Funny I just read an article about NDE’s or Near Death Experiences. Since I am a firm believer in science (but do not refute religious beliefs), I am at somewhat of a loss as to what to truly believe when it comes to claims of people to have experienced death and then returned back to life. What I learned from the article was this: Many people having lived through NDE’s typically reported similar experiences once resuscitated, including out-of-body experiences, light at the end of the tunnel, meeting loved ones that had passed away, seeing their life flash by and having the same feelings they had about those events when they happened in real life. As far as scientific explanations go, a few theories have been proposed that may partially attempt to explain what happens during an NDE that people perceive as real. First, let’s note that approximately 4-18 % of individuals who die and are brought back to life by medical personnel claim to have had NDE’s. Some scientists assume that once the brain becomes deprived of oxygen as the person begins to die, the body will undergo a number of final physiological experiences that may resemble those of NDE’. In this sense, the brain will go into an “all-out-defense” and rebel against the fact that it is shutting down. As this occurs, fragmented images and feelings released by neurotransmitters within the temporal lobes (the storage place for memory) will curse through the brain and become visible to the dying person. This is believed to happen when a person sees her life flashing in front of her. Further, out-of-body experiences have been successfully induced by researchers in patients with epilepsy, who reported the feeling of hovering over and looking down upon their own bodies. This illusion was achieved when researchers manipulated the brain’s temporoparietal junction which is responsible for self-perception. Finally, other researchers have found that intrusion during the REM cycle (the stage of sleep during which dreams occur), which causes a person’s mind to awaken before his body, may be responsible for some of the hallucinations associated with Near Death Experiences. During REM sleep, our muscles are paralyzed to prevent us from acting out our dreams. Well, during REM intrusion, as our minds wake up, our muscles may still remain paralyzed and in impaired arousal, people may experience “blended states of consciousness” as they lay still, unable to move, yet fully aware of the images in their heads or the environment around them. The sleep/wake cycle is controlled within the primitive region of the brain, the brainstem, which is also responsible for such involuntary body functions as heart beat and breathing, and has been found to remain functional longer than other areas of the brain as a person is dying. Therefore, science may be able to explain somewhat the phenomenon of Near Death Experiences, but of course the complete truth is not known, may never be known, and is likely close to incomprehensible. If a friend told me about such an experience I would believe her, based on what is currently known coupled with what the body and mind are capable of.

I dated a man for seven years who, when he was 24, was electrocuted. He died on the jobsite, heart stopped... for quite some time. The electricity went through him and blew out his toes, so he had to have his big toes rebuilt, but miraculously, he lived with very little damage to the rest of his body, though it did fry his brain a little like a stroke would have. He's perfectly fine today.

But he says he felt something strange - like he was being scattered into billions and billions of pieces and was floating everywhere in the universe at the same time. He said it was unreal.

Then, when the paramedics revived him, he said it was as though all those pieces of him, billions and billions of them, came rushing back into the same location and SLAMMED into his chest, making his wake up and sit up after technically being dead.

He said he didn't feel or see God or heaven, but what he felt... he says it was a religious experience for him. He believes it completely.

I believe him.

I mean, it might not be the same for everyone, right? But for him, it is real, and for him, his perception is all that matters. I believe it was real for him.

Yes, because they experienced it and I haven't, unless it's someone who always make up stories. Then I won't believe it I think.

I would believe that they were telling me what they thought to be the truth. Whether it was a dream or a vision, or whether it was caused by some survival instinct wouldn't really matter. I would give them one hundred percent of my attention and I would support them as much as I could in whatever conclusion they reach. It's real to them, and I would not disrespect their beliefs.

My own opinion and belief is that a human spirit does not leave the body and float around the room watching things, nor does it travel into some light to greet long dead relatives. It is not welcomed by some powerful energy force exuding warmth and love and then then come back and live out it's remaining years after returning to the body that it was leaving.

Under times of great stress, the human mind is capable of some fantastically realistic, yet false, hallucinations. Drugs can induce visions and audio hallucinations that will seem as real as any flesh and blood experience. Mental disturbances can cause altered states that are so real to the patient that one of the first rules in dealing with patients is "never question their perception of reality". When a man told me that the fire truck was calling his name, I didn't argue. When another man was laughing loudly at jokes his invisible friend was telling, I made them both leave the TV area. I'm not saying people who believe in near death experiences are insane, I'm saying that the mind can produce alternative realities that are absolutely real to the people who experience them, and the fact that they believe it does not make it true.

The similarities of experiences leads me to conclude even more strongly that there is some natural explanation, some chemical release or electrical impulse in the brain that produces similar reactions under similar conditions.

Just last week I had a friend tell me of his near death experience from when he got caught in a machine at his job. He said he was going down a dark hall and saw a figure motion him to turn around and go back. He woke up as he was having a stoke caused by the trama of his injury.

Didn't make him go all Religious or anything. He drinks a lot, cheats on his wife and recently shot a guy. But other than that he is a good dude lol.

I would believe them that they had a severe medical emergency but I am not sure how I feel about "near death experiences". I know that if you are in that state of "death" or "near death" your brain could begin to change. But so little is known about the situation that it can be hard to determine if the near death experience were real or a figment of imagination, sort of like a dream. If they seemed convinced I would probably try to look at it scientifically.

As much as I hate to say it...it depends on which friend or relative it is...And if their stories match up...

Yes I would believe that they experienced what they believe they experienced.
Doubting their experience is causing negative energy into the friendship. We can not prove or disprove the last seconds of someone's life and the fact that they remembered it enough to mention it to me, says they trusted me with this and that should be seen as high praise as to where they stand with me.

I'd honestly believed that they had had a "near death experience" and would believe that everything they told me was completely true from their point of view.

However what a near death experience actually is is open to debate and interpretation. It doesn't in itself prove or disprove the after life anymore than a dream of heaven does.

I find the title and concept both true and misleading. "Doctor says near-death experiences are in the mind." The implication here is that makes it less real, or something. The truth is that the taste of the food you eat is in the mind, the endorphine feeling you get when you exercise is in the mind. Everything we do is in the mind. So, yes, near death experiences are in the mind, just as anything else.

Back to the question, there are certain people I might not listen to, but I wouldnt' listen to them anyway - those people exist.

But, generally, speaking, why wouldn't I believe them?