Saturday 30 December 2023

NDE's Smoking Gun?

 
A study has been published that is by far the most interesting in a series I have covered which connect neurological evidence to the near-death experience. Previously this was rejected because it was concluded that the brain simply was not working in a terminal state. Then scientists discovered that in some situations this is not true, for example: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2022/03/nde-caught-on-camera.html. This new study reveals more information; what's more it is a controlled experiment; the closest to Flatliners you can get, morally and legally. It's actually an extraordinarily audacious thing to do. The team led by Dr Jimo Borjigin approached the relatives of four patients in a profound vegetative state and with their permission monitored the patients' brain and heart activity while doctors "pulled the plug". The results were incredible. Two of the four patients underwent a massive surge of brain activity. This was clearly not just random and disorganized activity either. In the illustration above, the top left graph is the easiest to understand if you're not an expert. The red areas during the time period of about 450 to 200 seconds before death reveal activity in the EEG frequencies we associate with the waking state of consciousness and/or dreaming. It's also similar to seizures in which patients report hallucinations or out-of-body experiences. The activity was also traced to specific parts of the brain involved in processing sensory stimuli, problem solving and spatial awareness. This process didn't begin immediately and was at its highest about thirteen minutes after cardiac arrest, which matches the results of another study, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2017/03/brain-keeps-working-after-death.html. Remember that both patients had been in a deep coma for some considerable time before life support was withdrawn and they were allowed to die. Source: https://metro.co.uk/2023/05/02/brain-activity-before-we-die-could-explain-near-death-experiences-18709002/.
 
So we must now address the inevitable question: Is this the materialists' smoking gun? Is this the proof they have been looking for that they were right all along about "when you're dead you're dead, mate!" For those of us who believe in survival and enjoy the idea, MBA fodder like me, should we be worried? At this point I would say no. Dr Borjigin herself urges caution in interpreting her conclusion. There is no proof the patient was having a conscious experience because they are no longer alive to report it. Also, I dispute that the activity could reproduce all the evidence near-death research has gathered over the years, including people reporting experiences when they definitely had a flat EEG. What's more there is the distinct qualitative differences between the waking mental state and the NDE, see: https://youtu.be/sphbEePVBKo?si=a6v4H_BHKag9xcXj&t=1633. However, this result does deliver some amazing information about what our brain does. It is a scientific paradox though, as one of Dr Borjigin's colleagues said. The person's brain is behaving as if they have recovered. In their mind it's as if they are seeing, hearing, moving about and talking. If so, then where are they and who are they talking to? And why? Why do our brains do this when we die? Surely there is nothing advantageous about it in terms of evolution. Is it an accidental by-product of our brain's development? Alternatively, it could be the mechanism used by the spiritual within the material. I find it interesting that Jimo Borjigin's previous speciality was DMT research. Did she ever work with Rick Strassman? His own earlier DMT experiments were groundbreaking. He was originally a skeptic, but changed his mind as a result of doing the experiments. Unlike other open-minded scientists he believes he discovered the presence of the genuinely supernatural in material body functions. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpT1vVyksWg. Dr Borjigin might be on a similar track. Is this, her latest work, supportive of something similar?
See here for background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2023/06/afterlife-portal.html.

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