People who know about NDE and how adrenaline works in the body?

NDE, Science and Evolution?

• So, alot of people seem to think that having an nde is proof of something greater than us, because most people report seeing things that are similar when they have these experiences... Near death experiences implie a set of diverse perceptions or hallucinations. Two or three years ago, a team was able to induce with electrodes out of body experiences. http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/Courses/psych113/OutofBody.pdf It is also known that a natural chemical called DMT is secreted via the pineal gland during near death experiences. DMT is one of the most potent hallucinogens known to man. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgicmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15002845 Indians and such would try to focus their meditative powers on the "third eye" (the pineal) in order to stimulate it to produce DMT, then they would travel to great places and have spiritual encounters. NDE are found where no brain function is seen in the normal EEG's during the perceived experience. Given this, whether they be hallucinations or genuine memories of events in the ER or elsewhere, the fact that detailed and clear memories are formed under these conditions is difficult to explain. Apparently "deep" brain waves are found that are not detected with a normal EEG, but how these deep functions would allow for complex memory formation is apparently not well understood. The following is an abstract of a presentation on the topic of ketamine and NDEs by Karl Jansen of the University of Auckland. The presentation itself was pretty much word for word what is included in the abstract. Abstract: Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic with powerful hallucinogenic and psychedelic properties, including out-of-body experiences, transcendence of time, an extension of awareness beyond consensus reality into other universes, and other effects. Ketamine can produce every feature of a near-death experience (NDE) (Jansen 2001), including the conviction that one has died, awareness leaving the body, ringing/buzzing/ whistling sounds followed by travel through a tunnel at high speed, emerging into light, communion with God, and a life review. Because we know how ketamine acts in the brain, this provides us with an understanding of how NDE’s arise. Ketamine blocks ion channels attached to NMDA receptors, and causes a blockage so that salts cannot enter the cell. The neurotransmitter glutamate crosses the gap between cells and binds to NMDA receptors, turning the chemical key which should allow ions to enter the cell. However, while the tunnel is blocked by ketamine, this is not possible. One key element of the NDE is the assimilation of real, new information. This is not mentioned. THE QUESTIONS What are the biological causes of near death experiences? Is there any explanation from an evolutive viewpoint? Wow wow! Wait! What is NDE, DMT and EEG? NDE: Near Death Experience DMT: N,N-Dimethyltryptamine EEG: Electroencephalogram

• Answer:

  The following are excerpts from Jean Ritchie's excellent book Death's Door which is unfortunately out-of-print. Here she describes all the various theories explaining the near-death experience. It is important to realize the fact that although the mechanism for the dying process in the brain can be quantified, this by no means proves that NDEs are merely a vision produced by the brain which ends upon permanent brain death. Science is unable to prove this because of the large amount of circumstantial evidence that consciousness can exist far removed from the body. In the same vein, science cannot prove that consciousness can survive death; however, research is underway right now that may provide scientific evidence that consciousness can exist outside of the body. Many people, such as myself, believe it is only a matter of time. NDE researchers do not have to prove anything. The circumstantial evidence is in their favor. But science has a lot of explaining to do if tries to claim that consciousness does not survive death. A good analogy of one current theory of consciousness assumes that consciousness is not localized in the skull. Assuming consciousness is like a television signal that exists in the air waves and is being processed by a television set (the brain) to produce images on the screen (brain chemistry) representing a television program (a near-death experience). Using this analogy, current scientific theories claim that the near-death experience is a product of the television set. In other words, the television program is a product of the television set. Using the analogy, this would be false because it is the television signal working with the television that produces the television program. Some scientific claims state that death is the end of consciousness - like shutting of the television set is the end of the television signal in the air waves. Using this analogy, you can see that such a statement is false. Shutting off the television does not affect the television signal in the air waves. Some of the top consciousness researchers believe this analogy fits, that is, consciousness is like the television signals in the air waves and that death is not the end of consciousness. Shutting off the television set does not affect the signal in the air waves. Some scientists feel that many questions remain. For example, NDE are found where no brain function is seen in the normal EEG's during the perceived experience. Given this, whether they be hallucinations or genuine memories of events in the ER or elsewhere, the fact that detailed and clear memories are formed under these conditions is difficult to explain. Apparently "deep" brain waves are found that are not detected with a normal EEG, but how these deep functions would allow for complex memory formation is apparently not well understood. One thing about near death experiences that science has yet to explain is that some NDEs include OBEs (out of body experience) where people have saw from a perspective outside of their bodies and desribe events that would be impossibe to view from "inside' the body. Some have even traveled to other rooms in a hospital and are able to desribe physical events and things. I am currently going to be reading the best selling book (from the 70s) "Life After Life" by Dr. Raymond Moody