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NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES - Coggle Diagram
NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES
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DR RAYMOND MOODY
- NDE's popularised in 1973 by Dr Moody
- He was impressed by the similarities between stories of those who had experienced NDEs
- The most common feature is the feeling of being drawn down a tunnel of light
- He lists 15 characteristics which coincide with his elements of NDE's:
- ineffability[ST THERESA OF AVILA]
- peace and tranquility
- out of body experience[E.G PAM REYNOLDS]
- variety of noises
- Improvement of moral life
DE PETER FENWICK
- Identitied several features of NDE's including:
- FEELING OF PEACE: those who believe its religious claim that its a forecast of heaven
- HOWEVER it could be due to drugs such as morphine- these feeling can be induced without a NDE
- Could also be a result of a release of endorphins helping the to cope with stress of the body failing
- OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE: if mind exists without the brain than then such experiences are possible- there is evidence of people recalling experiences during operations from birds-eye view (pam Reynolds)
- HOWEVER they could be induced by psychedelic drugs
- It could be a projection- if we have heard accounts of peoples seeing their bodies from above then we might be likely to replicate this experience in our drug-fogged brain
- ENTERING A TUNNEL: entering another realm of existence, light usually seen at the end and is associated with divinity
- HOWEVER it could just be the result of excitation of the brain cells in the visual cortext
- REBUTTAL- the experience is said to be too orderly to be this random
- BEING OF LIGHT: - subject usually encounters a being of light, and its usually a positive loving experience
- HOWEVER it is often related to ones culture
- MEETING RELATIVES: subject comes into contact with dead loved ones, friends and relatives
- HOWEVER this could just be psychological comfort based on prior knowledge/beliefs
- THE RETURN: usually rapid and followed by a removal of the fear of death, peoples lives usually drastically changed by the experience- usually positive, depend connection with god
NEGATIVE INTERPRETATIONS
- Neuroscientific studies of NDEs are generally reductive meaning the whole experience is understood as a product of the dying brain and as having no further deeper meaning
- in support of this interpretation, neuroscientists point to the fact that the NDE is culture and religion specific- christians will not see Buddhist figures etc, so the NDE simply reflects what the person expects to see
- By definition, those who remember a NDE did not actually die so therefore people would argue it is not evidence for what happens after death
- issue of reliability and verifiability- Theres simply the persons word for it and they may actually be recalling a lost memory of something they had read or heard at some time before
POSITIVE INTERPRETATIONS
- NDEs are not a popular source of study for any one religious group for the simple reason they dont give exclusive support to claims of one religion over another- if the NDE is real then we might expect it to be culturally or religiously relative
- There have been examples of people giving detailed sighted experiences despite having been blind from birth and having no optic nerve
- SWINBURNE would use the principle of credulity to argue that we should take these accounts seriously especially because of the similarities between them
- the individuals aren't actually dead so they dont provide evidence for life after death
- the experiences are hallucinations caused by medication or brains release of endorphins
- The transformation of lives is evidence for the genuineness of the experience