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religous experiences/ post death-revival experiences

now i've had this asked to me all the time, religous experiences and people who are clinicaly dead for like 30 seconds. i think alot of this comes from dopamine levels? is this true? its a natural body chemical that in high levels can cause hullicinations?

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on May 11, 2010 at 6:21pm

I'm curious about this too. There is a lot of talk of positive near death experiences, but there are also negative near death experiences. They are not talked about much b/c the people usually find them traumatic.

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Permalink Reply by Tarquin St John Sh'gn'sty on May 13, 2010 at 9:46pm

"I'm curious about this too. There is a lot of talk of positive near death experiences, but there are also negative near death experiences. They are not talked about much b/c the people usually find them traumatic."

I remember an interview with Kerry Packer, Australia's richest man, since deceased.Kerry had been clinically dead for a couple of minutes during an operation.

His comments,on separate occasions:

"The good news is there's no hell. There's no heaven either;there's nothing"

"I've been to the other side,and there's nothing there"

Kerry also said "As there's no afterlife you can do what you like".

Kerry's son and heir,James Packer, is a Scientologist.

It seems to me the relatively few near death experiences are emphasised over the major which are the opposite because many people are desperate to believe.

Does it possibly fall under the heading of confirmation bias?

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on May 16, 2010 at 12:28pm

It sounds like confirmation bias. I've heard that people who attempt suicide have negative experiences which is most likely b/c of their beliefs about suicide or the negative mindset. Some people have had hellish ones, but some have just felt emptiness or incredibly alone.

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Permalink Reply by Matt VDB on May 15, 2010 at 1:47pm

There are plenty of good articles about near-death experiences on the Internet, but the simple fact is this: we can replicate these types of experiences perfectly well under laboratory conditions (whether by centrifuges or chemical treatment).

It seems to be something the mind is likely to do when deprived of oxygen for too long.