace and power.

I used to believe they were clear, undeniable evidence of an afterlife, of a heaven. So many commonalities among them can't be ignored or denied offhand. And what of the things they "observed" and knew about what was happening to them while they were apparently dead, like being able to see the operating room from above? How could they know those things? And how could someone just revive on their own after several minutes (DNR) being clinically dead if there wasn't an intervening divine (or "transcendent") force? Scientists and doctors had no explanations once upon a time and even still struggle to fully explain the phenomena. Declaring near-death experiences, then, to be hogwash or hallucinations seemed intellectually dishonest.

As I've read about a few factors which come into play, cellular impulses still stored and firing even after clinical death (which isn't a complete death of all cells in the body but is a process, the beginning of which is indicated by a few key indicators), to loss of blood in the eye creating a tunnel of light, to a discovery that patients experiencing NDEs (as they're abbreviated) in cardiac arrest all showed elevated levels of CO2 in their systems, to the idea that certain receptors still may be functional even after breathing and the heart have stopped, and deeply intuitive and basic brain functions still working to piece together input from the room and creating a dream-state vision of it, to...well, there are many theories about it. As for everyone experiencing similar things, do they all experience similar things because they're all partaking of one great truth, or are our brains wired to produce certain common themes and elements in that state--life in review, guide figures, seeing and interacting with deceased loved ones, etc--and do the religious perceive the afterlife the way they do because something in our wiring creates these common elements in NDEs, or are they simply manifestations of a universal, divine truth? How much does one's own cultural paradigm affect their specific interpretation of their experience? We may be a diverse planet, but maybe we're more common than we believe in our fundamental ideas about the universe? Is the great love and peace a feeling given from a great source of all things good, or is it a very real, chemical response induced in the brain which is the natural outgrowth of suddenly losing feeling and conscious perception and becoming a consciousness without physical attachment, whether that be a spiritual thing or a mental process?

It seems intellectually dishonest to say there's no possible explanation other than an afterlife. We know so little, still, about how energy works on a level we can't physically measure with our current knowledge and equipment, and we know so little about how the brain really works, and we know so little about more theoretical ideas like string theory, that to say, "we have no explanation; therefore, the only plausible explanation is divine experience," just seems...premature to me. The most honest response, I think, is to say it's a fascinating glimpse into what may happen to us after death, and it may also be fully explained by future understanding of neurology, physiology, physics, etc.

I figure this sounds like sacrilege to some, but I'm done clinging to faith in a closed-eyed, desperate way, as if it is threatened by understanding natural laws and the complexity of psychology, sociology, etc. I always prided myself on being open-minded and fairly scientifically minded, but I didn't realize how much I used to dismiss because I didn't think it confirmed my view of spirituality or the way the world is supposed to work, according to my religious or personal perspectives. I used to think scientists looking for explanations for things like NDEs were just atheists with an agenda. I truly thought I was open, but looking back, I don't think I was.

Why decry scientists for trying to understand a phenomenon we can't yet explain? Why proclaim it inexplicable and unknowable and scorn the faithlessness of those who seek explanations? We may not understand something for centuries to come, but if we declare it unknowable, we'll certainly never understand it. I don't believe possible medical knowledge should be unexplored, untapped, because some are threatened by the possibility of finding an explanation. The faithful will largely adapt and mold their faith around new understanding if such understanding is allowed to be disseminated: it's always been that way. If a clear explanation for NDEs is offered, will you reject it because you can't believe in what you want to anymore if science has an explanation? Will you be fascinated by the mechanisms God uses to induce the experiences with which he/she/it wants to teach us? Will you decry God and declare yourself a militant atheist because your faith has been completely undermined, since you placed all of its validity in there being no physiological explanation for near death experiences?

The way I see it, whether a NDE is a divine encounter, or a very natural, physiological process we're only beginning to understand, its significance depends, like everything else in life, on what you do with it, how you respond to it. You might shrug and say, "Well that was an incredible dream. I wish life were like that all the time." You might look heavenward and thank God for sharing his love with you and sending you on a mission, which you will then likely fulfill, and whether it was meant to be or you're bound and determined to make it be is almost irrelevant. You might think, "Wow, that was a grand hallucination. What if I could share that feeling of peace with other people and live my life with renewed value and determination?" I've never experienced it, and I have no doubt that, to the person experiencing it, it's "more real than can be described", but I suspect if I did have a NDE, I'd write about it, treasure the emotions and thoughts and motivation, and do something with it, whether it came from God or an as-of-yet unexplained process of cellular storms being quite secondary. But then, I guess I'd have something more to wrestle with if a messenger in a NDE told me I was to preach a message to the world...then, I think, it becomes important whether it's "real" or an intensely real dream, so until I experience it, I just leave it to each individual to make that call him- or herself and try to respect that. Interesting stuff...