Near Death Experience: What Is It?

What do you think of Near Death Experiences? Is it just brain cells reacting to stress or is it evidence for aa Higher Dimension?

My own opinion is that it is an internal experience. I am a big advocate of the idea of an outer/innerverse. Since all our experiences is mediated by our perception of things, interperted by the brain within the person, there is no way to know what is really "out there". Indeed, even common perceptions we have ewveryday reflect the range of senses we have more then "reality".

So it may not be nonsense to ask if it is "real", but just the wrong question to ask. The question would be, what does it mean to YOU. The interpertation of the experience is predicated by previous belief. As I have said, all perceptions and thoughts are activities of nuerological activity and brain cells firing. It therefore makes sense that no one can "know", for sure that what there perceiving has any validity outside themselves.

Anyways, what do you think?

Frosty wrote:

What do you think of Near Death Experiences? Is it just brain cells reacting to stress or is it evidence for aa Higher Dimension?

I'm pretty much agnostic regarding NDEs but it's possible that they may be a result of both brain cells reacting to stress and evidence for a "higher" (or lower) dimension.

In other words if (proto)consciousness is an innate aspect of matter that starts at the quantum level, then perhaps NDE's are a result of the interaction between quantum level consciousness and our brain's neurons.

Frosty wrote:

My own opinion is that it is an internal experience.

Yes, there is no doubt that the subjective experience of NDEs is real and IMO all subjective experiences have objective correlates. So NDEs have both subjective and objective aspects IMO. The question is whether these experiences can exist after the body is dead?

As I just stated I think that all subjective experiences have objective correlates therefore if all subjective experiences have objective correlates then consciousness after life would need some sort of objective mechanism other than human life to help sustain it. I certainly think that such a mechanism is possible and perhaps it exists at either the quantum or relative level but so far I haven't seen any definitive evidence that would lead me to make a conclusion either way.

It is another aspect of the stange interaction of hormones, chemicals, and outside stimuli on the physiology of the brain during times of great stress.