\u201cDante og Beatrice i Paradis,\u201d by\u00a0Poul S. Christiansen (1894); public domain via Wikimedia CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are three accounts taken from\u00a0Pim van Lommel,\u00a0Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience<\/em>\u00a0(New York: HarperCollins, 2010).<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first comes from a patient who had a near-death experience (NDE) that included an out-of-body component. \u00a0 The NDE was caused by complications during a surgical procedure. \u00a0Please don\u2019t be offended by the slightly rough language:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
No, I\u2019d never heard of near-death experiences, and I\u2019d never had any interest in paranormal phenomena or anything of that nature. \u00a0What happened was that I suddenly became aware of hovering over the foot of the operating table and watching the activity down below around the body of a human being. \u00a0Soon it dawned on me that this was my own body. \u00a0So I was hovering over it, above the lamp, which I could see through. \u00a0I also heard everything that was said: \u00a0\u201cHurry up, you bloody bastard\u201d was one of the things I remember them shouting. \u00a0And even weirder: I didn\u2019t just hear them talk, but I could also read the minds of everybody in the room, or so it seemed to me. \u00a0It was all quite close, I later learned, because it took four and a half minutes to get my heart, which had stopped, going again. \u00a0As a rule, oxygen deprivation causes brain damage after three or three and a half minutes. \u00a0I also heard the doctor say that he thought I was dead. \u00a0Later he confirmed saying this, and he was astonished to learn that I\u2019d heard it. \u00a0I also told them that they should mind their language during surgery. \u00a0(21-22)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second is the story of a woman who, in a deep coma with no measurable brain activity, was about to be taken off of the ventilator because her treating neurologist had declared her brain-dead:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
While she was thought to be in a deep coma without any apparent brain activity, her specialist and husband were having a conversation by her bedside. \u00a0The specialist predicted that his patient would be a \u201cvegetable\u201d for the rest of her life and asked the husband to consider taking her off the equipment that was keeping her alive. \u00a0The husband was still hopeful of a recovery, so she was kept on the ventilator. \u00a0Several months later, the woman woke up, despite the somber prognosis. \u00a0It emerged that she had been able to hear through most of her coma and had overheard the conversation between her doctor and husband about passive euthanasia! \u00a0She said how awful this had been and that while she had been trying to shout that she was still there, that she wanted to live, be with her husband and children, they were discussing her possible demise. \u00a0(23)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Here are three accounts taken from\u00a0Pim van Lommel,\u00a0Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience\u00a0(New York: HarperCollins, 2010). \u00a0 The first comes from a patient who had a near-death experience (NDE) that included an out-of-body component. \u00a0 The NDE was caused by complications during a surgical procedure. \u00a0Please don\u2019t be offended by […]<\/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":[1727,1008,1011,900,903,906,978],"class_list":["post-65463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-afterlife","tag-immortality","tag-life-after-death","tag-nde","tag-near-death-experience","tag-out-of-body-experience","tag-pim-van-lommel"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Christiansen](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/09\/Christiansen_Dante_and_Beatrice_in_Paradise_1893.jpg\")
<\/a>