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Friday May 9,2008

Are near death experiences real?

by Melvin Morse, MD

"But was it real? Dr. Morse?" Chris, age 8, had nearly drown when his family's car plunged over a bridge and into the freezing waters of a river near Seattle. His father was trapped in the car and died. His mother and brother miraculously swam to safety. A passer by dove repeatedly to the sunken car, and finally brought Chris's limp body to the surface. He was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital and ultimately survived.

He said: First the car filled up with water, and everything went all blank. Then I died. I went into a huge noodle. It wasn't like a spiral noodle, but it was very straight. When I told my Mom about it, I told her it was a noodle, but it must have been a tunnel, because it had a rainbow in it. Noodles don't have rainbows in them.

I was pushed along by wind, and I could float. I saw two tunnels in front of me, a human tunnel and an animal tunnel. First I went in the animal tunnel, and a bee gave me honey.

Then I saw the human heaven. It was like a castle, not all broken down, just a regular castle. As I looked at it, I heard some music. It was very loud, and it stuck in my head."

Although prior to his near death experience, Chris had little interest in music, since his near drowning, his mother bought him a keyboard and he has taught himself to play the heavenly music he heard.

Not cultural myths

Chris clearly saw something he thought was real. The image of a rainbow in a noodle is so unique, it is unlikely to have its source in our cultural psychology. I had certainly never heard of one before. But was it really real?

Chris's question goes right to the heart of the problem, as is typical for a child. As he pointed out, if his experience was real, then "you'll have to tell all the old people, so they won't be afraid to die".

Are near death experiences actually the dying experience, the result of normal brain function at the point of death? Or, are they the result of brain dysfunction creating a hallucination triggered by the biological stresses of dying, drugs, and a lack of oxygen to the brain?

Near death experiences involve the perception of another reality superimposed over this one. This "other reality" frequently is a spiritual one involving the existence of a loving God. There is clearly a sense of a persistence of consciousness after the death of the body. If near death experiences are "real", then clearly it is possible that this other reality is real and even our destination after death. Furthermore, if near death experiences are real, then an entire class of currently trivialized spiritual visions such as after death communications, shared dying experiences and premonitions of death are most likely also real.