- seCtIon FIVe: BoRDeRLAnDs
previously been recorded at about this time in dying patients,
and studies with rats show a similar burst of activity, probably
due to cortical disinhibition, 20 to 30 seconds after their hearts
stop (Chawla et al. 2009). This underlines again the importance
of finding out just when NDEs are occurring before jumping to
conclusions about consciousness beyond death.
Van Lommel’s research itself was impressive, but his conclu-
sions do not follow from the findings. Braithwaite concludes
that ‘Despite its impact in NDE circles, the van Lommel et al.
study provides no evidence that human consciousness sur-
vives bodily death’, and ‘poses no serious challenge at all to
current neuroscientific accounts of the NDE’ (Braithwaite,
2008, p. 15).
An alternative, naturalistic approach to understanding NDEs
depends on the findings that all the components of the classi-
cal NDE can be caused by cortical disinhibition and excessive
uncontrolled brain activity. This can occur in conditions of
severe stress, extreme fear, and cerebral anoxia, as well as with
certain drugs, and we already have most of the ideas needed
to understand why this should cause NDEs. Tunnels and lights
are caused by disinhibition in visual cortex, and strange noises
by disinhibition in auditory cortex. OBEs and life reviews can be
induced by heightened temporal lobe activity, and the positive
emotions and lack of pain have been attributed to the action
of endorphins and encephalins, endogenous opiates which
are widely distributed in the limbic system and released under
stress. The visions of other worlds and spiritual beings might be real glimpses into
another world, but against that hypothesis is that the worlds described tend to fit
people’s cultural upbringing and religious beliefs. In the popular genre of ‘Heaven
tourism’, Christians report seeing Jesus, angels, and a door or gate into heaven.
Yet Hindus are more likely to meet the king of the dead and his messengers, the
Yamdoots.
All these apparently strange experiences – sleep paralysis, lucid dreams, OBEs,
and NDEs – once seemed inexplicable. But now that we are beginning to under-
stand them, they seem not to provide evidence for other worlds or consciousness
beyond the brain but, like dreaming or psychedelic states, to offer important
test cases for intuitions about the relations between conscious and unconscious,
between real and unreal, between self and body, and between retrospective
verbal report and ‘experience itself ’. Not least, these times when sensory input
and bodily interaction with the world are reduced and experience seems more
self-generated encourage us to reflect on who or what is doing the generating –
that is, on the nature of our selves. This is one more version of the question that
has been with us throughout the book, in our explorations of everything from
Cartesian audiences and ghosts in machines to free will and social robots, and
which we tackle head-on in the next chapter: who is the one who has conscious
experiences? Who or what are you?
WHEN THIS BODY IS
GONE, WHAT WILL BE
LEFT?‘NDEs tell us nothing
about life after death’
(Blackmore, 1993, p. 4)
FIGURE 15.20 • In Victorian times most people
died at home, surrounded by
their families. Reports of death-
bed experiences were common,
including other worlds, beautiful
music, and visions of those
who had already ‘passed over’
coming to greet the newcomer.
Occasionally observers said they
saw the dying person’s spirit
leaving the body and going up
into the light (Muldoon and
Carrington, 1929, p. 186;
according to clairvoyant vision
of Andrew Jackson Davis).