Consciousness, identity, OBEs... (Identity)

by David Turell , Saturday, January 15, 2011, 17:41 (4848 days ago) @ dhw

My suggestion was that the soul is encased in the body, which is why people often talk of death releasing the soul. An OBE/NDE would be just such a release. The brain receives the signals emitted by the soul and sends instructions to the body to react accordingly, although the body also sends signals through the brain to the soul, which actively processes them in order to take the relevant decisions and, again, send out its instructions. If, however, the soul is the receiver and not the transmitter, doesn't this mean that our identity is imposed on us from outside? What exactly is being signalled, and from where?-I think the closest we can come to an answer is that the 'soul' is simply another word for our consciousness, whatever method it uses to arise from the brain. The evidence of precognition, the psychic abilities my wife exhibits (as I proof for me), etc. demonstrate that the brain can be a receiver. That is not the same as consciousness itself, defined as Matt did as 'being aware that you are aware'. It is possible that the brain receives information while in a flat line state, and changes our perception of NDE's, but referring to the hospice experiences again, some of the information the dying receive would have to be 'long-distance', if, as it often does, regards a friend or relative dying in another city. Obviously, in this discussion, we have few answers, if any. However, receiving information one cannot have been directly given at the bedside, is a startling observation seen over the last 40 years of more direct observation of the dying.