I have no idea if what my mother was seeing really existed or not. Doesn't really matter. However, the fact that western influenced scientific rationale would simply proclaim that my mother was experiencing nothing more than a "hallucination" is, in my view, a cop out.
That is an odd statement. If you, your father and other people could not see them then of course they were hallucinations. What other hypothesis fits?
The only other hypothesis I can imagine would be that these things really did exist, your mother developed some extraordinary new ability to see them because of the disease, and there might be some sort of special camera or other instrument which could detect them. Sort of like the movie "Phenomenon." Also we have to postulate that people and creatures can mysteriously float in air. All of that strikes me as exceedingly unlikely. I am sure that if I experienced this myself, and I had any marbles left at all, I would instantly dismiss that hypothesis, just as my mother did in similar circumstances.
Of course the disease might also affect my judgement and objectivity, like being drunk. In that case I *would* believe in floating people, UFOs in the room, or what have you. It did that to my mother, but only momentarily.
If you are a good scientist, you spent a lifetime training yourself *not* to believe your own impressions, and not to take anything for granted. You demand objective proof for everything. People who do that are not likely to change in the last months of life, or to relax their standards even under extreme duress. I have seen many people die and I have never seen an atheist undergo a "deathbed conversion," or suddenly start believing in things that he formerly would have dismissed. I suppose it happens about as often as religious people lose their faith in the last months.
By the way, your response to these events was exactly right. Based on what the nurses told me, I would definitely recommend against telling the patient "that is a hallucination," or getting upset about it. At best you will only confuse the patient or embarrass her.
I knew another patient who was completely aware that she was seeing hallucinations. She enjoyed them. She said they were the most interesting thing she saw all day.
- Jed
