"I was long unconscious, and my thoughts seemed to detach from the flesh, floating up, through the dark tunnel, and there was a red light in front of me. I saw my grandmother and father, who gave me my favorite dried sweet potatoes and fried peanuts, and I was ecstatic but couldn't reach out, as if bound by a rope. I wanted to call for help, but I couldn't scream. The father threw the food away, and snowflakes fell in the sky in an instant. My grandmother and father suddenly disappeared, and I was content and regretful, and turned to chase them, drifting toward a dark intersection, as if something was holding me back and dragging me back into the harsh reality. The excitement, joy, and tranquility of meeting my loved ones that I have experienced have all disappeared without a trace. ”
In July 1998, Liu Quankai, a doctor at Nanchang University Hospital, fell into a persistent coma due to severe hepatitis, and after the coma, he experienced the above-mentioned wonderful journey. Later, he wrote about this near-death experience in his paper.
Coincidentally, Zdzislaw Beksinski, a polish master of dark art, died in a car accident in his early years and saw nightmarish visions on his deathbed, and when he woke up, he was troubled by these illusions and decided to express them in painting (Fig. 1). This nightmarish memory comes from the surreal world, which makes his paintings full of ghosts and mysteries.
Figure 1 Zdzislaw Beksinski's painting based on near-death memories (Source: Zdzislaw Beksinski's public work)
With the continuous development of medical technology, many people who have been "dead" for a few minutes or even a few hours have the privilege of returning to the human world, thus having the opportunity to answer a question - what will people experience at this moment of dying? In fact, many people who are lucky enough to return to the world from the brink of death claim that they have inexplicable hallucinations when they are on the verge of death, as if consciousness is detached from the body. However, due to the particularity of this phenomenon, it is difficult for scientists to analyze this phenomenon in more detail.
What is a near-death experience?
Near-Death-Experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with or about to die. The researchers say it has similar characteristics: When feeling positive, such an experience may encompass a variety of sensations, including feelings of detachment from the body, feelings of suspension, complete tranquility, security, warmth, absolute dissolved experiences, and the presence of light. When it feels bad, the experience can be a painful feeling.
Near-death experiences are not fantasies. Such experiences generally include: the disappearance of suffering, seeing light or other images at the end of the tunnel, detaching from the body and floating above the body, and even flying into the universe The explanation of the near-death experience varies from science to religion. Neuroscience research hypothesized that near-death experiences are a subjective phenomenon caused by "disorder of multisensory integration of the body" that occurs during life-threatening events. Some transcendental and religious beliefs about the afterlife include descriptions similar to near-death experiences. According to a 2011 study in the New York Academy of Sciences Yearbook, an estimated 9 million people in the United States reported near-death experiences. Most of these near-death experiences are caused by serious injuries that affect the body or brain. In their memories, near-death experiences are "more real than reality."
Causes of near-death experiences include blunt injuries, heart attacks, asphyxia, shock, and other life-threatening illnesses or conditions. In hospitals, one in ten cardiac arrest patients has had a near-death experience. Thousands of survivors who escaped this pain and suffering said they had escaped their injured bodies and entered a realm beyond everyday existence, and that the boundaries of time and space could not bind them. This shocking and mysterious experience changed their lives forever.
Recalling near-death experiences:
More than just hallucinations?
Scientific advances in the 21st century have led to major changes in the scientific community's understanding of death, while at the same time, people who have experienced near-death experiences recall experiences that cannot be clearly explained. Recently, a multidisciplinary team led by Sam Parnia, M.D., M.D., director of intensive care and research at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, published a presentation titled "Recalledexperiences Surrounding Death: More than Hallucinations?" study (Figure 2). The study reviews all the relevant scientific evidence accumulated to date and is the first scientific study ever to reveal the full flow of near-death experiences.
Figure 2 Research results (Source: NYU Langone Health)
The study concluded the following:
1. Thanks to advances in resuscitation and intensive care medicine, many people have survived death or near-death. These survivors generally had a near-death experience that involved a unique set of psychological memories with universal themes.
2. The memories of near-death experiences are inconsistent with hallucinations and psychedelic drug-induced experiences. Instead, they follow a specific narrative arc that involves the following perceptions (Figure 3):
Figure 3 The whole process of near-death experience (Source: [2])
(a) Consciousness is separated from the body and has a high, broad consciousness and awareness of death;
(b) the body travels with consciousness to a destination;
(c) Meaningful and purposeful reviews of life, including critical analysis of all acts, intentions and thoughts directed at others;
(d) Feeling like home;
(e) It is back to life.
3) The experience of death eventually forms a previously unknown, independent sub-theme, which is related to long-term psychological feelings and growth states.
4) Studies have shown that the results of gamma activity and electrical impulses are often markers of increased consciousness on electroencephalogram (EEG), which proves to be related to death, further supporting the claims of millions of near-death survivors who report that they have experienced increased consciousness and consciousness.
5) Terrible or painful experiences related to death often have neither the same theme nor the same narrative, ineffable process.
"Cardiac arrest is not a heart attack, but represents that the disease that causes people to die is entering its final stages." Author Pania said, "The advent of CPR shows us that death is not an absolute state, but a process, and even after some people begin cardiac arrest, there is a possibility of reversal.
Why do scientists conduct scientific research on near-death? When the heart stops beating, brain cells are not irreversibly damaged for a few minutes without oxygen. Instead, they reach a state of "death" within hours, which allows scientists to objectively study the physiological and psychological events associated with death. To date, the researchers say, there is evidence that neither physiological nor cognitive processes end with death, and although systematic studies have not demonstrated the authenticity, meaning, and divergent consciousness associated with death that patients experience, their existence cannot be denied. "There are very few studies that explore in an objective and scientific way what happens when we die, but these findings provide interesting insights into 'how human consciousness exists' and may pave the way for further research," Pania added.
Near-death experience with epilepsy
Complex partial seizures are similar
Many neuroscientists have noticed some similarities between near-death experiences and complex partial seizures of epilepsy. An article published in Scientific American, "WhatNear-Death Experiences Reveal about the Brain," revealed the puzzle (Figure 4). Studies have found that this type of epilepsy is unconscious and tends to occur in specific areas of the brain hemisphere. The onset is auraly predictable, and the patient may have a unique aura experience. People with epilepsy may not be able to perceive the size of objects, have abnormal taste, smell, or physical sensations, develop memory hallucinations, have symptoms of depersonalization, or fall into ecstasy.
Figure 4 Research results (Source: Scientific American)
By implanting electrodes, neurosurgeons stimulate the cortical area of epilepsy patients called insulas, which can induce them to feel ecstatic. This helps to localize the lesion of epilepsy in preparation for possible resection surgery. Patients report themselves ecstatic, happy, self-aware, or perceived as having an enhanced perception of the outside world. Stimulating gray matter in other areas of the brain can also cause them to have out-of-body experiences or visual hallucinations.
Whether spontaneously induced by a disorder or triggered by a surgeon's electrodes, the straightforward link between abnormal patterns of neural activity and subjective experience proves that the sensation stems from physiological mechanisms rather than supernatural factors such as the soul. The same may be true of near-death experiences.
Why, in times of blood loss and lack of oxygen, should the brain treat the state of striving to function as a positive, blissful experience rather than a fear? We still don't find the answer. Interestingly, however, humans also get extreme experiences on other occasions. For example, when diving, mountain climbing, flying, playing suffocation or fainting games, reduced oxygen can make people happy, dizzy, and highly excited. Perhaps many forms of death contain this state of ecstasy, provided that the person concerned is clear-headed and not paralyzed by opium or other drugs designed to alleviate suffering. Before entering what Hamlet calls "the mysterious realm that no one has ever returned," the soul bound by the dying body visits its own heaven or hell.
The inquiry into near-death experiences is also an inquiry into the nature of human beings. The study of "near-death experiences" does not mean that there must be a "afterlife." It means more that when we can no longer heal, when we can no longer hold on, we can still comfort and help. If most of the near-death experience is warm and calm, then we who know this will be more unafraid when we go to death.
Source: The Conversation, for academic communication only.
Written by | Qiao Weijun
Typography | Muzijiu
End
Resources:
[1] Recalled experiences surrounding death: More than hallucinations?https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220407100956.htm
[2] Parnia S, Post SG, Lee MT. et al. Guidelines and standards for the study of death and recalled experiences of death––amultidisciplinary consensus statement and proposed future directions Doi:10.1111/nyas.
[3]https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-near-death-experiences-reveal-about-the-brain/
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