Why, at least on some level, can’t people figure this out for themselves?
The problem is that they think they have figured it out for themselves.
As humans our senses absorb signals but they also screen out signals. The neuroscientists and psychologists tell us that what we do to navigate our environment is to create a really good sounding story that seems to accommodate our impressions. Then we spend all our time accepting signals that confirm this story and rejecting those that contradict it. We all do this even when we are made aware that we’re doing it. It’s part of the programming, not a glitch.
There are some strategies that can mitigate against limited perception, however. One of these is to deliberately expose yourself to a wide range of opinions, especially ones that conflict with your own. The theory is that these other folks are probably allowing signals in that we are screening out. At the very least you will begin to understand the actual perspective of the people you disagree with rather than your own perhaps mistaken impression of what they think.
This approach will eventually land us in a sort of epistemic agnosticism but what’s wrong with that? Certainty is the enemy of thought. Saying “I don’t know” is the most honest statement we will ever make.
“over the past few years, I’ve been encountering a lot of stories about people’s near-death experiences (NDEs). There’s even an MD who has written a book on this”
** you do not have permission to see this link **
Here are some of the most notable books on near-death experiences (NDEs) written by medical doctors (MDs).
These range from pioneering research studies to personal accounts and clinical investigations:
### Foundational / Research-Oriented Books by Physicians
– **Life After Life** by Raymond A. Moody, MD, PhD (1975) — The classic that coined the term “near-death experience” and launched modern NDE research. Based on interviews with over 100 people who had been clinically dead and revived.
– **Recollections of Death: A Medical Investigation** by Michael B. Sabom, MD (1982) — The first major prospective hospital-based study by a cardiologist, focusing on verifiable out-of-body perceptions during cardiac arrest.
– **Light and Death** by Michael B. Sabom, MD (1998) — Follow-up by the same cardiologist, including the famous Pam Reynolds case (NDE during deep hypothermic circulatory arrest).
– **Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience** by Pim van Lommel, MD (2010) — Landmark work by a Dutch cardiologist based on his large prospective study of cardiac-arrest survivors published in *The Lancet*.
– **After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond** by Bruce Greyson, MD (2021) — Summary of decades of rigorous research by one of the world’s leading NDE researchers (psychiatrist and longtime editor of the *Journal of Near-Death Studies*).
– **Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences** by Jeffrey Long, MD (with Paul Perry, 2010) — Analysis of a large database of NDE accounts by a radiation oncologist.
### Personal NDE Accounts by Physicians
– **Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife** by Eben Alexander, MD (2012) — Former Harvard neurosurgeon’s detailed account of his own profound NDE during a coma caused by bacterial meningitis.
– **To Heaven and Back: A Doctor’s Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again** by Mary C. Neal, MD (2012) — Orthopedic surgeon’s account of her NDE after a kayaking accident in Chile.
– **Dying to Wake Up: A Doctor’s Voyage into the Afterlife and the Wisdom He Brought Back** by Rajiv Parti, MD (with Paul Perry, 2016) — Anesthesiologist’s transformation after his own NDE.
### Other Notable Physician-Authored Books
– **Near Death in the ICU** by Laurin Bellg, MD (2016) — Critical-care physician’s collection of NDE and related experiences reported by patients in intensive care.
– **The Science of Near-Death Experiences** edited by John C. Hagan III, MD (2017) — Collection of peer-reviewed medical articles and essays by physicians and scientists (including some who had NDEs themselves).
– **The Truth in the Light** by Peter Fenwick, MD (neuropsychiatrist) and Elizabeth Fenwick (1995) — Based on a large UK study of NDEs.
These books span skeptical-to-open scientific inquiry, rigorous clinical research, and first-person physician experiences.
Moody, Greyson, van Lommel, and Sabom are particularly respected for their long-term, systematic contributions to the field.
DavidFord said
“over the past few years, I’ve been encountering a lot of stories about people’s near-death experiences (NDEs). There’s even an MD who has written a book on this”
** you do not have permission to see this link **
Here are some of the most notable books on near-death experiences (NDEs) written by medical doctors (MDs).
These range from pioneering research studies to personal accounts and clinical investigations:These books span skeptical-to-open scientific inquiry, rigorous clinical research, and first-person physician experiences.
Moody, Greyson, van Lommel, and Sabom are particularly respected for their long-term, systematic contributions to the field.
This is interesting. I’m saving your list.
Thanks
** you do not have permission to see this link **
Basically we build up an internal map of our bodies and when the parts of the brain that contribute to this map are stimulated under certain conditions the OBE can be generated. We are our bodies and the OBE doesn’t prove what most people want it to prove, that we are immortal ghosts ready to spring forth from brute matter. But as usual with science, the reality is a lot more interesting than the myths.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
1 Guest(s)