--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Xenophaneros Anartaxius" <anartaxius@...> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Emily Reyn <emilymae.reyn@> wrote: > > > > This is a beautiful picture. Â Can you believe I just finished this book? Â > > Eben Alexander refutes all this in the later Chapters of this book - he > > addresses this supposition of hallucination specifically by making the very > > real point that his neocortex was not functioning, amongst other things. Â > > > How would he, in that state, know whether he even had a neocortex? Someone > had to feed him this information. Neurologists point out that even in states > where the patient seems to be in cardiac arrest, there is some slight > activity that keeps a small amount of blood flow to the brain. In these > emergency situations, there is no electroencephalographic monitoring of the > brain, though that might be introduced as additional controls someday. No one > has figured out just when a patient has the NDE in these situations as they > cannot point out they are having an experience, so currently there are a lot > of unknowns about these experiences. Those that believe in NDEs assume the > brain is not functioning, but this is unknown except in the case where the > patient does not revive, and then of course they do not report an NDE. These > kinds of experiences often occur under very specific circumstances where a > patient or a subject is not in a life threatening situation such as cardiac > arrest, which is why scientists very substantially question whether they have > any 'supernatural' component at all.
In the first big study of NDE's it was discovered that of the people who meet relatives only two thirds meet the already deceased. The rest meet people who are still alive, which underlines the wholly subjective nature of the phenomenon. And there isn't much in it that I haven't experienced from meditation let alone hallucinogen experiments. It's all in the mind guys... _______________________________ > > > From: Yifu <yifuxero@> > > >To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > > >Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 7:04 PM > > >Subject: [FairfieldLife] Michael Shermer rebuts Eben Alexander > > > > > > > > >Â > > >"Allegory of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ" by Pat Devonas: > > >http://www.museumsyndicate.com/images/2/10741.jpg > > > > > >Dr. Michael Shermer attempts to rebut Dr. Eben Alexander's NDE as being > > >genuinely "out of body" and supernatural. (Alexander is a neurosurgeon who > > >had an NDE. Claims he traveled out of the body into supernatural > > >dimensions in which he met deceased relatives, and listened to the OM.) > > >... > > >Shermer in Scientific American, Apr 2013, 86, essentially uses a > > >"similarity" argument coupled with Occam's Razor. Shermer states: > > >"Migraine headaches also produce halluncinations, which Sacks [neurologist > > >Oliver Sacks] himself has experienced as a longtime sufferer, including a > > >'shimmering light' that was 'dazzlingly bring'" etc, etc, clouds, blah, > > >blah. > > >Then Shermer goes on to make the comparison: "Compare Sack's experience > > >with that of Alexander's trip to heaven, where he was "in a place of > > >clouds. Big, puffy, pink-white ones that showed up sharply against the > > >deep blue-black sky. Higher than the clouds - immeasurably higher - > > >flocks of transparent, shimmering beings arced across the sky, leaving > > >long, streamerlike lines behind them.". > > >... > > >Then Shermer says "In any case, there is a reason they are called > > >'near'-death experiences: the people who have then are not actually dead". > > >Also he inquires how Alexander could have a memory of the experiences. > > >. > > >Finally, Dr. Shermer states "To me, this evidence is proof of > > >hallucination, not heaven." > > >. > > >[his arguments on the whole are similar to those of Sam Harris]. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
