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Crossing Over


El Bosco
The Ascent of the Blessed

Descriptions of near-death experiences (NDEs to those in the know) date back to Plato's ‘Republic,’ and though the gods have changed, the experiences have often been religious.  Hieronymus Bosch (El Bosco) painted the pathway to death as a tunnel in "The Ascent of the Blessed," (left) depicting souls drifting skyward, carried by winged beings to an illuminated rapture. His painting captured the notion that heaven could set tortured souls at peace.  In modernity, the art world is less interested in the road between this life and the next, but many people who claim to have experienced NDEs have drawn their experiences.  These drawings and others have been published in P.M.H. Atwater's "The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/

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Tonya was a young adult when she nearly drowned in a backyard swimming pool.  While she was unconscious, Tonya says an ethereal, radiant woman reached lovingly toward her. She says the same woman reappeared to her years later when her daughter was attacked by a dog and needed facial surgery.  Tonya calls the woman her guardian angel.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/

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Gracie Sprouse of Keene, Va., recalls an NDE when she nearly drowned at age 11.  In this drawing, she shows how an angel presented her with a slideshow of her life.  As Sprouse watched, she says, "I judged and convicted myself" for bad things she had done to her sisters.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/

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Celeste Weitz of Yuma, Ariz., says she died while she slept in her father’s arms as an infant.  She says she awoke to realize she was looking over her father's shoulder, accompanied by invisible "others," and witnessing her father's anguish.  "Upon realizing his distress was due to my not being in the body, I became somewhat upset that I was responsible for the state he was in.  This is the point I believe I chose to go back to the body."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/

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di ni near death, hubs.  neighbors ni nimo.

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Chris Brown says he recalls witnessing the emergency response to his angina attack in 1962.  He claims to remember watching from outside his body the ambulance ride, the doctor and nurse who cared for him and the nearly fatal mistake the nurse made, preparing to inject him with the wrong medication.  While the doctor injected him with the proper drug and began massaging his heart, Brown says he thought up a laundry list of his debts and responsibilities and concluded he was square with the earth and was ready to go.  But a "grayish and somewhat cloudy group of men" begged to differ, sending him back to his body.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/

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Richard Borutta of Hopewell, N.J., was an alcoholic with a failing liver when he ‘died’ during a medical procedure at age 42.  Surgeons were operating on his liver when Borutta says he slipped over to the "other side" and demanded that he remain there.  He recalls feathery spirits convincing him that he would have to earn his way back by making amends with his family.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/

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Surges in brain activity just before death were seen in a study of seven patients.


A study of seven terminally ill patients found identical surges in brain activity moments before death, providing what may be physiological evidence of "out of body" experiences reported by people who survive near-death ordeals.

Doctors at George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates recorded brain activity of people dying from critical illnesses, such as cancer or heart attacks.

Moments before death, the patients experienced a burst in brain wave activity, with the spikes occurring at the same time before death and at comparable intensity and duration.

Writing in the October issue of the Journal of Palliative Medicine, the doctors theorize that the brain surges may be tied to widely reported near-death experiences which typically involve spiritual or religious attributes.

At first, doctors thought the electrical surges picked up by electroencephalographs were caused by other machines or cell phones in the rooms of dying patients, lead author Lakhmir Chawla told Discovery News.

The EECs were being used to monitor patients' level of consciousness as doctors and families wrestle with end-of-life issues.

"We did it when patients want to withdraw life support, to make sure patients are comfortable, as we withdraw care," Chawla said.

The medical staff kept seeing spikes in patients' brain waves just before death.

"We thought 'Hey, that was odd. What was that?'" Chawla said. "We thought there was a cell phone or a machine on in the room that created this anomaly. But then we started removing things, turning off cell phones and machines, and we saw it was still happening."

The doctors believe they are seeing the brain's neurons discharge as they lose oxygen from lack of blood pressure.

"All the neurons are connected together and when they lose oxygen, their ability to maintain electrical potential goes away," Chawla said. "I think when people lose all their blood flow, their neurons all fire in very close proximity and you get a big domino effect. We think this could explain the spike."

It's possible a cutoff of oxygen would trigger a similar but recoverable event that becomes seared into memory.

"Not everyone reports this light sort of business. What you hear most often reported (in near-death experiences) is just a vivid memory," Chawla said.

Brain researcher Kevin Nelson at the University of Kentucky, who studies near-death experiences, said it's well known that when the brain is abruptly deprived of blood flow it gives off a burst of high voltage energy.

"It's unlikely with conventional brain wave recordings during death that they're going to see something that hasn't been seen already," Nelson said.

Chawla and colleagues would like to follow up their case study with a larger pool of patients outfitted with more sophisticated brain activity sensors.


http://news.discovery.com/human/near-death-brain.html

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Dying Brain Theory




This theory is one that has been popularized by Dr, Susan Blackmore in her book Dying To Live. One of the greatest strengths of the afterlife theory and the argument that NDEs are real is also one of its greatest weaknesses. The fact that all those who had NDEs follow the same path toward the light, going through similar stages on the way, makes a powerful case for the whole thing being a profound spiritual journey to an afterlife where everyone, from all ages and cultures, is welcome. But that same case, the "sameness" evidence, is also a fundamental part of the argument that NDEs are not real experiences, not spiritual voyages, but a function of the dying brain. All brains, regardless of where in the world they come from, die in the same way, say the skeptics. And that is why all NDEs have essential core elements which are the same. It is not because the dying person is traveling toward a beautiful afterlife, but because the neurotransmitters in the brain are shutting down and creating the same lovely illusions for all who are near-death.

But why? Why should the dying brain do this, if it is just a highly sophisticated lump of tissue? That question is one of the most fundamental questions in the whole of human thinking. It boils down to asking, are we individuals with "personalities" and "souls" and "minds" that are exclusive to us? Or are we simply bodies controlled by very clever computers, or brains, each of which works a little differently from the rest, thus making each of us unique, just as an Apple computer is different from an IBM, although there are far more similarities between them than there are differences?

Scientists and researchers are divided. There are some who want to reduce NDEs to nothing more than a series of brain reactions. Others, who accept the realness and validity of NDEs, are nonetheless quite happy to see it put into a scientific context. In other words, they are not frightened of researching the experience rigorously, of finding out everything that we possibly can about it, perhaps even being able to explain aspects of it. But they can happily let that scientific aspect sit alongside the deeply personal, life-enhancing evidence of those who have actually been there.

There are very few people around, even among the skeptics, who would deny that people have NDEs, and that they are deeply affected by them because so many obviously sane and well-balanced people have now come forward and talked about what happened to them. What they do dispute is what causes a NDE and what it means. There are two main strands of research: one takes the psychological approach, which looks for reasons for human beings to behave the way they do, and to think and possibly to hallucinate the way they do. The other is the straightforward physiological approach, which is searching for that part of the brain which malfunctions and causes a NDE. Increasingly, as in all brain research, not just that connected with NDEs, the two approaches overlap.

The ruthless, depersonalized argument - that a NDE is just the result of the brain beginning to die - is not acceptable to the vast majority of people who had a NDE. To reduce what was a profound and transforming experience to nothing more than a set of neurotransmitters going on the blink is a bit like seeing Michelangelo's statue of David as nothing more than several tons of marble.

If there is no afterlife, and NDEs are just the last throw of a fevered and dying brain, why does it bother? If everything, including the soul and personality, is going to dust and ashes, why does the brain lay on this last wonderful floor show for people near-death, or facing actual death, who relax into peacefulness and describe their wonderful visions?

If NDEs are just a hallucination, why do a great many people report being told, "Your mission has not been completed," or, "The time for your death is not yet," during their NDE? If NDEs are just hallucinations, how can so many people be told the same thing in their hallucinations? Isn't it odd that so many people are being told the same thing? Are they all hallucinating identical responses? For many people, it is easier to believe that NDEs are a real afterlife experience and not mass hallucination.


http://near-death.com/experiences/experts01.html#theory1

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Sa mga nagka near death experience, way nakasilip sa infierno o porgaturyo.

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I have seen patients who , prior to moment of death, mention something about feeling a sense of "peace". I have had a patient, an older lady, who prayed the rosary moments before her death. I remember her mentioning about seeing Angels around her room. They were waiting for her. An hour after she said this, she passed away.

Her rosary was still in her hand. Her eyes were looking at the window, still open.

Perhaps, just perhaps, there were Angels waiting for her....

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