Afterlife: Greyson's current thinking about new research (Endings)

by David Turell , Thursday, January 19, 2023, 18:42 (457 days ago) @ David Turell

I have followed his research since his experiences in Seattle in the 1980's when Kimberly Clark. a social worker. listened to and confirmed Maria's out-of-body experience seeing the famous tennis shoe on a cabinet top while floating next to a hospital window. This is his latest work:

https://www.sciencealert.com/were-getting-closer-to-understanding-why-our-moment-of-dea...

"...a lot about NDEs remains a mystery, in part, because it's practically impossible to study in real-time, said Dr. Bruce Greyson, a professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia and co-founder of the International Association of Near-Death Studies.

"Researchers must rely on anecdotes, memory recall, and in some cases, animal studies to understand how brains change from a NDE and what it could mean for future medicine.

***

"Seeing loved ones – deceased or living – is common among NDEs, as is seeing a bright light at the end of a tunnel.

"Other people have reported more corporeal sensations like that of leaving their body, floating above it, feeling physically drawn into that tunnel with the light at the end of it, or having a spiritual encounter with a supreme being, aliens, or lost loved ones.

"And all the while, during these other-worldly experiences, people rarely report having felt fear or pain – it's usually an overwhelming sense of calm and love.

"Some of these phenomena can't be explained by science – at least not yet. But in 2022 the NDE research community received something it had never witnessed before: the brain scan of a dying man.

"And it unveiled some secrets that, up to that point, scientists could only speculate.

***

"In 2016, a then-87-year-old man was connected to an electroencephalogram, or EEG, when he unexpectedly had a heart attack and died. Researchers later published the results in Frontiers of Aging Neuroscience.

"An EEG measures electrical signals that the brain produces in order to help diagnose or examine certain neurological conditions like seizures and memory loss.

Sure enough, doctors were monitoring the man for a series of recent seizures when his heart suddenly stopped beating.

"In the paper, researchers reported that during the 15 seconds leading up to the man's heart attack, the EEG scan revealed high-frequency brainwaves called gamma oscillations, which are thought to play a role in creating and retrieving memories.

"'It is very hard to make claims with one case… but what we can claim is that we have signals just before death and just after the heart stops like those that happen in the healthy human when they dream or memorize or meditate," lead study author Dr. Ajmal Zemmar told Insider's Anna Medaris.

"Of course, these scans are of a man seconds before death and not exactly equivalent to an NDE, where the person survives. However, such activity may help explain why people see memory flashbacks or faces of people they know during an NDE, Greyson said.

"Moreover, EEG scans of people attempting to remember their NDE also provide more clues to what an NDE does to the human brain.

"When people recall an NDE, the brain "shows increased activity in many different parts," Greyson said, "such as those associated with memory, vision, hearing, and emotion."

"In particular, the temporal lobe, which is responsible for helping process sound and encode memories, is thought to be associated with out-of-body experiences and memory flashbacks during NDEs, said Dr. David San Filippo, an associate professor at National Louis University and a near-death experience researcher.

"'That has led some people to believe that near-death experiences are simply biological, chemical reactions to the brain dying," San Filippo said.

***

"To that point, a study in rats suggested that the overwhelmingly positive experience people report with NDEs may be linked to a flood of serotonin the brain releases. This may be the brain's way of gradually preparing the body for death by inducing feelings of euphoria and pain relief, San Filippo said.

***

"Across different age groups and among people in different countries, reports of NDEs are strikingly similar, especially in regards to encountering a spiritual deity or feeling part of something bigger than life on earth, San Filippo said.

"'We hear the same story. It might differ based on cultural or spiritual beliefs, but it is essentially the same," San Filippo said. "That leads us to believe that a near-death experience is a transpersonal experience happening outside of the brain." (my bold)

***

"San Filippo said that people in his studies who have had an NDE and recall feeling calm and comforted during the experience report that they no longer fear death.

"'If we can learn more about what causes a positive near-death experience that is comfortable and peaceful, we could possibly develop a powerful therapy for people who are in turmoil or struggling," Rasouli said."

Comment: NDE's are common and soften and remove fear of death. Note my bold. San Fillippo has joined past researchers who wonder about consciousness being separate from the brain, while at the same time studying the chemical and electrical changes in a materialism approach which is looking at how the brain responds during NDE's.