{"id":44428,"date":"2017-09-29T14:43:28","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T20:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44428"},"modified":"2017-09-29T14:43:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-29T20:43:28","slug":"persistent-consciousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/persistent-consciousness.html","title":{"rendered":"Persistent consciousness?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Van<\/a>
A photograph by Siegfried Hornecker of Dr. Pim van Lommel, the Dutch cardiologist who wrote \u201cEindeloos Bewustzijn\u201d (English: \u201cConsciousness Beyond Life\u201d), following a speech at the Stadhalle in Ulm, Germany, on 22 February 2012.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A bit more from\u00a0Pim van Lommel,\u00a0Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience<\/em>\u00a0(New York: HarperCollins, 2010):<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Can we speak of consciousness when a person is in a coma?<\/em> \u00a0A recent article in Science<\/em> looked at the scientific evidence of awareness in a patient in a vegetative state<\/em>. \u00a0This is a form of coma with spontaneous breathing and brain-stem reflexes. \u00a0Brain tests showed that when this patient was instructed to imagine certain activities like playing tennis or moving around her home, the monitors recorded changes identical to those in healthy volunteers who carried out the same instructions. \u00a0This means that the identified changes can be explained only by assuming that this patient, despite her vegetative state, not only understood the verbal instructions but also carried them out. \u00a0The research demonstrated that this coma patient was aware of both herself and her surroundings but that her brain damage prevented her from communicating her thoughts and emotions directly to the outside world. \u00a0In her book Uit coma<\/em> (Out of Coma), Alison Korthals Altes also describes seeing staff and family in and around the intensive care unit during her three-week coma following a serious traffic accident.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can we still speak of consciousness when a person has been pronounced brain-dead?<\/em> \u00a0In his book Droomvlucht in coma<\/em> (Dream Flight in Coma), Jan Kerkhoffs tells us about his conscious experiences after neurologists declared him brain-dead following complications during brain surgery. \u00a0Only because his family refused organ donation was he able to write about his experiences because, much to everybody\u2019s surprise, he regained consciousness after three weeks in a coma. \u00a0(ix-x)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture<\/em> has published a second piece today:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA Modern Translation of Genesis 1\u201311 in the Traditional Sense\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you would like to hear it read in a pleasant British accent, click on the MP3 Audio<\/em> button to the right of the article.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Robert Boylan had recorded this important little piece, he would have done so with an Irish<\/em> accent:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJoseph Smith\u2019s warning about the dangers of apostasy\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest iteration of the bi-weekly Hamblin-Peterson column has now appeared in the Deseret News<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Reformation and the emergence of Anabaptists, Amish, Mennonites and other Protestant denominations\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read it only if you have, by training and practice, developed high tolerance for hateful bigotry and vitriol. \u00a0Columns in which I\u2019m involved are\u00a0not for the faint of heart.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 A bit more from\u00a0Pim van Lommel,\u00a0Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience\u00a0(New York: HarperCollins, 2010): \u00a0 Can we speak of consciousness when a person is in a coma? \u00a0A recent article in Science looked at the scientific evidence of awareness in a patient in a vegetative state. \u00a0This is a form […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPersistent consciousness?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    A bit more from\u00a0Pim van Lommel,\u00a0Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience\u00a0(New York: HarperCollins, 2010):  \" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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