About the Continuity of Our Consciousness

Lommel, Pim van

doi:10.1007/978-0-306-48526-8_9

Cited by 34 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…As already discussed, the idea that NDEs are the mere results of a brain function gone awry looks to rely more on speculation than facts (Mobbs and Watt, 2011) and suffers from bias in skipping both the facts and hypotheses that challenge the reductionist approach (e.g., see van Lommel, 2004, 2011; Facco, 2010; Greyson, 2010b; Agrillo, 2011). Simple advocated physical causes, such as anoxia/ischemia, explain very well the common experience of fainting, but are far from explaining the nature of NDEs or why NDEs occur in only a minority of cases, as already emphasized by van Lommel et al (2001).…”

Section: Epistemological Implications Related Scientific Prejudices mentioning

confidence: 99%

Near-death experiences between science and prejudice

Facco¹,

Agrillo²

2012

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Science exists to refute dogmas; nevertheless, dogmas may be introduced when undemonstrated scientific axioms lead us to reject facts incompatible with them. Several studies have proposed psychobiological interpretations of near-death experiences (NDEs), claiming that NDEs are a mere byproduct of brain functions gone awry; however, relevant facts incompatible with the ruling physicalist and reductionist stance have been often neglected. The awkward transcendent look of NDEs has deep epistemological implications, which call for: (a) keeping a rigorously neutral position, neither accepting nor refusing anything a priori; and (b) distinguishing facts from speculations and fallacies. Most available psychobiological interpretations remain so far speculations to be demonstrated, while brain disorders and/or drug administration in critical patients yield a well-known delirium in intensive care and anesthesia, the phenomenology of which is different from NDEs. Facts can be only true or false, never paranormal. In this sense, they cannot be refused a priori even when they appear implausible with respect to our current knowledge: any other stance implies the risk of turning knowledge into dogma and the adopted paradigm into a sort of theology.

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Section: Epistemological Implications Related Scientific Prejudices mentioning

confidence: 99%

Near-death experiences between science and prejudice

Facco¹,

Agrillo²

2012

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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“…This panoramic review of one's life seems to contain all the conscious and unconscious aspects or the essence of one's self in constant and instantaneous connection with the consciousness of others 1 . Quotation: 20 “Not only did I perceive everything from my own viewpoint, but I also knew the thoughts of everyone involved in the event, as if I had their thoughts within me. This meant that I perceived not only what I had done or thought, but even in what way it had influenced others, as if I saw things with all‐seeing eyes.…”

Section: Some Typical Elements Of An Ndementioning

confidence: 99%

Near‐death experiences: the experience of the self as real and not as an illusion

Lommel

2011

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Because the publication of several prospective studies on near-death experience (NDE) in survivors of cardiac arrest have shown strikingly similar results and conclusions, the phenomenon of the NDE can no longer be scientifically ignored. The NDE is an authentic experience that cannot be simply reduced to imagination, fear of death, hallucination, psychosis, the use of drugs, or oxygen deficiency. Patients appear to be permanently changed by an NDE during a cardiac arrest of only some minutes' duration. It is a scientific challenge to discuss new hypotheses that could explain the possibility of a clear and enhanced consciousness--with memories, self-identity, cognition, and emotions--during a period of apparent coma. The current materialistic view of the relationship between consciousness and the brain, as held by most physicians, philosophers, and psychologists, seems to be too restricted for a proper understanding of this phenomenon. There are good reasons to assume that our consciousness, with the continuous experience of self, does not always coincide with the functioning of our brain: enhanced or nonlocal consciousness, with unaltered self-identity, apparently can be experienced independently from the lifeless body. People are convinced that the self they experienced during their NDE is a reality and not an illusion.

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“…He later learned from his dying mother that he had been born out of an extramarital affair with a man killed in World War II. Shown a picture of his biological father, he immediately recognized him as the man he had seen during his NDE [115]. In another case, a young girl during heart surgery had an NDE in which she saw a boy who identified himself as her brother, although she thought she was an only child.…”

Section: Nonreductionistic Explanationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Western Scientific Approaches to Near-Death Experiences

Greyson

2015

Humanities

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Near-death experiences (NDEs) are vivid experiences that often occur in life-threatening conditions, usually characterized by a transcendent tone and clear perceptions of leaving the body and being in a different spatiotemporal dimension. Such experiences have been reported throughout history in diverse cultures, and are reported today by 10% to 20% of people who have come close to death. Although cultural expectations and parameters of the brush with death influence the content of some NDEs, near-death phenomenology is invariant across cultures. That invariance may reflect universal psychological defenses, neurophysiological processes, or actual experience of a transcendent or mystical domain. Research into these alternative explanations has been hampered by the unpredictable occurrence of NDEs. Regardless of the causes or interpretations of NDEs, however, they are consistently associated with profound and long-lasting aftereffects on experiencers, and may have important implications for non-experiencers as well.

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About the Continuity of Our Consciousness

Cited by 34 publications

References 20 publications

Near-death experiences between science and prejudice

Near-death experiences between science and prejudice

Near‐death experiences: the experience of the self as real and not as an illusion

Western Scientific Approaches to Near-Death Experiences

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