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Awareness at Death

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Re: Awareness at Death

#61

Post by 7thaccount »

metamet wrote: post #47
MPSimmons wrote: post #40

In January, 2022, I experienced a 100% blockage of my Left Anterior Descending artery (a "widowmaker" heart attack), and I experienced cardiac arrest for a minute or two while on the exam table in a local emergency room. CPR was administered, and I was shocked back into rhythm, whereupon I regained consciousness immediately. During the time I was dead, I have a memory. It is a singular experience of non-existence. Ev…

> I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourse…

My father is in pretty good shape (very active), but also very religious these days and he's basically told me nothing in this life matters and he's ready for the afterlife which he believes will be a paradise. The Sagan quote is ironic as he was a huge fan as a younger man.

It's always saddened me that he has trouble focusing on the joys in this life. There's a lot to be grateful for, for those of us lucky enough to live in a secure country with food on the table.

Re: Awareness at Death

#62

Post by bagels »

Deja-vu and false memories exist. It's hard to know whether these experiences are just more of the same, where the brain is placing unreal memories.

Re: Awareness at Death

#63

Post by MPSimmons »

generalizations wrote: post #57
MPSimmons wrote: post #40

In January, 2022, I experienced a 100% blockage of my Left Anterior Descending artery (a "widowmaker" heart attack), and I experienced cardiac arrest for a minute or two while on the exam table in a local emergency room. CPR was administered, and I was shocked back into rhythm, whereupon I regained consciousness immediately. During the time I was dead, I have a memory. It is a singular experience of non-existence. Ev…

Did you experience brain death? Because that kinda sounds like the sensation of losing all contact with the peripheral nervous system, without actually losing consciousness.

Don't know. There was no brain monitoring going on. When I crashed, the tech was still trying to put on the EKG leads.

Re: Awareness at Death

#64

Post by just_1_comment »

MPSimmons wrote: post #40

In January, 2022, I experienced a 100% blockage of my Left Anterior Descending artery (a "widowmaker" heart attack), and I experienced cardiac arrest for a minute or two while on the exam table in a local emergency room. CPR was administered, and I was shocked back into rhythm, whereupon I regained consciousness immediately. During the time I was dead, I have a memory. It is a singular experience of non-existence. Ev…

I was present when someone else went through the same experience but they reacted slightly differently than you did…”Please don’t stop CPR! There’s nothing there! Whenever you stop and I die, it’s all black!” His last horrified words were “There’s nothing there!”

Re: Awareness at Death

#65

Post by intangible »

elil17 wrote: post #26

>First, most of the 53 survivors initially flat-lined on the EEG, but, with continued CPR, recovered brain activity up to 60 minutes later. Good lord that's a long time. Does this mean that if I'm performing CPR, I should keep going for 61 minutes? Longer?

It's difficult to say if the person is recoverable, but as long as you continue chest compressions without major interruptions, some blood will continue to circulate and should mostly stave off irreversible brain damage. Even without rescue breaths, there's a massive benefit https://hsi.com/blog/are-rescue-breaths-necessary-during-cpr

Re: Awareness at Death

#66

Post by AndrewKemendo »

sbjs wrote: post #38
hyggetrold wrote: post #3

I had an English teacher in high school who had a near death experience during a surgery. His description of the experience tracks with what's in the article - floating above the body, a tremendous feeling of peace and acceptance, and the feeling of being drawn towards a bright light. I can't say I'm not afraid of death but it's nice to hear stories like these from folks that help lessen that fear. :)

It's a logical fallacy to say that a common experience is the only experience, and that fear therefore should be lessened. Perhaps the fear is there for good reason, and perhaps there is a soul and there is moral judgment at death and perhaps our moral character is sealed in stone at death, whether good or bad. Can't rule these out because lots of NDEs say it's a peaceful experience.

Are you familiar with Russell’s teapot?

I question why such horrors were claimed in the first place

Re: Awareness at Death

#67

Post by altruios »

nytesky wrote: post #35
hyggetrold wrote: post #3

I had an English teacher in high school who had a near death experience during a surgery. His description of the experience tracks with what's in the article - floating above the body, a tremendous feeling of peace and acceptance, and the feeling of being drawn towards a bright light. I can't say I'm not afraid of death but it's nice to hear stories like these from folks that help lessen that fear. :)

I try to imagine life before I was born, and that doesn't seem so bad, so i assume worst case that's what death will be like. The moments before, yeah who knows...

there is a book, dead men can't complain, by Peter Clines.

In it there is a story about someone meeting a creature through near death experiences... It does not go well. The moments before death are the most terrifying.

Re: Awareness at Death

#68

Post by AndrewKemendo »

wolverine876 wrote: post #54

How do they obtained informed consent for human experimentation? If I understand, the researchers are summoned to the hospital bedside of someone undergoing cardiac arrest. If they came into a loved one's room, or mine, I would be very angry. Any risk or distraction is too much. But that's my perspective. Maybe they obtain permission from next of kin?

It’s increasingly clear to me as a group, people who practice real science as a discipline, are an odd bunch that don’t necessarily fit into the social categories that would be bothered by these kinds of things

I know nobody in my close friends or limited family that would bat an eye if someone came into my hospital room to do this

Re: Awareness at Death

#69

Post by lawlessone »

swayvil wrote: post #53
nytesky wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I try to imagine life before I was born, and that doesn't seem so bad, so i assume worst case that's what death will be like. The moments before, yeah who knows...

Aleister Crowley offered a technique for remembering past lives. When you find yourself half asleep, and that dreamy fuzzy place, try to remember back as far as you can. With practice you'll remember further and further back. And eventually you'll remember before the time of your birth. Past lives and such

This feels almost analogous to asking an LLM to name the 55th president of the united states.

Re: Awareness at Death

#70

Post by nonameiguess »

hyggetrold wrote: post #3

I had an English teacher in high school who had a near death experience during a surgery. His description of the experience tracks with what's in the article - floating above the body, a tremendous feeling of peace and acceptance, and the feeling of being drawn towards a bright light. I can't say I'm not afraid of death but it's nice to hear stories like these from folks that help lessen that fear. :)

I'd like to see a study such as that described but not limited to Americans. See what people experience when you cut across cultures and whatever expectations of what death is supposed to be like are less similar.

My wife had a near-death experience about seven years back and she described it to me later, saying there was indeed a tunnel, but it was filled with cartoon Satans holding dildos and our cat was there beckoning her to come. It seems like this is almost a kind of Rorschach test of whether you're a Christian, a foxhole atheist who deep down wants there to be a Christian-like afterlife, or an honest-to-god true nonbeliever.

It also recalls to me the first time I had a true night error experience. I'd been tremendously into UFO lore and alien abduction scenarios as a teenager thanks to the X-Files, so had read up so much on some of the possible explanations that I'd had it drilled into me by then that night terrors were one possible explanation, and probably similarly for experiences people had of things like succubi in centuries past. Then when it happened to me, I did indeed wake up totally paralyzed and my bed was surrounded by ghostly alien-looking figures. But I'd read so much about it at that point that I knew exactly what was happening, knew it wasn't really aliens, and didn't even really find it scary so much as frustrating because I could neither move nor fully wake up.

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